Crimson Eyes
by moguera
Summary: Yang's eyes turn red when she uses her Semblance. That's what she's always assumed anyway. However, a chance encounter with a stranger, while on a mission challenges everything she thought she knew about herself and her family, while dragging Yang and her friends into a series of events that will change the world.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the first chapter of _Crimson Eyes._** **Those you following my other story, _Lost Rose_ , will already know (assuming you've read my author's notes, which isn't a given) that this story is actually the older of the two. I started writing this story all the way back at my first RTX (2016), back when the only things we had to work with concerning Volume 4 of RWBY were the Ruby Rose Character Short, and a few pieces of concept art for the other characters. That being said, hopefully you'll still be able to read this first chapter, and make it to my notes afterwards.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

The bullhead shook and rattled, the vibrations of its engines making the entire cabin buzz. Yang Xiao Long grimaced and shifted uncomfortably. This was one of the older models, which had been in use since before her first year at Beacon. It was old, and either needed a major overhaul or to be retired altogether, given how badly the passenger cabin was rattling.

Her lilac eyes darted to the person sitting next to her. Ruby Rose, Yang's younger sister by two years was asleep in her seat, apparently unaffected by the jarring motions of the cabin, her black hair with faint, red highlights barely stirring as she breathed. Her red cape was wrapped around her shoulders, enfolding Ruby like a cloak. Under these conditions, it was hard for Yang to imagine Ruby as the girl who led their team in saving the world from the machinations of Cinder and her master, Salem.

The next seat down was occupied by Ruby's partner, Weiss Schnee, looking elegant in her sparkling, pale-blue dress and petticoat, over which she wore a long-sleeved blue shrug. Looking at Weiss, it seemed more like she was an elegant socialite on her way to the latest ball, than a formidable Huntress in her third year of school. Weiss stared stoically across the cabin at the empty wall on the other side, unwilling to show the same discomfort that Yang felt so keenly.

Beyond Weiss was the fourth member of their team. Blake Belladonna was largely unconcerned by the the vibrations rattling the cabin because all her attention was rooted on the book in front of her. It was cold, even inside the bullhead, so Blake hadn't discarded her white overcoat, instead buttoning it so that it covered her black crop-top. Despite the events of the past couple years, she had yet to discard the bow atop her head, which hid the two cat ears that marked her as a faunus.

Yang turned her attention back to herself, including her tan jacket, orange crop-top, and tight-fitting black pants; and stifled a sigh. She was tired. She wanted to sleep. But, unlike Ruby, there seemed to be no sleep to be had as their transport made their way to its destination, not exactly the kind of conditions Yang liked, especially when they could be in combat within minutes of their arrival.

In a strange way, this all felt so normal. After all, they were students on a mission. As third-year students of Beacon, they were able to take bounty missions like this one, without the need to be shadowed by an experienced Huntsman or Huntress. What was strange that, in comparison to what they had been through, it was hard for Yang to accept the return to normality.

It had been a little less than a year ago that they'd endured their final confrontation with Salem, the mysterious woman who had been behind so much hardship in their lives. Yang still struggled to wrap her head around the reasons for that woman's grudge, suspecting that she'd never fully understand it. Salem hadn't been human after all. She had been something else. Some might have even gone so far as to call her a god, though that was the last thing Yang would have called her.

Salem had been behind more than just the schemes that had brought Beacon's tower crashing down and nearly plunged the world headlong into another Great War. She had been the driving force behind the Grimm themselves, a living manifestation of her grudge. The Creatures of Grimm had been bred by her for the purpose of exacting her revenge against humanity for...whatever wrong it was they had caused her.

But defeating Salem had not meant the end of the Grimm. Instead, Salem had used her final moments to ensure that the Grimm would plague the world long after she passed. Ironically enough, Yang, and those close to her, ultimately found themselves grateful for that. After all, in many ways, the Grimm were what preserved the delicate balance that had existed in the eighty-plus years since the Great War. It was hard for people to waste their energy on fighting for ideologies, or even their own greed, when a common enemy was forever on the verge of wiping them all out. Even more importantly, the continued presence of the Grimm ensured that people like Yang, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake still had a purpose in life. Without the Grimm, it was likely the system behind Huntsmen and Huntresses would collapse in on itself, producing an endless amount of chaos all on its own. It was ironic then, that the very monsters Salem had created to punish mankind had instead become the pillar that shored up their present civilization, even if they made said civilization rather tenuous.

 _I must be tired,_ she thought glumly. _I'm waxing philosophic again._

She shifted again, moving her right arm, which moved with the barely perceptible whirr of servos and the occasional mechanical click. Yang brought it up to examine. It was her keepsake from that past conflict. Her arm had been cut off, just above the elbow by one of their most dangerous enemies. Its replacement shined with gold-colored plates, the forearm decorated with her flame motif, and even housing one of the rebuilt Ember Celica, built into her own cybernetics for superior performance.

Yang was proud of her new arm. It signified her conviction not to let the loss of the original get her down, to devote herself to being the best support she could for her sister. It had taken a lot of soul-searching and a lot of introspection to find that conviction. Yang still wasn't proud of the months she'd wasted moping around at home, languishing in her remorse over the things she'd lost during the fall of Beacon. She'd missed so much in that time. By the time she'd rallied, gotten a prosthetic, and gotten back into shape, things had progressed further than she'd ever imagined.

Still, at least she'd been there for the final battle. Yang was still amazed that they'd actually won. That was, in part, due to their enemies. Salem had been their foes' ultimate leader, but the mysterious woman known as Cinder Fall, the one who had stolen the Fall Maiden's power and killed Pyrrha Nikos, the woman who had been directly behind the downfall of Vale, had been the one to ultimately enable their victory. For, during that final decisive conflict, Cinder had deserted, disappearing and leaving her master in the lurch. With her had vanished Adam Taurus, Blake's former lover and the leader of the White Fang, also the person who had cut off Yang's arm. It still sent shivers down Yang's spine to remember that those two were still out there, still plotting God knew what.

Still, things weren't all bad. Cinder's role in the downfall of Beacon and the near destruction of Vale had been revealed to the world, as well as the ways in which she had been manipulating the world towards another war. They had rescued Ozpin from Salem's clutches. Beacon had been rebuilt. The world was heading towards another peace, hopefully one that would last even longer this time.

But, thanks to Salem's parting gift, the Grimm were still a problem, as evinced by their current mission. The village of Cherry Grove had reported a spike in Grimm activity, and requested assistance. Team RWBY had been personally recommended by Professor Ozpin, and had taken the mission with their usual gusto.

Yang just wished Ozpin had bothered with a newer bullhead.

 _"We'll be touching down in ten,"_ announced the pilot over the intercom. His voice stirred Ruby from her slumber. Weiss blinked and Yang got the distinct impression that she had been sleeping with her eyes open. Blake closed her book and slipped it into her pack. The four of them took the remaining time to check and load their weapons, ensuring that they were ready for anything when they touched down.

Ten minutes later, the bullhead settled onto the landing pad with a lurch that made Yang's stomach jump inside her. The passenger bay doors folded open and Team RWBY sprang into action, leaping out and touching down onto the landing pad, looking around for any indications of trouble.

For a village that was supposedly besieged by Grimm, things looked awfully quiet to Yang. She frowned, her eyes sweeping over the houses, looking for the telltale signs of Grimm attack: smoke rising from burning buildings, dark shapes darting about, people running in panic. She strained her ears for the horrified screams, the roars and howls of hunting monsters…but heard nothing.

If anything, the village seemed to be fine. She could see no signs of attack. She could see the villagers wandering here and there, going about their business. Of the perimeter wall that Yang could see, there was no sign of any breach. The Grimm were curiously absent.

"What's going on?" asked Yang. "Wasn't this place supposed to be having problems with the Grimm?"

"Maybe it's something outside the walls," said Weiss. "There could be work sites that are under attack or maybe there's a caravan that's been pinned down."

"We should talk to the mayor," said Ruby, folding Crescent Rose back into its storage mode and putting it away under her cape. "According to the mission file, he's the one who sent the request, so he should know where we need to go and what we need to do."

"That sounds like a plan," said Blake.

The four of them made their way off the landing pad and headed for the town hall, where they could find out what was going on.

* * *

"Ha ha ha ha ha! I'm so sorry you girls came out here for nothing." The mayor was a jovial old fellow, sporting a bushy white beard that twitched as he laughed. The light gleamed off the top of his balding head, which he occasionally rubbed as though it were a good luck charm.

"So…there aren't any Grimm?" asked Ruby dubiously.

The mayor laughed again, this time sounding a bit awkward. "Well…there were. We did see an increase of Grimm assaulting our perimeter wall about a day ago, which is why we sent the request. But they ended up leaving of their own volition. Now there are none."

"They just gave up?" asked Weiss.

The girls shared confused and skeptical looks. That didn't sound like the Grimm at all. Cherry Grove wasn't a thriving metropolis, but it was no isolated hamlet. It was on the smaller end of medium-size as settlements outside Kingdom borders went, but large and prosperous enough to support many of the amenities that the residents of an actual Kingdom were accustomed to. They had a CCT relay, which was what enabled their direct contact with Vale. They had plenty of Dust-based tech at their disposal, and their perimeter defenses were formidable. A Grimm surge large enough to worry them to the point of contacting Beacon for aid was not the sort of thing that just ended on its own.

It was true that the Grimm had a certain canniness about them, a self-preservation instinct that led at least _some_ of them to learn the importance of when to abandon the fight and wait for a better opportunity later. However, when attacking en-mass, and in numbers to pressure the formidable defenses of a settlement like this one, it was not the sort of thing they were probably inclined to give up on. It was strangely atypical of them…and with Grimm, atypical behavior was dangerous behavior. It meant something sinister was afoot. As someone who had guided this settlement through numerous Grimm-related crises, the mayor should have been well aware of that.

So if the Grimm had done something so strange and unusual, and he wasn't the slightest bit bothered by it, then that meant that the mayor knew something about what had happened, something he wasn't sharing with the four Huntresses in front of him. Yang wasn't sure if that troubled her more than the idea of the Grimm suddenly abandoning an attack on the settlement for no seeming reason.

"Actually, you girls are real lucky," said the mayor jovially. "You're just in time for our annual festival."

"Festival?" asked Ruby, her eyes widening.

Yang could understand her sister's confusion. _Why on earth would they have a festival right after a Grimm attack?_ It seemed impractical, a way to lower their guards. The fact that the mayor had called an "annual" festival meant that this wasn't just some impromptu event to raise the spirits of the townspeople after a trying affair, and keep too much negativity from piling up. Yang figured that a major Grimm attack, bad enough that the mayor had needed to call for help, would have thrown off their schedule by at least a few weeks.

"Well, it's not the sort of thing we want to postpone," said the mayor. "This time of year, our famous cherry blossom trees are in bloom, and we have a festival celebrating them as the blossoms fall. It's considered one of the most beautiful sights in Remnant. People come from all over to see it."

 _I've never heard of it,_ thought Yang, only barely managing to keep the thought in her head to avoid slighting the mayor. Even if he didn't need them anymore, it wouldn't do to offend him if they could avoid it.

"We'll cover your costs, naturally," said the mayor, "as an apology for causing you to make an unnecessary trip out here, along with a portion of the bounty."

"That's very generous of you," said Ruby. "We need to check with Professor Ozpin, back at Beacon, before we can give you our answer."

"Of course," said the mayor. "Our CCT facilities are yours to use."

* * *

As they headed to the call center, they debated plans.

"We should do it," said Yang. "We don't have any seminars scheduled for this week anyway, and we already planned things around being away for however long it took to deal with the Grimm."

"If they really are gone, I see no reason to dally," said Weiss. "Festival or no, it's better to get back and get ahead of things if we can. That will give us more leeway in the future, especially the more of our academic credits we can take care of ahead of time."

"I don't think we should assume that everything is all right here," said Blake, casting her eyes about suspiciously. "If the Grimm really did retreat from the walls, then we should try to find out why. It could be important. We don't know if they're up to something. We might leave, only for the town to be overrun later because of something we overlooked."

The other three nodded in agreement. "You have a point," said Yang. "We should hang around...just in case."

"Why don't Blake and I inspect the perimeter walls, and see what we can learn about the situation?" suggested Weiss. "Ruby, you and Yang can make that CCT call to the Headmaster and find out what he thinks we should do. He might have a better idea of the situation than us."

"Works for me," said Yang. She grinned and stretched both her biological and mechanical arms. "I won't complain about a week's vacation though."

"I guess..." said Ruby, sounding conflicted.

Yang frowned and looked at her little sister, feeling yet another twinge of regret at her own weakness. Because Yang had allowed her own despair to overwhelm her after Beacon's fall, Ruby had ended up shouldering the burden of leading the effort to stop Cinder and, ultimately, Salem. By the time Yang had thrown off her myopia and gone back to Ruby's side, Ruby had ended up maturing quite a bit while Yang had been away...a little bit more than Yang would have liked.

Nowadays, Ruby was much more driven and focused than she'd been during their first year at Beacon. She was determined, dedicated, and pushed herself the hardest out of the four of them. Unlike Weiss, it wasn't out of a simple desire for perfect grades, but a manifestation of her determination to become the best Huntress she possibly could.

The downside was that the bright, cheerful, and fun-loving Ruby that Yang knew and loved and had looked after for years was rarely ever seen now. The conflict with Salem had apparently incited Ruby to set those things aside for the most part, and craft herself with the same care and attention to detail that she used on her own weapon. Of all the people around Ruby, it seemed that the only one that could reliably bring out that old cheerful playfulness of hers was Jaune Arc, the once dopey and dorky wannabe Huntsman; now still dopey and dorky, but no longer just a wannabe, and also Ruby's boyfriend.

Yang didn't have a problem with Jaune, even though he and Ruby had already gone plenty far in their relationship, far enough that the two of them sleeping together was not an regular event. Yang had always hoped that Ruby would find love, someone to capture her heart and make her happy. Jaune was probably one of the best people for the job that Yang could think of. But Yang was jealous that Jaune seemed to be better at making Ruby happy lately than she herself was.

 _Maybe I'm overthinking it,_ she thought as they headed in the call center.

* * *

"Well...at least they haven't completely abandoned their guard," said Weiss, looking down from the top of the wall, surveying the condition of the structure for as far as her eyes would carry along its length.

Work crews on scaffolds moved up, down, and across, repairing cracks and breaks where Grimm claws and teeth had begun to wear their way through the barrier before the monsters had beat their unexpected retreat. Even though there was no visible sign of them anywhere, the workers still kept their wits about them, spotters constantly scanning the tree line for dark shadows moving through the undergrowth.

Cherry Grove followed the usual plan of settlement communities and even Vale itself to a certain extent. The perimeter walls were bordered by three-hundred meters of cleared ground, the forests around the town being cut back to open up the space around the wall. Any Grimm going on the attack would have to pass through that cleared area, completely devoid of any cover, opening them up to a withering salvo of fire from the Dust-powered turrets that were set on the wall at intervals, along with supporting fire from the soldiers, whom Weiss was glad to see still going on their patrols.

"I don't see any sign of the Grimm at all," said Blake, her sharper vision giving her a better view through the shadows of the forest, even at this distance. "Where do you think they went?"

"Who knows," said Weiss with a shrug. "We'd probably have to mount a scouting expedition to find out. They might be massing for a more concerted attack."

"Ah...they'll be back in a week, give or take," said an old soldier on break, who'd settled on a bench next to where they were standing. The man looked to be nearly as old as the mayor, pulling out a pipe and lighting it up.

"A week?" said Weiss, looking at him skeptically.

"Yep," said the old man, taking a pull from his pipe. "This's been goin' on for five years, give or take now."

"Five years?" gasped Weiss. "Are you telling me that the Grimm in the area disappear for a full week, and it's become a regular event."

"Well...disappearin' ain't quite the right word," said the old soldier. "They scatter and run whichever way gets 'em outta our neck 'o the woods the fastest. They find this place mighty unfavorable come festival time."

"Please excuse me if I find it hard to believe that the Grimm are actually courteous enough to leave you alone for a week so that you can have your annual festival," said Weiss sardonically.

The old man let out a wheezing cackle. "It ain't courtesy," he said. "It's fear."

"Fear?" asked Blake, her eyebrows going up.

"Yep," said the soldier. "Ya see, it all started about five years ago. We started gettin' a special guest for our little festival. Mighty fond of the cherry blossoms he is. Comes every year, almost like clockwork. But the Grimm...now they don't like him one bit...can't stand the sight or smell 'o him I guess. So when they get wind that he's a'comin' they hightail it outta here."

Weiss took a moment to process what he just said. "So...you're saying that someone comes here every year, someone that the Grimm are terrified of. So the Grimm flee the moment he approaches."

"Yep," said the old man, taking another pull from his pipe and letting the smoke drift out of his nose.

"That's ridiculous!" scoffed Weiss. "There's no way that someone would be possessed of such an abnormal quality."

"If someone possessed the ability to repel the Grimm, it would have to be some form of Semblance," said Blake. To herself, she thought, _Or something akin to the powers of the Maidens._ It didn't seem so far-fetched now, with what Ruby was capable of.

"I don't think it's either of those things," said the old soldier. "It ain't anythin' unnatural...unusual sure...but pretty understandable."

"What do you mean?" asked Blake.

"Puttin' it simply, that feller is a disaster."

"What on earth does that mean?" asked Weiss. "That doesn't put it simply at all."

"Let me ask ya somethin'," said the man, turning his gaze on Weiss. "Ya ever hear about how before earthquakes, tidal waves, or eruptions that the animals in the areas around those disasters somehow know beforehand and start runnin' before most people know?"

Weiss and Blake nodded. It was a phenomenon recorded for as long as human history.

"Well...this feller is like that, but to the Grimm. He's so dangerous that they know they don't stand a snowflake's chance in Hell of fightin' him, so they run, rather than face him down. That feller's strong, no question." The old man coughed a little and put out his pipe.

"Someone so strong that the Grimm wouldn't dare attack him?" asked Blake rhetorically, staring out across the open space. It made sense, within reason. After all, one of the things that made the Grimm so dangerous was that their intelligence allowed them to learn and one of the things many of the oldest Grimm had learned was the importance of retreating when they knew they were outmatched. However, that was a trait that only a small handful of Grim from any given generation acquired, and for every one of those, hundreds, if not thousands, more were perfectly happy to throw their lives away in futile efforts to bring down even the most fortified locales.

"That's insane," declared Weiss in her haughtiest tone. "There's no way that someone that powerful could possibly exist. If he did, there would have been some record at him in at least one of the Academies."

"But he ain't a Huntsman," said the old soldier with another cackle. "So far as I know, he's just a wanderin' swordsman. Doesn't hold allegiance to any Kingdom or authority. Just goes his own way and does his own thing."

"That's…even more ridiculous," declared Weiss. "There's no way some wandering vagabond could possibly outclass a trained Huntsman or Huntress from the most prestigious institutions in the world, especially not to the ludicrous extent you're suggesting."

The old man took another long pull on his pipe. "Well…it's up to you whether ya believe me or not. I ain't in the habit of arguin' too much with youngsters like yourselves. Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll run into him. Then you'll see…"

"It's not like we have any idea who he is," said Blake.

The old man laughed again. "Oh, I think you'll know him when ya see him. There's no mistaken. You can't miss those demon eyes of his."

"Demon eyes…" said Blake, wondering what that even meant.

The man calmly put out his pipe and stowed it away. "I've got to get back to work. It was fun talkin' to ya ladies. Enjoy our festival, will ya." He shouldered his rifle and began to amble along the wall.

"Well…that was a thing," said Blake after a moment's silence. She turned to Weiss, expecting to see her friend scoffing at what the old soldier had said, only to notice that Weiss appeared to be deep in thought. "Weiss…?"

"Those words," said Weiss. "You don't think it's a coincidence, do you?"

"What coincidence?" asked Blake, wondering what Weiss was talking about.

"Well…at the very least, we have a clue to who this traveler the old man was talking about might be," said Weiss, pulling out her scroll. "If that's the case, this is much bigger than our original mission."

"What are you talking about?" asked Blake.

Weiss opened the scroll up into its tablet mode and showed her. Blake's breath left her in a shocked gasp.

* * *

"I'm terribly sorry about the inconvenience," said Ozpin, his voice buzzing faintly through the minor interference that affected all uplinks to the CCT. His image on the screen in front of Ruby flickered slightly before stabilizing again. "As it so happens, we did receive a notice of cancelation for the mission. However, by the time we were able to inform you, your transport had already passed the point of no return, so there was no way to bring you back to Beacon directly anyway."

"Okay," said Ruby. "I guess we should just head back as soon as the bullhead is fueled back up."

"Actually, I think it would be a fine idea for you to stay the week," said Ozpin, giving Ruby a small smile. "In all honesty, even if there is no Grimm activity there right now, I believe you could use this experience."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ruby.

Ozpin sighed. "Ms. Rose, I admire your dedication. After all, it is what saved this world from being plunged into chaos and darkness. But even you need time to rest every now and then. You and your friends have been pushing yourselves very hard lately. I understand that you do not wish for tangible rewards or renown for what you have done, but I hope that you would see an opportunity like this as a well-earned reward all the same. The mission will be catalogued as a success and you will have an unofficial week-long vacation, of sorts."

Behind Ruby, Yang broke out into a grin. She liked this idea and she got the feeling that this had been Ozpin's reason for sending them out in the first place. In fact, she got the impression that the original mission request might have even simply been an excuse cooked up between Ozpin and Cherry Grove's mayor. He seemed the kind of fellow willing to do that sort of thing.

"B-but…" Ruby demurred, not quite on board with idea.

Ozpin's smile widened fractionally. "If you are still reluctant, I must inform you that you might as well resign yourself to enjoying your time off. I'm afraid I was just recently contacted by the pilot who flew you out. Unfortunately, his transport broke down and is currently unable to fly. It will take a week or so to get the necessary parts out to fix it."

The message was clear, despite being veiled under such a mundane report. Like it or not, Ozpin had taken measures to ensure that they were stuck out here for the time being and had clearly made plans to keep it that way, so they were simply better off going along with him on this.

"Well, I guess we're stuck here," said Yang cheerfully, patting Ruby on the shoulder. "Cheer up, Ruby. It sounds like they're gonna have all sorts of fun stuff this week."

Ruby sighed in resignation. "All right," she said.

"Then I will see you when you return in a week," said Ozpin with a chuckle. "Have a pleasant day, Ms. Rose." He ended the call and Ruby stood up.

Yang gently hugged Ruby from behind. "Come on, Ruby," said Yang. "Don't sulk. The Professor's right. You need to relax and have some fun. We can't have you turning into Weiss, now can we?"

That got a tiny giggle out of Ruby, a sound that made Yang's heart soar. "You have a point, Sis," said Ruby giving Yang a small smile over her shoulder.

"So…let's go find Weiss and Blake and check out this festival everyone is getting so excited about," said Yang eagerly.

"You go on ahead," said Ruby. "I'm gonna go check out our lodgings and get that squared away."

"Okay," said Yang. "Don't take too long."

"Got it," said Ruby.

Leaving the call center, they went their separate ways. Ruby followed the map on her scroll in search of the inn where they were supposed to be spending their time in town, while Yang allowed herself to be carried along by the general flow of people figuring it would bring her to the festival's subject sooner or later.

* * *

Ozpin leaned back in his seat with a sigh as the call ended.

"I'm still not sure that was entirely necessary," said his deputy, Glynda Goodwitch, as she walked up to the desk.

"We did agree that Ms. Rose and her team deserved this opportunity," said Ozpin.

"But it somewhat undermines the idea of their enjoying it if you simply trap them in that village," said Glynda.

"True," admitted Ozpin. "However, even if Ms. Rose can't enjoy the festival, I believe it should be an interesting experience for her, especially if she or any of her teammates happen to meet a specific individual."

Glynda's eyes narrowed and she frowned. "You really think he's there?" she asked.

"I'm sure of it," said Ozpin. "The phenomenon of the Grimm fleeing from settlements for a brief period is always a prelude to his arrival. However, those occasions tend to vary, so it is all but impossible to anticipate his movements, save for one specific instance where he visits the same place, at the same time, every year. It would seem that he is quite fond of the cherry blossoms."

"A rather odd sentiment for someone as dangerous as him," said Glynda.

"Perhaps not all that odd," said Ozpin, "considering what cherry blossoms symbolize. I think it would speak to him rather strongly. I would find it very interesting if one of our students managed to meet him."

Glynda frowned. "I suppose we'd best hope that James doesn't find out about this. He won't be happy."

Ozpin sighed. "James is happy at little these days, especially since he lost his Seventh Mobile Brigade," he said.

"Which makes it all the more imperative that we don't provoke him," said Glynda.

"There's no telling what James will take as a provocation these days," said Ozpin glumly. "I'm afraid that the conflict with Salem has taken too great a toll on him, but he refuses to stand down. Sadly, it may take the destruction of all the strength he has built up to make him change his ways."

"I doubt even that would do," said Glynda skeptically.

"Despite that, I think this meeting is a necessary one," said Ozpin. "Salem may have been dealt with, but the world is just about to undergo a dramatic change, one which has the potential to undermine everything we've done…or usher us into a new golden age. Hopefully, we can make it the latter, if we are careful."

"And you believe having Team Ruby meet him is the key to that," said Glynda.

"Hopefully," said Ozpin, folding his hands together.

* * *

Yang wandered about, eying the shops and stalls that lined the streets. There were activities and games, snacks and souvenirs, just about everything a proper festival was supposed to have. It wasn't a match for the Vytal Festival, but for a town this size, it was certainly a lively one.

Then Yang reached the town center and gasped.

The center of town was occupied by a large, open park. Paved paths meandered amongst carefully trimmed lawns of grass, dotted by groves of trees that gave the village its name. Their branches were laden with the beautiful pink blooms for which they were famed, making the trees seem more like pink clouds than actual plants. Beneath them, people were seated on blankets, enjoying picnic lunches and sipping drinks, chatting, laughing, playing games, all while absorbing themselves in the beauty of the flowers that surrounded them.

Yang followed one of the paths, looking right and left. Everywhere she looked, she was struck by the glory of the the cherry blossoms. Earlier, she had mentally discounted the mayor's assertion that this festival made the town famous. Now Yang couldn't help but wonder why more people didn't know about it. For a sight like this, even she might be willing to brave the dangerous journey from Vale or one of the other nearby settlements to take part in a festival, if it took place in scenery like this.

Her stomach growled, reminding her that she'd missed breakfast, thanks to the flight out. Fortunately, food wasn't hard to find. There were vendors selling treats and boxed lunches everywhere she looked. Yang quickly settled on one for herself and bought it from the cheerful stall owner. Carrying her provender, she looked for a place to settle down and eat.

Despite the initially disorganized appearance, Yang could see some logic governing the use of space. Families and other groups clearly settled into spots to avoid crowding too close together. Yang would have felt like an intruder, trying to squeeze herself in between different groups, so she looked for an open space…which wasn't easy.

Then she found it. It was a spot so perfect, Yang couldn't believe that it hadn't been taken already. At the very center of the park was the largest and oldest cherry tree of all. Its trunk was easily as wide as two or three people standing side by side. Its branches spread out above like a massive umbrella, loaded down with pink flowers in a sight too magnificent for words. Amazingly, the space at the base of its trunk was completely clear.

Yang hesitated as she approached it. The spot was _too_ perfect. There was no way it hadn't been claimed already. _It must be reserved for the guest of honor, or something,_ she thought, _whoever that might be._

"Would you like to sit with me?" asked someone standing behind her in a polite tone.

Yang stifled a shocked gasp and whipped her head around, startled by the fact that someone had come up behind her without her noticing. Granted, she was a long ways from being combat ready, but Yang prided herself on at least being aware of her surroundings.

The young man standing before her looked to be the same age as her, maybe a year or two older…possibly younger. It was hard for Yang to tell. He was at least half a head taller than her, the contours of his body hidden by the loose black kimono draped about his form. His head was covered with a mop of shaggy, black hair, not too dissimilar in style from Jaune's hair (one of the things that Weiss would perpetually nag the poor boy about). He had a young-looking, almost boyish face, one that Yang would have been more than willing to call handsome. However, what held Yang's attention were the boy's eyes. They were a brilliant crimson that seemed to be almost faintly luminous, the kind of eyes that Yang would not be surprised to find out glowed in the dark.

The sight of those eyes sent a rush like a shiver down her spine. Their color was strange, different from the eyes of everyone else she had ever met…save for one other person. More importantly, what shocked Yang most of all, was that the boy's eyes were the same color as hers when she unleashed the full power of her Semblance. Maybe, because of that, she felt an eerie sense of familiarity as she looked into those eyes, a feeling that both attracted and repulsed her.

From his right arm dangled a bag holding what looked like a boxed lunch not dissimilar to the one that Yang carried, along with a few other items. In his left hand, Yang was surprised to see that he carried a sheathed sword, nearly five feet long. It was actually a rather mundane looking weapon. It appeared to be a standard o-dachi. Yang couldn't spy any hidden mechanisms, though she supposed it might have a Dust function, like Weiss' rapier.

"I…I'm sorry," said Yang.

"Would you like to sit with me?" repeated the boy, gesturing to the open space underneath the massive tree. "There's plenty of room right there."

"A-are you sure it's okay?" asked Yang, looking at the strangely open spot with some trepidation. She didn't want to break some important tradition if there was a reason to keep this spot open.

"It's fine," said the boy with a cheerful wave of his hand. "I sit here every year." He let out a sigh and his expression suddenly changed to a melancholy one. "But it's not often I have company. It'd be nice to have someone to chat with here."

"Um…well…if you're sure," said Yang.

His smile returning, the boy led her to the base of the tree and seated himself, Yang seating herself along with him.

"Juice?" asked the boy, holding out a can towards her.

Yang, realizing that she'd forgotten to buy a drink with her lunch, accepted.

"So," said the boy, opening his lunch, "is this your first time seeing this festival?"

"It is," said Yang with a nod. "What about you?"

"It's my fifth time," said the boy with a warm smile. "After the first time, I couldn't stop coming. The cherry blossoms are beautiful, especially at the end of the festival."

"What happens at the end of the festival?" asked Yang.

"They fall," said the boy. "It's amazing to watch. I hope you get to stick around and see it for yourself. It's like watching a storm of pink snow. It has to be one of the most amazing sights in the world."

"Well, it sounds like we're gonna be here for the week anyway, so I think so," said Yang.

"That's wonderful," said the boy. "What are you here for?"

"We're Huntresses," explained Yang. "I came here with my team. We got a request for assistance because there was this big surge in Grimm activity...but then they vanished before we got here. Weird, huh?"

"I suppose," said the boy, taking a sip of his juice. "I'm glad they did leave. After all, it's not as though this festival could be postponed, and still be such a wonderful experience."

"I guess that's true," said Yang with a giggle. "It's not as though the trees could be made to put off flowering."

The boy laughed and nodded his agreement.

Yang had to admit that the boy was pleasant company. He had a gentle voice, and a kind demeanor. Yet she also got the indication that he was a lot stronger than he let on. Granted, the sword might have had something to do with that. It wasn't the most impressive thing in the world. Yang had seen bigger ones, including her uncle's blade and Yatsuhashi's massive weapon. The boy's sword was long, but not as wide or heavy looking as either of those other weapons. She wondered just how good he was with it.

 _Maybe he'll spar with me sometime this week,_ she thought. Depending on how good he was, it might be fun.

Thinking about sparring with him or even meeting with him again while this event was ongoing made Yang realize that she'd missed a crucial part of their mutual introductions. "By the way, my name's Yang Xiao Long," she said. "What's yours?"

The boy laughed awkwardly, momentarily reminding Yang of the mayor before scratching the back of his head and grinning sheepishly. "I'm sorry," he said. "I was so excited to have company that I forgot the basics. My name is Kyo…Mibu Kyo."

* * *

 **Well now, as I said at the beginning, this was started back before Volume 4 had even started airing. As a consequence, many of the plot and character developments that took place in Volume 4, and the subsequent volumes, did not find their way into this story. So there are no references to the Relics, or Ozpin being the Wizard (honestly, until it was confirmed in Volume 5, I really thought it was a red herring), and no Oscar, no Raven being the Spring Maiden, and...well...a whole lot of stuff. Back when I started this story, the official statement about Ozpin's status, in the wake of Volume 3, was "It's complicated." So I opted to assume he was taken captive in some manner. Don't think too hard about it.**

 **I tried to squeeze in stuff from later volumes as I went along, but only if I could make it fit into my story as is. I'll try and keep you updated on the discrepancies as they appear. You might as well consider this story an AU of sorts.**

 **Having said that, the fight against Salem is mostly referenced in this story as a Noodle Incident, that is to say, this thing that happened, but will hardly ever be elaborated on beyond a few basic facts, and the fact that our heroes won. Team RWBY went back to Beacon for their third year (which, considering the way the series is progressing, is hardly feasible in the canon timeline), which is where our story starts off.**

 **Finally, onto the crossover elements. This story is a kinda...sorta...quasi-crossover with one of my favorite manga series, _Samurai Deeper Kyo_. (There was also an anime...but we don't talk about the anime...ever.) I use all those qualifiers because hardly any of the actual characters from that series appear in this story, with over ninety-percent of the cast with any ties to SDK being OCs. As part of the setting, I've appropriated one of the fan theories about Remnant being a future version of Earth, and ran with it. Thus, the events of SDK are something that takes place way in the distant past of the RWBY world.**

 **The upside of this is that very little knowledge, if any, about _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ , is required to enjoy this story. I've always felt that a good crossover should be accessible to fans of either of the component series, without requiring fans of one to have intimate knowledge of the other. I hope I've successfully managed that here.**

 **This story will be updated every other day, so look for the next chapter on Monday.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

"There you are," said Weiss as she and Blake reached Ruby, who had just exited the inn after confirming her team's lodgings.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Ruby.

"Where's Yang?" asked Blake.

"She went ahead to the festival," said Ruby. "We'll catch up to her in a little bit."

"So, we're staying?" asked Weiss.

Ruby nodded, giving them a wan smile. "Professor Ozpin didn't exactly give us a choice in the matter." She briefly explained what Ozpin had told her.

"It makes sense," said Blake. She smiled and rested a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "You really could do with a rest."

"I guess..." said Ruby with a sigh. She looked down at her feet and frowned. "Though...if I was gonna go to a festival, I would have liked to have Jaune with me."

"I know the feeling," said Blake, Weiss nodding her own head in agreement.

Ruby felt a faint stirring of guilt in her gut. After all, she and Jaune went to Beacon together. They saw each other nearly every day, unless one or both their teams were out on missions. Blake and Weiss, on the other hand, had the misfortune of falling for Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasillias, two boys from Haven. While they had worked with Ruby and the others during their fight against Salem, the boys had returned to Haven with their team to finish their own schooling. From what Ruby saw and heard, the long-distance relationship was trying for all the parties involved, but they were making it work, especially Blake and Sun.

"So...I guess we should go try to meet up with Yang," said Ruby.

"That does seem like a plan," said Blake.

"Although," said Weiss, "if you still want to do something more Huntress-related, there is something we could do."

"Weiss," said Blake in a warning tone, "I think we should follow Professor Ozpin's advice on this. Let's not stress ourselves out."

"I'm just presenting Ruby with some additional options," said Weiss indignantly.

"What option?" asked Ruby.

"Oh...a little bounty hunting," said Weiss with a small smirk on her face.

"Bounty hunting?" said Ruby, her eyebrows rising. She wasn't a big fan of the idea. It wasn't uncommon for Huntsmen and Huntresses to hunt down wanted criminals, in addition to their usual work fighting the Grimm. Ruby had always felt that that kind of work was best left to the authorities of any given Kingdom, suspecting that Huntsmen infringing on their territory tended to ruffle more feathers for the police than it soothed when criminals were brought in. On the other hand, the bounties that Huntsmen went after were the worst of the worst, the likes of Roman Torchwick and Cinder Fall, the latter of whom still sat just below the top of the list, with the second-highest bounty ever offered in Remnant's history. Other bounties included rogue Huntsmen and Huntresses who had left behind their legitimate work, and turned their skills at violence towards those weaker than them. Those people needed a Huntsman to bring them in, Ruby supposed.

But...unless the bounty in question was Cinder, Ruby wasn't certain she was interested. There was only one other person on the list who had her attention, and she knew that the chances of finding him were absurdly remote.

"You see," said Weiss, oblivious to Ruby's internal deliberation, "we had an interesting talk with one of the soldiers manning the wall. Apparently the Grimm fleeing the area in time for the festival is an annual affair. And, according to that soldier, it can apparently be attributed to a person who visits every year to see the cherry blossoms."

"But what does that have to do with bounty hunting?" asked Ruby.

"Well, our soldier friend gave us a fairly substantial hint," said Weiss. "He mentioned that this person has 'demon eyes.' Sound familiar?"

Ruby's eyes opened wide and she fixed her gaze on Weiss, while Blake glowered at the heiress from behind. "Are you sure?" asked Ruby.

"Well, it's nothing definite," said Weiss. "But I don't think it's entirely out of the question that he might be here. So...if there aren't any Grimm to fight, and we're going to be stuck here for a week anyway, why don't we see if we can nab ourselves a billion-lien bounty?"

Weiss opened up her scroll and showed Ruby the bounty in question. Ruby looked at the bounty, her face as hard as stone, her silver eyes cold, like quenched steel. "Yeah...why don't we."

It was the highest bounty ever offered in the history of Remnant, the most wanted criminal in the world...the only person aside from Cinder that Ruby would ever consider hunting.

"Demon Eyes Kyo..."

* * *

"I wonder where the girls are," said Yang, looking around. She and Kyo had finished their lunch a while ago and were now lounging under the tree. The day passed by lazily and Yang actually felt her eyes drooping as she leaned against the trunk, watching the pink mass of flowers hanging above her sway lazily in the light breeze.

"I'm sure they'll find you in time," said Kyo calmly, laying on his back on the grass, staring up at the canopy. "This town isn't very large, so there would only be so many places to look, especially if they know you're at the festival."

"True," said Yang her smile widening. Generally, this wasn't her particular idea of a good time. Yang was a true party girl. She liked going into town, finding a good bar, and getting a good buzz. If that buzz came with a nice brawl on the side, she was in heaven. On the other hand, she also realized that it had been a long time since she'd just sat back and taken things easy. This festival seemed like the perfect occasion for laying back and watching the world go by. The flowering trees were mesmerizing in their beauty. Yang felt she could stare at them for hours. Kyo wasn't bad company for that sort of relaxation. He was quiet and tranquil, his presence almost a soothing balm.

Yang yawned and stretched, her prosthetic arm clicking and whirring in the process, drawing Kyo's eyes to her. "Oh," he said softly. "I didn't realize you had one of those."

"Is something wrong with that?" asked Yang a trifle defensively. It wouldn't have been the first time that someone had taken exception to her prosthetic limb. Opinions on such things varied. Some reacted as though the limb were ugly, or at least unsettling, mainly because they knew that it concealed the stump of where Yang's flesh and blood arm had once been before Adam Taurus had cut it off. Those were civilians, the boys Yang had occasionally tried to pick up being disconcerted that she took off her arm before going to bed.

Amongst Huntsmen, there were two differing camps. Some, usually those with conditions like Yang's, considered such a limb to be a mark of pride, a symbol of their dedication and perseverance, their determination to not even allow a missing limb to stop them from fulfilling their mission. Others considered it a symbol of weakness, a sign that the Huntsman or Huntress who had lost the limb had been remiss, weak, or clumsy, and that the prosthetic was a symbol of their inadequacy. Fortunately, those in the latter camp were among the minority, even among Huntsmen and Huntresses who hadn't lost a part of their body.

"I don't see a problem with it," said Kyo. "May I see it?"

Yang nodded and rolled back the sleeve of her coat, letting Kyo examine the arm. "It's an elegant design," said Kyo. "I think it suits you."

"Thanks," said Yang, blushing. That had been the first time someone outside of her doctor or the arm's engineer had shown such an interest in the limb, much less used such a favorable description for it.

"May I ask what happened?" inquired Kyo.

"Sure," said Yang. "I...got careless. Do you remember when Beacon Fell a couple years back?"

Kyo nodded, which didn't surprise Yang. She was certain nearly everybody remembered Beacon's fall, regardless of whether they had been there or not. After all, the loss of Beacon had also meant the loss of Vale's CCT Tower and, consequently, the loss of the entire network, cutting off all four Kingdoms and all the outlying settlements from each other. The resulting fallout had been devastating, especially for numerous smaller settlements, and even large towns or villages, outside the Kingdom borders. The loss of communication had brought about confusion and panic, which had naturally drawn the Grimm like flies to rotting flesh. Several such settlements had disappeared practically overnight following the disaster.

"Well I was there," said Yang. "During the fight, my partner, Blake, had gotten in a fight with the White Fang's leader, Adam Taurus. When I found her, he was standing over her, practically torturing her in front of my eyes." She looked down in shame. "I realized too late that it was a bait, that he'd made Blake scream to draw me in. I just rushed in without even knowing what I was getting myself into. But he used his Semblance to cut my arm off before I even realized what had happened."

"I see," said Kyo, his hand moving up to trace the plates that overlapped over Yang's arm. Despite the fact that her arm had been severed a short distance above the elbow, Yang's prosthetic enveloped the stump, covering it up all the way to her shoulder. It was a feature to keep the point where the prosthetic joined her flesh and blood from being targeted. It also made Yang feel a bit more secure as it made her arm look less...incomplete.

"I lost it because I was stupid," said Yang sadly. "I'd always been like that, letting my fists do the thinking for me, and jumping without looking."

"Perhaps," said Kyo with a small smile, still running his fingers along Yang's arm. "But the fact remains that you are still alive."

"Huh?" Yang blinked and looked at Kyo in confusion. His warm, crimson eyes met hers and his smile widened.

"Scars are like lessons," said Kyo. "They show you where your defenses failed, where you discovered your current limitations. If you take the lesson to heart and learn from it, you don't acquire the same scar twice. Even a lost limb, like yours, is just another kind of scar in the end. You overcame that limitation and emerged stronger and wiser from it, am I right?"

"Yeah," said Yang, a smile returning to her own face. It was the first time someone outside her personal circle of friends had offered such a glowing, positive insight into her situation.

Kyo withdrew his hand from Yang's arm and settled back. Yang's eyes flicked curiously to the sword beside him. "So what do you do?" she asked.

"Me?" asked Kyo, his eyes going wide with confusion. Yang nodded. Kyo laughed that awkward laugh of his again. "I travel."

"Travel...doing what?" asked Yang.

Kyo shrugged. "I go places...I meet people...I see various things. I don't have a job, per-se. I tend to just wander around." He blushed and laughed awkwardly again. "I guess that must seem silly compared to a Huntress like you. I don't really have any direction in life right now."

Yang looked away from him and out over the park again, wondering how she actually did feel about that. It seemed silly on the surface, but she knew the feeling of being adrift, lost in the world without a sense of direction, not knowing what you wanted to do with your life. That had been her feeling after first losing her arm. The loss of her arm had been the culmination of an entire sequence of events that had led up to the Fall of Beacon. First, she had been framed during the Vytal Festival Tournament by Mercury and Emerald, Cinder's two cohorts, causing people to believe that she had attacked her opponent without provocation, after their match had been concluded. Then they had done even worse to Pyrrha, playing on her anxieties with Emerald's hallucinations until Pyrrha lost control of her Semblance and "killed" Penny the first time. And then, of course, after that had come the Fall, Pyrrha's death, and Yang's injury.

That sequence of events had destroyed the pillars of Yang's existence. For years, she had longed for an adventurous existence, where she could galavant across the globe, doing all sorts of exciting things, living in such a way that she'd have no idea what life would throw at her next. In a sense...that was exactly what she had gotten. The world had been thrown into chaos, there was no way of telling what would happen. The possibilities were endless...and it was the most miserable thing that Yang had ever experienced. As a result, she'd lost her drive for a while...until she'd managed to remember what truly mattered, and rediscovered her willingness to fight for it.

"I think it's okay to be lost sometimes," she said.

"Well...right now I seem to excel at going out of my way to get lost," said Kyo with another awkward laugh. "Though, I expect to hear from my family soon. They'll probably want me to come back to visit."

"Your family?" asked Yang. "Where do they live?"

"Our home is northwest of Vale, in Leng" said Kyo. "It's near the tip of the dragon's tail."

Yang frowned, recalling the location on a rough mental map of Remnant. She wasn't sure if she remembered a particular settlement in that location.

"You probably haven't heard of it," said Kyo.

"What's it called?" asked Yang.

"It's-" Kyo's answer was cut off by Yang's scroll buzzing.

Yang pulled it out of her pocket and looked at it, surprised to see that Ruby was calling her. "Hey, Sis. What's up? I've been waiting for you and the others."

" _Where are you, Yang?_ " asked Ruby. " _We need to talk._ "

Yang's eyebrows rose and she found herself frowning at the serious tone of Ruby's voice. "I'm over in the park under the really big tree in the middle. Are Weiss and Blake with you?"

" _Yeah,_ " said Ruby. " _Listen, we need to-_ "

"Then get your butts over here," said Yang eagerly. "You don't want to miss this."

Silence greeted her for a moment and Yang thought Ruby was going to protest. But then she heard Ruby sigh. " _Okay. We're coming._ "

"See ya soon," said Yang, hanging up the scroll.

"Your sister?" asked Kyo, looking at her.

"Yeah," said Yang. "She's two years younger than me, but she got into Beacon at the same time I did. She's the leader of our team. I think it'd be fun for you to meet her."

"I look forward to it," said Kyo.

* * *

"Look, Ruby, I don't think you should try so hard at this," said Blake. "You really should take the chance to get some rest and relax a little."

"I will," Ruby promised absently. "But I don't want to miss this chance. If it's real, if he really is here...Then this is our chance! I won't let him get away."

"Ruby..." Even Weiss, despite being the one to propose the idea in the first place, was getting a little worried.

"After everything he did, there's no way we can ignore him," declared Ruby. "If he's here, then I'm gonna avenge Penny, no matter what. If he's not here, then we can..." Her voice trailed off as she, Blake, and Weiss reached the edge of the park. "Whoa..." said Ruby, her eyes threatening to explode out of her head at the vibrant display of the cherry trees in full bloom.

"Amazing," gasped Weiss. "This should be one of the most famous landmarks in Remnant. It's practically criminal that beauty like this isn't recognized worldwide."

"It certainly is incredible," said Blake. "The mayor wasn't underselling it. Yang was right to call us out here."

"She said she was in the middle of the park by the really big tree," said Ruby, setting off down a path. "Let's go find it."

As she walked, Ruby felt the anger and determination that had welled up within her at the suggestion of the criminal's presence ebb away, replaced by warm admiration for the stunning beauty around her. It was as though the pink color washing across the trees had washed across her own soul, cleansing it.

"That must be the one she was talking about," said Blake, her keen faunus eyes spying the tree already. "There she is...Who's that with her?"

"What are you seeing?" asked Weiss squinting. They were too far away for her to make out details, but Weiss could tell that Yang was sitting next to someone, dressed in black.

"It's a boy," said Blake. "I can't tell much else about him. He has a sword with him though."

"Ooh! Maybe Yang's found herself a boyfriend," said Ruby excitedly. Granted, given that it was someone she had probably just met, Yang clearly wouldn't be in a relationship with him at the moment. But it would give Ruby and the others prime teasing material for the rest of the week and when they got back to Beacon.

"If he's armed, then perhaps he is a Huntsman," said Weiss.

"I thought there weren't any in town," said Blake. "That was why they called for us in the first place."

"Yes...well..." Weiss tried to fish for an answer to that, but didn't have one. She supposed they'd just have to wait until they met the boy.

As they got closer, Yang spotted them and waved them over. "Hey!" she shouted.

At the sound of Yang's voice, the boy looked in the direction Yang was looking in, his luminous crimson eyes meeting those of Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. The three young Huntresses stopped with shocked gasps. Weiss took another look down at the profile on her scroll to confirm her suspicions before looking up again.

"It's him!"

Ruby's hand blurred behind her and she whipped out her weapon. Crescent Rose clicked and whirred menacingly as the massive scythe unfolded. She spun the weapon in her grip before leveling the barrel at Demon Eyes Kyo.

"Yang! Get away from him, now!"

"Ruby! What are you-?" asked Yang, her jaw dropping at her sister's unexpected ferocity. She looked over at Kyo…who seemed completely unbothered by the high-caliber sniper rifle pointing right at his head. "Kyo…?"

Weiss and Blake moved quickly, drawing their own weapons, they dashed to flank Kyo from either side, leveling their blades at him. "You're under arrest," said Weiss.

"Is that so?" asked Kyo rhetorically.

"What's going on?" asked Yang, looking at her friends in confusion.

"You need to pay attention, Yang!" snapped Weiss. "This is the most-wanted criminal in all of Remnant, the billion-lien bounty…Demon Eyes Kyo."

Yang froze and stared at Kyo. It had never even occurred to her. She had only ever glanced passingly at the bounty lists, usually to check if Cinder or Adam had gotten caught yet. She'd completely forgotten that Cinder came in second to one other person. _And he was talking to me the whole time without me realizing it,_ thought Yang. For someone to have earned such an absurdly high bounty, he must have been extremely dangerous. She swallowed nervously.

Despite now having three weapons leveled at him, Kyo didn't seem fazed at all. If anything, he seemed amused, possibly even excited by the prospect of being attacked.

"Leave your sword where it is, and put your hands behind your head," ordered Blake cooly.

Kyo actually grinned. "I think not," he said. Instead, he picked up his sword by its sheath in his left hand and stood up.

"Don't move!" shouted Ruby, baring her teeth and tightening her finger on the trigger. "I'll shoot you!"

"You can try," said Kyo in a disturbingly nonchalant manner. "It's been a while since the last bounty hunter came after me. This might actually be fun. However…" He looked around. "…I would much rather not do it here."

Yang, Blake, and Weiss looked around, remembering they were in the middle of a festival. The moment the weapons had come out, the people nearest to them had scattered with panicked screams. Now a few curious souls had come back, lining the hills, watching the unfolding situation with trepidation.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ruby, her eyes narrowing.

Kyo sighed. "The people of this town work very hard to keep the cherry trees healthy so that they can bloom so beautifully. They are kind enough to allow me to visit every year to see them bloom, so I would not wish to repay their kindness with wanton destruction. If you really wish to fight with me, I know a spot outside the walls where we can do so without causing any problems to our hosts."

"You think I'll trust you?" growled Ruby, tears actually gathering at the corners of her eyes. "After what you did…?"

Kyo canted his head to one side. "What did I do?" he asked. "I don't recall meeting you before."

Ruby let out a snarl that sent chills down Yang's spine. The last time she remembered Ruby looking this murderously angry was the last time they had confronted Cinder. Instead of answering Kyo, Ruby instead reiterated her order. "Drop your sword and surrender…or I'll shoot you dead."

Kyo sighed. "Once again, I would really rather you didn't shoot here." He took a step forward.

Ruby's finger tightened around the trigger as she was about to fire her weapon, only to freeze in place as Kyo was no longer in front of her, but right behind her, seeming to have crossed the distance between them and move behind her in that one step Yang had seen him take. His sword, still in its sheath, was now resting over his left shoulder in a casual manner as Kyo stood calmly behind Ruby, as though he had been there the entire time.

 _He's fast!_ thought Yang in shock. _Faster than Ruby?_

She couldn't be sure. Ruby was blindingly fast, but Yang hadn't even seen a blur when Kyo had moved. It seemed like speed that bordered on teleportation. Or maybe he _had_ teleported...she couldn't be sure.

"As I said, if you're going to insist on fighting, I will insist on doing it somewhere else," said Kyo. He stepped back from Ruby, and began to walk away.

"Wait!" shouted Ruby, turning to bring her weapon to bear. She froze as Kyo turned his head to look over his shoulder at her. He wasn't smiling anymore, and his crimson eyes shined. With it came the force of his will, slamming into Ruby like a battering ram, a wave of murderous intent that carried a tangible force behind it, enough to nearly blow Ruby off her feet all on its own. Crescent Rose nearly dropped from her trembling hands, and she did lower the barrel, her intent to fire all but forgotten.

"Either follow or fall here," said Kyo. "I told you once already that I will not fight you in this place."

Her nerves shocked by Kyo's will, Ruby fell in step behind him, not putting her weapon away, but no longer menacing him with it either.

"Wait," said Yang, looking helplessly at Weiss and Blake, "do we really need to do this?"

"It's what Ruby wants," said Weiss firmly, giving Yang an unusually cold look. "Did you forget already, Yang, just what he did?"

Yang wracked her brain, but Blake spared her the effort. "The Atlesian Seventh," she said. "It's what earned him his bounty in the first place."

"Oh," said Yang, her eyes widening. Then a shock of horror rushed through her as she remembered the incident. The Atlesian Seventh Mobile Brigade, some seven-thousand soldiers, androids, and associated equipment, backed up by a squadron of three Atlesian Seraphim-class warships, models more advanced and powerful than the ones Ironwood had brought to Vale for the Vytal Festival. They had been wiped out by a single person...the boy they were currently following through the town.

They hadn't borne witness to the destruction directly, but they had seen its aftermath. Ozpin had sent them out in a long-range transport at Ruby's insistence, primarily because of the person who had been stationed with the Seventh at the time. Yang remembered the sight. The battlefield was scattered with bodies and the remains of both humans and androids. The mighty warships had been reduced to smoldering wrecks, cleaved into pieces.

But most important of all...

"He's the one that killed Penny," said Weiss, her tone filled with a simmering anger.

Penny Polendina, Atlas' infamous artificial person, the first of her kind capable of producing her own Aura. Penny and Ruby had become friends, their friendship solidifying after Ruby had learned the truth about Penny, and embraced her all the same. But Penny had been destroyed by Pyrrha's out-of-control Semblance attack during the Vytal Festival Tournament. However, following Beacon's Fall, General Ironwood had retrieved Penny's core, which contained her personality and her Aura, and brought it back to Atlas, where her body was rebuilt, newer and stronger. Penny had been an invaluable ally to them during the fight against Salem and, following its end, Ironwood had agreed to allow Penny to transfer to Beacon.

But Penny hadn't gotten the chance. She had been on a mission shadowing an Atlesian Specialist with the Seventh when they had come across Demon Eyes Kyo, who had attacked the brigade and brought it down. Penny had been utterly destroyed in the battle, her core irreparably damaged. Learning the truth had left Ruby nearly catatonic for the better part of a month while she tried to cope with her grief, and she had overcome it only by swearing to make the one who had killed Penny pay.

It had been a blow to them all. They'd all come to see Penny as a friend and comrade, to the point where she had been honorarily inducted as the new P in Team JNPR. But she and Ruby had been especially close, almost to the point where, if Ruby hadn't already had Jaune, Yang wouldn't have been surprised that she'd hooked up with Penny.

Now she had that chance. But it seemed almost surreal to Yang. She looked at Kyo, trying to equate the gentle boy she'd met under the cherry tree to the vicious killer that had wiped out Ironwood's forces and killed one of her sister's best friends. She just couldn't. It didn't seem right somehow, like there was a piece of the puzzle missing.

"Oh ho, it seems like trouble's found you yet again, my boy."

Yang looked up to see the mayor standing in front of them, a congenial smile on his face, completely at odds with the grim feel of the situation. Kyo smiled brightly back at him.

"My apologies for the inconvenience," he said. "As it so happens, it appears my past has caught up to me, Mr. Mayor. I warned you this might happen."

"Well...I can't say I wasn't warned," said the mayor with a sigh before turning his attention to the young Huntresses behind Kyo. "I also can't say I don't understand the position of you ladies, but..."

Weiss' eyes narrowed as she looked pointedly at the mayor. "You knew what he's done, yet you allowed him to enter and stay here without even alerting the authorities. You do realize that you and your administration, plus who knows how many others, could be charged with aiding, abetting, and concealing a wanted criminal, don't you?"

"I realized our actions might have consequences, Missy," said the mayor, his tone hardening. "This boy has been a boon to this town ever since he started coming. We can't overlook that."

"So your festival is more important than upholding the law?" asked Blake, astonished.

"It ain't just the festival," said the mayor. "Do you have any idea what it means to have even a week with a guarantee of no Grimm attacks? They spend the rest of the year wearing us down, little by little, and the only guaranteed respite we get is the brief few days this lad comes to visit us. More than the festival, this is a time for us to rest, recuperate, and rebuild. Weighing that, it's only natural that we would turn a blind eye to the boy. I'm sure the other places he visits feel the same."

"That's ridiculous!" declared Weiss. "I don't care what you say, there's no way a single person can drive off all the Grimm just by showing up. There has to be another explanation to it."

"Well, if you can find it, I'd be mighty obliged," said the mayor darkly. "But, until then, we'll trust the evidence of our own eyes."

"Please," said Kyo, holding up his free hand. "There's no need to begin an argument. Mr. Mayor, you should at least feign ignorance. As it is, I don't think these ladies are inclined to invite further trouble for you, but their issue with me appears to be personal as much as it is professional. They have a grievance to settle with me, and I certainly would be rude not to oblige them."

"So you say, boy," said the mayor with a sigh.

"I'm leading them beyond the town limits, so there shouldn't be any damage done," said Kyo with a cheerful smile. "It's best to get this over with, I certainly don't want to miss the cherry blossoms falling."

A shiver went down Yang's spine. Kyo spoke with the pure, absolute assurance that his victory was beyond question, that his taking them outside of the town was to merely indulge their grudge, something he apparently considered on par with an errand to go pick up the groceries or something similar. Even she couldn't deny feeling irked at being spoken of so dismissively, however strong Kyo might be. Team RWBY had been at the forefront of the battle against the greatest threat to the world since before the time of the Great War. They had faced the most dangerous enemy imaginable. They were not to be taken lightly.

The mayor allowed them to pass, and Kyo led the group out the town gates and into the cleared area just outside the wall. There he turned to face them. Taking his sword off his shoulder, Kyo, with deliberate slowness, closed his fingers about the handle and drew the blade forth from its scabbard. The blade slid out with a metallic grinding noise before clearing the sheath with an eerie ring that made Yang's bones hum.

The sword might have just been a simple sword, but it was a work of art to Yang's eyes. The blade was flawless, showing no chip or scratch, its steel tempered to give it blue highlights that set off the flowing, rippling, woodgrain-like pattern that ran along the edge. As just a sword, with no extras, it might have been the finest blade Yang had ever laid eyes on from the stance of pure craftsmanship.

What was more, the sword had a strange feel to it. The moment Kyo drew it forth, the air around him seemed to grow more excited, humming with nervous energy, as though the sword itself was eager to fight. Yang pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, almost to the point of closing them, stretching out with the senses she'd spent the better part of the last two years honing, feeling both Kyo and the sword. To her shock and amazement, the sword was alight...almost as though...

"The sword has its own Aura," said Yang, her eyes shooting back open.

"Th-that can't be," said Weiss, doing an inspection of her own before reeling back like she had been struck.

"It does," said Blake, having done the same thing that Yang had.

All three of them stepped back nervously, taken aback by the shocking, seemingly impossible revelation. Only Ruby appeared undaunted, her anger resurfacing as she glared openly at Kyo, not caring how strong he might be.

"You're very observant," said Kyo, with a chuckle as he tossed the scabbard aside. "This is my partner and dearest friend, Tenro. He has been passed down my family line for generations."

"An heirloom, huh?" mused Yang. _That's not too different from Jaune's sword._ But Jaune's sword most definitely didn't have an Aura and it certainly didn't have the sense of power that Kyo's sword seemed to radiate.

Kyo grinned and took up a loose starting stance, leveling the sword at them with one hand, its tip pointed at Ruby in particular. "Now then," he said, an eagerness to his tone that made Yang shiver, "let's begin."

Ruby tensed, not needing the invitation. Instead, she leveled Crescent Rose behind her and pulled the trigger, firing a shot in conjunction with her semblance. She rocketed at Kyo, leaving a stream of scattering red petals in her wake. She closed with Kyo with blinding speed, putting all her momentum into the scythe as she swung it at Kyo's neck.

Kyo simply rotated his wrist, bringing the sword around and up in a parry to intercept Ruby's slash, somehow managing to make the motion look lazy, despite the fact that he executed it with such blinding speed that the blade became a shining arc in the air before it froze in place to stop Ruby's scythe. Kyo's sword met Ruby's weapon at the point where the blade joined with the shaft, the scythe's blade now angled around behind Kyo's neck.

Ruby pulled the trigger again, this time using the recoil in conjunction with a mighty pull as she sought to pull the blade back through Kyo's neck and take his head off. Kyo relaxed his body and ducked beneath her blade as Crescent Rose became a red and ebony blur passing over his head. Not wasting the momentum the shot had imparted into her weapon, Ruby turned her pull into a spin, bringing the blade around again, aiming to slash Kyo from his shoulder to his hip in a downwards, diagonal slice.

Kyo shifted his weight, leaning to the side and allowing Ruby's blade to pass within inches of his body. Ruby spun her weapon about again, attacking Kyo with a variety of dizzying angles, also trying to line up shots with the rifle to hit Kyo, even when he dodged the blade. Kyo's form doubled, then tripled, then seemed to multiply even further as he danced in place, Crescent Rose cleaving through his afterimages, but always leaving its real target unharmed.

"Let's go!" shouted Weiss, drawing Myrtenaster and skating forwards, her lunge carrying her across the ground, the point of her rapier leading like the head of an arrow as she became a streak of white flying at her target.

At the last second, Ruby leaped clear in a jump that carried her up, over, and behind Kyo, opening up the way for Weiss as she thrust Myrtenaster at Kyo's heart. Once again, Kyo shifted to the side so that Weiss' thrust missed him by less than an inch. Weiss allowed her momentum to carry her past Kyo. A snowflake-decorated glyph appeared beneath her feet, launching her straight up into the air. As she went up, Ruby attacked Kyo from behind with a powerful swing of her scythe.

Kyo brought his arm up and over his head so that the blade was angled downward on his left side to catch Ruby's attack. At the same time, Weiss launched herself straight down at him from above with another glyph. Kyo twisted his wrist, throwing the scythe clear and leaping out of the way as Weiss plunged the tip of her blade into the ground.

It proved to be a wise decision, as shards of ice erupted in all directions, Kyo's leap allowing him to just barely avoid being skewered by the jagged shards. Ruby had also backed away, but immediately reversed directions, coming at the ice, firing several shots from her weapon to put herself into a spin that put all her weight and momentum into the move as she swung. The blade of Crescent Rose rotated until it now stretched out from the end of the shaft, rather than off at a right angle as Ruby hit the ice with terrific force. The entire formation shattered, throwing dozens of razor-edged fragments at Kyo like shrapnel.

Kyo's sword flashed through the air, and he cut down or deflected the incoming shards, precisely targeting only the ones that were a threat to him as they buzzed through the air like angry hornets. He seemed completely un-pressured by the attack, his movements still managing to look lazy even as they turned his sword into a shining streak through the air.

There was a flicker of motion behind him, and Blake came at Kyo from behind. She had drawn Gambol Shroud's sword from its sheath, holding the sheath in a reverse grip in her left hand as she thrust the sword in her right at Kyo's back. Still pressured by the shards of ice coming at him from the front, Kyo shouldn't have had the time to spare to answer Blake's attack at his back as well.

However, Kyo showed his impressive speed once more, jumping straight up into the air. Blake was forced to abort her attack as Kyo's dodge now put her in the path of the ice shards flying through the air. At first, she didn't seem fast enough to avoid them and the the frozen shrapnel pierced her body in several places. However, her body then vanished.

Blake had used a shadow, her Semblance not only obscuring her position, but displacing her body, accelerating her upwards in pursuit of Kyo, who spun lazily about to face her. At the same time, Ruby took to the air with a shot from Crescent Rose, launching herself up above Kyo, while Weiss went arrowing straight at him from the ground.

Kyo raised his sword, intercepting Ruby's slash. Even as he blocked, he pushed off with his blade, moving him out of the way of Weiss and Blake's attacks. He descended back towards the ground. Another snowflake glyph, black this time, appeared beneath him and he was sucked down into it and expelled out through the other side. Kyo hit the ground feet first, sinking into a crouch, the force of his landing shattered the earth.

"Yang!" shouted Weiss, her tone indicating what she wanted.

Yang understood. Weiss wanted her to attack while Kyo was still recovering from that hard landing. It made perfect tactical sense. Yang was the one in the best position to hit him. The other girls were in midair and, while their semblances would allow them to change that quickly, Yang was in a better position to strike.

In the past, Yang had never hesitated to throw herself into the brawl, especially if it was alongside her teammates. But now...This was insane. She'd just met Kyo, they'd had a simple conversation and he seemed like a nice guy, but that was no basis for even thinking about not supporting Ruby and the others. But, at the same time, Yang couldn't shake the feeling that they shouldn't be doing this.

Then she saw Kyo's face, his crimson eyes shining, the wistful smile he wore. The truth hit her like a freight train. _He's having fun._

Here was a team of skilled Huntresses trying to bring him down. Heck, Ruby had tried several lethal blows against him, something she normally wouldn't do against another person. But he was acting like he was having the time of his life. Yang got the distinct feeling that he wouldn't mind at all if she waded in.

So she did.

Ember Celica's gauntlet clicked and clanked as it folded down her left arm to cover her fist. On her right arm, it emerged from within her arms own mechanisms. Yang snapped her arms back and fired them, using the recoil to propel herself along the ground at Kyo, her right arm coming up to swing right at his head.

Kyo reacted faster than Yang ever dreamed possible. He leaned back, moving his head just outside the arc of her punch so that her right fist passed within millimeters of the bridge of his nose. She followed up with a punch at his gut, firing her gauntlet for good measure. The fiery burst missed Kyo as he sprang back off the ground, his leap carrying him away from the section of earth that had broken under him.

Yang didn't try to press the attack. She stood up as Ruby, Weiss, and Blake touched down next to her.

"Why'd you stop?" asked Weiss. "We had him on the ropes."

"No we didn't," said Yang, her eyes narrowing, a familiar thrill running through her as she looked at Kyo standing there, smiling at them. "He's hardly even trying right now."

"That can't be right," said Blake.

"All the times you tried to hit him," said Yang, addressing her question to all three of them, "has he tried to hit you back yet?"

That made them stop. Yang saw Ruby's fingers tighten around the shaft of Crescent Rose. The tip of Weiss' rapier began to waver and Blake took a nervous step back.

"He isn't taking this seriously," growled Ruby, glaring at Kyo with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm taking this very seriously," said Kyo with that whimsical smile of his. "But, it is possible to take something seriously, and still enjoy doing it." His expression changed, his smile going from something childlike to something much more determined. "As Yang has said, I haven't fought back yet. I wanted to see how good the four of you were. I'm quite impressed. Now..." He raised his sword, holding it horizontally across his body. "We fight for real."

* * *

 **Not a whole lot to say about this chapter, as it's introducing everyone and giving a little insight into their characters. We haven't seen a lot of what Kyo can do yet, as expected for what's only the second chapter of this story.**

 **As for Yang's arm, that was an idea I've had for a while. With prosthetics being used in combat, the point where the prosthetic meets the wielder's flesh and blood has always struck me as a weak point, so it seemed to be a natural idea for Yang's arm to include armor to cover that point of contact. This being Remnant, and transforming weapons being the norm, having such armor unfold out to cover her upper-arm as well seemed like the natural course of things.**

 **Next chapter on Wednesday.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

Yang felt that shiver down her spine again when Kyo spoke. It wasn't a frightened shiver, or an angry one. It was a shiver of pure excitement. She could feel her heartbeat speeding up, felt the blood rushing through her veins. Her own pulse drummed through her ears and Yang's fist clenched. Her arms burned with the urge to attack, to punch.

 _I...I haven't felt like this in a long time,_ she thought. She thought she'd left that part of her behind with the remains of her right arm. This was the Yang she had been before her injury, living for excitement, fighting for the thrill of it. After losing her arm, she had forced herself to be more careful, more cautious. She couldn't play the rebellious thrill-seeker anymore. She had a responsibility to Ruby, to her other teammates, to everyone, to do the best she could, to take care of herself and those around her.

But looking at Kyo, hearing his voice, and seeing his earnest enjoyment of four people fighting him seriously, Yang felt that old part of her rushing back.

Not waiting for Ruby and the others, Yang charged forward, getting far enough ahead of her friends to fire her gauntlets and launch herself into the air, coming down in an arc at Kyo. She swung her fist down, watching as he slipped effortlessly to the side. Her right fist slammed into the ground and fired, unleashing a powerful explosive shockwave that threw up the earth all around her. The tremors should have knocked Kyo off-balance, and she turned, ready to press the attack. Then she saw him.

Kyo had somehow weathered her impact and stayed upright. Instead, he had turned his body, and was swinging his sword at her in a horizontal slash. His smile had become a full grin, an expression that almost seemed savage in nature. At this point, Yang had no room to dodge. Her only hope was to raise her left gauntlet and catch the blow.

The hit threw her off her feet and sent her flying. Yang slammed into the ground over ten meters away, plowing a furrow through the earth before slowly skidding to a stop. The air had been blown out of her lungs by the impact and Yang had to fight for a moment to refill them. She'd been hit with incredible force. Kyo's strength rivaled the impact of Roman Torchwick's Paladin, the night they'd fought him in that beastly machine. Yang got to her feet, feeling the power welling up inside her as her Semblance fed off the force of the impact. _Not yet,_ she thought. It wasn't yet time to unleash her power. Another hit from Kyo could push it even further.

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake had watched in shock as Yang had taken the lead. When Kyo had knocked her away, they had immediately charged in, trying to overwhelm him. Ruby led, using her Semblance to close in on Kyo with incredible speed. Rather than come right at him, she instead began to rapidly circle him, her passage surrounding Kyo with a red blur, the winds coming with it threatening to pull him upwards.

Weiss drove the tip of her sword into the ground. A white sigil appeared beneath Kyo's feet, turning brilliant orange before a cyclone of flames engulfed him, fanned by the the winds generated by Ruby's Semblance. At the same time, Blake leapt upwards, her jump taking her towards the powerful cyclone, waiting for Kyo to try and escape out of it.

Kyo's grin only widened. He didn't even seem bothered by the flames. Instead, he opened his mouth. "HAH!" With a shout, his Aura exploded out around him, blasting away the flames created by Weiss' Dust, knocking Ruby off-balance so that she tripped, her own speed and momentum becoming her undoing as she went tumbling across the earth. Blake was knocked back, and hit the ground hard.

Turning, Kyo saw Yang charging right at him, fist raised once again. This time, Yang unleashed a flurry of punches, trying to overwhelm Kyo with a large number of attacks. Just as he had with Ruby, he dodged with frightening speed, his form seeming to double, then triple, as he danced between her fists. He danced back, disengaging. Yang tried to stay with him and keep pressing the attack, but she just wasn't fast enough. She saw a flash out of the corner of her eye, and spotted Tenro coming at her head again.

Yang's eyes widened as she noticed something. Given the flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye, the sword should have struck her already. Yet now she had enough room to spare to put up her gauntlet to block it. _Is he deliberately slowing his attacks down?_

Yang put up her right gauntlet, bracing her body against the power of Kyo's blow. It was enough to keep her from being blown off her feet again…only just. Her feet dug trenches through the ground as she was driven back. Within her, the power of her Semblance surged and boiled. Yang could feel some of the excess escaping her, like steam from a boiling kettle. Her hair was already shining, glowing motes of light escaping off it.

Ruby, Blake, and Weiss closed in, trying to catch Kyo from all sides. Once again, he moved with jaw-dropping speed, dancing between their strikes, reacting to attacks that came from outside his field of vision just as easily as he did to ones that were right in front of him. Abruptly, he went on the attack, executing another horizontal strike.

Yang's eyes widened. From her more distant vantage point, she could see it clearly. Kyo's attack started fast, but slowed down just as it came close enough for Ruby to see it. Ruby had enough time to put up Crescent Rose and catch Kyo's attack on its shaft, but was blown away all the same. Weiss was next. The blow was too fast for her to dodge, forcing her to block.

Weiss' fingers flicked out and a small glyph appeared between her and Kyo's sword. However, Kyo's blade cleaved the glyph in two.

 _How is that even possible?_ wondered Yang. Kyo's sword had cut right through a manifestation of someone's Semblance. She hadn't even thought something like that could be done.

Weiss was forced to put her blade up to block and was sent flying like Ruby. Blake was last. Blake created a shadow, darting back as the Dust worked into her shadow solidified it into stone. Kyo's sword cleaved through that just as easily as Weiss' glyph was earlier. But at least Blake had been spared from being thrown away like Weiss and Ruby had.

Blake immediately reversed direction and charged back in. Kyo slashed at her, but cut through Blake's shadow instead. Blake was displaced upward by her shadow and went over Kyo's head. As Kyo turned to face her, Blake's body suddenly seemed to move in two directions at once. She seemed to spin clockwise, slashing at Kyo with the katana in her right hand, but also counterclockwise, attacking him with the broader, heavier sheath in her left.

Kyo dodged back away from Blake's attack and Blake followed him, using another shadow to give herself a brief burst of acceleration. As she closed with him, her arms seemed to multiply. Now she had four, attacking Kyo from the right, left, above, and below simultaneously. Kyo's smile widened again and his sword flashed, the blade moving with lightning speed, somehow picking out Blake's real limbs from her shadow limbs and knocking her attacks away. Blake created another shadow, displacing herself backwards. This shadow was woven with fire Dust, causing it to explode in Kyo's face.

Tenro cut straight down, cleaving the fire shadow in two, the explosion somehow washing to either side of Kyo without touching him. Blake gaped at the feat in complete astonishment. However, Kyo clearly had no intention of letting her simply stand there. He darted forward, his sword flying at her in a backhanded slash. Blake tried to use another shadow to evade, but Kyo had her number now. Blake only had time to dodge straight backwards, so Kyo took another two steps forward as he swung, bringing his face to within inches of the shadow's, keeping Blake within reach of his long sword. Blake crossed the sword and sheath of Gambol Shroud to take the blow. But, being in mid dodge, Blake had nothing to brace herself against and she was launched away to slam into the ground with a crash.

 _It's time to go all out,_ thought Yang, slamming her fists together. A nimbus of golden flames exploded out from her body, and her hair shined. The sound and rush of power drew Kyo's attention, and his eyes widened in shock as they met hers.

Rub, Weiss, and Blake also gaped at the sight. This was far from the first time they'd seen Yang's Semblance, of course. But now, they were struck with a revelation.

"They have the same eyes," gasped Weiss.

Indeed, Yang's eyes were that same blazing crimson color as Kyo's. It was only natural to find his eyes unnerving, but to see Yang standing there as well, with her eyes shining with that strange, eerie color, really made it clear how unusual they really were.

However, Kyo's next word made it clear that his shock was for a different reason as Yang charged at him. "Raven...?"

"What?" Yang's question was accompanied by a stumble as she completely forgot she was supposed to be on the attack. She took several halting steps, her momentum causing her to nearly pitch forward onto her face. Her hold on her Semblance released, and the accumulated power fled her body in a thick cloud of glowing golden motes that streamed out into the air around her. Yang came to a stop, her eyes returning to their normal lilac color as she stared at Kyo, all interest in the fight completely forgotten. "What did you say?"

Kyo blinked and jolted, as though knocked out of a trance. He let out another awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his head with his left hand. "Ah...sorry. For a moment, you looked like an acquaintance of mine."

"You said Raven," said Yang softly. "How do you know my mother?"

"You're Raven's...daughter?" Now Kyo was the one stunned. "She never mentioned even having one."

Yang's heart shuddered and she struggled to keep tears from leaking out of her eyes. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. The mother who had left her when she was born and never said a word to her, despite their paths occasionally crossing during the battle with Salem; it shouldn't have been surprising that she hadn't said anything about Yang to anyone else. However, Yang forced herself to get over that and refocus on the point. "How do you know my mother?" she repeated.

"We meet occasionally," said Kyo with a small smile. "Our paths cross from time to time, though always at her discretion. I spoke with her about a month ago."

"What does she want with you?" asked Yang.

"Given your condition," said Kyo, "I thought that would be obvious."

"Condition...? What condition?" Yang was baffled.

Kyo blinked, taken aback. "You mean...you don't know...But you have the same eyes as Raven."

"My eyes?" Yang's fingers went up to touch just below her left eye. "What about my eyes?"

Kyo canted his head at her. "Your eyes are the same as Raven's, the same as mine even."

"You mean the way they turn red?" asked Yang. "That's my Semblance, isn't it?"

"Oh...I see," said Kyo, leaning back slightly. "That explains a lot actually. You assumed that your eyes and your Semblance are one and the same."

"You mean they aren't?" asked Yang.

"HEY!" They were cut off by an angry shout from Ruby, who brandished Crescent Rose, glaring at Kyo. "Our fight's not over yet," she said, her eyes narrowing.

"Hold on, Ruby," protested Yang. "You can't..."

Kyo sighed and lifted his sword, letting the back of the blade rest across his right shoulder. "It's a shame, but I'm afraid the moment has been lost," he said. "Do you really wish to continue this?"

"Of course I do!" snapped Ruby. "I'm not letting you get away. Not after what you did."

"What did I do?" asked Kyo.

"You destroyed the Atlesian Seventh," said Weiss. "All those lives, and you snuffed them out like they were nothing."

"Well, they were trying to kill me at the time," said Kyo calmly. "I can't stand for that. I kill those who try to kill me. That's all there was to it."

"What did you do to provoke them?" demanded Blake.

"Provoke them...?" Kyo blinked, genuinely confused. "I was just wandering when they accosted me. I'd even met a new friend at the time..."

"Why?" demanded Ruby. "Why did you kill Penny?"

"Penny...?" Kyo blinked again. "You mean Penny Polendina?"

"That's right," said Weiss. "You killed her, back when you destroyed the Seventh."

"Oh...that's right," said Kyo. "I didn't realize you knew her. She was a nice girl. I rather liked her."

Yang felt a chill go down her spine about Kyo's casual reference to someone he'd killed.

"Why?" demanded Ruby again. "Why did you kill her?"

Unable to wait for an answer, she dashed at Kyo, turning into a red streak across the ground as she once again lunged at him, swinging Crescent Rose and aiming the tip for Kyo's neck.

Kyo didn't dodge, didn't try to parry. Instead, he raised his left hand and used to catch the blade of Ruby's scythe, clenching his fingers around the blade, letting the edge bite into his skin and blood go flying through the air. Ruby tried to push, then pull, doing whatever she could wrestle her weapon from his grip, but Kyo wouldn't let it budge an inch. He looked at Ruby, his expression now looking...sad. "I see," he said. "I'm sorry about your friend."

"Don't apologize," snapped Ruby, a sob forcing its way through her voice. "Tell me why."

"Who told you that I murdered her in cold blood?" asked Kyo.

"General Ironwood, obviously," said Weiss in a huff.

Kyo smiled again, this time his smile looking distinctly sardonic. "The General...that makes sense."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Ruby.

"I killed Penny..." said Kyo, his expression turning sad once again, "...because she asked me to."

Ruby released her grip on Crescent Rose, her eyes going wide, tears running feely out of them. Kyo let go of the blade and the weapon fell to the ground with a clatter. "What?" Ruby tried to wrap her head around what Kyo just said. "Why?"

"Don't listen to him," protested Weiss, leveling Myrtenaster at him again. "He's lying. He just wants to get out of this."

"Um...would he really need to lie?" asked Blake, giving Weiss a skeptical look.

She had a point. After all, Kyo had been batting them around like it was nothing, for the entirety of their fight. His speed, strength, and precision were all in a class of their own and he wasn't even going close to all out.

"But why would Penny want to die?" asked Ruby.

"Well..." Kyo looked around. "Um...maybe we should do this elsewhere. We seem to have gained an audience."

The Huntresses looked back towards the town and saw that the perimeter wall was lined with civilians, who had come to watch the fight. From this distance, their expressions were unreadable, but Yang got the distinct impression that Team RWBY wasn't the ones their spectators were rooting for.

Yang looked to Ruby, who was clearly undecided. Tears had left tracks down her face and she was panting for breath. Yang knew that Ruby could go longer and harder than she just had, but her emotional state had drained her even more than her physical exertions had.

Yang walked up to Ruby's side and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Let's hear what he has to say," she said softly. Besides, Yang had questions of her own.

* * *

They ended up returning to the inn. It took a few words from Kyo to disperse the crowd, but people let them go on their way. Yang couldn't shake the distinct sense that they'd gone and made themselves very unwelcome by attacking him. But then, if what they said about Kyo making the Grimm flee was true, then she could understand that somewhat.

Like them, Kyo had a room at the inn. It was small and cheap, though Yang got the impression that it had been given to him by the innkeeper, free of charge, and that he would have been given a much nicer room if he'd asked for it. However, Kyo seemed to not want to be a burden on his hosts.

"So..." said Kyo, "I suppose we should start with Penny."

"That's right," said Ruby firmly, wiping her eyes. "What do you mean she asked you to kill her? Penny wasn't suicidal."

"Things can change," said Kyo. "I met her when I was wandering the regions around Atlas. Tell me, what did the General tell you about her death?"

"She was shadowing a specialist in the Seventh," said Weiss.

"Wrong," said Kyo. "When I met Penny, she wasn't with the General's fleet. In fact, she was running away _from_ it."

"What?" snapped Blake. "Are you saying that Penny was running from the Atlesian forces? Why?"

"That's...tricky to explain," said Kyo. "Penny didn't get the chance to tell me all of what was going on. She said that the General had no intention of allowing her to leave Atlas, and had already killed her father."

"Penny's father...dead?" Ruby was waxing into a state of shock.

"If I recall, it was supposed to be only a few days before the Seventh was destroyed," said Weiss, frowning. "But the official report was that it was a lab accident."

Kyo shook his head. "Penny told me that her father had wanted to allow her to go to Beacon, while the General wanted to run more experiments on her to try and make more robots like her. She said she was going to be trapped in a lab and experimented on for the rest of her life."

"Then why didn't she come to us?" asked Ruby, tears running freely down her face. "We could have protected her..."

"She was afraid that the General would come for her, even if she was at Beacon," said Kyo. "She was certain that he might even be willing to go to war over her."

"That's..." Weiss' protest died on her lips. In her more recent exchanges with Winter, Winter had noted that Ironwood had changed over the past year. The failure of the Atlesian forces to prevent the Fall of Beacon, and the fact that the conflict with Salem was ultimately resolved by a small group of Huntsmen and Huntresses operating on their own, had undermined his confidence in his forces. Rather than take the opportunity to re-examine Atlas's militaristic stance, Ironwood had come to the conclusion that even _more_ power was necessary to protect his nation, and the world at large. He had rammed through numerous sweeping reforms, expanding the size of the military, edging out the Atlas Council, securing more power for himself.

Weiss could see Ironwood rethinking allowing Penny to come to Beacon in light of his new outlook on life. She could likewise see him going to extreme lengths to keep her from getting away. Furthermore, with the 'relationship' between him and Vale's Council, it was likely that he wouldn't even need the threat of war. Vale's Council was likely to give Ironwood whatever he wanted at this point.

"So Penny asked you to kill her instead?" said Ruby.

"She did," said Kyo. "She did say to tell her friends, if I ever ran into them, that she was sorry."

Ruby sniffled. Then she broke down crying. Yang was at her side immediately, throwing her arms around Ruby and holding her tightly, gently rocking her back and forth as they sat on the bed in Kyo's room.

"I'm gonna take Ruby to her room," said Yang, helping her sister up. "I think she needs some quiet after this."

"Okay," said Weiss and Blake, looking at Kyo, who returned their looks with their own sad expression. They waited for the door to close behind Yang and Ruby before turning to Kyo with their own reservations.

"How can we be sure you're telling the truth?" asked Weiss, glaring at Kyo.

"Well...to be honest..." Kyo shrugged. "You _can't_. I do not have any tangible proof to offer you here and now. So, as things stand, it's my word against the General's and you have no real reason to trust me over him."

"Would Penny really choose death?" Blake wondered. "She'd rather die than fight?"

"If it risked her friends and their home, she might think it was the better choice," mused Weiss. Logically, there was no way they could either refute or validate Kyo's story. However, that didn't change the fact that he was an internationally wanted criminal, _the_ internationally wanted criminal...

"Something for you to consider," said Kyo, drawing their attention back to him, "is that for someone like Penny, your definition of death might be different from hers."

"What other definition is there?" asked Weiss. "General Ironwood said that her core was irreparably damaged."

"Perhaps he is not being entirely honest," suggested Kyo. "Or...perhaps he assumes that because he was not able to retrieve it after the battle."

Both Weiss and Blake looked sharply at him. "Does that mean that you have Penny's core?" demanded Weiss.

"I had it," said Kyo. "I turned it over to my homeland to see what they could do with it. I'm waiting to see if they can do anything for her...if there is anything to do at all."

Weiss and Blake frowned, neither of them sure what to do or say.

"But, of course, that doesn't change the General's opinion of me," said Kyo with a different smile, a confident one, one that was almost menacing. "The bounty on me still stands, and I doubt anything you hear or learn will be able to change that, even if you were to bring it to the General. I am still officially the most-wanted criminal in Remnant. That means it is both your right, and obligation, to try and bring me in."

Blake and Weiss threw themselves back away from Kyo, pressing against the walls of the room, striving to get as far away from him as they could. There was no reasoning or logic behind it. It was a purely instinctual reaction, one born of reflex. Kyo's Aura flooded out from him, filling the room, almost seeming to displace the air itself. It was crushing, suffocating, overwhelming. The two girls struggled to find their breath as the force of Kyo's presence pressed down upon them.

"Of course," said Kyo, his smile widening, "I will be too happy to allow you to continue trying. But know that I shall resist you. If you decide to try again, I pray that you are up to the task." His eyes blazed like miniature crimson stars on his face, their light intensifying with each word he spoke.

The force of his Aura relented and the two girls rushed to the door, practically throwing themselves out into the hall and slamming it shut behind them. Weiss collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath, while Blake leaned against the far wall, needing it to hold herself upright.

"He...he's a monster," said Weiss.

"I've never felt anything so powerful before," said Blake, "not from Cinder, not even from Salem."

Cinder Fall was not only the greatest threat to the peace of the world, but also the current Fall Maiden. Her powers were a force that some outright defined as _magic_ , defying the logic of Aura and Semblance. But Kyo's Aura alone seemed to be on a completely different plane. That feeling they had in the room...They now understood the truth about him. Kyo truly was powerful enough to decimate an entire mobile brigade of the Atlesian military.

"Do you think he's lying...about Penny?" asked Weiss, looking up at Blake.

"I can't see him having reason to," said Blake. "I can't tell if he's the sort to lie just for the hell of it. Of course..."

"Lying or not, bounty or not, we just can't take him," said Weiss, picking up on what Blake was going to say.

"We should report this to Professor Ozpin at the very least," said Blake.

Weiss nodded.

"Should we inform the Atlesian forces?" asked Blake.

"I'm not sure," said Weiss. "If they learn his location, they'll come to arrest him, but..."

Blake nodded. Kyo had destroyed the Seventh Mobile Brigade single-handedly. Given the current trends of General Ironwood's behavior, he would believe that the only way to win against Kyo was to bring even more power to bear against him. He would call out an entire division at the very least...maybe even more than one. The focused might of the Atlesian military would be turned towards Demon Eyes Kyo...

...And all of it would descend on this relatively small, picturesque settlement. If Kyo and the Atlesian military battled it out here, there might not be a settlement left when they finished, whatever the outcome. Worse still, the residents hadn't even tried to hide the fact that they'd welcomed Kyo with open arms. They might change that if Ironwood came for Kyo, but if Ironwood found out that they'd been harboring him...

"Definitely not," said Weiss finally. "We can, and even should, tell Ozpin. But we shouldn't let Atlas know."

"I agree," said Blake.

Weiss groaned and leaned back. "I need to rest after that."

"Me too," said Blake. "I want to check on Ruby though."

"Let's do that and go to bed," said Weiss. She frowned darkly. "Although, I get the impression that we've worn out our welcome with the village."

"If that's the case, there's nothing we can do, really," said Blake with a sad shrug. "Let's just hope they don't make our week too miserable."

* * *

Yang sat on her bed, lost in thought. Ruby was fast asleep in the room across the hall. Yang had held her until Ruby had passed out from crying, before tucking her under the covers. By then, Weiss and Blake had come to check on her before retiring to their own rooms for the night.

Yang was tired too. Her body was battered and sore, Kyo's blows having left their mark in several bruises where she'd hit the ground. She'd gotten a good look at them in the shower. A warm shower made her feel better, but it would take a night's sleep combined with her Aura's rejuvenating powers to fully erase the pain.

And yet, she couldn't sleep. Because of the whole issue with Penny; Ruby, Weiss, and Blake had dominated the discussion with Kyo. As a consequence, the questions Yang wanted to ask had been all but forgotten, lingering at the back of her head, like an itch she couldn't scratch. She supposed she could always ask Kyo later, if she had the opportunity. He wasn't going anywhere for the rest of the week after all.

A gentle knock on her door made Yang jump in surprise. Frowning, she got up and went over, closing her left hand around the knob and opening the door a slight fraction to look out. Her lilac eyes met a pair of crimson ones as she saw Kyo standing outside.

"Wha-what are you doing here?" stammered Yang, stepping back slightly, though she opened the door the rest of the way.

"I was wondering if you'd like to talk," said Kyo with a warm smile. Yang saw that he wasn't carrying his sword, which meant he obviously wasn't expecting a fight. "You had some questions, and I realized you might be too worried about them to sleep. So I figured I'd try to give your mind some ease."

"That's nice of you," said Yang, smiling in relief. _He's actually rather sweet._ She stepped aside and allowed Kyo to enter her room before closing the door behind him. As she did, she couldn't help but blush slightly. At the moment, she was dressed in her pajamas, an orange tank-top with black shorts. Her prosthetic arm was laying on the room's desk, and her stump was fully exposed. Alone in her room with a boy, in a situation like this, Yang felt uncharacteristically vulnerable.

Kyo took a seat at her desk as Yang went back to sitting on the edge of her bed. "How is your...sister?"

"Yeah, we're sisters," said Yang. "Half-sisters, technically. She's resting. What you told her hit her pretty hard. I have no idea what she's going to do when she wakes up."

"I see," said Kyo. "Half-sisters, hmm?" He looked carefully at her, making Yang blush from the scrutiny. "I have to admit, I didn't see much resemblance, but that explains a great deal." His eyes narrowed slightly. "You, on the other hand, look a great deal like your mother, especially when your Eyes emerge."

Yang frowned at that. "My mother..." She had to take a moment to regather herself. "...She left me not long after I was born. Dad remarried and I was raised by Summer Rose, Ruby's mom," said Yang. Her smile returned. "She was the best. I didn't even know I wasn't actually hers. She loved us both so much, and took such good care of us. Then...one day...she left on a mission and never came back. Ultimately, we realized she'd died. It was only after that that I learned Mom and my biological mother were two different people."

"And your biological mother is Raven," said Kyo.

Yang nodded and picked her scroll up off the dresser by her bed. Flicking through it, she brought up an image of a woman, dressed in red, with long, black hair in a style similar to Yang's own...with brilliant, crimson eyes.

"That's her," said Kyo with a nod.

Yang felt a shudder pass through her, amazed to get confirmation that the person Kyo had met was indeed Raven Branwen, her biological mother, the person she'd been looking for for years.

"You said she was trying to learn about her eyes," said Yang. "What do you mean by that?"

"As I told you," said Kyo, "her eyes, and yours as well, are a rare phenomenon. I imagine that you believed that they were a component of your Semblance."

Yang nodded.

"That is not the case," said Kyo. "They are an inherited trait, one that comes from a lineage that stretches back beyond the recorded history of most nations."

"How far?" asked Yang. "Hundreds of years…thousands…?" When Kyo didn't answer, she ventured further. "Tens of thousands…?" Kyo smirked. "No way."

"To be honest, we can't confirm how far back it was," said Kyo. "Even our history gets hazy at some points. So much has changed over the course of millennia…" He shook his head. "But we're getting off topic. Your eyes and those of your mother mark you as descendants of the Mibu Clan."

"Mibu Clan…?" Yang blinked. "That's your surname isn't it? Does that mean we're…related?"

"We are, yet we aren't…I think," said Kyo. "It's…complicated."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"I can't really explain it because I don't know the whole answer to that question," said Kyo. "My father told me that he would tell me about our lineage when the time is right. That time has yet to come, apparently."

"Is that what you told my mother?" asked Yang.

Kyo nodded. "As you might expect, she didn't exactly take that answer well. Last time I saw her, I offered to take her to my homeland, and ask my father and our elders to answer her questions. But she refused. I get the impression that your mother is not the most trusting of people."

"That sounds like the sort of person she is," said Yang, nodding her agreement. Granted, it was hard to get a concrete impression of a woman whom Yang had only caught fleeting glimpses of at the best of times. But untrusting definitely sounded like the Raven her Uncle Qrow had told her about.

Yang turned her thoughts towards what Kyo had told her about her eyes. The last thing she'd expected to find on the trail to locating her mother was another mystery. Then again, she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. "But what's the big deal about these eyes then?"

"It's difficult for me to say," said Kyo. "What I do know is that, even amongst those currently in the Mibu Clan, exhibiting the Crimson Eyes is an extremely rare trait. Even then, amongst those who do, exhibiting the trait in both eyes is even rarer still."

 _Then what about someone who has them constantly?_ wondered Yang, looking at Kyo. "So they aren't connected to my Semblance then?"

"Well, one is not an aspect of the other," said Kyo. "Your Eyes do not come from your Semblance, and I don't believe your Semblance is necessarily a consequence of your Eyes, though I could be wrong." He stroked his chin. "May I ask what your Semblance is, exactly?"

"My Semblance absorbs impacts I take," explained Yang. "I still take the damage from the force, but it also charges my power. When it builds up, I can release it to get a burst of strength to hit harder."

"Is there anything else about it?" asked Kyo.

"Well...sometimes I can activate it when I get fired up enough," said Yang. "It's usually because I'm angry, but as long as it gets my blood boiling, I guess anything would work as a trigger."

"I see," said Kyo. "I think that makes it clear now. Your Eyes and your Semblance are not related in the sense that one is derived from the other. However, the Crimson Eyes generally emerge in circumstances like those you describe. When your blood is running hot in your veins and your spirit is aflame, then the Eyes appear. My teachers told me that it is a sign that you are tapping into your subconscious power."

"My subconscious?" Yang blinked.

Kyo nodded. "People are born with certain...limiters...placed on their strength. They reserve the full force of your muscles and your Aura to keep you from easily overexerting yourself and causing severe damage. However, those limiters generally hold back more of your strength than is absolutely necessary. To overcome that, you need to override your subconscious restraints, which allows you to release your full strength."

"That sounds...dangerous," said Yang.

"I suppose that's true," said Kyo. If you're careless, you could end up doing serious harm to yourself. However, part of that is learning to listen to your body, so that you can consciously learn your limits and thus control how you exceed them to keep from doing yourself harm. From what I've seen, that's what Raven has done."

"My mother?" Yang blinked.

"She showed me a picture of herself when she was younger," explained Kyo. "In fact, her eyes were the same color yours are now."

"What does that mean?" asked Yang.

"I'm not sure," admitted Kyo. "Amongst the Mibu Clan, even those who tap into the power of the Crimson Eyes usually do so only temporarily. That your mother can maintain the Crimson Eyes constantly suggests that she has fully tapped into the power of her subconscious...either that, or the Mibu blood within her is very strong."

Yang turned her head, looking at the mirror that rested over the dresser in her room. She saw her own, lilac-colored eyes. She tried to imagine what it would be like for those eyes to be red constantly. She didn't necessarily like it. Her Semblance, and the changes it wrought in her appearance, already unnerved people who weren't close to her. If she constantly sported the same, luminous red eyes that Kyo had, she couldn't imagine how much people would avoid her.

Kyo sighed. "I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?" asked Yang, snapping her gaze back to him. "You've told me a lot."

"Yet, I get the feeling that, instead of giving you answers, I've only given you more questions." He shook his head. "What's worse, I couldn't tell you where your mother is now. Since you're looking for her, I'm sorry that I can't be of more help."

"That's okay," said Yang, smiling at him. "The last thing I was expecting was some kind of detailed road map to finding her. I know I'm going to have to do some serious work to track her down. But...I'm starting to get a better picture of what she's been looking into."

Kyo nodded. "Maybe, under the proper circumstances, you could get her to come to you."

Yang jolted and gaped at Kyo. "What do you mean?"

"We know that your mother is looking for answers about the Crimson Eyes," said Kyo. "However, she does not wish to ask my father or the Clan elders directly. However, if you were to get those answers, she might come to you for them."

 _That...might actually work,_ thought Yang. "What would I have to do to get them though?"

"Well, it could be fairly easy," said Kyo brightly. "I would just extend to you the same offer I made to Raven. In the near future, I could bring you to my home and we can ask my father about the secret of the Crimson Eyes."

"Your home?"

"Yes," said Kyo, his smile widening. "In the city of Onmyo, on the continent of Leng. That is where the members of the Mibu Clan dwell."

* * *

 **I forgot to bring this up in the last chapter, but Leng is the name I settled on for that dragon-shaped continent northwest of Sanus, since the creative team has yet to give us and official name for it. Leng actually comes from the work of H.P. Lovecraft, as the name of a plateau, sometimes, that's often mentioned amongst the various mystical, forgotten places of the world, where...bad things...dwell. I thought it fitting, especially considering the fan theories about that continent possibly being Salem's base of operations (which isn't the case in this setting, for obvious reasons), and the fact that, in the WoR segments talking about the Kingdoms, the settlements shown to have been established on that continent have completely vanished when the map switches to the modern-day depiction. It certainly paints an idea of some place forbidding, where people might not normally go.**

 **It's worth reiterating, and a point that I'll keep repeating throughout the story, but this was written well before Volume 5, and the revelation that Raven was the Spring Maiden, or how she and Yang wound up meeting and talking on two different occasions. So, in this AU, Raven is still someone elusive to Yang, who she's only seen a few times, but never really "met." Keep that in mind, going forward. The idea of her having the same eye-color as Yang, when she was younger, was a pure fabrication by me to help fit with the plot and characters of the story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Yang's eyes drifted open and she stared at the ceiling of her room. After Kyo had left, she'd gone to bed. Surprisingly, her sleep had been untroubled. Sure, she had more questions than ever, but she also had some indicator of what her mother was after and, maybe, a way to make her mother come to _her_. That was the absolute last thing she'd expected out of this trip.

Her mind turned towards Kyo's offer. It was certainly enticing. Besides the possibility of getting the knowledge her mother wanted and, by extension, maybe bringing her mother to her, Yang had to admit she was curious about Kyo's home. He was so different from anyone she'd ever encountered. She wondered just what kind of home produced someone like him. Why was he wandering the world outside of it? Just who were the Mibu Clan?

Of course, agreeing wasn't so simple as that. Yang couldn't leave her team behind, of course. They still had the remainder of their training at Beacon. Not to mention that that the Vytal Festival and the tournament would be this year as well. As third-years, this was their last chance to participate in the Tournament, though she wasn't absolutely sure that Team RWBY or JNNR would be participating. Even though the rules stated that the tournament was open to all years, it was an unofficial rule that the third and fourth-year students opted out to give their underclassmen a chance to shine.

And also, after the debacle that the previous Tournament turned into, Yang wasn't certain she would be welcome on that stage. While it was now known by her friends and teachers that Emerald Sustrai had used her Semblance to trick Yang into attacking Mercury Black after the match was over, it wasn't public knowledge. The talk about what she had done had died down over the past year, but Yang didn't want the events of the previous Tournament to be pulled back up, and her past disgrace to be paraded out for everyone to see and talk about again.

 _It's up to Ruby, though,_ thought Yang.

Speaking of Ruby, Yang decided it was time to get up. Given that they were on an unofficial vacation, they were technically free to sleep in. But Yang wanted to check on her sister, and see how Ruby was faring after the bombshell that had been dropped last night.

After getting out of bed, Yang went through her morning routine. She showered, brushed her teeth, combed her hair and, finally, re-attached her prosthetic arm, working it through a few exercises to make sure everything was in working order. With both her arms working properly, Yang got dressed and stepped out of her room.

She had a spare key to Ruby's room, which had been given to her by the innkeeper. Yang let herself into the room and saw that Ruby was still asleep. However, the tangled state of the covers told Yang that Ruby hadn't slept well last night. Yang had taken off her cape, arm-guards, and undone her corset so that Ruby wasn't smothered by her own clothes. They were ruffled and wrinkled, giving Yang an idea just how troubled Ruby's sleep was.

With a sigh, Yang brushed back Ruby's hair and traced a finger across her cheek. Pulling over a chair, Yang sat herself down and waited for Ruby to wake up.

A few minutes later, she was roused by a knock on the door. Opening it, she smiled, seeing Weiss and Blake waiting for her.

"How is she?" asked Weiss.

"Well, she's sleeping, at least," said Yang with a smile. "I don't know when she'll wake up, though."

"We're going to wait in the lobby," said Weiss, smiling back at Yang. "Bring her down when she's ready, and we'll go get breakfast together."

"Assuming she's up before noon," said Blake with a wry smile as she checked her scroll.

"Then we'll make it brunch or lunch," said Weiss simply. "Go ahead and let her wake up on her own. We can wait."

"Thanks, girls," said Yang. "Be careful."

Weiss and Blake nodded, their faces grave. They too were well aware that they might have worn out their welcome in this town. There was a chance they might face some harassment from the locals when they were out in public. Granted, civilians generally tried not to get on the bad side of Huntsmen or Huntresses. But these people were clearly enamored of Kyo, so Yang didn't think that their reputation would be enough to keep ill tempers at bay. Besides, even if they weren't confronted directly, there were a number of ways the people around them could express their displeasure in a more subtle manner.

Yang closed the door and returned to Ruby's bedside.

It was about half an hour later that Ruby's eyes fluttered, then slowly opened. She turned her head and her gaze met Yang's. "Yang...?"

"Hey, Sis," said Yang, brushing Ruby's bangs out of her eyes. "Sleep well?"

"I guess," said Ruby, sitting up with a yawn and a groan. She sat there for a moment, staring dumbly ahead of her.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Yang.

"I don't know," said Ruby. She sniffed.

Yang wrapped her left arm around Ruby and pulled her into a hug before carefully moving her right arm to join in the embrace. "I'm sorry about Penny," she said.

"I...I should be used to it," said Ruby. "But all this...I don't know what I'm supposed to do or even feel. It feels like I've lost her all over again." She frowned and looked down. "Then there's what Kyo said. Did he tell the truth? If it is true, then what should I do?"

"That's up to you," said Yang. "But, whatever it is, I'll stand by you. Do you want to fight Kyo again?"

"I don't think so," said Ruby, "not yet, at least. If he's telling the truth, then I don't think I will. But if he's lying..."

Yang caught a glimpse of the faintest flicker in the silver irises of Ruby's eyes. She suppressed a shudder, forcefully reminded that she and Kyo weren't the only ones here with unique eyes. According to Uncle Qrow and Professor Ozpin, Ruby and her mother were descended from the Silver-Eyed Warriors. Yang had never heard of them before, but she'd seen the power of Ruby's eyes, up close and personal. She'd watched Ruby blast entire packs of Beowolves away with a single glare. Despite that, Ruby knew very little about the Silver Eyes, what they really were or where they came from.

 _Maybe Kyo's heard of them,_ thought Yang. It seemed like a possibility. Whatever the Mibu Clan was, whoever they were, it seemed they were involved in all sorts of odd stuff. Perhaps they had knowledge about Ruby's eyes as well.

Still, that was a topic for another time. "Come on, Ruby," said Yang, helping her out of bed. "Go get cleaned up and meet us in the lobby. Weiss and Blake are already waiting."

"Okay," said Ruby. Obliging and making her way to the bathroom.

Yang left to give her sister some privacy, heading downstairs to join Weiss and Blake. To her shock, she saw that her teammates were not alone. They were seated at one of the tables in the lobby. Kyo was seated between them, smiling amicably. Weiss and Blake both looked a bit unsettled by his presence, though they tried gamely to keep a conversation going with him.

Looking around, Yang realized that Kyo wasn't there simply to unnerve them. She saw the other people in the inn's lobby watching Kyo, Weiss, and Blake curiously. There was some hostility, but less than she remembered seeing yesterday. By seating himself with the girls who had been attacking him only yesterday, and acting as though there was nothing wrong, Kyo was sending the message that there were no hard feelings, and that the townspeople shouldn't carry a grudge on his behalf.

Whether or not they listened to his message had yet to be seen. Still, at the very least, no one was going to try antagonizing them while Kyo was actually with them.

"Ah, good morning," said Kyo as his eyes met hers. "Did you sleep well?"

"Great," said Yang beaming at him. "Thanks for helping me."

"What on earth do you mean by that?" gasped Weiss, her eyes going wide.

"Oops!" blurted Yang, her cheeks coloring as she realized how that must have sounded. "I mean...uh..."

"Yang had some questions about her mother," explained Kyo, apparently unbothered by the potential implications behind Weiss' indignation. "I did my best to answer them."

"Oh," said Blake, nodding. His explanation seemed to mollify Weiss as well, the scandalized look on her face fading.

"So, any idea what to do for breakfast once Ruby gets down here?" asked Yang.

Weiss and Blake shared a look and shrugged. "We didn't exactly get a chance to look around."

"I know a couple of places that serve an excellent breakfast," volunteered Kyo. "I'd be happy to show you where they are."

Yang smiled at his offer. Perhaps she should have been a bit more troubled about it, like Weiss and Blake clearly were, but after their talk last night, Yang could say with a degree of certainty that Kyo wasn't a bad person. He was likely volunteering so that they wouldn't be harassed wherever they decided to go. Yang could easily imagine being turned away otherwise.

A few minutes later, Ruby made her slow, ponderous way down the stairs, yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes, her hair still damp from her shower. Yang was glad to see she looked better, and more like the Ruby Yang had known before they started going to Beacon. She hadn't seen sleepy-morning-Ruby for a while.

"Morning," said Ruby as she came up to the table.

"How are you feeling, Ruby?" asked Weiss, quickly making her way to her partner's side.

"Better," said Ruby, giving Weiss a weary, but relaxed smile. "I'll be okay, Weiss."

"If you're sure," said Weiss, gently taking Ruby's hand and squeezing it.

Ruby nodded. "So...what's for breakfast?"

* * *

Kyo showed them to a pleasant restaurant, where Ruby happily chowed down on a plate of waffles, apparently hungry after the day she had been through earlier. The girls of RWBY ate heartily. While she ate, Yang questioned Kyo about where he had been in his travels. Kyo had plenty of stories to share about his experiences.

Finally, to Yang's surprise, Ruby looked up and asked a question of her own. "When did the Grimm start to avoid you?"

Kyo blinked and rolled his eyes upward, thinking hard about it. "Hmmm...That must have been about six or so years ago," he said, scratching his chin.

"And what...they just...stopped coming after you?" asked Weiss.

"For most of my life, I don't think my experience was different from anyone else's," said Kyo. "Whenever I left a settlement, the Grimm would attack me while I was on the road. They weren't all that difficult and I actually had a lot of fun fighting them." He sighed. "Then...after a little while, they started avoiding me. I was disappointed because it was hard to find something to keep me occupied."

"You really like to fight, don't you?" observed Yang.

Kyo nodded. "Although it's best when I can find a strong opponent. After the Grimm started avoiding me, I found some entertainment challenging the occasional Hunstman or Huntress." He frowned. "Strangely enough, the ones I ended up fighting often seemed to have friends in very low places. There were times when I'd get to a town and be set upon by bandits as soon as I stepped through the gates."

"Sounds like you made a lot of enemies," said Weiss.

"Well we knew that already," said Blake wryly. After all, Kyo was already being hunted by the Atlesian military. It wasn't so surprising that he'd made plenty of other enemies over the years.

They continued to chat throughout breakfast. By the time they finished, Yang could feel the townspeople's attitude towards them softening. They returned to the park to see the cherry blossoms once again. Now that they weren't trying to start a fight, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were able to fully appreciate the serene beauty of the setting as they lounged together underneath the large tree in the center, a space that had apparently been reserved for Kyo by the townspeople.

"They really like you here," observed Weiss, watching as people made their way to and fro across the park.

"I tend to get a fairly warm welcome wherever I go these days," said Kyo a bit shyly, scratching his head. "I guess people really appreciate the fact that the Grimm avoid me, even though I'm actually not doing all that much."

Seeing the people around them laughing and relaxing freely, Yang had to disagree. It was a fact of life that the settlements outside of the Kingdom boundaries were under constant pressure from the Grimm. Many of them seemed forever poised on the edge of destruction, and more than a few had been destroyed. If the residents could be guaranteed even a brief period of time where the Grimm weren't a threat, then Yang could easily imagine them being willing to risk being branded for harboring a criminal. It made it no surprise that the Atlesian military had yet to catch up to Kyo.

"Kyo," said Ruby softly, leaning up against the trunk of the tree.

"Yes?" said Kyo, turning to look at her.

"Can you tell me what happened...when you met Penny?" she asked. "I want to know..."

"Are you sure?" asked Kyo as Yang moved to hug Ruby around the shoulders with her left arm.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "I just want to know what happened."

"All right," said Kyo. He closed his eyes and lay back on the grass.

* * *

 _Fireworks exploded into the air in bursts of color and light. All around, children laughed and frolicked, running from from one stand to another, playing games or buying sweets with their allowances. Adults ambled about without a care in the world. Though the sky and ground were clear, people wore scarves and jackets against the chill, which persisted late into the spring. As far north as it was, much of Atlas' territory was covered by snow for a majority of the year, even in this settlement, which was fairly far south as far as Atlesian places went._

 _Soldiers moved about, working to keep the peace, trying to prevent small conflicts from flaring up into larger ones. Normally, it was necessary for the sake of preserving the settlement from destruction. But tonight it was to ensure that people were not disturbed as they enjoyed the festival. After all, it wasn't every day that someone came and promised them a week free of the Grimm._

 _Kyo smiled as he walked about, drinking in the atmosphere. It always amazed him just how creative people in the outside world were when it came to their celebrations. They had fireworks in his homeland, but nothing approaching the kaleidoscope of colors that decorated the sky now. Truly, the outside world was full of wonders._

 _As it so happened, turning a corner brought him face to face with another wonder. She was a good bit shorter than him, her head only coming up to his shoulder at most. Despite that, the cloaked girl hit him with the impact of a cannonball, nearly bowling Kyo off his feet. At the last second, he managed to salvage his balance and remain standing. Unfortunately, this meant that the girl had fallen to the ground instead._

 _"I'm sorry," said Kyo, crouching down by her and offering her a hand. "Are you all right?"_

 _"I'm fine," said the girl. "It's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." She looked up at Kyo, whose crimson eyes met a pair of bright-green ones. He caught hints of orange hair on top of her head, as she pulled the hood of the makeshift garment over it once again. Helping her up showed a slight build that belied the sheer weight behind the girl's impact. Kyo briefly wondered if she was made of metal or something._

 _"Sorry about that," said the girl, speaking quickly, her tone harried. "I need to go."_

 _"Wait," said Kyo, catching her shoulder before she could dash off. "Is everything all right?"_

 _"I'm fine-hic," said the girl, her voice punctuated by a hiccup. "There's-hic-absolutely nothing wrong-hic."_

 _"Hmm...somehow I don't quite believe you," said Kyo._

 _"Wha-what makes you say-hic-that?" asked the girl, now beginning to fidget nervously._

 _"A few things," said Kyo, reaching up and gently fingering the girl's hood. "First, this burlap apparently came from a cargo bay. I'm guessing you smuggled yourself in here, and improvised this to keep people from seeing your features and marking you. Second, you were moving quickly. Third, you weren't paying too much attention to what was in front of you, which I suspect is because you're more worried about something_ behind _you."_

 _The girl said nothing, instead lowering her head slightly._

 _"How close do you think your pursuers are?" asked Kyo._

 _"Uh..." The girl darted her head around._

 _Kyo closed his eyes and let his other senses expand outward. On the wind, he picked up faint sounds of shouting, not the joyous shouting of the children in festival crowds or stall owners hawking their wares, but the shouts of soldiers as they exchanged terse instructions over the noise of the festival itself._

 _"They aren't far," said Kyo. "But it doesn't sound like they have a good idea where you went." He grinned at her. "Luckily for you, this setting is perfect for getting lost in the crowd." He pulled lightly on the burlap cloak. "But we should find you something a bit more suitable for the occasion. A getup like this just screams that you're trying to hide your identity."_

 _"Y-you shouldn't help me," said the girl. "You'll get into trouble."_

 _To her surprise Kyo smiled. "That sounds like fun. Let's go." He offered his hand. The girl hesitated for a moment before taking it. "By the way, what's your name?"_

 _"Penny," said the girl looking up out of the hood at him._

* * *

 _An hour later, Penny was decked out in a pale-green kimono decorated by white lilies. Kyo had a tailor friend that he visited occasionally in this area, if his own clothes ever needed mending. She had been all too happy to furnish clothes for Kyo's "date." As Penny walked, she skipped and occasionally turned her body, marveling as the fabric swirled elegantly around her._

 _"It's beautiful," she said. "I wish I had more clothes like this."_

 _"What kind of clothes do you normally wear?" asked Kyo, placing the last piece of the ensemble on Penny's head, a broad, lavender-colored sunhat that covered Penny's hair, on her head, said hair easily the most visible thing that would allow searchers to identify her from a distance._

 _Penny looked down, her smile fading. "I only really have one set. It's all the General said I'd ever really need. Having other clothes for someone like me would just be a waste of resources."_

 _Kyo frowned. "The General...?"_

 _Penny nodded slowly. "General Ironwood. He's the one who's after me, because I..." She looked down again. "I shouldn't say anything else. It would get you into trouble."_

 _Kyo laughed. "You mean aside from the trouble I'm already in for helping you evade this fellow's searchers? There's an old saying...in for a penny, in for a pound..." He paused. "That's actually rather fitting."_

 _Penny giggled at that. Kyo offered her his arm and she took it, clinging to it like a lifeline._

 _"Come on," said Kyo. "It's time for you vanish into the crowd."_

 _"How?" asked Penny._

 _"Have fun," said Kyo. "That's what everyone else is doing." He led her towards the main streets, where the festival was in full swing._

 _"But..." Penny's head darted right and left nervously._

 _"If you keep looking around like that, you'll only stand out more," said Kyo. He pointed at the street. "Out there is a cavalcade of sound and activity, people moving without purpose or pattern, doing whatever strikes them as amusing at the moment. If we move like them, we'll be lost in that confusion."_

 _"If you're sure..." said Penny, clinging to his arm a little tighter. Kyo noticed she had quite the impressive level of strength for someone her size._

 _He laughed and led her out onto the street._

 _Penny gasped, looking at everything with wide eyes, from the paper lanterns lit by candles that were strung up across the street at almost random intervals, to the swirling mass of people moving about, clearly enjoying themselves. She saw humans and faunus alike, no one showing the slightest sign of discomfort at being around someone from another race. She even spotted mixed couples here and there, an especially rare sight in the territories around Atlas, where prejudice against faunus was still very strong and, indeed, had actually worsened as a consequence of the recent conflict, in which the White Fang had been a driving force._

 _But here, it seemed that such concerns were distant. Instead, she found herself laughing as she played games. At some point, she started to forget about her plight, instead losing herself amongst the merriment, loving it as every minute brought her new experiences and excitement. All the while, Kyo stayed near her, seeming calm and serene, smiling as he watched Penny's excitement._

 _Even so, Kyo's senses were spread out, his awareness encompassing a wide radius about him. He could easily feel the presence, location, and disposition of every person in his immediate vicinity. He could sense their excitement as they zeroed in on a new attraction, or their wonder as they ambled about, simply taking in the sights. He also sensed those who were on the hunt._

 _They moved up and down the street, visually indistinguishable from the soldiers tasked with keeping the peace, but moving with a greater sense of purpose, their heads always moving, eyes scanning, checking every nook and cranny, peeking around every corner, piercing every shadow. They examined every potential hiding spot in detail and took long looks down every alley and side street._

 _And because of that, they completely missed Kyo and Penny as they wandered past the hunters, Penny not even noticing because she was too enthralled to realize, which was just as well, as any change in her demeanor would set her apart from the other festival-goers and alert the hunters to her location._

 _Gradually, they moved down to the end of the street and began making their way through the town, Kyo leading Penny toward the inn where he was staying._

 _"That was sensational," said Penny, her eyes gleaming in excitement. "I haven't had so much fun since I went to the dance at Beacon."_

 _"Dance?" asked Kyo, raising his eyebrows._

 _Penny nodded. "That was the one time the General let me get new clothes. I told him it would be strange if I didn't show up for the dance, but showed up for the tournament." She sighed, her face falling. "It was much easier to convince him then. He was nicer then. The soldiers looked after me because they cared about me."_

 _"But something happened?" asked Kyo._

 _Penny's expression darkened even further. "A lot of things happened. Beacon fell, I was...for a while I was...I guess I was dead."_

 _"And yet you're not dead now," noted Kyo, his eyes narrowing._

 _Penny nodded. "I'm not like most people." She looked up at Kyo, almost looking like she was going to cry. "I'm not a human...I'm...I'm a..."_

 _"A faunus?" ventured Kyo, unable to really think of any other possibility._

 _"No," said Penny, shaking her head vigorously. "I'm a...an artificial person."_

 _"A robot?" asked Kyo._

 _"Sort of," admitted Penny. "I'm the first artificial person...robot...android...that's capable of generating an Aura. My father is...was a brilliant scientist."_

 _"Was..." said Kyo, catching the implications behind Penny's words._

 _Penny began to hiccup rapidly. Kyo guessed that, if she was someone who didn't have tear ducts, this was her equivalent of crying. Gently, he reached out with his right arm, wrapping it around her shoulders and pulling her to his chest. Penny shook as she hiccuped against his shoulder, her fingers curling into the fabric of his kimono._

 _"Let's go back to my room," said Kyo. "You can explain things to me in more detail there."_

 _"Okay," said Penny._

* * *

 _Kyo knew that being seen entering with Penny would attract attention, even if it was simply because the staff would gossip. However, he knew a few ways to enter discreetly and easily managed to smuggle Penny into his room. There, he set her on a chair, while taking a seat on the bed and listened as she told him about herself._

 _"Do you know about the big conflict?" asked Penny, wanting to start with a clear idea of what her audience already knew._

 _"The basics," said Kyo. "Cinder Fall, allying herself with an entity known as Salem, tried to instigate the downfall of the four Kingdoms. She started by inciting a Grimm attack on Vale during the Vytal Festival and destroying the CCT tower there, cutting the Kingdoms off from each other."_

 _"That's right," said Penny. "I was a participant in the Vytal Festival Tournament for Atlas. General Ironwood wanted me to show my strength to the people, to let them know that they had powerful forces watching over and protecting them. But...I went up against Pyrrha Nikos. Her Semblance is Polarity...magnetism..."_

 _"Oh dear," said Kyo. "I'm guessing that was a bad match."_

 _Penny nodded, smiling sadly. "One of our enemies infiltrated. She used her Semblance to cause Pyrrha to hallucinate and use way more power than was needed to stop my attacks. I was ripped apart."_

 _"_ _But you survived," noted Kyo._

 _"_ _I did. They found my core, and my father made a new body for me. After that, I helped my friends in their fight. We became really close and the General promised that, when it was over, I could join them at Beacon, that I could live and laugh with them. But…"_

 _"_ _He apparently reneged," said Kyo._

 _Penny hiccuped and nodded. "He was talking to my father. He said that the technology behind my creation was too crucial to Atlas' advancement, that they couldn't allow me to leave. I had to be studied, examined…dissected, so that they could learn to replicate what my father did with me and create more like me." Her fingers clinched around the arms of her chair. Kyo heard the wood groan and creak before cracking slightly. Penny flinched at the sound and gasped, letting go, her hands revealing finger-shaped indents in the wood. "I'm sorry!"_

 _"_ _It's fine," said Kyo. "Go on."_

 _"_ _My father refused," said Penny. "He told the General that I had made my choice, that I had decided to be more than just some prototype weapon. He reminded the General of his promise. The General said that it was simply a carrot he dangled to get me to perform better, that promises didn't mean anything to equipment. I wasn't a human or a faunus. My existence wasn't accounted for by the law. Therefore, I had no rights. He could say or do whatever he wanted with me, and he was right to do so._

 _"_ _My father said he refused to help something so evil. He would do whatever it took to ensure my safety and happiness."_

 _"_ _He sounded like a good man," said Kyo._

 _Penny nodded. "The General shot him right then and there. My father died…protecting me. I ran. I fled Atlas, but the General sent his forces in pursuit. I managed to make it this far, but I don't know how I can reach my friends in Vale like this."_

 _"_ _Well…I generally avoid the Kingdoms," said Kyo, leaning back against the wall. "They're crowded and noisy, but…I think I can help you reach Vale."_

 _"_ _You can?" gasped Penny._

 _"_ _Certainly," said Kyo. "It's rather simple, but not all that quick."_

 _"_ _How will we get there?" she asked. "Do you have an airship or something."_

 _"_ _No," said Kyo simply. "We'll walk." He frowned, scratching his chin. "Let's see…given how far it is and accounting for some stops, maybe some sightseeing on the way…I'd say three months, five at the longest."_

 _"_ _But isn't that dangerous?" asked Penny. "We'll be going through the wilderness. There will be so many Grimm."_

 _"_ _We should be fine," said Kyo. "I walk everywhere. I've crossed entire continents and, lately, I haven't seen any Grimm at all. In fact, they seem to avoid me nowadays."_

 _"_ _Well…" Penny was a bit uncertain. After all, she wanted to see her friends sooner than that. But she realized that it wasn't such a bad idea. The Grimm aside, walking to Vale was the last way General Ironwood would expect her to be making the trip. He would be monitoring air and ground transport, but Remnant was a vast place, most of it undeveloped wilderness, far too much for even Atlas' expanded air fleets to scour and possibly search every inch. It was the ideal way to slip through the holes in his net. Besides, there was every chance she could get faster transportation once they got to a settlement outside of Atlesian territory._

 _"_ _Okay," she said finally._

 _"_ _Good," said Kyo, beaming. "We'll rest for tonight and move out in the morning. Luckily, tonight was the last night of the festival, so there should be quite a few other people leaving as well."_

 _"_ _All right," said Penny._

 _"_ _Do you want the bed?" asked Kyo. "I'm fine with sleeping on the floor."_

 _"_ _No," said Penny. "I can sleep here." She indicated the chair she was sitting in. "I'm an android, so I don't sleep like most people. I just power down and recharge."_

 _"_ _Speaking of that, is your power source something we need to be concerned about?" asked Kyo._

 _"_ _Oh no," said Penny. "My body is fueled by my Aura and I recharge my Aura by sleeping. If I sleep regularly, we'll have no problem at all. I can operate for up to a week continuously."_

 _"Do you eat?" asked Kyo. He'd noticed that she'd shown no interest in the food that had been on offer at the festival._

 _Penny sighed and looked down. "No," she said. "I wish I could. It always made me curious when my friends would eat something really good. I've wondered what it would taste like. Father was trying to work out how to get me taste buds so I could at least taste food, but..."_

 _Kyo nodded. "I'm sorry for your loss." He yawned and stretched. "But we'd best get some sleep. We'll have a long journey, starting tomorrow."_

* * *

 _They left early in the morning, stealing out of the inn and making their way to the perimeter wall. Kyo extended his senses as far as they could reach, trying to locate any signs of Penny's pursuers. This time, they moved down side streets and cut through alleyways, darting around corners. So early in the morning and after the festival had concluded, there was almost no foot traffic to speak of, no crowds for them to blend in with._

 _Penny had changed back into her usual clothes, though, at Kyo's urging, she had packed away the kimono to take with her. They made good time to the edge of the settlement. Rather than use the gate, Kyo and Penny went up and over the wall, leaping down the other side and dashing across the cleared space, making for the rocky scrubland beyond._

 _There wasn't much cover to be had in the open, but they moved carefully as they could, darting behind boulders, keeping an eye out for any signs of pursuit. In this terrain, Penny's pursuers would have just as hard a time hiding from her as she did from them._

 _The sun rose higher. As they got further away from the town, they became more comfortable with their situation, remaining on the move, pressing ahead as quickly as they could. Still, they found no sign of Penny's pursuers._

 _"I'm actually a little disappointed," said Kyo with a sigh as they settled onto a rock for a breather. "While I figured going by foot would throw them off, I didn't expect them to not even think about it."_

 _"We shouldn't waste too much time," said Penny. "I've done everything I know to evade the General's troops, but they always keep honing in on me."_

 _Kyo pinched his chin and looked speculatively at Penny. "You're an android, correct?"_

 _"Yeah," said Penny._

 _"So...I take it you have built in communications systems and the like, right?"_

 _Penny nodded. "That's right. I don't even need a scroll to call my friends. I don't want to try calling now because the military could trace my location through the CCT relays."_

 _"Hmmm..." Kyo frowned slightly. "Could you detect other signals in the vicinity?"_

 _"I've...never tried," admitted Penny. She frowned and closed her eyes. "I don't think there's anything. Wait! There is something...some kind of signal, but it's...I can't identify it. It doesn't seem to contain any information. It's just a constant signal."_

 _"Can you identify its location?" asked Kyo._

 _"Not exactly," said Penny. "But it's very close." She looked around. "But there's nothing out here. And I don't see anyone but us..." Her voice trailed off as the truth dawned on her. "It's me! The signal is coming from me."_

 _"In other words, you have a tracking device," said Kyo. "It was probably built into you from the very beginning."_

 _Penny sighed despondently. "The General did say that he was tired of me running off on my own without knowing where I was going."_

 _"Well, that explains how your pursuers were able to keep up with you," said Kyo. "They must have had trouble in the towns and villages because there was so much activity, which made it difficult for them to confirm your location with their own eyes. But our strategy will work against us out here." He laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I think I made things worse."_

 _"It's okay," said Penny, looking around. "I really shouldn't have let you get involved. I'm the one who should be sorry."_

 _"Ah well, if that's the case," said Kyo. "We should just fight our way out."_

 _"What?" gasped Penny, looking at him, aghast._

 _"Well, we're probably not going to get very far before they catch up to us. We should focus on using what time we have to find a proper battleground." To Penny's amazement, Kyo seemed to be smiling wider at the prospect. "I wonder how many people this Ironwood fellow has sent after you. This could be fun."_

 _"Fun?" asked Penny. She shivered. The look in Kyo's eyes sent chills down her spine, which shouldn't have been odd, seeing as her spine was made of metal. All she could tell was that he was almost frighteningly eager to confront the people who had been coming after them._

 _They walked a little further before Penny's eyes, capable of telescopic magnification, picked out three dark silhouettes on the horizon. She narrowed and used her vision to zoom in. "Oh no!"_

 _"What is it?" asked Kyo._

 _"Warships," said Penny, "three of them. They're probably the new Seraphim-class vessels."_

 _"I see," said Kyo, trying to spot what Penny had seen. "Are they powerful."_

 _"They have enough power to kill at least a couple-hundred Grimm in a single salvo," said Penny. "This is too much! Three warships would mean that the General has an entire brigade coming after me! That's seven-thousand troops and drones! It's way too much firepower!"_

 _"Evidently, he values you a great deal," said Kyo._

 _Penny hiccuped. "Why? I just want to be with my friends. Why does he want to lock me away this badly?"_

 _Kyo sighed. "People crave power like the kind that you have for a variety of reasons, some good, some ill." He looked almost sad as he gazed in the direction Penny was looking. To him, the incoming warships were just faint blurs in the distance. "People who victimize others simply for the sake of accumulating power are no good, no matter what their reasons are. Strength that you don't seize for yourself is meaningless. I suppose the General could stand to learn that lesson just as well as anyone else." He gave Penny a small grin. "Let's keep moving. In the meantime, I need you to tell me a few things about yourself..."_

 _They continued walking, pretending to flee as the ships closed in. Of course, it was simply a matter of time. In less than an hour, the three warships were no longer distant shadows, but clearly visible, their hulls blotting out the sun as they loomed overhead. The docking bays that lined their central fuselages' ventral hulls opened and a high-pitched whine filled the air as armed transports boiled out, like wasps from a trio of nests that had just been kicked. They flew through the air in arcing paths, circling around to cut off Penny and Kyo's path forward even as more came about to hover behind them. More still closed off their flanks. The transports lined up and stacked above one another, hovering at varying altitudes and forming a hemispherical formation above the two fugitives._

 _The rear doors of the hovering transports opened and countless white figures filed out, dropping to the ground. landing in crouches as their mechanical legs flexed to absorbed the shock of impact. The sleek, white-armored drones turned and trained their rifles on Kyo and Penny. Still even more transports landed in a loose ring, disgorging dozens of human troops, who formed up in lines behind the drones. Most were armed with the basic Dust-cartridge rifles that were standard throughout the Atlesian military. Others were armed with larger and heavier looking weapons, probably some form of artillery. Amongst them were the towering, bulky, and heavily-armed forms of the latest Atlesian Paladins._

 _"My..." said Kyo, observing the scope of the force surrounding them, "...they certainly put on quite the show."_

 _Up above, the three warships spread out, joining the encirclement, hovering above the hemisphere of transports in a triangular formation, their bows pointed inwards. Looking up, Kyo could see gun-ports opening and barrels emerging as even the warships turned their weapons towards the two people down below._

 _From one of the troop transports emerged a tall, imposing man. His close-cropped hair was black, save for the strips of gray on either side of his head. His face had a chiseled, almost stony look to it. He was dressed in a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat. He approached the rear ranks of the troops, his arms folded behind him, his back straight in a picture-perfect example of a soldier's stance. He leveled his cold, blue eyes at Kyo and Penny. His presence, even though he was dozens of meters away, with thousands of drones and soldiers between them, felt as though he were right in front of them._

 _"That's far enough, Polendina," he said, his voice was like rumbling thunder, the kind of voice that could carry from one end of a military parade ground to another, without the aid of any kind of amplification system. "Your defiance ends here. It is time for you to come back where you belong."_

 _"I belong with my friends," shouted Penny, her eyes narrowing. "I don't belong in Atlas anymore. And I certainly don't belong with the man who killed my father in cold blood."_

 _Ironwood's eyes narrowed. "What happened to your father was an unfortunate accident, Polendina. It saddens me that we are deprived of his genius. It troubles me even more that you would dare to leave Atlas and its citizens in their time of need, when the secrets behind your existence could do so much for them."_

 _Kyo could see that Ironwood's words had struck a nerve in Penny...or at least whatever was equivalent to nerves in her body. She flinched and looked down. "My, aren't you the cruel man," he observed casually, barely bothering to speak loudly enough to be heard. Yet, as he expected, Ironwood heard him with perfect clarity. "You have tethered her to you for her entire life. And now, the freedom she's fought so hard for is threatening to pull her away from your grip, so you highlight her selfishness in order to provoke guilt."_

 _Ironwood shifted his gaze to Kyo. "So you acknowledge her selfishness?"_

 _Penny shot Kyo a shocked look, but Kyo only smiled wider. "Of course I do," he said. "But you seem to be mistaken about something. I see nothing wrong with selfishness. To be selfish means to live for yourself. Life should be lived for oneself first and foremost. Someone who completely dedicates their life to the sake of others, someone who is not selfish in other words, has no life of their own. They are no different than mere tools, like these automatons you've surrounded us with." He sighed. "I suppose that is fitting. You clearly see Penny as nothing more than a tool as well."_

 _"She_ is _nothing more than a tool," said Ironwood. "She is the property of the Atlesian military. As such, she has no rights or protections."_

 _"No," said Penny, her voice a whisper. "No," she said again, this time a little louder. "No!" she exclaimed now, her voice rising to a shout. "NO!" she yelled, her voice echoing. "I'm not a tool! I'm not some lifeless machine! I want to live my own life! I want to be with my friends!"_

 _"That is unacceptable," said Ironwood. "You do not have a choice in the matter. You are returning to Atlas with me and that is all there is to it. Your defiance will not help you." He raised his right hand, gesturing to the numerous transports and the warships hovering overhead. "All this was a demonstration of how serious a matter this is. You cannot escape me, even if you run all the way to Vale. You have power, power that the citizens of Atlas, of Remnant need if they are to weather the storms to come. Your power shall become the foundation of a new military force, one that will be able to crush our enemies with ease. This is for the sake of the people. You cannot escape this, Polendina."_

 _Penny looked up, her eyes taking in the massive military force arrayed agains them. Even this massive force was but a portion of the total military strength of Atlas, which Ironwood had been increasing steadily, even after the end of the last conflict. All of it was now focused on her._

 _Kyo smiled mockingly at Ironwood. "If I recall, your military power was worthless in this last conflict. Your mighty armada was rendered useless and your great armies became a liability. Instead, it was the strength of a small few that changed the course of this world and saved everyone from chaos."_

 _Ironwood's angry growl was audible, even from this distance. "That just proves that the power we had was not enough. I will build an ever greater strength, one that will not falter, no matter how dangerous our enemies."_

 _"You truly are foolish," said Kyo. "Your concept of power has been proven as flawed to its very roots, yet you believe you can somehow make your lies into truth by making the same mistakes on an even larger scale. Mother did say that Atlas was a foolish country."_

 _"And who are you?" demanded Ironwood._

 _"I am Mibu Kyo," said Kyo._

 _"Mibu..." Ironwood took an involuntary step backwards. He met Kyo's eyes. "Crimson Eyes...So...you are of the Mibu Clan."_

 _Kyo nodded._

 _"So the Mibu Clan intends to interfere with Atlas' affairs now?" snarled Ironwood. "That is why you're helping Polendina, isn't it? You're trying to steal the secrets of our technology for your clan."_

 _Penny threw a worried look Kyo's way._

 _"I intend to interfere," replied Kyo simply. "I left the Mibu lands of my own accord, to see the world on my own terms." He scratched the top of his head. "Although, if I did encounter something worth acquiring for my clan, I wouldn't hesitate to steal it, I suppose." He turned his gaze up to the transports and warships. "But I have yet to see anything worth stealing. I haven't encountered anything in Atlas worth bringing back to my clan."_

 _Ironwood bared his teeth. "I could just as easily turn this brigade on your home and burn it to ashes, boy. Do not try my patience."_

 _Kyo laughed long and loud. "Now that is very funny," he said after finishing. "You believe that this paltry power could stand up to my clan?" He closed his hand around the handle of his sword and drew it forth with an echoing ring, tossing the scabbard aside. "It cannot even stand up to me."_

 _"So, you intend to fight?" asked Ironwood skeptically._

 _"I intend to bring Penny to Vale, as I promised her," said Kyo casually, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "If you and your forces try to stand in my way...I shall go through them. What's left after that will be left completely up to you."_

 _"And so it's come to this," said Ironwood. "If you wish for death, then so be it." He raised his hand and gestured his forces forward. "Attack!"_

* * *

 **On some level, I feel a bit sorry for Ironwood...not the actual character, but Ironwood the way I write him. I have a tendency to lean towards making Ironwood one of the antagonists in my stories. Part of it stems from the fact that I just don't like the guy. I'm not saying he's a bad character in the objective sense. The RT team have definitely done a good job in crafting a character with him. Rather, I believe that, on some level, he's deliberately designed to be unlikeable, or at least created in such a way that he comes off as unlikeable to my personal sensibilities. Whether it was deliberate on the creative team's part or merely an aspect of Ironwood's character that rubs me the wrong way is something that I'll have to hold out on until he returns to the fore in later volumes of the series.**

 **For me, there's just certain aspects of Ironwood's character that makes him come off as a potential villain to my eyes. Even when he's ostensibly doing something to help our heroes, whether it's praising Ruby for being decisive in Volume 2, or express-shipping Yang her new prosthetic in Volume 4, there's always something about it that puts my hackles up and makes me trust him even less than Ozpin...who's pushed into really shady territory in recent Volumes.**

 **Part of that is the fact that Ironwood clearly holds almost unilateral power in Atlas. Volume 4 makes it apparent that he holds a personal majority on the Council. He's also the head of the military. And he's the head of the Academy. He's essentially a military dictator, and someone who clearly possesses a mindset that holds to all the worst aspects of a soldier's mentality: a rigid attitude, a prioritization of giving and following orders over flexible thinking, and a constant emphasis of the importance of force and power. Thus, even if he has the best of intentions, we're also reminded of "The road to Hell," and so on.**

 **So...yeah, expect this story to whale on Ironwood pretty thoroughly.**

 **As for Penny...Yeah, this is mostly just wishful thinking on my part. There's no telling what the actual series is planning to do with her. Being an android, there's always that degree of possibility that she could be brought back, but no certainty that she will. Of course, that decision is up to the writers. It goes without saying that there are quite a few dangling plot threads left by her existence, with the implication that her presence and nature have a bigger impact yet to be seen on the story. As for what happens to her in this story, stay tuned.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Phew...Things are back up and running...for now. Apparently the site has been on the fritz for a few days now. For a little bit, I was worried I wouldn't get this chapter posted today. But I made it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 _"Well," said Kyo, surveying the scenery around him. "That was a little less entertaining than I thought." He sighed and turned back to Ironwood. "I expected better of the so-called mightiest military force on Remnant."_

 _"_ _This…is…impossible…" Ironwood was barely able to move a muscle. His back was practically embedded in the face of a boulder. His cybernetic arm and leg were cut to ribbons. The flesh and blood portion of his body was laced with lacerations, his blood splattered around him._

 _Kyo stood before him. The young man was covered in sweat, and looked as though he had just finished a vigorous workout. Behind him stood Penny, who didn't spare a glance for Ironwood as she instead gazed out across the spectacular tableau that Kyo had created. Fires smoldered where airships and the three warships had crashed…in pieces. The discarded, scattered bodies of countless drones lay, sometimes sparking erratically. Past them were what remained of Ironwood's human troops, dead and dying to a man._

 _The Seventh Mobile Brigade, armed with the latest technology and weapons, had fallen in less than an hour to a single opponent with a simple sword. Penny still wasn't sure how Kyo had done it. At one moment, she'd even believed that he had become one with the wind. Even General James Ironwood, one of Atlas' strongest Huntsmen, in addition to being its leading general, had barely lasted more than five minutes against Kyo in battle._

 _"_ _Oh well," said Kyo, picking up his scabbard and sheathing his sword. "As exercise goes, it wasn't too bad."_

 _"_ _You will pay for this," growled Ironwood. "You will be hunted to the ends of the earth. There will be no place you cannot hide."_

 _Far from being intimidated by Ironwood's threat, Kyo grinned, his aura blazing around him, his eyes shining with an almost demonic light. "Is that a promise? I hope you can follow through with it. Please don't disappoint me, General."_

 _With that, he turned and began to walk away. "We should be going," he said to Penny. "We have a ways to go."_

 _Penny looked at Ironwood, her gaze lingering. Ironwood glared back at her, his eyes filled with another, different, but no less dire, promise. Finally, she turned back to Kyo. "I can't," she said._

 _"_ _You can't what?" asked Kyo, stopping and turning to face her._

 _"_ _I can't go to Vale," said Penny. "The General will come after me. I know I asked you not to kill him, but…I can't go to my friends and bring him down on them."_

 _"_ _Then you understand," said Ironwood. "The only thing you can do is return to Atlas, where you belong."_

 _"_ _I won't," said Penny. She fixed Ironwood with her gaze, an uncharacteristic expression of hatred smoldering on the normally peppy android's face. "I will never return to Atlas. If I do anything, I promise you that you will never get what you want. I will make you regret what you did to my father."_

 _She turned back to Kyo. "I…I don't have anywhere to go now," she said. She lowered her head. "You have to kill me."_

 _"_ _No!" shouted Ironwood._

 _"_ _Are you certain?" asked Kyo._

 _Penny nodded. "I don't have any other choice. I don't want to go to Vale and have the General come after me. But I'm not going back to Atlas either."_

 _"_ _You could always come with me," suggested Kyo. "Since the General is hunting both of us, it would certainly make things interesting."_

 _Penny smiled at him. "Thank you…but no. I…I need to die, if only for the sake of the people the General would hurt otherwise."_

 _Kyo sighed. "If you insist."_

 _Penny closed her eyes. "If you meet my friends, please tell them I'm sorry."_

 _It was faster than the eye could see. The next thing Penny knew, Kyo's sword had returned to its sheath, a flicker of light off the metal of the blade as it cut swiftly and silently through the air being the only indicator that it was drawn at all. Even her enhanced vision wouldn't have been able to follow the motion. In the next second, Penny fell to pieces, her body sliced to ribbons by countless strokes._

 _"_ _NO!" roared Ironwood._

 _Kyo knelt down and reached his hand into a severed section of Penny's torso, rooting around in it before pulling out a small metallic sphere. Between the metal ribs that lined it, green light shown from covered panels and a red light blinked feebly. "So…this is where her soul resides," said Kyo, gazing at it contemplatively. "It's such a small thing for such for such a powerful spirit."_

 _He turned his eyes to Ironwood and fixed the General with a baleful gaze. "And you would dare chain a soul like this down." His hand clenched and the sphere shattered. "Now you have nothing." His anger faded and Kyo smiled again. "Send your armies, General. Send the very best you have, and tell your best to do their worst. I'll gladly take on all comers."_

 _Kyo turned and walked away, leaving Ironwood to languish. The wounds, while severe, would not end his life, not with his Aura working to mend them. Reinforcements were on their way as well. They would save Ironwood before the Grimm found him and, only a day later, Ironwood would announce the highest bounty in Remnant's history._

 _As for Kyo, he walked, but turned his course west. Holding up his hand, he held up what he had hidden in his sleeve and, with a small bit of sleight of hand, had swapped with a power power core from a generic Knight-model drone on the battlefield, the glowing green core that had been in the center of Penny's body._

 _"_ _Now then," said Kyo, looking at the core, "I guess I should head home for a visit."_

* * *

"And that was what happened," said Kyo.

Ruby sniffled and wiped her eyes, while Yang hugged her close. "Is that really true?" she asked.

"I stand by it as true," said Kyo. "But, again, you only have my word on the matter. Between me and the General, it's a matter of whose word you trust more."

"We should probably talk to Professor Ozpin about this," said Weiss to Blake, who nodded.

Normally, Weiss would be the last person to place her belief in the word of an internationally wanted criminal. However, within his story, she saw plenty of truth. Ironwood's military expansion had been out of control lately. The Atlesian military had more than doubled in size since the conflict with Salem. The vast majority of it was now made up of drones from the more advanced models of the Atlesian Knight line. There were rumors of even stranger things going on in Atlas Academy. The latest word was that students admitted in the last two years were _required_ to enlist in the Special Forces upon graduation, not merely pressured to. She also heard that Ironwood was enacting legislation that would keep prospective students from leaving Atlas to go into other Academies, trying to funnel even more manpower into his army.

However, the most disturbing thing she heard about Atlas nowadays was the state of the faunus, which was abysmal, if the rumors and stories from the scant few who'd made it out were to be believed. Citing the White Fang as an ongoing threat to the safety of Atlas, and Remnant in general, Ironwood, with the full backing of the Schnee Dust Company, was enacting legislation restricting the faunus in countless ways. They were being interned in cordoned off sections of the Kingdom, and forced to work for the SDC, often for wages that would be criminally low anywhere else (or if they were humans). They were profiled, continually inspected, monitored, and abused.

Granted, the conflict with the White Fang had set human-faunus relations back across the board. Even in Vale, there were new restrictions in place, and the police were now paying particular attention to faunus they suspected of suspicious activity, often exercising their new scrutiny in the most belligerent and humiliating ways possible. Weiss remembered hearing that poor Velvet had been detained for questioning on account of "suspicious behavior," which was what the police had labeled her late-night grocery run. They'd cordoned her off in an interrogation room and questioned her relentlessly until Coco practically kicked down the door at the station and forced them to let Velvet go.

Of course, all of this only made things easier for the White Fang. Faunus, disillusioned by worsening relations, were turning to the organization that promised them a better future and, more appealingly, a chance to strike back at the ones who were making them suffer. Violence by the White Fang was also on the rise. Such violence only incited humans to view the faunus with even greater mistrust, which in turn drove them to turn to the Fang in a continual downward spiral.

Despite the fact that Salem had been stopped, the world remained far from perfect.

"You took Penny's core back to your homeland," said Yang, looking at Kyo. "Why?"

"It seems something of an unlikely hope," said Kyo. "But I had thought that...maybe...there might be something the experts among my people could do for her."

"What does the Mibu Clan know about applied robotics?" asked Yang.

"Practically nothing," said Kyo, drawing incredulous gazes from all four girls. "We have no drones or androids in our land. In fact, Dust-based technology is practically nonexistent there." He laughed that awkward laugh of his. "The first time I visited the outside world, I experienced quite a bit of culture shock. It took me forever to accept the idea of heavier-than-air airships."

"You don't use Dust!?" exclaimed Weiss, her eyes wide in shock. "That's impossible!" she exclaimed. "How in the world can you hold out against the Grimm at all? How can you possibly help Penny?"

"Well, we may know nothing about Dust or the fine points of the technology of the outside world, but no nation on Remnant understands Aura better than we do," said Kyo, actually looking a trifle smug. "By refining our Auras, we have gained power that far surpasses that of any Dust-based technology I have encountered in the outside world." He laughed awkwardly again. "But I suppose having airships would be cool," he admitted.

"I've never heard of the Mibu Clan," said Blake. "You say you settled on Leng, right?"

Leng was the name of the massive continent residing northwest of Sanus, and Vale. Sitting between Vale, Vacuo, and Atlas, the continent, shaped like a massive, winged dragon, was supposed to be largely unsettled. According to the treaties drawn up at the end of the Great War, the continent and its resources had been divided amongst the four Kingdoms, though expeditions to actually settle it and exploit those resources had never been launched. However, from the way Kyo spoke about his clan, it seemed that it was home to a sizable settlement already.

"That's correct," said Kyo. "I wouldn't say we "settled" there. We have been there for a very long time. Our history goes back even far past the existence of the current four Kingdoms."

"How can that be?" asked Weiss. "A settlement that old would have made itself known to the world by now."

"Ah, the Mibu largely keep to themselves," said Kyo.

Yang's eyebrows went up as she noticed the strange shift as Kyo's reference to the clan switched from "us" to "them," as though he were talking about a group he wasn't actually a part of.

"The Clan has a rather isolationist bent, though that is changing lately," said Kyo. "Before me, my father was the only person to regularly travel to the outside world. In fact, he met my mother on his travels, bringing her back home, where she had me. Now I'm one of the only people who regularly travels to the outside world."

"Do you have a reason to do that?" asked Weiss.

Kyo shrugged. "I don't have a specific purpose, if that's what you are wondering. I was told to travel, to meet people, to experience new things and ideas I would not encounter if I remained with the Clan. For the most part, I've been observing the world in broad strokes."

"Why is your clan so insistent on staying isolated?" asked Ruby.

Kyo sighed. "I think it's in part because we are too cautious. I told you that we don't have airships or any of the other more advanced technologies that you people in the outside world view as commonplace mundanities. In the last few years, we've been working to change that trend. We've developed new technology, technology that doesn't utilize Dust, but a new source of energy, one that might be far more efficient and sustainable than Dust."

"I doubt that," said Weiss sourly, folding her arms and glaring at Kyo.

Kyo shrugged. "From what I've seen, the results are quite promising. The issue is that it has taken us far too long to reach the point where we've actually started implementing this technology. The Mibu are nothing if not methodical in their research. This new energy was discovered well over a century ago, but we are only now beginning to develop the technologies based around it."

"What kind of new energy is this?" asked Weiss, her eyes narrowing.

"It's..." Kyo paused. At first they thought he was being dramatic. But, as the pause dragged on, it became apparent that he was actually having difficulties. Finally... "I forget," he said with another awkward laugh as the girls yelped and fell over in shock.

"You have got to be kidding me!" snapped Weiss.

"Well...I...might have fallen asleep during Murasame-sama's lecture," said Kyo sheepishly. "I've been out in the world for over a year now, and I haven't spared more than a thought or two for it since."

"Unbelievable," huffed Weiss.

"Wait a minute!" protested Blake.

"What?" asked Kyo, looking at her.

"Leng was divided between the four Kingdoms," said Blake. "How can they do that when someone else has already claimed it?"

Kyo's smile faltered slightly. "Well...they drew up those treaties after the Great War, without first checking to see if someone actually _lived_ out there." His smile returned, but the girls shivered, detecting a faintly sinister edge to it. "When they made an effort to enforce their claim, the Mibu Clan rebuked them quite thoroughly. They've left us alone ever since. But, in return, they have officially refused to acknowledge our existence."

"That's awful!" said Ruby, leaning forward, her eyes wide.

Kyo shrugged. "Originally, the Mibu actually preferred it that way. They wanted almost nothing to do with the outside world or the politics of other nations, they were perfectly happy being ignored. That attitude has only begun to change recently."

"How so?" asked Blake.

"Some, even among the elders of the Clan, have been calling for a change in the way that we do things. They have said that we need to emerge from isolation and engage with the larger world if we are to avoid stagnation and self-destruction. It was an unpopular viewpoint at first, but it has been gaining traction in recent years. Given how things were when I left, they might be making their decision in the near future."

"I wonder what will happen if they decide to come out of hiding," said Yang, looking speculatively at Kyo.

"Pandemonium," said Weiss simply, prompting incredulous looks from her friends. "Think about it, a heretofore unknown group with power rivaling, if not surpassing, that of even the most heavily militarized Kingdom in Remnant, revealed to have been living on a continent whose claim is split by all four other Kingdoms. Even if their existence is acknowledged unofficially by the authorities of those Kingdoms, it will come as a complete shock to the people at large. There will be all sorts of questions and concerns. Why were they so insistent on hiding? Why reveal themselves now? What have they been up to all these years?"

"Ugh," grunted Yang. "You've got a point."

"It probably doesn't help that the member of the Clan best known to the outside world is Remnant's highest bounty," added Ruby, throwing a sour look at Kyo, who laughed his awkward laugh once again.

"Please don't make too much of it," said Kyo. "The Mibu Clan has chosen isolation for millennia, it would be odd for them to make such a drastic change just now. I doubt anything will come of it."

"That sounds more like tempting fate to me," groused Weiss. "You might as well say 'What's the worst that could happen?'" Her eyes narrowed as she saw the nervous grin on Kyo's face, which practically screamed that he was going to say something along that line.

"Ah well," said Kyo with a sigh. "It's a matter that I don't have any say over anyway. We should forget it for now and enjoy the festival. There's still plenty to see and do."

* * *

As Kyo had said, the Cherry Blossom Festival proved to be a wonderful distraction to the girls. Even Ruby, despite her reservations, began enjoying herself. The impromptu vacation proved to be exactly what she needed to unwind after spending so long focusing on her development as a Huntress. Even learning about what had happened to Penny had put her at ease, almost like a feeling of release as she finally let go of the grief and pain she had been carrying inside of her. There was still a nagging feeling of uncertainty, the possibility that Kyo hadn't told the truth about what had happened. But it was a small one.

Kyo often accompanied them as they wandered about the town, showing them various sights and attractions. It seemed he was well liked among the townspeople, and his staying with them went a long ways towards soothing the troubled attitudes of the people that RWBY had upset on their first day. Interestingly, it was Yang who appeared to enjoy Kyo's company the most, often going around with him even when the other girls were otherwise occupied.

"Do you like him?" teased Ruby with a sly smirk as they sat together in her room on the second-to-last night of the festival. "You've been getting awfully cozy with him lately."

"Wha-what?" said Yang, snorting and nearly spitting up the juice she had been drinking.

Ruby cackled gayly, Weiss and Blake, joining in with more restrained giggles of their own as they all stared at Yang with sly smiles and narrowed eyes. It was a chance for sweet sweet revenge, after all the teasing they had gotten from Yang for their own romantic attachments. As her younger sister, Ruby had been teased especially mercilessly for her relationship with Jaune, once Yang had initially gotten over the idea.

"Well, I always figured that Yang would fall for a bad boy," said Blake. "And you don't get much worse than Kyo."

"Like you're one to talk," said Yang a smile of her own appearing. "You're the one dating a small-time thief."

"At least he's not on the top of the list of Remnant's Most Wanted," retorted Blake. "Try explaining that to your father if you try to bring him home."

"Yeah, that would take some doing," admitted Yang, before freezing as she realized what she'd just said as the smiles of her friends widened slightly. Her cheeks flushed red and she began stammering. "N-not th-that I'm thinking of bringing him home or anything," she said.

"Oh, I think Big Sis has it bad," said Ruby, her smile becoming a grin. "Don't worry Yang, as the more experienced of the two of us, I'll make sure to give you the best advice." She threw an encouraging arm around Yang's shoulders.

"There is something seriously wrong in the world," muttered Yang, wondering what mysterious portal she had come through that had put her into a world where Ruby was the one with more romantic experience than her.

It wasn't that Yang had _no_ romantic experience. After coming back to Beacon, she'd spent a fair bit of her downtime in the evenings on the club scenes. There, she had encountered plenty of cute boys and girls. The problem was that Yang wasn't certain what she wanted. A quick, one-night-stand just didn't feel right to her. But none of the people she'd met thus far were the sort she was particularly interested in dating. She hadn't exactly met anyone of particular interest to her at Beacon either.

She had to admit that there was something about Kyo that drew her. He was nice, in a silly, almost awkward kind of way. He had a sweet personality that she found endearing. But underneath that...something burned...something intense.

It was that hidden quality that both attracted Yang and made her wary. She loved a good punch-up. Many of her favorite evenings at a bar or club ended in some form of mayhem that allowed her to cut loose and hand out some beatdowns. She loved that feeling, the thrill of the blood rushing through her veins, the breath filling her lungs, the feeling of her fists, of that sense that almost felt like she was dancing, but instead doing something far more intense and invigorating.

She got the sense that Kyo felt that way too, that there was nothing he enjoyed more than the prospect of losing himself in a fight. However, Yang also got the impression that Kyo's love for the experience went further. Kyo didn't merely love fighting, he loved the prospect of fighting to the death, of a situation where he and his opponent didn't merely trade blows, but put their lives on the line, where the line between victory and defeat was the same as the one between life and death. She wasn't sure whether that made him too dangerous or even _more_ attractive in her eyes.

"You should ask him out," said Ruby.

"What?" asked Yang, thrown out of her thoughts by the unexpected advice. It wasn't just the advice itself, but the fact that Ruby wasn't speaking in a teasing manner anymore. She wasn't trying to get a rise out of Yang. She was giving her some honest advice.

"You should ask Kyo out," repeated Ruby. "Tomorrow's the second-to-last day of the festival. You should go on a date, just the two of you, hang out, have fun, maybe visit some place by yourselves."

"R-really?" asked Yang. "What about what he did to Penny? Do you really want me to date someone who did that?"

"Well...I'm not happy about Penny," admitted Ruby, lowering her eyes. "But I think that Kyo really did try to help her and saved her from Ironwood. That's something we're going to have to look into more later. But, for now, I've decided to trust him. It's not like he has any reason to lie to us."

"If anything, I think he'd like it even more if we tried to bring him in again," said Blake wryly.

"I agree," said Weiss.

"So...if you want to ask him out, I don't have any problems," said Ruby. "I don't think it has to be anything serious. The two of you can spend a day having fun together, and see where it goes."

Ruby reached out and took Yang's left hand in her own. "I know you've been feeling a little lonely," she said. "I have Jaune, Weiss and Blake have Neptune and Sun. You haven't found someone yet. Maybe Kyo isn't it, but it's worth a try."

Yang sighed and grinned. "Well, it doesn't sound like a bad plan," she said. "I'll do it."

* * *

"Hey, Kyo," said Yang, smiling widely as she descended the stairs into the inn's common room and found Kyo sitting there, waiting.

"Ah, good morning, Yang," said Kyo, returning her smile. "You just missed your friends, if you were looking for them."

"That's okay," said Yang, taking a seat across from him. "I was actually looking for you."

"Oh," said Kyo. "Any reason in particular."

"Yeah," said Yang. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me and we could have some fun together."

"Go out with you...?" asked Kyo. "...as in...a date?"

Yang's cheeks reddened slightly and she nodded. To her surprise and relief, Kyo's cheeks also colored. She'd been slightly worried that he'd hardly react at all, considering how calm and collected he normally was. She was glad to see that this was a situation that caught him off guard as well.

"Y-yeah," said Yang, blushing as well and unable to keep a slight stammer out of her voice.

Kyo scratched his head, thinking for a moment. "I don't see why not," he said. "I think we could have a fun time together."

Yang felt her heartbeat speed up, along with a faint rush of excitement. "Great! Where should we go first."

"Well..." said Kyo. Yang felt her blush intensify as he seemed to be staring at her intently.

* * *

"What do you think?" asked Kyo as Yang examined the robe. It was a bright-yellow kimono, decorated with crimson lotus blossoms. Around her waist, she wore a lilac-colored sash. She was amazed to see that the tailor had such a spot-on color combination available.

"It's beautiful," said Yang, lifting up her arms and inspecting the sleeves. The soft silk felt amazing against her skin. She narrowed her eyes and fixed Kyo with a playful smile. "You put Penny in a kimono too, didn't you? Is that how you like all your girls dressed?"

Kyo laughed his awkward laugh. "Ah well, I do like them. It makes me feel a bit nostalgic."

"Nostalgic?" Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Such clothes are the favored garment of my homeland, so seeing someone wearing one makes me feel sentimental."

"Aww," cooed Yang. "That's kinda cute when you put it like that."

"I've also been told that the concept of a Cherry Blossom Festival also hailed from the same culture these clothes come from," noted Kyo. "It's interesting, as it's essentially a tradition passed down from an earlier era."

"Is it as old as your clan?" asked Yang.

"Possibly older," said Kyo. "Though there's no way to confirm that. Even with our records, history gets muddled going back that far. Not to mention that our history is the history _concerning_ the Mibu Clan, which means that it only really concerns things that concerned the clan, so our history could hardly be considered comprehensive."

"I think all history is like that to some extent," said Yang.

Kyo nodded. His eyes caught something. "Oh! This looks like fun!" He caught Yang's hand and pulled her towards a stand to see what they had to offer.

They spent the day going from place to place. They tried all sorts of different foods, participated in all kinds of activities. Frequently, their path bent back towards the park and the cherry trees in the center of town, where they would linger, watching the blossoms sway in the wind. Yang thought they were beautiful, and she doubted she'd tire of seeing them before the week was over, but she noted that they seemed special to Kyo for some reason.

"Why do you like the cherry blossoms so much?" she asked as they ambled down another street. Her left hand was clasped tightly against Kyo's right, their fingers meshed together.

"Well...I think they speak to me," said Kyo. Seeing Yang's deadpan stare, he laughed awkwardly again. "I meant that metaphorically, not literally. Do you know what cherry blossoms symbolize?"

"Not really," said Yang.

"Ah..." Kyo paused and looked up. "Well...I think I'll save that explanation for tomorrow. It makes much more sense when you get to see them fall."

"...Okay," said Yang, wondering just what was so special about the admittedly lovely flowers.

* * *

"I see," said Ozpin, staring at them from the other side of the video link. "So Kyo was there."

"You knew he would be here?" asked Ruby.

"Not for certain," said Ozpin. "However, we have been tracking the phenomenon of the Grimm abruptly vacating an area before his arrival for quite some time. At first, we merely thought it an unusual occurrence, not something that was linked to Kyo specifically. Eventually, we began to correlate his presence with the Grimm's absence, but we didn't necessarily confirm that he was responsible for the phenomenon. Even now, we don't have conclusive proof, but are fairly certain."

"Do you know why this town experienced an upsurge in Grimm activity immediately prior to his arrival?" asked Weiss.

"We have an idea," said Ozpin. "Given that the Grimm dislike his presence, and leave to avoid encountering him, it's only natural that some of the less intelligent specimens would flee directly ahead of him, rather than trying to move aside from his course, the way the older and smarter Grimm do. Those Grimm flee directly away from him, but sometimes on the very same path that he himself is taking. You could say that it is akin to the bow wave of a boat, a surge of Grimm ahead of his coming that are driven by their fear of his presence."

"That makes sense," said Blake.

"I still have a hard time believing that he can drive away the Grimm just by being there," said Ruby.

"It's hard to say if it is a definitive repellent response," said Ozpin. "However, I am more inclined to agree with what Ms. Schnee and Ms. Belladonna's soldier friend on the wall suggested. I believe that Kyo's mere presence carries a suggestion of certain death that strikes the Grimm on an instinctual level. They know they cannot face him and so their only option is to flee."

"I find that really hard to swallow," said Ruby.

"I don't," said Weiss quietly, "not anymore. I felt his Aura the other night. It was..." She hugged herself, shivering briefly. "...it was bottomless. It felt absolutely limitless. He did nothing, but he nearly crushed me and Blake both with the force of his Aura alone."

"I have to agree," said Blake, resting a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "It didn't feel like a human Aura, at least, no human's aura should be so powerful."

"Interesting," said Ozpin.

"So...what should we do?" asked Ruby.

"If at all possible, I would like you to see if you can convince Kyo to visit Beacon," said Ozpin.

"What?" gasped Ruby. "Really?"

"Yes," replied Ozpin. "Truth be told, it isn't merely Kyo himself. I am also concerned about the Mibu Clan. Though he is not an acting agent of the Clan himself, Kyo would be a potential means of establishing contact and, hopefully, a relationship with the Mibu Clan themselves."

"But what about his bounty?" asked Weiss. "You'd be sheltering a criminal."

"Well, technically, an Academy is considered a legal sanctuary, under certain conditions," said Ozpin with a sly smile. "It's one of the reasons Ms. Belladonna was not arrested, even after her ties to the White Fang were revealed." Blake winced at his words. "If it concerns Academy business, even the most wanted criminal in all of Remnant can find a haven on Academy grounds. Of course...that is only for so long as he remains on Academy grounds."

"That won't make Ironwood happy," noted Blake.

"I think we're all in agreement that James should not get everything he wants," said Ozpin, seeing the girls nod. "From what I have heard, I am very disappointed in him. I shall start making discreet inquiries regarding the circumstances surrounding Ms. Polendina's death. James has probably done a good job covering his tracks, but having an appealing scapegoat for one's own crimes can induce one to be sloppy at times, so perhaps there is proof that we can find."

"What if Kyo doesn't want to come to Beacon?" asked Ruby. "From the sound of things, he isn't really interested in visiting the Kingdoms himself."

"Then that is his decision," said Ozpin. "I am sure that you girls now know better than to try and force the issue. If he chooses not to, then you go your separate ways. I'll hold out hope, however."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"And where is Kyo now?" asked Ozpin.

Ruby smiled. "On a date...with Yang."

Ozpin's smile widened slightly. "Well now, that's an interesting development. Hopefully you can use that as a means of convincing Kyo to come to Beacon with you."

"We'll try," promised Ruby.

* * *

Yang sighed as she leaned against Kyo, resting her head on his shoulder. It had been her first real date in...forever, it seemed like. She couldn't really remember when her last one had been or who it had been with. She had to admit, going on a date with Kyo was nice. He wasn't a lech who tried to use the date as an excuse to get handsy with her. They'd spent the whole day just having a good time together. Sure, holding hands was nice and it felt good leaning against him like this, but what Yang really liked about Kyo was how being around him made her feel...comfortable.

At this point, the sun was setting, dying the sky in a riot of colors, which nicely complemented the cherry blossoms as their rich, pink color blended with the purple and orange hues of the horizon. It was a gorgeous sight. The air was heady with the sweet, floral aroma of the flowers. Yang's stomach was full after a day spent sampling all manner of treats and sweets. It was hard to imagine things being any better.

"Thanks for today," she said. "I had a great time."

"Me too," said Kyo. "I'm glad you were able to enjoy yourself. It would be fun to do this again sometime."

"It would" agreed Yang. "Though, I guess it would be tricky, given how you're always going around."

"Maybe," said Kyo, his smile widening slightly. "Perhaps you'd like to come with me."

Yang sighed. "I don't think so," she said. His offer was appealing, but… "I still need to finish at Beacon. I can't leave my team, and I probably won't be ready to go solo quite yet, even after I graduate."

"I see," said Kyo, looking down. "I suppose it would be presumptuous of me to assume you'd be willing just drop everything and come wander the countryside with me. My life is a rather aimless one at the moment."

"Well, you'll know where to find me," said Yang. "You could always come visit me in Vale. I could show you around. I know all the good spots."

"I've never been really all that interested in visiting the Kingdoms themselves," said Kyo. "Still, I suppose it wouldn't be so unpleasant if I were visiting you."

"Thanks," said Yang, letting her eyes close. She lost herself in the moment. Tomorrow would be the last day of their vacation and then she and the girls would return to Beacon. Already, Yang was dreading the end of their little vacation. It hadn't even ended yet, but it still seemed like a fleeting dream.

Sadly, the dream came to an end prematurely as Kyo jerked next to her, the sudden movement dislodging Yang. She yelped as she fell over onto the grass. Kyo offered her a hand to help her back up, but Yang noticed he wasn't even looking at her as he did so. "What's going on?" she asked.

"There's something wrong," said Kyo.

Yang frowned and looked out over the festival. She was about to comment that she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when she heard and felt it, a low boom, the sound of an explosion, accompanied by a rush of heat that washed over the park like a wave. Not far away, Yang saw smoke and fire rising above the line of buildings that bordered the edge of the park. "What's going on?"

Kyo stood up. "I intend to find out," he said.

* * *

The streets were in chaos when Ruby, Weiss, and Blake burst out of the CCT center, looking around for the source of the disturbance. Civilians were rushing every which way, their movements leaving no clue as to where the problem was. Fortunately, the fire and the sound of gunshots clued them in fairly quickly to the location of the event.

"What's happening?" asked Ruby as she rushed down the street, Weiss and Blake swiftly running to keep pace with her.

"You think either of us knows?" asked Weiss rhetorically. "We'll find out when we get there."

They arrived to see the town hall in flames. Ruby's heart shuddered as she saw prone forms lying around the building. She quickly rushed to the nearest one, rolling the man over to check his condition. He groaned as he moved, making Ruby sigh in relief. At least he was still alive. Beside her, Weiss and Blake were doing the same.

Someone brushed past Ruby and her arm snapped out, catching the woman's arm. "Get people together," said Ruby in a firm, commanding tone that brooked no argument. "These people need to be moved away from the fires. Get stretchers, benches, something to carry them with."

The woman nodded frantically and she quickly moved to rally several other civilians. Within moments, they were carefully moving the injured away from the blaze so that Ruby and her friends could look for the cause.

"Do you think it's a terrorist attack?" asked Weiss.

"Hard to say," said Blake. "Last I heard, the White Fang aren't active in this area."

Ruby swallowed. It occurred to her that there might be a very real cause for violence in this town, and he was currently on a date with her sister. But, if Kyo was the reason for this, then why was the town hall in flames when he wasn't anywhere near it?

Her eyes caught sight of several swift, human-sized objects moving through the flames. "Incoming!" she shouted, backpedaling away and pulling out Crescent Rose as black, armored attackers leapt out of the building and descended upon them.

One landed in front of Ruby, its legs bending to absorb the shock of landing. She whipped out with Crescent Rose, using her Semblance to increase the speed and momentum of the blade to enhance the impact without relying on the rifle's recoil, a trick she'd perfected to keep from having to fire her rifle needlessly in a situation where civilians could be anywhere. It drained her stamina faster than her usual method, but Ruby thought that tiring out faster was a fine trade off to avoid the possibility of causing civilian casualties. The black figure raised an arm and caught the scythe's blade with the grind of metal on metal. At the same time, it fixed her with a glowing, red cyclopean eye.

At the same time, its other arm was already on the move, lashing out at Ruby, a blade extending out from the end of its hand. Ruby pulled on her scythe and used the blade, which was still hooked around her attacker's arm, to yank herself out of the way so that her attacker's own blade passed harmlessly through the space she occupied.

Ruby landed behind her opponent and spun about, whipping her blade around again, her body becoming a red whirlwind as her Semblance-enhanced speed turned the scythe into a blur. The blade cleaved through her enemy right at the waist, splitting him in two and sending his top half flying into the air. The damage clued Ruby in to the fact that her enemy hadn't used Aura to protect itself. Several faint clicks reached her ears and she shot to the side in a flurry of petals as a line of Dust-bullets cratered the ground where she had been standing. Her attacker had moved his arms to target her, a machine gun emerging from its right arm, even as its severed torso tumbled through the air, trailing sparking wires.

"They're drones!" shouted Ruby as she shot forward, not giving the machine another chance to attack, splitting it in two down the center from the top of its head to the end of its severed torso.

Beside her, Weiss pulled Myrtenaster out of chest of her own opponent. The drone twitched and jerked, but her ice-Dust had frozen its internal components nearly completely solid. A second later, there was a sound of cracking and snapping and its body sagged as much as its frozen joints would allow, sparks and smoke spilling out of its interior mechanisms. "They're Jaegers!" she shouted.

The bottom dropped out of Ruby's stomach. The Atlesian Jaeger-1500 was Atlas' newest and most state-of-the-art combat drone. Designed to combine high mobility with impressive offense, defense, and the latest in advanced programing, the Jaegers were far more dangerous than the Knight-class drones that had served as the backbone for the Atlesian military for years. They were robots designed to operate on the level of Huntsmen. They were precise, efficient, and deadly. From what Ruby had heard, they had been deployed in several areas to root out suspected White Fang cells, and were encountering impressive success. Of course, at a cost twenty-times that of the current-generation Knights, the Jaegers weren't going to supplant the lower-end machines any time soon.

Two more of the agile androids converged on Blake, blades extending from their arms to slice through her. Blake didn't seem to notice them. However, as the blades pierced her body, her shadow vanished and Blake dropped down behind the Jaegers, cutting them down.

Still more appeared, seeming to drop out of shadows emerge from around buildings, converging swiftly and efficiently on the targets categorized as the greatest threats.

 _That's fine,_ thought Ruby. _If they focus on us, that means they'll leave the civilians alone._

"Get ready," she said.

"These things aren't too bad," observed Weiss. "Depending on how many are here, we should be able to take them down without too much trouble."

"Don't be sure," said Blake. "They're supposed to be even more dangerous together like this."

Besides their enhanced specs, the Jaegers had an even more dangerous attribute, networked processing power. Their control units were synched with a network that allowed them to share their processing power with each other. The more units present, the greater the network's processing power. With that processing power, the Jaegers were able to coordinate their actions flawlessly, and develop new tactics and strategies on the fly, quickly assessing their targets' capabilities and adjusting to them.

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake formed up back-to-back. Ruby was a bit worried about Yang, wondering where she was. But she set that concern aside for the moment. Someone had at least a squad, maybe as many as a platoon of these things. The Jaegers were the Atlesian military's most-prized weapons, deployed with scrupulous care and concern for their retrieval afterwards. There was no way an outside group should have acquired this many of them, or the means to build them.

The Jaegers assembled in a loose circle around the three Huntresses. They had yet to deploy their weapons, still probably calculating the best means of attack. However, one of them took a step forward and its red, cyclopean, eye flared, producing a beam of red light that swept over Ruby, making her twitch. Two others stepped forward and did the same with Weiss and Blake.

" _Biometrics confirmed,_ " declared the unit in front of Ruby in an emotionless, robotic monotone. " _Hostiles identified as student Huntresses: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna. Designation changed to non-hostile._ "

"Huh?" Ruby blinked and stared at them. "What does that mean."

"They have access to our biometrics," said Weiss. "That means these are attached to the Atlesian military." She frowned and focused her attention to the unit in front of her. "Identify."

" _Unit identification, Jaeger Platoon HK-17, on mission, currently attached to Specialist Smith._ "

"Crap!" hissed Weiss, making her friends twitch. Given Weiss' refined attitude, hearing an expletive that crass from her lips was equivalent to something even more severe from any of the other girls.

"What's wrong?" asked Ruby.

"This is an active unit on mission," said Weiss. "That means these things are here on orders sanctioned by the Atlesian military. Acting under a Specialist means that this mission has the direct approval of General Ironwood." She bit her thumbnail on her right hand, glaring at the android in front of her. "And Smith is the worst."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

Instead of answering, Weiss snapped another order at the Jaeger in front of her. "State your mission."

The android's eye flickered. " _Verifying clearance. Insufficient clearance. Order denied...Manual override engaged. Clearance granted. Mission designation, apprehension or elimination. Target designation, Mibu Kyo._ "

"I knew it," hissed Weiss.

"If they're after Kyo, why are they attacking civilian targets?" demanded Blake.

"Because, according to the mission parameters, aiding, abetting, and sheltering an internationally wanted criminal marks them as obstacles."

The voice didn't come from one of the androids. It instead came from a man walking up between them from the direction Weiss was facing. "Hello, Ms. Schnee. Still playing at being a Huntress I see."

* * *

 **The concept of the Jaegers seemed a pretty natural evolution of Atlas' android technology to me. I'm pretty sure it won't be long until we see something like them in the series proper, androids that are designed to fight on the level of Huntsmen. That's the kind of thing that a guy like Ironwood would be drooling over.**

 **Other than that, I don't have a lot to say in this chapter. My author's notes tend to run long anyway. See ya.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

"Hello, Farran," replied Weiss, the corners of her mouth curling up in a sardonic smile, "still an ass, I see."

"You wound me, Ms. Schnee," said the man, though his smile widened slightly.

Ruby and Blake turned to face him, their instincts telling them that this man was trouble. It wasn't the same feeling that Kyo caused, that feeling of overwhelming power lying just beneath the surface that all but guaranteed defeat. Rather, it was the feeling that the man in front of them was cruel and callous, relishing in the opportunity to exercise his power on helpless targets.

"You know him?" asked Ruby, glancing sidelong at Weiss.

"Unfortunately, yes," replied Weiss. "He was one of the potential suitors my father badgered me into meeting a while back."

After the Fall of Beacon, Weiss' father had come to Vale personally and forced Weiss to return with him to Atlas. Before she had been able to force her way out of his grip and return to her friends, Weiss had spent the intervening time forced into the role fully expected of her as the Schnee Family's heir. She attended numerous balls and social functions, rubbing elbows with Atlas' upper crust and industry leaders, including officials from the military.

Her father, whose primary concern was securing the continuation of the Schnee Family line had also arranged for Weiss to meet several suitors. They were usually men considerably older than her, who had connections that her father wanted or whom he felt could rein in Weiss and curb her "childish tendencies," as her father had called her ambition to change the company for the better. As a result, Weiss' time at home had been spent rebuffing advance after advance from those men, even as she fought for the right to decide her own path for herself.

Of those men, Farran had probably been the youngest, which didn't count for much, as he was roughly the same age as Weiss' sister, having been Winter's year-mate at Atlas Academy. Like Winter, he had enlisted in the Atlesian military upon graduation as a member of their Special Forces. Unlike Winter, Farran was completely despicable, an impression that had emerged at the forefront of Weiss' mind the first time her father had introduced her to him, and one that was confirmed when she privately vetted him by calling Winter and asking for information. Farran was the worst sort who joined the Atlesian military, the kind who sought to work his way up the ladder, not because he had a genuine dedication to the military as a career or a desire to do his best as a commander, but because he wanted authority solely for the sake of _abusing_ it.

In other words, exactly her father's kind of man. Weiss hated the sight of him. His presence was a slippery, oily one that made her sick. Whenever her father forced them to spend time together, Weiss could feel Farran's eyes on her, mentally undressing her. Oh how she wished all those times that she could have kicked him in the crotch and walked away.

Farran was a tall man, easily over six feet. His chiseled face showcased flat cheeks and narrow, flint-gray eyes. His dark-gray hair was cut short in a military-style buzz-cut that was practically regulation for rank-and-file soldiers (though Specialists were given almost free reign in deciding their own looks). His build was slim and lithe, with long limbs that looked thin at first, but showcased muscles like steel cords upon closer inspection, readily visible through the fabric of his silver uniform, which hugged his body tightly, showcasing its features. His right arm was encased within ridged armor that went all the way up to his shoulder, ending in a gauntlet that completely encased his hands down to the tips of his fingers, which ended in sharp, claw-like points. More metal armor extended out from beneath the collar of his shirt to encase his neck, rising up to cover the lower half of his cheeks and chin. His left arm didn't appear to be armored, but anything could have been hidden underneath that sleeve, and the white glove over his hand.

"As always, it is good to see you again," said Farran as he traced his eyes up and down Weiss' body, drinking in her slender form and modest curves, the clear appeal they held for him making Weiss sick to her stomach. "Your father is in excellent health, by the way."

"I couldn't care less," said Weiss.

"Enough of that, what do you think you're doing?" demanded Ruby, raising Crescent Rose. "These are innocent civilians."

" _Not_ innocent," replied Farran. "As I said earlier, they are guilty of concealing a terrible criminal. Under the authority vested in me by the Atlesian government and General Ironwood, I am permitted to dispense punishment."

"This isn't an Atlesian settlement," snapped Blake. "You're overstepping."

"The General makes no distinction," replied Farran cooly, "so neither do I. It does not matter which Kingdom this settlement swears to. I am authorized to punish these people for their criminal behavior."

"Vale will hear of this," said Weiss.

"Let them," replied Farran. "Vale's Council has been quite accommodating to General Ironwood lately. I expect that they won't make much of an objection once the General has explained the reason behind this mission. If anything, they will probably be thanking him for ridding them of such a troublesome hamlet."

Weiss growled, baring her teeth. Farran was right, curse him. Ever since the last Vytal Festival, Vale's Council had basically rolled over and allowed Ironwood to do whatever he pleased within their territory.

She decided to switch gears and take another approach. "You say that, but aren't you making a mistake, kicking up such a fuss? Kyo can't miss a show like this. He'll know you're here and he'll know you're after him. He's probably long gone by now."

Much to her consternation, Farran laughed. "Well now...is that what you think? I think things are a bit different." He pinched his chin with the fingers of his left hand. "Everything I've seen on his file seems to indicate that he is not the sort to shy away from a fight. What's more...I wonder if he'll overlook the abuse of people who have been so kind to him. If he runs after I've done all this, then he is certainly the worst kind of criminal." Farran grinned. "No...I think, rather than chase him off, this is the perfect way to flush him out. The only reason I haven't ordered the drones to press the attack is that I suspect he will be here soon."

Weiss bit the inside of her lip. _He knows what he's doing,_ she thought. She had to admit that she had pretty much the same assessment of Kyo that Farran had. Kyo wasn't interested in escaping and he wouldn't look the other way while the people of this settlement suffered on his account.

"Now the only question is what you girls are going to do," said Farran, his smile widening as his gaze fixed on Weiss in particular. "After spending the better part of a week here, it would be hard to argue that you weren't aware of Kyo's presence. At the very worst, General Ironwood might consider your inaction a willful abandonment of your duties as Huntresses."

"Why you...!" snarled Ruby.

"Of course...perhaps, if you were willing to grant some concessions, I might be convinced to report otherwise," said Farran. "I could just as easily claim that your assistance was essential to Kyo's capture, in which case you would also be credited with bringing him down and even receive a portion of the bounty. One-billion lien divided five ways isn't a bad compromise at all."

"And what concession would you want?" asked Weiss. _As if I didn't already have an idea,_ she thought, once again enduring the sickening feeling of Farran's eyes on her.

"I would like for you to come back to Atlas with me, Ms. Schnee," said Farran. "The defeat and/or death of Demon Eyes Kyo would be quite the feather in your cap, more than enough to satisfy your need for some kind of accomplishment. With that, you can return to your family, and we can finalize matters concerning our engagement."

"Engagement?" Ruby turned and looked at Weiss' with wide eyes.

"There's no engagement," said Weiss, speaking just loud enough for Ruby and Blake to hear her. Farran was just one of many suitors that her father had introduced her to. No engagement had been decided upon for any of them. This then, was Farran's play. If he, the hero who had brought down Demon Eyes Kyo, returned to Atlas with Weiss in tow, he would have the edge he needed to win her father's approval over all her other suitors. Bringing Weiss with him would, more or less, ensure that she was unable to return to Beacon on her own. There was no way her father would let her escape his grip a third time. He would probably organize the engagement over any objection Weiss could voice and carry it out as expediently as he could. The worst part was that this wasn't something Farran had planned in advance, but clearly something he'd come up with to take the fullest advantage of the situation.

"Not happening," said Ruby sharply, turning to glare at Farran. "You aren't taking Weiss with you, and we're not letting you do any more harm to these people."

She turned and smiled at Weiss. "That's okay, right?"

Weiss smiled back and turned to face Farran. "Well, you are the leader after all."

Farran sighed. "So disappointing," he remarked. "Your father would probably prefer that I bring you back unharmed, but, given your current attitude if I was forced to get a little rough with you girls. Well...the condition of the other two won't matter, so long as Ms. Schnee is mostly intact."

Weiss leveled Myrtenaster at him. Ruby and Blake both sank into crouches, leveling their own weapons. Farran was an Atlesian Specialist, a full-fledged Huntsman, probably sporting some of the most advanced tech available. Team RWBY were still students, albeit in their third year. But they had been through things that most veteran Huntsmen had never experienced. The gap between them was not as wide as Farran probably thought.

The problem then was the Jaegers. If Farran had brought Knights instead, then their presence wouldn't have been worth considering. But the Jaegers might give him enough of an edge against the three of them to turn the battle in his favor. A platoon of them would make for a terrifying fight.

Farran sighed and pulled out his scroll with his left hand. Tapping it prompted the Jaegers to twitch. "On my mark, prepare to cancel the non-hostile designation for targets Schnee, Rose, and Belladonna. Re-designate as hostile and engage at will."

" _Acknowledged,_ " responded the Jaegers with eerie unison.

Ruby pivoted, pressing her back against Weiss' shoulder on her right sight, while Blake did the same on their left, the three of them facing out against the ring of drones primed for attack.

"This is your last warning," said Farran, raising his scroll to his lips.

"Go to Hell," replied Weiss coldly.

Farran sighed. "So be it then." He opened his mouth to give the order.

A sound like a roar of wind accompanied by a high-pitched whistle filled their ears. A shockwave ripped through the ground, tearing it up in a line, opening a thin, but deep, trench between Farran and Weiss, narrowly missing one of the Jaegers stationed a short distance away from Farran.

"And here I thought you were here for me."

The sound of Kyo's voice sent a chill down the spines of the three girls. It was as calm, relaxed, and easygoing as it always seemed. But there was...something...to it, something they couldn't quite quantify. Whatever it was, it set their nerves on edge with a sense of danger that felt as though the razor-sharp blade of Kyo's sword had been positioned right at their throats.

Kyo looked as though he were on a simple stroll. His sword was drawn, but he rested the back of his blade over his shoulder in an easy, relaxed posture. He was smiling brightly, but his eyes gleamed in the darkness, not reflecting the light of the fire, but giving off a light of their own. His Aura was completely contained. No one could feel a trace of it. And yet...that sense of danger remained.

Behind Kyo was Yang, still clad in her kimono. All the same, she had deployed Ember Celica and was ready for a fight, though she held the scabbard for Kyo's sword in her left hand. Like her teammates, Yang watched Kyo warily, wondering just how he would handle this situation.

"Ah," said Farran, turning to face the new arrival, "Demon Eyes Kyo, I presume. So I finally get to see the terrible criminal with my own eyes. I must admit...you seem a little underwhelming."

 _Is he insane?_ wondered Weiss. Farran was an Atlesian Specialist, or he was supposed to be? Couldn't he feel the sense of danger in the air?

"And you would be the latest hunter who has come for my head," said Kyo, shifting his gaze around to take in the Jaegers. "I must admit, I'm disappointed. Most show more courtesy than you."

"Perhaps that is why they are dead," retorted Farran calmly. "Any man foolish enough to take you on without proper support is bound to meet a messy end."

"That is not quite what I meant," said Kyo, bowing his head slightly. "You see...the hunters before you had the courtesy to come after me...and only me. Whoever was around me, they had the sense to leave those people out of it."

"Ah yes," said Farran. "But, as I was just telling the girls here, it has been determined that those who shelter you are as guilty as you and will be dealt with appropriately. So, after I have taken you down, I shall turn and mete out the punishment this worthless village truly deserves."

"Oh...is that so?" said Kyo, lifting his head. A shock of fear went through the hearts of Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. From the way Yang twitched behind Kyo, they could tell she felt it as well. Kyo's Aura remained undisturbed, but his eyes were practically blazing now. "I typically offer my opponents the chance to withdraw if they are not fully committed to staking their lives against me. However, I believe I shall make an exception for you." Despite the anger humming through his tone, Kyo grinned, the expression almost looking savage as his eyes shined brighter still. "I hope you're prepared to die."

Weiss was in a cold sweat. Kyo was nothing like how he'd been when they had fought him. Even that time in his room, when he had crushed both her and Blake with the force of his Aura alone, they had never felt this looming sense of fear. Looking at him now, Weiss could truly accept that this was Demon Eyes Kyo, the boy who had slaughtered the Seventh Mobile Brigade and defied General Ironwood to his face before beating him down.

"How quaint," said Farran, not seeming fazed in the slightest. Weiss stared at him incredulously, wondering if he was suicidal. However, looking at him, Weiss realized the truth. _He has no idea,_ she realized. Farran was completely clueless to how much danger he was in. Because Kyo had not released his Aura, Farran had no notion of how powerful Kyo really was. More importantly, his senses apparently weren't honed enough to detect the danger otherwise.

Farran lifted his scroll. "All units, begin suppression of primary target."

" _Acknowledged,_ " declared the Jaegers, their heads orienting with unison on Kyo. Their glowing, cyclopean eyes flashed beams of light that traced their way up and down Kyo's body. " _Scanning...assessing..._ "

The glowing lenses blinked and flickered like monitor screens. However, the Jaegers made no move to attack.

"What is going on?" demanded Farran, unnerved by their inaction.

" _Insufficient data to generate strategies,_ " declared the Jaegers. " _Target exceeds operational parameters. Retreat recommended._ "

"What?" snapped Farran, glaring incredulously at the Jaegers while Kyo waited calmly. "Are you saying you can't beat him?

" _Insufficient data for meaningful answer,_ " replied the Jaegers. " _Retreat recommended._ "

"Nonsense!" yelled Farran. "Engage manual override. Attack!"

" _Override acknowledged,_ " answered the Jaegers. " _Commencing attack._ "

The drones moved as one. Several charged at Kyo straight on. Still more scattered out to either side to flank him. Even more of them took to the air in flying leaps calculated to allow them to descend on him from above. Hands folded, blades extended, gun barrels emerged as the platoon of drones all converged on their target.

Kyo seemed to not even notice them. Behind him, Yang had jumped back to clear some space. The drones dropping on him from the air and flanking him from the sides fired, the chatter of their machine guns filling the air as the bullets carved glowing streaks of light through the air. At the same time, the ones coming at Kyo from the front attacked with blades. Only when all the attacks were about to reach him did Kyo move.

It was like a flash. One second, he was still standing there, his sword resting casually over his shoulder. The next instant, he was on the other side of the drones charging him from the front, his sword sweeping out wide to his right as the drones behind him fell, cut into pieces with several slashes, too fast for any one of his distinct attacks to actually be visible to the eye. At the same time, the shots fired by the drones trying to surround him cratered the ground where he'd been standing.

Now that they had been ordered to go on the attack, there was no hesitation to the Jaegers' movements. The drones that had been on Kyo's left flank turned and charged in at him, switching out their guns for blades as they closed to melee distance, their bodies blurs. At the same time, the drones on Kyo's right turned and trained their guns on him again. The drones up above descended on Kyo, their blades extended as well.

Kyo seemed to swing his sword around him in a wide circle, though, it was once again the last move in a series of techniques that had been too blindingly fast for the eye to see. The drones closing in from the left and above were sliced to pieces, their severed parts seeming to fall around Kyo like a rain. Those pieces became shields, catching the majority of the gunfire that had been directed at Kyo by the remaining drones.

Half of the remaining drones switched to blades and charged forward while the remaining half kept their guns and fired over and past their comrades, providing a rain of covering fire for the melee attackers to advance under. Kyo wasn't daunted in the slightest. He surged forward, his body vanishing from sight as he crossed the distance between them before the melee attackers could even manage more than two steps. Kyo emerged on the other side of their formation, the drones dropping to pieces with almost no fanfare.

"Interesting," said Farran, still grinning, pinching his chin with his left hand. "I see you're not half-bad."

 _Not half-bad?_ thought Weiss incredulously. _Is he blind? Kyo cut down a platoon of Jaegers like they were nothing. Just how much was he holding back when he was fighting us?_

Kyo turned and faced Farran, once again resting his sword over his shoulder. "You seem quite confident when you have plenty of your toys to hide behind."

"That was just to test you," said Farran. "Now I've got your measure."

"Then come and let me take _your_ measure," replied Kyo, raising his left hand and beckoning with his index finger.

"You seem to think that you're some kind of invincible fighter," said Farran, grinning. "But Atlas has grown since the last time you've tangled with us." With his left hand, he began to unbutton the shirt of his uniform. "I'll show you just how far we've advanced."

Farran pulled open his shirt and slipped out of it, tossing it aside. Weiss gasped in shock, a feeling of disgust welling up within her. Farran's left arm had been replaced by a completely robotic one, encased in black armor that mimicked the contours of his original arm nearly perfectly. She could see glowing Dust crystals set into its length; a red one in the front of his wrist, a blue one on the back of his wrist, white and yellow on the front and back of the forearm respectively, a pale cerulean-blue on the outside of his upper arm, a green one on the inside, and a dark-purple one set into his shoulder. However, it didn't end there. There were wires extending from the shoulder from the armor-plated arm on Farran's right side, which were imbedded into his skin. The skin on both sides of his chest was peeled back, revealing metallic components with blue-white Dust-chambers.

"What the hell is that?" asked Ruby, her hand covering her mouth as she fought to keep the contents of her stomach down.

"Prosthetics?" asked Blake.

"No," said Weiss. "They're cybernetic implants. Farran's had Dust-powered weaponry and physical augmentations imbedded directly in his body."

This was worlds beyond the kind of weaponized prosthetic arm that Yang possessed. This wasn't replacing parts of the body that were lost or injured. Farran had gone and implanted mechanical components into his body solely for the sake of improving his fighting capability. Even now, he was grinning fiercely as he raised his right hand and flexed those clawed fingers.

"Very interesting," said Kyo, not seeming fazed in the slightest. "Now show me what they can do."

"All right," said Farran. "You asked for it."

Farran shot forward, his body becoming a blur as he rushed towards Kyo, easily exceeding the speed of the Jaegers earlier. Weiss figured that Farran probably had implants in his legs as well, to boost his mobility. Kyo lifted his sword off his shoulder and brought it down as Farran came within his reach, the sword accelerating into a silvery blur. Farran swung his armored right arm to meet it. Mechanical clicks accompanied its for twisting and shifting, folding in on itself, becoming a broad, double-edged blade with both sides curving in towards the tip that replaced his forearm and hand. Farran's blade met Kyo's blade with an impressive ring.

The force of impact between the two created a shockwave that was palpable to the watchers. It was like getting slapped across the entire body with a sudden gust of wind. Farran and Kyo were both pushed back away from each other by the impact. Farran recovered quickly, digging his feet in to stop his backwards slide before kicking off and rushing towards Kyo again. As he did, he extended his left hand out behind him. The red gem on his wrist blazed and a jet of flame burst out from his palm, propelling him forward like a rocket.

He thrust straight for Kyo's heart as he came in. Kyo leaned over and slipped effortlessly to the side of the thrust. Kyo turned and swept his own sword at Farran, only for Farran to raise his blade and block. The ground beneath Farran's feet shattered, but Weiss narrowed her eyes, watching as the dark-purple gem on his left shoulder flashed. Farran's weight seemed to increase, anchoring him into place at the moment of impact, keeping Kyo from knocking him back again.

They disengaged and Farran went on the attack again, launching a flurry of thrusts and slashes. Kyo's body bent and weaved between the strikes, his form seeming to multiply as he danced out of the way of every attack so that they all missed him by a hair's breadth.

"You're pretty good at dodging," observed Farran, smirking. "Let's see how well you fight when you can't dodge that easily."

The yellow gem on Farran's left arm began to flow and crackling electricity flowed up and down the length of his sword. Farran once again lunged in, slashing at Kyo. Kyo continued to dodge the strikes, not seeming bothered by the arcs of electricity that occasionally jumped from Farran's sword to his as their blades passed by one another. After several such dodges, Kyo jumped away, landing a few meters back from where they had been fighting.

"Interesting," said Kyo, examining his sword. "I initially thought you were trying to shock me on contact, now I see. Each near miss charges my blade, magnetizing it so that, if sufficiently charged, your sword will be attracted to it quite naturally, no matter how well I dodge."

"That was the idea," said Farran, his smile faltering slightly.

Kyo laughed, though it was a strangely condescending-sounding laugh. "I see. What an amusing gimmick. But...a gimmick it remains." He gazed intently at Farran, his smile still there, but now serious and confident. "Surely there is more than this. You must have something better you can show me.

Farran snorted. "Heh! You sure are a cocky one. Fine. I'll show you a few things."

Farran shot forward again. This time, the green gem glowed and he launched forward on a column of wind, gliding across the ground. As he approached Kyo, he suddenly seemed to vanish. That was because he abruptly changed directions, using the wind to launch himself off the ground and up into the air. He descended on Kyo from above, sword raised for an overhead slash.

Weiss caught the flicker of the dark-purple gem on Farran's shoulder once again. Black energy outlined the edge of Farran's sword and its speed suddenly increased. Despite that, Kyo easily sidestepped the slash once again. The sword slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash the impact creating a crater beneath Farran even as his sword split the earth, creating a trench, not unlike the one that Kyo had created earlier.

"How'd he do that?" asked Ruby.

"Gravity-Dust," said Weiss. "He's good."

Gravity-Dust was generally employed by projectile weapons, like the sniper rifle built into Ruby's scythe. Using gravity-Dust in bullets could give shots of a relatively small caliber a big impact. It also had a hell of a kick, which was useful to recoil-style fighters, like Ruby. Granted, Ruby's budget usually wasn't so generous that she could afford to fire off gravity rounds regularly, but she did always keep at least a couple clips on hand for serious situations.

On the other hand, employing gravity-Dust in melee combat was a much different animal. Channeling the Dust directly was a difficult matter, as it drastically altered the weight of the object it was being used on. Ideally, it was an excellent way to give melee attack a lot of extra power by increasing the weight of the weapon at the moment of impact. But if one's timing was off, it had the risk of throwing off one's pace and precision. It took a lot of skill to properly employ gravity-Dust in melee combat. However, Farran had those kinds of skills.

"Now that's more like it," said Kyo, with a smile as he danced to the side.

Farran grinned savagely. "This is just scratching the surface!" He yanked his sword out of the ground and slashed at Kyo in a sideways strike. "Try this on for size!" The green gem blazed and a crescent of green launched out from the edge of Farran's sword, whistling as it flew towards Kyo.

Kyo leaned back, nearly folding his spine in two to allow the emerald-colored crescent fly over his head. As it did, it clipped a few hairs from his bangs and flew on to cut clean through a nearby lamp post.

"A vacuum blade," hissed Weiss, biting her thumbnail. An attack like that was extremely dangerous.

"This blade is sharper than any metal one ever could be!" declared Farran as she slashed his arm at seemingly random angles through the air, creating a storm of green crescent-shaped blades flying at Kyo, angled in a number of directions to cut off his paths of escape. "You can't block them! Your pathetic sword will be cut to-!"

Farran's voice cut off as Kyo raised his own sword and slashed straight down. His blade cleaved through the storm of wind-cutters that Farran had unleashed, splitting them all to fly past his body on either side.

"How disappointing," said Kyo, his smile widening. "You call that a blade of wind?"

Farran was already closing in, blade raised, black energy once again running along its edges right as he swung it sideways at Kyo. Kyo raised his own sword, angling it downwards and bracing its spine against his left forearm as he caught Farran's swing. The ground around them shattered again, but Kyo didn't budge an inch.

"Not as impressive as I first through," said Kyo, now sounding bland, his smile shrinking slightly.

"Then try blocking this!" snapped Farran, leaping up again, using a downwards slash combined with gravity-Dust to unleash a devastating blow. However, Kyo raised his sword, holding it up above his head, the blade angled horizontal to the ground. This time, he didn't even bother to brace it with his other hand. Farran's attack landed with a deafening clang, driving Kyo down into the crater the impact created. However, Kyo's arm didn't falter in the slightest.

"Sorry," said Kyo. "Gravity is impressive, but I know someone who uses it better."

Farran growled in anger, his smile nowhere to be seen anymore as he backed up half a step, launching another wind-slash, this time from almost point-blank range. However, Kyo's own sword was even faster, splitting Farran's attack in two so that the halves passed harmlessly by him once again.

However, as Kyo countered Farran's latest attack, his ears picked up several mechanical clicks and whirrs coming from Farran's arm. Kyo's eyes lowered to look at his opponent and widened as Farran trained his right arm on Kyo again. The blade was replaced by a gun barrel that sprouted out from Farran's elbow, the wide barrel pointed straight at Kyo.

"Try this then," said Farran with a snarl.

The red gem, the yellow gem, and the blue gem lit up on Farran's left arm and a jet of flames roared out of the gun, engulfing Kyo.

"No!" shouted Yang, her eyes going wide with horror.

"Don't get close!" shouted Weiss, recognizing the attack. It combined fire, water, and earth-Dust to create an oily, gelatinous substance that burned ferociously, even as it stuck stubbornly to whatever it was sprayed on. The flaming jelly would cling to Kyo's body and continue to burn until Farran decided to douse it. It was one of the most inhumane uses of Dust imaginable. The last Weiss had heard, its use against people was still banned by the Treaty of Vytal, the same treaty that had ended the Great War over eighty years ago, though there were some allegations that Atlesian forces used it against the faunus during the Revolution. Weiss supposed that Ironwood's principles on the usage of such a heinous weapon had changed, much like so much else about him, over the years, if his sanctioned Specialists were now employing it.

"You monster!" shouted Yang, glaring at Farran as he stepped away from the conflagration he'd created.

"Relax, Blondie," said Farran with a laugh. "I'll douse it soon. Once it's burned away enough of his skin, the pain should keep him incapacitated." He turned his eyes back to Weiss. "I hope you're up for a trip, though the ship'll smell a bit on the way back."

"Is this… _really_ the best you can do?"

They froze as Kyo's voice came out of the flames.

"I had held out hope that you would show me something truly interesting, something that would justify your confidence. However, it seems that you really were just that _stupid_."

Kyo's shadow appeared in the flames. He stood, seemingly completely at ease, despite the burning substance that clung to him like glue.

"That can't be possible!" snapped Farran. "Those flames should burn away a person's Aura in just a few seconds!"

"These flames?" asked Kyo, sounding amused. "You'd kill me with a sputtering campfire like this?"

Kyo's aura flared outward in a blaze of crimson. It was a surging torrent, blasting away the flames around him, blowing them out like an oversized candle. Kyo stood in the middle of a section of scorched earth, looking completely unscathed by the attack, only the faint wisps of smoke curling off his clothes indicating what he'd just been through. His eyes were shining brighter than ever and, in the fading light of evening, his appearance was almost demonic. Looking at him, Weiss could see why he had been given the monicker, "Demon Eyes."

Farran gasped, backing away from Kyo, his movements frantic and panicked. Kyo strolled forward, once again resting his sword over his shoulder. As a last ditch, Farran attacked with another wind-cutter, sending a crescent-shaped blade of emerald wind flying at Kyo, who effortlessly split it with his own sword.

"In the end, it would seem that all you have to rely on is parlor tricks and gimmicks," said Kyo, sounding disappointed. "I was hoping for better. Atlas' confidence in their technology is apparently quite the blind spot. Let me show you how to truly use the wind."

Kyo raised his sword in front of him, holding it horizontally, with the edge facing upwards. With his left hand, he pressed his index and middle fingers against the hamon where the blade met the hilt. Moving with deliberate slowness, he traced his fingers down the length of the sword. As he did, Weiss and the others felt the sword's Aura, that strange, powerful Aura they'd felt the first time Kyo had drawn it, begin to stir. Kyo's fingers traced the blade's curve all the way down to the tip before returning back towards the hilt, as he finished the motion, the blade lit up, shining like a star in the sky.

Weiss felt her hair sway and noticed something else. _The wind…it's…gathering around him._

Indeed, the air, even the very atmosphere itself was seeming to condense around Kyo, with Kyo's sword as the focal point of the phenomenon. Kyo fixated his gaze upon Farran and smiled. " _Mumyo-Jinpu-Ryu: Mizuchi._ " Kyo swung his sword down at Farran.

Farran yelled out and thrust his left arm forward, a curved barrier of shining white appeared between him and Kyo. Kyo's sword continued its downward course and the two of them vanished in an explosion as the air itself seemed to turn white and the pair was swallowed by a cloud-like mist.

Weiss gasped as the air swept over and around her, the sound echoed by her friends. The wind was warm and seemed to pass through her, filling both her body and mind. It was a heady feeling, almost as though the world itself ceased to exist. It was an exceedingly beautiful sensation…and a terrifying one.

The air cleared to reveal Kyo and Farran, still standing apart from one another. Farran appeared to be unharmed, his shield seeming to have worked.

"Ha!" he shouted. "You really had me going there for a minute. But it looks as though you'll have to try harder than that." He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "The breeze felt nice though."

Kyo said nothing, instead resting his sword over his shoulder again and turning away from Farran. He instead began walking back towards Yang.

"Throwing in the towel?" snapped Farran, glaring at Kyo's back. His right arm transformed again, the blade reappearing. "You don't get to walk away from me!" He leapt at Kyo, swinging his blade at Kyo's neck.

"Look out!" shouted Yang.

Kyo didn't even glance back at Farran. Farran's swing unexpectedly fell short. The reason why became apparent when something landed on the ground next to him with a thunk. All eyes turned to it. The blade of Farran's sword was imbedded by its tip in the ground.

"Wha-what?" stammered Farran, his eyes going wide. He turned and tried to raise his left arm towards Kyo, but it fell away, sliced at the elbow and the shoulder. Even as it fell towards the ground, it fell into even more pieces, those pieces being severed into even smaller pieces.

Farran's body began to bleed from countless cuts that appeared all over him. He tried to step back, but his legs slid out from under him as they were severed above his ankles. More cuts appeared on his face.

"Wait!" shouted Farran. "Stop! Please!"

"There is no stopping," said Kyo. "The moment you turned your blade against those who gave me their hospitality, you were fated to die. The deed has already been done. You are only now just beginning to notice it."

"No!" gasped Farran, his voice sounding wet as blood welled up out of his mouth.

"In your final moments, you should not speak, but listen," said Kyo, closing his eyes. "You can hear it, can't you? You can hear the windsong."

Farran opened his mouth to say something else, but his body finally gave up, falling to pieces that were severed into even smaller pieces, cut ever more finely, until all that remained was a floating, bloody mist that soon vanished. Within a few seconds, nothing remained of Farran Smith.

Silence reigned, the only sound being the crackling of the still-burning town hall behind Weiss, Blake, and Ruby. No one knew what to say. No one was certain if they could even speak.

 _We knew he was strong,_ thought Weiss. _But this goes way beyond our wildest expectations._ She thought back to RWBY's fight with Kyo and shuddered. _He was toying with us the entire time._ No...that wasn't quite it. It wasn't as though Kyo had been fighting to deliberately belittle them. Rather, it had been that he hadn't bothered to exert his full strength against them, even if he wasn't holding back. Against Farran, Kyo had gone the extra mile and exerted himself towards Farran's destruction.

And yet...even that was only scratching the surface of Kyo's strength. He had settled back and allowed Farran to play all his cards, comfortably confident in his overall superiority. Even Farran's worst attack hadn't left a mark on Kyo.

And that Aura...that awesome Aura, that bottomless well of power that had erupted out of him...they were even more keenly aware of that now than ever. _And Ozpin wants us to bring him to Beacon?_

Yang was the first to approach him. Kyo turned and smiled at her. "Thank you for holding my sheath for me," he said, as Yang handed it back to him. Kyo slid Tenro back into its place and hefted the sword, scabbard and all, over his shoulder.

"Who are you?" asked Yang, unable to take her eyes off of him. " _What_ are you?"

"Ah, a simple question," replied Kyo, smiling even more widely. "I am myself and I always have been."

"All right, everyone! Let's get this fire under control. Move it! Move it!"

The girls snapped out of their confused stupor as the settlement's inhabitants moved around them. Hoses were deployed, hooked up to hydrants and, soon, the fire was being doused by streams of water. In the meantime, Kyo turned to address the mayor, the one who was shouting orders.

"I apologize," said Kyo, bowing slightly to him. "It seems as though I have brought some misfortune this year."

To the girls' surprise, the mayor laughed heartily. "Well, my boy, we can't say you don't make things interesting for us. It's just an old building. We were thinking of remodeling it anyway. You've saved us from destruction, so if a little excitement is all that's asked for continued visits, then we can't complain too much."

"Farran's ship is probably somewhere nearby," said Weiss. "His logs will indicate that he was here and he was searching for Kyo. It's standard procedure for the Atlesian military for Specialists to submit their logs before heading out on mission. The military will come here and ask questions."

"I can't say they'll get a warm reception," said the mayor. "This ain't Atlas' territory. But I guess things like that don't matter as much to them as they used to. Besides, I've heard that Ironwood's all buddy buddy with the bigwigs in Vale."

"You heard correctly," said Weiss sourly.

"A simple problem with an equally simple solution," said Kyo pleasantly. "If they come asking about me, all you need do is tell them that I threatened you. Tell them that, if you had not given me shelter, I would have wiped out everyone here."

Everyone looked at him incredulously as Kyo laughed. "I am the world's most terrible criminal, after all," he said. "That would be the sort of thing that people expect of me. It's worked before."

Yang frowned slightly and rested her left hand on Kyo's shoulder. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"It's fine," replied Kyo. "It makes things more interesting this way."

"Ho ho!" crowed the mayor. "If that's the way you want to play it, then it's fine. Of course, you're free to come back and 'threaten' us again next year."

"I certainly hope to," replied Kyo. He yawned and stretched. "If there's nothing else, I think I'll go back and go to bed. After all, tomorrow should be the last day of the festival."

He began making his way back to the inn. The girls watched him go, each with their own thoughts as they reflected on what they had learned about this man.

* * *

 **Just as the Jaegers were something I figured would probably be the natural next evolution in androids in the RWBY setting, particularly for the sensibilities of a guy like Ironwood, so Farran kinda represents the next step in what Atlesian Specialists are doing for themselves, namely upgrading themselves into cyborgs, not because of injuries they've received, but solely to boost their combat abilities.**

 **Personally, I kinda figured that Weiss wound up having to spend the time between Volumes 3 and 4 fending off some suitors set up for her by her father. It certainly makes more sense than her spending the whole time sulking in her room. I figured she wound up having to deal with people like Farran at least a few times.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

The next day, the events of the previous evening seemed like a passing dream. Only the charred ruin of the town hall, and the broken ground around it, served as a reminder of what had occurred. The townsfolk had already cleaned up the broken pieces of the Jaegers. Advised by Weiss, they relocated the pile of wrecked androids by Farran's now abandoned ship to be reclaimed by the Atlesian forces when they came to check up on their missing Specialist. The girls could only hope that it would be someone who wouldn't ask too many questions and take the inhabitants' statements at face value.

On the final day, Kyo took them to the park again. Even by the standards of the festival, it was much more crowded than usual. Still, Kyo's favorite spot, beneath the big tree in the center, was open, as always, so Kyo and the girls were able to get prime seats.

"Is it really so amazing?" asked Weiss, looking around at all the families gathered, many of them already enjoying food and beverages.

"I guarantee you've never seen anything like it," said Kyo cheerfully.

"I hope you stand by that," said Yang, bumping Kyo with her shoulder. "I'll hold you accountable if the scene doesn't live up to the hype."

She shuddered at the contact, even though she had been the one to initiate it. Kyo had killed someone yesterday, with almost contemptuous ease. Yet he still seemed unfazed by it. The only mitigating factor was that, so far as Yang was concerned, Farran deserved it. There were people Yang thought deserved death, Cinder and Adam for one. She had even killed people herself during the conflict with Salem.

In particular, Yang remembered the final fight she had with Mercury, which had ended up with the silver-haired assassin lying on the ground, this time seriously injured for real. She remembered standing over him, prepared to deliver the final blow. She had changed her mind and turned to walk away. But Mercury wasn't prepared to allow her to leave that easily. He had gotten up and launched a last-ditch attack on her. Yang had turned and struck him down. This time, it hadn't been one of Emerald's hallucinations. This time, Mercury's attack was real and, this time, Yang had killed him. She hadn't been proud about it, but she'd done what she needed to.

"Well, it may not even happen today," admitted Kyo. "But the cherry blossoms don't last long and this is pretty much average for them."

"So some years, they stay in bloom longer?" asked Ruby.

Kyo nodded. "And, in other years, they bloom for a shorter period of time. It depends on a variety of factors, the weather, how healthy the trees are, that sort of thing. But I think we'll get lucky in our timing this year."

"Look!" said Blake, pointing up at a tree a short distance away. Everyone's eyes followed her pointing finger, and they saw that the petals were indeed starting to fall.

It stared out slowly. A few petals at a time detached themselves from the trees and began to dance in the air as they made their descent towards the ground. Then more followed them. Then, gradually, the other trees across the park began to lose their petals as well. Soon, the air was filled with scattering petals of pink, drifting on the wind.

Yang smiled as she watched them. It reminded her of the petals that danced in Ruby's wake when she used her Semblance.

"It is beautiful," said Weiss with a soft sigh. "But I still don't see why so many people would drop everything and head to this settlement just to see it...including you." She looked at Kyo as she spoke.

"It's an ancient tradition," said Kyo. "Cherry blossoms are symbolic."

"Symbolic of what?" asked Yang.

"Death," replied Kyo simply.

The girls froze in place before snapping their eyes to Kyo.

"What?" asked Yang.

"The cherry blossoms bloom but briefly," said Kyo. "But they bloom brilliantly. Then, just as quickly, they scatter upon the wind and are lost. So they came to symbolize the brevity of life, the ideal of living brilliantly, to the fullest extent of one's potential before one's death. It is in life's end that life obtains its true value. Because it is so brief, so fragile, so easily ended, it holds more value and beauty than anything else. Even these blossoms pale in comparison to a life fully-lived, even as they symbolize it."

"Is that why you come back every year?" asked Yang, her voice filled with wonder.

"It reminds me of how small, fragile, and infinitely beautiful life can be," said Kyo, "even the life of someone like that man I killed yesterday. It helps me commit to my resolve, to hold no life as worthless, even those lives I take."

Yang smiled slightly at that. She couldn't fully understand how Kyo could take a life so easily, even if he valued lives so much. But...it made it clear to her that he wasn't a callous murderer, who slaughtered others for fun, even if he found enjoyment in the heat of battle, dancing on the line between life and death.

An errant gust of wind, stronger than the light breezes teasing them earlier, swept through the park. As it did, Yang looked up, using her left hand to brush the hair out of her face, and gasped in awe. The wind knocked off most of the cherry blossom petals off in a single go, filling the air with dancing swirls of pink. The petals rained all around them in a sight that was too beautiful for Yang to put to words.

She was jolted out of her reverie as she heard a familiar laugh. Looking over, Yang's eyes widened as she saw Ruby, standing out in the midst of the storm of falling petals, laughing and dancing as she spun in place, trying to take in the sight as much as possible. Yang smiled and sniffed, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I'm glad we stayed," said Blake softly.

"Me too," added Weiss. Like Yang, they were both watching as Ruby laughed, absorbed in the beauty of the falling petals.

It looked as though this vacation was exactly what they needed. Ruby looked more like the Ruby Yang had known since childhood than she had in months, as though a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"You were right," said Yang, glancing at Kyo. "This really was worth it."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," said Kyo with a happy smile.

"I guess you deserve a reward," said Yang.

"I don't really need o-" Kyo's voice was cut off as Yang leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Kyo froze, his mouth hanging open, and his cheeks flushing brilliantly.

Yang couldn't help but giggle, then laugh at Kyo's completely flabbergasted expression. "Well well," she teased. "It looks like I finally caught you off-guard, Mr. Invincible Swordsman."

Kyo raised a hand up to his cheek, gently rubbing at the spot Yang had kissed. "I guess you did," he said, before laughing himself.

Sadly, thanks to the gust that had stripped the majority of the petals off the trees, the rain of blossoms ended sooner than they had anticipated. Yang supposed that it fit within the symbolism that Kyo had described. The spectacular nature of the show had occurred at the cost of the time it lasted. Still, she was glad she'd gotten the chance, if only to see Ruby so happy at the end of it all.

* * *

That evening, they gathered in the inn's common room, enjoying the last little bit of time they had before RWBY would be required to return to Beacon. They would be leaving on the repaired bullhead, first thing in the morning.

They were saying their good nights when Ruby came up to Kyo. Kyo flinched sharply as Ruby abruptly hugged him. "I'm sorry," she said, after pulling away. "I was wrong about you."

"It's all right," said Kyo, gently brushing back a bit of her hair. "I'm glad everything worked out so well for you. You should smile more freely. You're much prettier that way."

Ruby blushed a little, but did smile at him. "Thanks," she said. "That's what Jaune says too. I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"What is it?" asked Kyo, noticing that both Blake and Weiss were suddenly listening intently.

"Well, we told Professor Ozpin, that's Beacon's Headmaster, about you. He said that he wanted us to invite you to Beacon," explained Ruby.

"As a student?" asked Kyo, raising an eyebrow.

"As a guest...I think," said Weiss. "He wants to talk to you."

Kyo canted his head to the side. "Well...I wasn't expecting that."

"Me neither," said Yang.

"Did he say why?" asked Kyo.

"He says that he's hoping you can help him establish contact with the Mibu Clan," said Blake.

Kyo blinked. "That's...odd to say the least."

"Why is that?" asked Ruby.

Kyo rubbed his hand through his hair. "Hmmm...that particular story goes back a ways. Remember how I told you that the Kingdoms that laid claim to the continent where my clan resides tried to enforce their claim?"

The girls nodded.

"It was during my grandfather's time," said Kyo. "A combined force from Vale and Atlas appeared on the edges of our territory. There was a member of Vale's Council with them, declaring that the territory where we lived had officially been declared the property of Vale. The Mibu were told that the military force had come to enforce Vale's claim to the area. My grandfather disputed the matter. He explained how the Mibu had been settled in that land for millennia, and that the four Kingdoms had not bothered to see if anyone lived on this continent before arbitrarily dividing it up between themselves.

"Unfortunately, the Councilman from Vale was unconvinced, or, rather, he thought he could force his way anyway. He declared that the Mibu would submit to Vale or they would be punished. The Mibu Clan would have to pay taxes that were 'owed' to Vale, and organize the segregation of the faunus that lived there."

"You have faunus in the Mibu?" asked Blake, astonished.

"Yes," said Kyo, blinking in surprise. "Is that unusual?"

"No...not at all," said Blake, frowning. "I just figured that, since your clan is so isolationist..."

"For the most part, the faunus have been living there as part of the Mibu Clan for as long as anyone can remember," said Kyo with a shrug. "Back then, there were quite a few faunus in important positions throughout the Clan, including our Elders. Vale's Councilman ordered that they be stripped of their positions, and be segregated in preparation for their emigration to Menagerie."

"This must have been not all that long before the Revolution," said Blake.

Kyo nodded. "When my grandfather refused, the forces from Atlas and Vale tried to force their way." He smiled smugly. "They apparently fared about as well as Ironwood's brigade did against me."

"Ouch," said Yang with a wince.

"My grandfather took the Councilman and the commander of the Atlesian forces as hostages," continued Kyo. "From there, he used them to negotiate with the four Kingdoms, and made arrangements that would ensure that the Mibu Clan would not be disturbed. The four Kingdoms agreed to keep out of the continent, but the Mibu Clan was not to interfere in the Kingdoms' affairs. In the meantime, the Kingdoms eliminated any mention of the Mibu Clan, and basically erased us from their history...not that we were in it all that much to begin with. They never gave an official reason, but kept settlers from trying to move into our continent to keep them from discovering us...or out of fear of provoking a reprisal."

"That's awful," said Ruby. "So they basically denied your existence."

"I wouldn't say it was awful," said Kyo with a shrug, "especially not for my grandfather's generation. From their perspective, they got everything they wanted out of the deal for practically nothing. Remember, the Mibu Clan has always tried to keep out of history, so it was to their advantage that the Kingdoms erased as much knowledge of their existence as they could."

"In any case," he continued, "that makes it rather odd that anyone from one of the four Kingdoms would try to establish contact with the Mibu Clan."

"Well...I wouldn't say that Professor Ozpin really counts like that," said Weiss. "He's quite often at odds with Vale's Council. Furthermore, the Academies are, to a certain extent, self-governing entities."

"I see," said Kyo, massaging his chin. "I have to admit that the offer is...interesting."

"Will you come back with us?" asked Yang, not quite able to keep the eagerness out of her voice.

"I...need to think about this," said Kyo. "I'll tell you in the morning."

"We'll be leaving at ten," said Ruby.

"I promise not to oversleep," said Kyo cheerfully.

* * *

By nine-thirty, the girls of RWBY were already packed and waiting at the landing pad. The bullhead rested there, the pilot going through his final checks before taking them back to Beacon. Yang sat on the edge of the pad, letting her legs dangle as she took in one last view of the settlement. All around them, people were going about their business. She noticed that the walls sported a few more figures pacing back and forth than there had been while the festival was going on.

 _It looks like everyone is getting ready for business as usual,_ thought Yang. Whether he came with them or left on his own, Kyo would be, once again, leaving the town to fend for itself against the Grimm, much as it had before he'd arrived. The people had taken full advantage for the brief respite he had granted them. But, now that his reason for staying was over, Kyo would be moving on to somewhere else.

Yang kept her eyes focused in the direction of the inn, looking for any sign of Kyo's black kimono. She hadn't spotted anything yet.

"It's almost time, Sis," said Ruby, resting a hand on Yang's shoulder.

Checking her scroll, Yang saw that they were about ten minutes from liftoff. With a sigh, she stood up and followed Ruby back to the bullhead. "I guess he's not interested," said Yang, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"I guess," said Ruby, before smiling. "But, at the very least, we'll know where he'll be a year from now. I wouldn't mind coming to see the cherry blossoms again."

Yang smiled back. "Me neither."

"I'm bringing Jaune with me next time though," said Ruby. "I really want him to see this for himself. I took some pictures with my scroll, but they don't really do it justice."

"No...I guess they don't," said Yang remembering the sight of the petals scattering. It was burned vividly into her memory.

"Well...I'm glad that you'd come to see them again."

Yang and Ruby halted. Yang let out a small gasp and whirled around to see Kyo standing behind them, sheathed sword casually resting over his shoulder as he hefted a small haversack over the other.

Yang threw herself at Kyo and hugged him tightly. "You came," she said.

"Well...I've been wandering fairly aimlessly," said Kyo, smiling at Yang. "I figured I was overdue to give my life some sort of direction. I thought that coming with you would make a good start."

"Your cooperation is greatly appreciated," said Weiss, giving Kyo a slight curtsy.

"Please, there's no need to be so formal," said Kyo with a small laugh.

"Well, since everyone's here, we should head out," said Ruby decisively.

As they got aboard, Yang noticed Kyo smiling widely and eagerly. "What are you so excited about."

"Well, ever since coming to the outside world, I've seen so many airships, but this is the first time I'll have actually flown in one," declared Kyo actually bouncing eagerly as he settled into his seat.

"You mean, all these years you've been wandering around, you've never flown, even once?" asked Blake incredulously.

"Nope," said Kyo cheerfully.

Yang couldn't quite hold in her amused snort as she watched Kyo's face. _He's just like an excited little kid. I hope he doesn't get motion sickness, like Jaune used to._

* * *

Fortunately for them, Kyo showed no signs of motion sickness or discomfort on the flight back to Beacon. Indeed, even though he couldn't see the outside with the bay doors closed, Kyo seemed to delight in the prospect of flying.

Their flight back to Beacon was uneventful and, several hours later, their bullhead settled down onto the landing pad at Beacon's docks. As the doors opened, the girls of RWBY disembarked, Kyo stepping off the transport behind them. They were surprised to see none other than Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch waiting for them.

"Welcome back," said Ozpin, giving them a small smile. "I am glad to see that you were able to convince our guest to return with you."

"Well, they made it sound so interesting," said Kyo, stepping forward.

"A pleasure to meet you," said Ozpin, coming to a halt a few steps away from Kyo. "I am Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"The pleasure is mine," said Kyo, bowing slightly to him. "Forgive me if I am mistaken, but I believe you wanted to talk to me about contacting the Mibu Clan."

"That is correct," said Ozpin.

Kyo raised an eyebrow. "And yet, it seems to me that you have been in contact with the Mibu Clan before."

Kyo's observation triggered several surprised gasps from the girls, while, behind Ozpin, Glynda tensed noticeably.

"I figured you would notice that," said Ozpin. "I was in the Mibu Clan's care for a time. I learned a great deal from them, but I could not abide their isolationist stance, and so, took my leave."

"So I see," said Kyo. "I have to wonder when that was."

"Quite some time ago," said Ozpin. "We have never met before."

Kyo nodded. "I see...So then, that being the case, what is your reason for calling me here?"

"Let us adjourn to my office for the time being," said Ozpin. "We can discuss things in more detail there."

"As you wish," said Kyo, bowing his head.

"Excellent work, girls," said Glynda, coming up in front of Ozpin and addressing Team RWBY. "We are grateful for your help. You are dismissed now."

"Uh..." Yang's eyes went to Kyo.

"I'm sure that I'll be able to meet you later," said Kyo. "I doubt this matter will take all that long."

"Of course," said Ozpin. "I will provide Kyo with lodging at our guest dormitory."

Ozpin and Glynda led Kyo away. Yang and the others watched them go for a moment before Ruby turned to the rest of the group. "Well, I guess it's time for us to head home," she said.

They filed back into the transport for the flight into Vale.

* * *

"Truly, you people in the outside have accomplished some incredible feats," observed Kyo as he stared out the window at the Academy grounds below. "You have ships that can fly through the air. This tower allows you to communicate with people on the other side of the world. The Mibu have nothing like this."

"That's a refreshing viewpoint to hear," said Ozpin, pouring a mug of coffee for his visitor. "Such innovations have become such an integral part of our daily lives that it is easy to forget how truly amazing they can be, and how difficult things would be _without_ them. We were reminded of that quite starkly when our tower fell."

Kyo took the mug and sipped from it. Glynda caught sight of the faintest wince passing across Kyo's face as he set the mug back down on the desk. She supposed he wasn't much of a coffee person.

"I thought as much too," said Kyo. "Back during that time, people seemed so much more worried."

"But a great many of them have you to thank for surviving that trial," said Ozpin.

"I didn't do anything particularly special," said Kyo.

"And yet, it was more than enough," said Ozpin. "During that period, you traveled at a much faster pace than you usually do." He smiled a bit more warmly. "You tried to cover as much ground as you could, using the fact that the Grimm abhor your presence to provide respite to the communities stricken with fear and panic over the loss of the CCT. Without your intervention, a great many of those settlements would have fallen to the Grimm."

"All the same, I didn't do very much," said Kyo with a sigh. "I am but one person after all. I can only be at one place at any one time."

"You did all that you could," said Ozpin. "That burden does not fall on you alone. The fact remains that there are a great many people who are alive today who would not have been, had you not done what you did."

"You are very kind to say so," said Kyo. His smile faded. "So now...to business. What is it that you truly want from me? Was using me as a messenger really your intention?"

"Not that solely," said Ozpin. "What I was hoping for was the chance to get your impressions of the world outside your clan and then seeing how you figure they might adapt to the clan."

"Your sense of timing is quite fortuitous," said Kyo. "I was planning on returning home, not too long from now, another couple months at most. There is an important holiday being celebrated by the Clan."

"That is quite convenient," admitted Ozpin.

"Although, _that_ isn't what is so fortuitous about your timing," said Kyo, settling into the chair in front of Ozpin's desk. "As it so happens, I have noticed the winds of change blowing for the Mibu. I last visited a little less than a year ago to drop something off. During that time, I noticed that attitudes have begun to shift."

"Have they now?" asked Ozpin.

Kyo nodded. "There have been more voices calling for an end to our isolation. They are saying that the era of setting ourselves apart from the world needs to come to an end."

"And what do you think about your clan's isolationist stance?" asked Ozpin.

Kyo sighed. "I can say that it has neither helped nor hindered us. The things that the outside world has to offer are not strictly necessary for our prosperity, which is perfectly fine as things stand. Even with the faunus refugees coming in, we still have plenty for all, and will even if our population swells to several times its current size. I would say that we are better than self-sufficient. But...at the same time..."

"But what?" pressed Ozpin.

Kyo smiled distantly, once again directing his gaze out the window behind Ozpin's desk. "I flew in an airship for the first time today. It wasn't some spectacularly earth-shattering experience, but it was a new one for me. We don't have anything like that in the Mibu Clan. I can't say for sure when we will have such vessels of our own, to say nothing of your developments in communication. Even though I say that we have more than enough on our own, we would stand to enrich our lives even further by taking the opportunity to learn from the outside world."

"I see," said Ozpin with a smile.

Kyo laughed his awkward laugh and scratched the back of his head. "Well, when I put it like that, it sounds rather selfish, doesn't it? We have so much already, and yet, here I am saying that we should have even more."

"Perhaps," said Ozpin, taking a sip from his own coffee. "However, I can't condemn that particular brand of selfishness. To say that you desire to better the lives of your people even further is not the kind of selfishness that can be looked down upon. Besides, I think that you of the Mibu have much to offer us, do you not?"

Kyo's smile vanished, and he stared down at his lap. "That would not be incorrect," he said. "To be honest, it is a secret shame of mine. For all that the Mibu lack the marvels of your modern technology, we have advanced in many ways that the outside world lacks. Our mastery over our Auras aside-something that you took from the Clan yourself, I can see-we have advanced in other ways that would greatly benefit the world, were we to share those advancements. I have seen people suffering from ailments that Mibu regard as naught more than minor nuisances. There are diseases out here that the Mibu have all but eradicated in their territory. There are plenty of other examples besides.

"All that should be shared with the world so that everyone can benefit from it, yet the Mibu keep it to themselves. It shames me somewhat. It makes me wonder, even if the Mibu can benefit the world and benefit from the world, whether or not our shame at our negligence would allow us to _face_ the world."

"Though this would not be the first time the Mibu Clan has remained stationary when they could have done a great deal," said Ozpin.

Kyo sighed and rested his elbow on the arm of his chair so that he could lean his cheek against his hand. "Yes, so I have heard. When the Great War raged, the Mibu kept their swords sheathed. When the faunus rose up for their rights, the Mibu sat by and offered nothing, save a sanctuary for those fleeing the conflict. Even during this latest affair, the Mibu stood by and watched as your Kingdoms came within a hair's breadth of total collapse."

Ozpin rested his elbows on his desk interlocking his fingers together in front of his face as he stared over them. "Yes. That is true. But, in the end, I think that was the best decision."

"What?" gasped Glynda, speaking for the first time.

"Having been with the Mibu, I know their power quite well," said Ozpin. "In fact, it would probably be safe to assume that their power has even grown since the time I spent with them."

Kyo nodded.

"Such power is not to be trifled with," said Ozpin. "During the Great War, had the Mibu chosen to move, their power could have brought an end to the conflict in a matter of days, if not hours. The same is true of the Revolution and even this most recent conflict. The power of the Mibu Clan is great...great and terrible."

Kyo nodded. "Perhaps they might have saved a great many lives that perished otherwise, but such an intervention would probably seem almost...godlike."

Ozpin nodded. "It would inspire a great deal of fear in the Kingdoms. After all, if the Mibu could bring such a terrible war to such a swift and decisive end, then they could just as easily subjugate some, or even all, of the Kingdoms on a mere whim. Such power, unleashed so visibly, would inspire fear, envy, even hatred."

"What I think our ancestors feared was the effect such an intervention would have on the Mibu," said Kyo. "They worried that such a decisive exercise of the Clan's power would invite arrogance."

"Yes," said Ozpin, "I can see how that would be an issue for them."

Kyo nodded. "Which is why I feel the desire to bring the Mibu into the world proper. Even if we do nothing. If we continue to set ourselves apart, we shall end up becoming the very same thing we feared that we would have, had we acted during all those conflicts." He grinned. "It helps that my mother is the one leading the faction calling for the end of our isolation. She's been very vocal about her arguments to me."

"That comforts me," said Ozpin.

"I'm not sure how to go about this," said Kyo. "However, it may come to pass that I need do nothing at all. My mother's faction was gaining influence when I left. The balance could have very well tipped by now."

"If so, then what?" asked Ozpin.

"Then _they_ will likely come to _you_ ," said Kyo. "But, that is merely speculation on my part, so I will do what I can to help until we have confirmation."

"That is all I can hope for," said Ozpin.

* * *

"Ugh!" groaned Yang as she and the other girls waited for the elevator to reach their floor. "I'm so glad we don't have to fly on that bullhead anymore. Ozpin needs to retire that deathtrap before it falls apart, in midair, with someone inside."

"I agree," said Weiss.

"Aww, it wasn't that bad," said Ruby.

"It certainly wasn't vibrating as badly on the flight back, so the repairs must have gone well," said Blake.

"That's only speaking relatively," said Weiss. "You know that it won't be long before something else breaks in that thing. At this point, the money spent repairing it would probably exceed the cost of just buying a new one."

"Whatever," said Yang. "After a trip like that, I'm ready to just go to bed and pass out."

"What are you so tired over?" asked Weiss. "You had the most fun out of all of us on that vacation."

Yang laughed and blushed, idly toying with a strand of her blonde hair. "I guess..." she admitted. "That doesn't change the fact that the trip to and from was a pain."

The elevator door opened, and they headed down the hall to the door of the large apartment suite that they shared with their friends from Team JNPR...or JNNR as it was officially designated now. It was a fairly large apartment, with plenty of room for all eight of them, which made it surprising that it was so affordable. It helped that third and fourth-year Beacon students got all sorts of discounts and preferential treatment when it came to housing. Fortunately, with the missions the two teams were taking, they managed to afford the rent rather easily.

As Yang swept her scroll over the lock and opened the door, her nose was bombarded by the savory scent of meat, gravy, and mashed potatoes. The smell made Yang's stomach growl loudly and she heard her friends' stomaches joining hers in a demanding chorus.

"Wow...that smells so delicious," said Ruby, already drifting towards the kitchen.

Ruby rounded the corner and her face melted into a blissful smile as she saw a young man with messy, blonde hair standing at the stove, stirring a pot full of gravy. He looked up and grinned as his blue eyes met Ruby's silver ones.

"Hey girls," said Jaune Arc. "Welcome back."

Ruby said nothing, instead rushing into the kitchen and throwing herself at him. Jaune barely had time to set his whisk down before catching Ruby and hugging her tightly as Ruby pressed her head into Jaune's shoulder.

"Everything okay?" asked Jaune, gently combing his fingers through Ruby's hair.

"Well...things got kinda weird," said Yang, moving over to the pot and using a spoon to taste the gravy. "Mmmm! Mushroom and beef. You and Ren are going all out tonight. What's the occasion?"

"Ozpin told us you might want something nice after this mission," said Jaune. "So Ren and I decided to break out our best recipes for tonight." He checked the oven. "We've still got a little while until the roast is done. So if you girls wanna get cleaned up and changed, you've got time."

"Thanks, we'll do that," said Yang, already heading towards her bedroom.

"You want to talk?" asked Jaune, turning his gaze back to Ruby.

"Not yet," said Ruby, lifting her face away from his shoulder so she could look at him. "I'll tell you tonight."

"Okay," said Jaune, leaning in and kissing her lips. They held the kiss for a moment before finally letting go of each other. "Go and get cleaned up," he said.

Yang entered her room, and sighed in relief as she stripped off her jacket, setting it aside to be washed later. Her hands moved to take off her top next, but she stopped as a pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders, and a light weight, even lighter than Ruby, settled against her back. Yang turned her head to look over her shoulder, and found herself staring into a pair of mismatched brown and pink eyes. Their owner blinked and the colors switched.

"Hey, Neo," said Yang. "You hold down the fort while we were gone?"

Neopolitan Capello smiled brightly at Yang, and tightened her grip on Yang's shoulders in a silent affirmative. Yang smiled back and nodded, reaching up with her left hand to give Neo's arm a gentle squeeze.

For a little while, Yang had been disconcerted at the idea of living with the girl who had almost killed her at one point. Neo had been a close ally of the criminal, Roman Torchwick, who had been working for Cinder in her plans to orchestrate Beacon's Fall and nearly destroy Vale. It had been Neo who had taken over the Atlesian airship so that Roman could turn its guns on the other ships Ironwood had brought to the Vytal Festival, thus allowing the Grimm and the White Fang to run wild, as well as wrench away Ironwood's control over his android forces. After that, she and Roman had nearly succeeded in killing Ruby, before Neo had been knocked off the ship by Ruby.

After Roman's death, Neo had continued to fight alongside Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald, until she had learned from Ruby that it was a Grimm that had killed Roman. Because of their affiliation with Salem, the members of Cinder's group had been granted protection from, and even a certain degree of control over, the Grimm. Learning that that privilege had not been extended to Roman, in spite of everything he had done to make their plan possible, had been the final straw for Neo. She turned on Cinder's group and joined RWBY and JNPR in their fight.

Afterwards, Neo was pardoned for her crimes by Ozpin, despite Ironwood's protests, and had been allowed to enter Beacon, having been inducted in as the new fourth member of JNPR; or JNNR, as it was now known. Upon entering their third year, the two teams had pitched together to get an apartment large enough to house all of them, with Yang and Neo becoming roommates.

Initially, there had been hard feelings towards Neo and all that she had done to them. However, after the time they spent fighting together, Yang and the others had come to trust Neo as one of their own. Ultimately, they were able to fully forgive her for her role in everything as they learned her history. Roman Torchwick had taken her in off the streets, even rescuing her from some human traffickers in the process, essentially adopting her as his own. From there, he had molded her into a skilled criminal operative, to the point that she was a more dangerous combatant than Roman himself. Roman had been everything to her. Yang and the others were no strangers to losing loved ones, so that shared sense of loss had served as common ground for them.

So Yang no longer felt any discomfort at having the diminutive girl hanging off her back. Instead, she smiled and gently pried Neo's arms off. "All right, Neo. Let go. I need to go get a shower."

Neo nodded and left Yang to finish stripping off her clothes and get into the shower. Yang finished stripping off her clothes and removed her prosthetic arm before stepping into the bathroom and turning on the water. The past week hadn't exactly been bad, given that they hadn't had to exert themselves aside from the night of Farran's attack. They'd enjoyed quite a bit of luxury. However, prolonged periods stuck in the passenger bay of a bullhead always left Yang feeling a little grimy, so it felt good to let the hot water do its job and wash away her stress.

As she scrubbed herself down, Yang turned her thoughts towards Kyo and wondered how he was doing.

* * *

The meal was delicious. Besides the roast beef and gravy, there were mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts sautéed with pecans and cranberries. It was a rich, filling meal that left them all feeling sleepy, yet satisfied.

During the meal, the girls of RWBY related their mission-or rather, their vacation-to Cherry Grove, relating nearly everything right up to the end.

"Wow," said Nora Valkyrie, her green eyes wide as she stared across the table at Yang. "That sounds totally awesome!" She threw her arms up in excitement, nearly knocking her dishes off the table in her enthusiasm. "I'm so upset!" she declared, though she hardly sounded it. "You went and had such an awesome adventure without us?"

"I wouldn't quite say it was an adventure," said Yang. "It basically amounted to us watching while Kyo took care of the bad guy."

Jaune, who'd been watching Ruby with concern, twitched at the mention of Kyo's name. "And he came back with you?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Blake. "He's staying up at Beacon."

Jaune threw Ruby another worried glance. She gave him a small smile in return. It didn't exactly comfort him. However, she shook her head, silently warning him off any uncomfortable questions until they were alone together.

For the time being, they decided to limit their conversation to what the girls saw and did during the festival. Jaune promised Ruby that they would go see it together next year, with everyone else promising to tag along. They continued to talk as Jaune and Ren took the dishes for cleaning, then chatting on until late into the night before finally adjourning to their rooms.

* * *

"Have you lost your mind, Ozpin?" snapped Ironwood, his holographic gaze glaring at Ozpin over his desk as Ironwood's hologram stood in the center of Ozpin's office. One of the advancements that had been installed, when Beacon Tower had been rebuilt, was a holographic communication system, linked directly to the CCT, that connected all the Headmasters' offices with one another, so that they could speak without even needing to go to the call center. It was a truly marvelous creation, but, at times like this, Ozpin felt that the presence of a screen would serve as a welcome buffer.

"I do not believe I have," said Ozpin, in answer to Ironwood's question. "Kyo has been quite cooperative actually."

"You cannot trust him!" declared Ironwood. "He is the worst kind of criminal, one who kills without hesitation or remorse."

"Truly, the same could be said of you and your soldiers," said Ozpin. "Soldiers are trained not to hesitate on the battlefield, nor feel remorse for fallen enemies. That Kyo does so at his own discretion, rather than orders from above, means there is not as much difference between him and you as you would probably like to think."

"Ridiculous!" snapped Ironwood. "A killer who slaughters purely for his own amusement is nothing like me or my soldiers."

Ozpin shook his head slowly. "Regardless of semantics, Kyo is here and he will be staying with us for the time being."

"Well, at least we know where he is," said Ironwood. "I shall make the required arrangements immediately. I will assemble the fleet and proceed to Vale so that we can take Kyo into custody."

"No," said Ozpin.

"What?" asked Ironwood flatly.

"I said 'no,' James," said Ozpin. "Your fleet and your armies will stay where they are. You will _not_ be bringing them down to Beacon to arrest our guest. I will not allow it."

"You're protecting him?" demanded Ironwood.

"I am protecting my school and my students," replied Ozpin cooly. "The last thing I need is for you to start a war with Kyo on our doorstep."

"You're going too far, Ozpin," said Ironwood accusingly. "This is direct interference in the execution of justice."

"I wouldn't say direct interference," said Ozpin. "I propose a compromise instead."

"And what is that?" asked Ironwood.

"You are not permitted to bring your fleet and your armies down here in an effort to capture Kyo," said Ozpin. "However, that extends to your military as a whole. Should any of your Specialists, or any other hunters you so choose, decide to come down and hunt Kyo themselves, they will be permitted to attempt to arrest or kill him as they see fit, so long as they do not pose a threat to my students when they make their attempt."

"I wonder just what Kyo would think about this arrangement," said Ironwood. "I think he would hardly consider you a good host if you are allowing him to be hunted like this, while he is supposed to be under your protection."

"There is no need to wonder," said Ozpin, directing a smile out of the hologram's range of vision. "What do you think about this, Kyo?"

Mibu Kyo stepped into Ironwood's field of vision, coming to stand next to Ozpin's seat. "I think it sounds like a wonderful way to pass the time," said Kyo, beaming at Ironwood. "I'll happily take on all comers, General...I would even welcome the opportunity for another match with you, should you have the courage to come yourself."

Ironwood growled audibly. "Ozpin! You traitor!"

"There is no betrayal here, James, save what you imagine yourself," said Ozpin, resting his chin on his fingers. "Your actions of late have been highly questionable and I can't help but wonder if Kyo's status as a criminal has more to do with a personal conflict than it does the scale of the crimes he has committed."

"You're planning on courting the Mibu Clan, aren't you?" asked Ironwood. "That's why you're protecting one of their own."

"If my treatment of Kyo had anything to do with whether or not I gained the Mibu Clan's favor, I suspect your treatment of him would have brought their wrath down upon you already," said Ozpin. "I do not deny that I am hoping to use Kyo as a means of establishing a point of contact with the Clan though. It is past time for them to emerge from the shadows."

"The world isn't ready for a revelation like this," said Ironwood. "The Mibu Clan has no place in this world."

"That is not something that is solely up to your decision," said Ozpin. "If the Mibu choose to end their isolation, the only choice the four Kingodms will have is _how_ they choose to engage with this new world power. Nothing good will come from denying their existence any longer. I would much rather hope that we can use them to enrich the world, rather than waste resources trying to keep them cordoned off."

Ironwood bared his teeth, glaring at Ozpin and Kyo before finally snorting. "Fine! It's on your head then. Mark my words, Ozpin. This will not end well." His hologram flickered and vanished, the connection with Atlas being cut.

"Well..." said Kyo after a moment of silence, "...that went well."

"From your perspective, I suppose it did," said Ozpin rubbing his face tiredly.

* * *

 **And Best Girl makes her entrance. Yes, this story features Neo as one of the heroes. I suspect that people will probably like that, if nothing else. Capello, among other things, can mean "trick," which makes it a name for a trickster, which I thought was perfect for Neo.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

Ruby sighed into the kiss as Jaune's arms tightened their hold around her, pressing their naked bodies together. Skin slid against skin, slippery with sweat, the smell of their lovemaking hovering over them.

The apartment, while sizable, only had four bedrooms. Fortunately, they were each large enough for two people to live comfortably. Yang had ended up rooming with Neo, while Weiss and Blake shared another room. The other two rooms had, naturally, been taken by the two pairs of "newlyweds," as Yang termed them. Ren and Nora shared one, while Jaune and Ruby shared the other.

Jaune and Ruby had invested in a large, queen-sized bed, providing more than enough room for the two of them, particularly when they were feeling frisky. It had its own bathroom, and the pair shared the space in a walk-in closet. For Ruby, that room was now more of a home for her than the room at her family's house, back on Patch, or the dorm room at Beacon. Perhaps it was better to say that _Jaune_ was her home now.

It certainly felt good to put it in those terms.

"Are you okay?" asked Jaune, pulling back to look Ruby in the eyes. "I thought having Kyo here in Vale would make you more upset."

"I..." Ruby closed her eyes and tucked her head under Jaune's chin. "I don't think he's an enemy anymore."

"You really believe what he told you about how it all went down?" asked Jaune.

"Not a hundred-percent," admitted Ruby. "Kyo keeps reminding us that it's his word against Ironwood's. But...it does match with how Ironwood's been acting lately. It's something I could see Ironwood doing...and that scares me."

"So...you're more worried about what you'll want to do, if you find out that Kyo's version of the story is true," said Jaune.

Ruby nodded. "If that's the case, then I can't forgive Ironwood for doing that to Penny. But he's still the leader of Atlas."

"Can't exactly wage war against an entire Kingdom by yourself," said Jaune wryly.

"Nope," conceded Ruby. "But, if Kyo is telling the truth, I will wage war with one man, and whoever gets in my way."

"I feel sorry for them then," said Jaune. He kissed Ruby's forehead.

"If I do decide to fight Ironwood, then-" Ruby's voice was cut off as Jaune gently pressed the tip of his finger to her lips, forcing her head back so that he could look her in the eyes again.

"Don't," said Jaune softly, eliciting a soft gasp from Ruby. "I know what you're going to say, but I'm not gonna stay out of it. I don't care if I might get hurt, or if it might get me in troubl,e or even mean the end of my life as a Hunstman. No matter what you decide to do, Ruby, we'll do it together."

"Jaune..." whispered Ruby.

"You know," said Jaune, "I used to think about it every day...that moment when she kissed me."

He felt Ruby flinch against him.

"I was so shocked by it, so stunned that, by the time I realized what was going on, I was already in that locker and flying away," continued Jaune. "Every day, I used to wonder what would have happened if I hadn't let her do that. Maybe if I had it together enough, maybe if I had realized how she felt sooner, maybe I wouldn't have let her do that to me. Maybe I could have stopped her. Maybe Pyrrha would still be alive."

"Jaune..." repeated Ruby, tears running down her face.

Jaune moved his finger down to her chin, gently holding it so he could keep her from looking away. "I'm not going to let that happen again, Ruby. If you want to go pick a fight with Ironwood, then I'm coming with you. No matter what, I'm not letting you go."

"Thank you," whispered Ruby. "I love you."

Jaune smiled at her. "I love you too," he said. Pulling her in, Jaune pressed his lips to hers once again, reveling the feeling as his hand moved across Ruby's back, tracing its way down to her waist, then down to her thigh, which he pulled up over his own legs as he pulled her close. A few minutes later, they were making love again.

* * *

"And so...that is how it is," said James Ironwood, standing with his arms folded behind his back as he addressed the Atlesian Specialists assembled before him.

Winter Schnee pressed her lips together tightly as she lowered her gaze, calling upon all the strength of will and discipline she possessed to keep from trembling. She didn't like the look on Ironwood's face one bit. The James Ironwood she had decided to serve didn't seem to exist anymore. In his place was a paranoid, obsessive, and unpredictable man, but also an extremely vindictive one. When Ironwood had decided to not allow Penny Polendina to go to Beacon the better part of a year ago, she wished she'd had the wherewithal to try and stop him, or at least try and help Penny escape. But instead, she had sat back and watched, saying nothing.

After the complete destruction of the Seventh Mobile Brigade, it seemed that Ironwood's issues had only gotten worse. He had amassed more power than ever, and yet, also seemed more _insecure_ than ever. When he'd revealed that Beacon was allowing Demon Eyes Kyo to stay on their premises, she had been afraid that his next act would be to call for them to assemble the fleet and raze Beacon Academy to the ground. She was amazed that he had enough restraint remaining to actually agree to Ozpin's terms.

"I will leave it up to you to decide when or if you will go to Beacon and make an attempt to bring this man to justice," said Ironwood. "You do not have to go alone. If you wish to work in teams, you are welcome to do so. That said, it is absolutely critical that you do not endanger the lives of Beacon's students while you do so."

He let his gaze drift across the assembled ranks of the Special Forces before nodding to them. "Dismissed."

Winter let out a breath and relaxed, letting her ice-blue eyes fall to the ground. As she turned to head towards the auditorium's exit, Ironwood's voice thundered out behind her.

"Specialist Schnee, report to my office immediately."

Winter couldn't help but flinch. She couldn't imagine anything she had done that would draw Ironwood's ire. She could only hope that he hadn't somehow developed the supernatural ability to read her innermost thoughts, and caught onto her reservations with the way he was running things.

That said, there was no point in hesitating. Winter turned and headed towards the stage, where Ironwood had been standing, knowing that the corridor behind it was the most direct route to his office from there. Ironwood was standing there, waiting for her.

"You wished to see me, Sir?" she asked as she stepped up next to him, and the two of them set off down the hallway.

"Specialist Smith is dead," said Ironwood simply.

Winter's eyes widened. "How! When?"

"Three days ago, in Cherry Grove," said Ironwood. "The settlement's mayor contacted me to inform me of it. Smith had gone there because he believed that he would find Mibu Kyo there."

"Is that so?" asked Winter, wondering why Ironwood hadn't shared this information with the rest of the assembly.

"Cherry Grove is over a week away from Vale by foot," said Ironwood. "Yet he was at Beacon only two days ago. When I questioned the mayor further, he said that Kyo left in the company of a team of Huntresses."

"Huntresses...?" Winter's, already light, complexion lightened by quite a few shades. _It couldn't be!_

"I checked the mission logs at Beacon, and found that Team Ruby had been dispatched to Cherry Grove on a mission over a week ago," said Ironwood. "They returned on the very same day that Kyo arrived at Beacon. It is not hard to make the connection."

Winter swallowed, worried about where this conversation might be going.

"It's clear to me that Ozpin put Team Ruby up to this," said Ironwood.

Winter's discipline kept her from heaving a sigh of relief. For a moment, she had been certain that Ironwood had been planning on accusing Team RWBY of aiding Kyo. The last thing she wanted was Ironwood's wrath to end up directed at Weiss and her friends. "I see," she said.

"I can't believe that Ozpin would go so far as to manipulate Team Ruby to aid in his schemes," continued Ironwood. "After everything those girls have done for this world, they deserve better than to be used as tools to further someone else's agenda."

 _I think the same could have been said for Penny Polendina,_ thought Winter sourly.

"I am sure that this irks you as well," said Ironwood. "If you wish to have first priority to take down Mibu Kyo, then I would be happy to grant it to you."

"Thank you, sir," said Winter.

"I also would like to extend my condolences to your family," said Ironwood. "I am certain that Specialist Smith's death is a severe blow."

"I don't believe that will be necessary," said Winter. "Weiss did not express any positive interest in Smith as a prospect." If anything, Winter was relieved that Farran was out of the running as a potential suitor for Weiss, remembering what a detestable person he had been during their time together at Atlas Academy. She knew that Weiss despised the man, but also knew that Ironwood had a rather favorable attitude towards Farran recently, thanks to his reputation for getting "results."

"If you are going to go to Beacon to confront this menace, it is only fitting that you have proper support," said Ironwood.

"If I may be frank, Sir," said Winter. At Ironwood's nod, she continued. "I don't believe any number of Jaegers will be enough to get the job done. Kyo has shown himself to be equivalent to entire armies in the field. No matter how many androids you send with me, I doubt they will be enough."

To her surprise, Ironwood smiled at her. "It's a good thing that I managed to secure something much better than androids," he said. "Or rather...I should say that I secured someone."

"Someone?" Winter raised an eyebrow.

They reached the door to Ironwood's office. When it opened, Winter looked inside, surprised to see that someone was already in there.

It was a young man, someone she judged to be just a couple years younger than herself. He was at least six and a half feet tall. His long, unkempt, black hair was mostly tied up in a simple tail behind his head, with long, shaggy bangs that nearly completely covered his eyes, but were especially long on the left side of his face, running down almost to his chin, and obscuring his left eye completely. He was dressed in a long, black, sleeveless overcoat, under which he wore a black shirt of some kind, accompanied by a pair of loose, black shorts, exposing only a small section of the bare skin of his legs before the rest was covered by a pair of tall, black boots that nearly rose up to his knees. Around his waist was a belt. Attached to that belt was a leather loop, from which hung a large, broad, curved sword, which hung in its sheath so that it rested at the small of his back, with its handle extending out to his left side, yet positioned so that he could easily pull it forward to draw it across his body if he needed to.

At the moment, the man's sole visible eye was closed, and he gave no indication that he noticed as Winter and Ironwood stepped into the office.

"Who is this?" asked Winter.

"A most capable mercenary that I managed to discover," said Ironwood. "His name is Nigel Whitaker. He annihilated an enormous swarm of Grimm that was threatening Weathertop single-handedly, in less than half an hour. He's a brilliant swordsman, with a blade that witnesses described as being 'fast as light.'"

"And have you ensured that his skills actually fit the bill?" asked Winter.

"Of course I did," said Ironwood. "The first thing I did after I found him was have him face down two platoons of Jaegers to show me his skills."

"And..?" pressed Winter.

"They didn't last thirty seconds," replied Ironwood. "I believe he will be more than a match for Kyo. When I told him who I wanted him to find and take down, he seemed plenty eager to do so."

"You want him to accompany me to Beacon," observed Winter, realizing what Ironwood was working towards.

Ironwood nodded. "If anyone can handle Kyo, it's him. However, I want to have a Specialist on the scene to ensure that the job is done properly. Because he's a mercenary, it can't be guaranteed that he'd hold himself to the same standards that I hold my soldiers to," said Ironwood. "I want you to be there to remind him that Beacon's students are not to be endangered by his efforts to take down Kyo."

"Understood," said Winter, mentally heaving a sigh of relief. She probably should have taken it as a blow to her pride that Ironwood merely wanted her to play escort to a mercenary that he'd found, seemingly at random, rather than believing in her abilities. But, when it came to Demon Eyes Kyo, Winter didn't quite believe in _her own_ abilities, not when she had seen what Kyo had done to the Seventh Mobile Brigade, and even less when she learned about Farran's death.

Farran had been one of the few Specialists to willingly undergo cybernetic implantation to enhance their combat capabilities. Winter thought it was a drastic approach to enhancing one's own strength, practically a step away from willing self-mutilation. She thought it more of a crutch herself, an embedded enhancement that increased one's abilities without any requisite training or personal development. It was ideal for people like Farran, who wanted to get results quickly and with minimal effort on their own part.

But cybernetics, even if they initially outperformed the parts of the body they replaced, were inherently limited. A prosthetic arm might be stronger than a flesh and blood arm initially, but a prosthetic could not be strengthened through training and dedication. With hard work and development of one's Aura, it was possible to surpass the power output of even the strongest current prosthetic limb. Not that Winter objected to prosthetics when they were used to replace a limb lost to injury, as they had for Ironwood, or even Weiss' teammate, Yang. But she believed that having prosthetics implanted when one wasn't already injured was a wasteful act.

Regardless, Farran's implants had improved his combat performance considerably. Yet it sounded as though Kyo had taken him down with relative ease. Winter did not consider her chances to be any higher than Farran. If this Nigel person had a chance, Winter would be glad to accompany him, if only to ensure that Kyo was the only person who fell to his sword.

"Well then, Mr. Whitaker," said Winter, approaching Nigel, "I suppose this means that we will be working together for the foreseeable future."

Her words were met with no response. Nigel didn't even move his head to look at her. Instead, he remained in the same position, head slightly bowed, eye closed and angled towards the floor.

"Mr. Whitaker?" queried Winter, stepping closer. "Answer me, please."

There was still no response from the silent man. Winter stepped a little closer, worried that he was performing some kind of prank on her. However, as she got closer, she noticed the slow movement of his breathing and, more tellingly, heard the faint sound of snores issuing from the man's nostrils.

Nigel wasn't ignoring her...he was asleep on his feet.

"Mr. Whitaker?" asked Winter, reaching out to touch his shoulder with her hand.

She expected him to flinch, maybe strike out at her. However, he made no move whatsoever. She frowned, beginning to wonder if Ironwood's praise for the man's skill had been premature. She grabbed his shoulder and gently shook him. "Wake up," she said sternly.

Nigel's visible eye, the one that wasn't hidden by his bangs, blinked and then slowly opened. He lifted his head and stared straight at Winter, his gaze blank and almost completely empty. "Hmmm?"

"Mr. Whitaker?" repeated Winter.

Nigel's dark-brown eye seemed to focus, and he blinked again. "Good morning," he said.

 _It's afternoon,_ thought Winter icily, already having serious doubts about this man.

"Mr. Whitaker, this is one of my most trusted agents, Specialist Winter Schnee," explained Ironwood. "She will be accompanying you on this mission as your handler. You will leave as soon as you are able."

"Okay," said Nigel, his voice trailing off into silence for an uncomfortable moment before he asked, "Where are we going again?"

"Vale," said Ironwood, his tone of voice indicating that even _his_ patience was fraying, despite the fact that he was the one who had recruited Nigel for this mission in the first place.

"Okay," said Nigel noncommittally, seeming disinterested in the whole thing. "What am I doing in Vale again?"

"You are fighting and, hopefully, apprehending a very dangerous criminal," said Ironwood. "You are pursuing Demon Eyes Kyo. Can I count on you to get this mission done?"

At the mention of Kyo's name, the atmosphere in the room shifted abruptly. All of a sudden, Winter was beset by an intense buzzing sensation that put her nerves on edge, as though the air around her was suddenly growing excited. Her skin broke out in a light sweat. The source of this sensation was unquestionably Nigel. As Winter watched, he showed the first signs of emotion that she had seen from him, a chilling smile spreading across his face.

"All right," said Nigel. "If it's Kyo, then I'll gladly go."

Winter shivered and gave Ironwood a dubious look. She didn't like the look or feel of the man...not one bit. "Are you sure about this, Sir?" she asked.

"Absolutely," said Ironwood, his confident smile back in place. "I'll leave everything to you, Ms. Schnee."

Winter suppressed the urge to sigh. "Very well, Sir. I will escort Mr. Whitaker to Vale." Silently, she hoped she wasn't making a serious mistake.

* * *

"Well, it looks like someone slept well," observed Yang wryly as Ruby ambled into the kitchen, wearing a dark-red bathrobe, lined with black. Her hair was straighter than usual, and slightly damp from her shower. Though her face looked a little bit sleepy, mostly due to her not being much or a morning person, Ruby was smiling and looked more relaxed than she had before, even after their little vacation.

Ruby blushed, but only slightly. Given how long that she and Jaune had been together, she'd grown accustomed to meeting her friends in the morning after a "busy" night. Still, Yang knew best how to get a reaction out of her little sister.

As Ruby seated herself at the table, Jaune slid a waffle, decked out with strawberries and whipped cream, in front of her. Ruby blinked, the last of her sleepiness disappearing as she dove on the waffle, devouring it with ravenous abandon.

Yang fought off a grin as she filled her mouth with a bite of her own waffle, which had been coated with a drizzle of maple syrup. "Not bad," she said, once she finished. "Are you sure Nora's gonna be okay not having pancakes?"

"It's not good for Nora to get what she wants every time she throws a fit," replied Jaune wryly, "even when her fits are accompanied by threats with her hammer." He leaned over and spoke to Ruby in a stage-whisper. "But I left a bowl of pancake batter in the fridge for her and Ren...just in case."

Ruby giggled, nearly spitting out her own mouthful of food. Chewing and swallowing, she quickly leaned over to plant a kiss on Jaune's cheek, leaving a smear of strawberry juice behind.

Jaune smirked at her and used a finger to wipe off the smear of juice before slowly bringing the finger to his mouth and sucking it clean, all while giving Ruby a sultry smile, which made her cheeks flush even more severely and giggle louder.

"Ugh! No food-play in the kitchen," said Weiss with a groan as she too entered the room. Like Ruby, Weiss was wearing her bathrobe, hers being silver in color, while her hair was wrapped in a towel over the top of her head.

"Too late for that, Snow Angel," said Jaune, eliciting a groan from Weiss at his nickname for her.

"Oooh! When?" asked Yang with an eager grin. "I want details."

"Well _I_ don't," replied Weiss icily, her expression brightening only slightly as Jaune slid a waffle, decorated with syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar, right in front of her. "I especially don't need to hear details about your sex-life at breakfast."

"Your loss," said Yang with a shrug.

One by one, the other residents filed into the kitchen, their sleepy faces brightening as Jaune supplied them all with waffles decked with their favorite toppings. Neo's was topped by three small scoops of ice cream: chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Blake's was perhaps the oddest, given that hers was topped with sliced, seared tuna, with a drizzle of soy sauce. Ren preferred his devoid of any toppings, save for a generous pat of butter in the center. Nora, like Ruby, got strawberries on hers. (Surprisingly, Nora made no protest about not getting pancakes for once.) Whilst Jaune decked out his own waffle with syrup and chopped pecans.

As they ate, they contemplated their plans for the day. Blake was going to the CCT in order to call her boyfriend, Sun, in Mistral. Weiss was going to find a seminar to sign their team up for (seeing as their last mission had turned into an impromptu vacation). Ruby decided to spend the day with Jaune.

"I'm gonna head for Beacon," Yang declared after a moment's thought.

"Going to hook up with your new boyfriend?" asked Ruby teasingly.

Yang's cheeks colored slightly, but she kept her composure. "Well, I _am_ planning on seeing Kyo," she said. "I do have some things I want to ask him about."

"What?" asked Blake.

"I wanted to ask him about the Aura-manipulation techniques the Mibu are supposed to have," said Yang.

"Why would you want to learn about those?" asked Weiss.

"Why wouldn't you?" retorted Yang. "You all saw what Kyo's Aura was like."

"Uh...we didn't," said Jaune as Nora, Ren, and Neo all nodded in agreement.

"I meant our team," said Yang, directing a look at her teammates. "It was huge."

Weiss looked down. "It felt endless," she conceded. "Do you really believe that kind of power can be credited to some kind of strange school or technique? I can't imagine some obscure technique being able to evoke such a change."

"Well it's probably not something that has an effect like that right away," said Yang. "If it's something he learned in his homeland, I bet he's been practicing and training in those kinds of techniques since he was a child."

"When you put it like that, it makes sense," said Weiss. "But if that's the standard of the Mibu Clan, I wonder if that means all their warriors have the same level of power as Kyo."

"I can ask," said Yang. "In any case, if learning something like that is able to give us an edge, I think it's worth asking about."

"You have a point," said Blake.

Yang was already fully dressed and groomed for the day. So, as soon as she was finished with her breakfast and had taken care of the dishes, she was able to head out. Much to her surprise, she found she had a companion for the day. "Are you coming with me, Neo?"

Neo's pink and brown hair bobbed as she nodded enthusiastically. She twirled her umbrella by its crook around her fingers before tucking it under her arm as the two of them set off.

Yang took them into the garage below the apartment, where she kept her pride and joy. The orange motorcycle, which Yang had named Bumblebee, was her prized possession. Back during her first year at Beacon, the opportunities she'd had to ride it were more limited. But now, many was the time she used Bumblebee to take herself and, occasionally, one of her friends around Vale, or to Beacon and back. While the length of the trip made it a bit of a tossup as to whether or not taking the road to Beacon was faster than flying, Yang often appreciated the adrenaline rush of cruising along at high speed, with the wind in her hair.

Yang strapped on her helmet and seated up, already turning the motorcycle on and revving the engine, even as Neo leapt on behind her, hugging Yang around the stomach. A minute later, the two of them rolled out of the garage before Yang fired off the Dust-combustion engine with a roar that sent the motorcycle's front wheel clear of the ground for a few seconds.

Yang could hear Neo's faint squeals of excitement as they raced through Vale, darting down side streets and cutting through alleys, utilizing a series of shortcuts Yang had discovered in the time she'd spent exploring Vale from Bumblebee's seat, creating the quickest, most efficient route to the school. Still being in the city, Yang couldn't drive at full speed. However, once they cleared the residential areas and found themselves on the winding road that led up to Beacon itself, Yang was free to open her ride up and go at full speed.

 _Traffic was good, I probably beat the airship today,_ thought Yang as she pulled into a parking place in Beacon's parking garage. The nice thing about the road to Beacon was that it was mostly used by supply vehicles, which meant that traffic was usually rather sparse. That allowed Yang to roar along at her cycle's top speed, which was the most thrilling part of every drive.

"Are you going to come with me to see Kyo?" asked Yang as she pulled off her helmet and stored it in the compartment under Bumblebee's seat.

Neo thought over Yang's question for a moment before nodding. "Cool," said Yang, beaming. "I think you'll like him. He's nice." _I just hope I can find him._

Logic dictated that Kyo was probably somewhere near the guest dormitory, though Yang wouldn't have put it past him to wander some place else. Ozpin had apparently given him the run of the school while he was their guest here. Of course, without a scroll, Yang had no way of contacting Kyo to find out where he was. If he wasn't at the dorms, then she would try the dining hall, then move on to searching the rest of the school.

However, luck appeared to be with her as Yang entered the guest dormitory's common area. The guest dormitory was practically identical to the dorms for the regular students, both in terms of layout and the available amenities. As such, the dormitory contained a common area, which served as a lounge, complete with tables, and a small kitchen for the students' own use, if they felt like cooking their own food, rather than eating in the dining hall.

Kyo was seated on one of the room's couches, reading a book. Aside from him, the common area was deserted, which was the norm for most of the year. Aside from the occasional team of exchange students, the only time the guest dorms saw heavy usage was when Vale's turn to host the Vytal Festival came around, during which numerous students from the other Kingdoms would flock to Beacon, and the guest dorms would become almost as crowded as the regular dorms.

"Hey," said Yang, grinning and raising a hand as she approached Kyo.

He looked up from his book and smiled. "Hello, Yang. It's good to see you again." His eyes moved to Neo, who was standing beside Yang. "Is this an even younger sister of yours."

Neo's eyes narrowed in the tiniest of glares and she huffed silently, resting the knuckles of her hands against her hips and standing up straight.

Kyo blinked. "I see...my apologies."

"This is Neo," explained Yang. "She's a member of Team Juniper, our sister team."

"Sister team?" asked Kyo, raising an eyebrow.

"We took the initiation together," explained Yang. "We ended up working together during the final part of it to bring down a pair of really dangerous Grimm. So, basically, our teams wound up being really close, so they're basically an extension of our own team."

Neo gently prodded Yang's side with the crook of her umbrella.

"Right," said Yang with a small laugh. "Neo wasn't with us back then. She joined us later."

"How so?" asked Kyo.

"Well...funny story..." Yang shifted uncomfortably. It always seemed like such an awkward topic to bring up. "Neo used to work for the bad guys who were trying to wreck everything. A lot of things happened and she ended up joining us, then Professor Ozpin allowed her to come to Beacon with the rest of us."

"So...Juniper is a team of five members then?" asked Kyo, getting up from his seat.

"No," said Yang, her expression falling. "One of Team Juniper's members...died." She looked down. "Pyrrha Nikos used to be on Team Juniper. But, during the Fall, she confronted Cinder and...Cinder killed her."

"I see," said Kyo. "I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't mean to bring up such an uncomfortable topic."

Yang took a moment, but rallied and smiled again. "Nah, it's fine," she said. "I was the one who brought it up, in a roundabout way. It's not your fault."

"All the same, I am sorry to hear that you lost a friend," said Kyo. Closing his eyes, he sighed tiredly, and shook his head. "That woman is quite the nuisance."

"You know her?" said Yang.

"By reputation," said Kyo. "We've never met. She's also known in my homeland...albeit by a different name."

"It makes sense," said Yang. Cinder seemed to make a habit of making enemies out of everyone she encountered, even people who were supposed to be on her side, as Neo was a testament to.

"In any case, it's nice to meet you, Neo," said Kyo, bowing slightly to her.

Neo beamed and bowed back.

Kyo turned his attention back to Yang. "I assume you didn't just want to introduce your friend to me," he said. "Was there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"Well...yeah," said Yang, twirling a bit of hair around the index finger of her left hand. "When we were talking back in Cherry Grove, you mentioned that your clan is supposed to be really good at Aura control. I was wondering if I could learn some more about it."

"Anything in particular?" asked Kyo, tilting his head.

"Well...anything you can teach me," said Yang earnestly. "To be honest...your strength is crazy. None of us has ever seen anything like it. I was hoping you could show me how your Aura became so strong."

"I see," said Kyo. He paused and looked up thoughtfully, gently stroking his chin with his fingers. "Is there anything like some kind of sparring facility here, somewhere where we don't have to worry about collateral damage?"

"Yeah, of course," said Yang. "Follow us."

* * *

"So the mission turned out to be a dud," said Sun.

"Well...dud isn't the word I would use exactly," said Blake, smiling at her boyfriend on the other side of the screen.

Sun Wukong was the kind of boy that any girl would be excited to be with. His short, shaggy, blonde hair framed a pair of dark-gray eyes that practically brimmed with mischief, complimented by a mouth that seemed fixed in an equally mischievous smile. All that, combined with a tan complexion, made him practically the embodiment of the handsome, "bad boy" archetype that could make girls the world over swoon on sight. Blake also knew that, below his head and shoulders, the parts visible on the screen, was a perpetually unbuttoned shirt that showcased a set of rock-solid abs that were every bit as attractive as, if not more than, his face. Of course, one of the other parts not visible on the screen was Sun's prehensile, monkey tail, a feature that marked him as a faunus, like Blake.

Despite the mischievous image Sun presented, Blake also knew that he was one of the kindest, sweetest, and most loyal boys she had ever met. She had initially seen him as nothing more than an irritant, a boy who thought they belonged together because they were both faunus. However, after getting to know him, Blake had realized just how caring and devoted he could be...which, rather ironically, he had demonstrated from the day she'd first met him, though Blake hadn't been as willing to see it back then.

"It turned out to be a really nice vacation," said Blake. "The cherry blossoms were beautiful. I'd love to take you there next year, if we get the chance."

"I'll see what I can do," said Sun.

"We can take Weiss and Neptune with us," said Blake.

"It sounds like a plan," said Sun. "Neptune's been behaving himself, so I don't think there should be any trouble on our end."

"Has he really?" asked Blake, her eyebrows going up.

"If he isn't, he's gotten a lot better about being discreet...which I don't think was even in that guy's vocabulary when it came to girls," said Sun.

Neptune Vasilias was Sun's teammate and partner on Team SSSN, along with being Weiss' boyfriend. The blue-haired boy's street stylings were primarily to hide the fact that he was an intellectual at heart, something that had caused him quite a bit of insecurity in the past. Unfortunately, as part of the persona he used to cover up his "nerdiness," Neptune had a tendency to flirt with girls shamelessly. After he and Weiss had hooked up, this tendency of his had gotten him in hot water with her, on more than one occasion. Fortunately, Neptune was too honest at heart to go any further than flirting with a girl, if he wasn't serious. Knowing that Weiss was attracted to him, in spite of, or rather because of, his intellectual nature had also helped curb Neptune's tendency to flirt. At both Weiss' and Blake's request, Sun had been keeping an eye on Neptune, after the boys had returned to Haven, to ensure that Neptune didn't fall back into old habits.

"Anyway," said Blake, "we ended up finding something much more interesting than Grimm."

"Oh really?" asked Sun.

"We found a billion-lien bounty," explained Blake.

"Demon Eyes Kyo? You mean you caught the Demon Eyes Kyo?" asked Sun incredulously.

"We didn't catch him," said Blake with a sigh. "All it took was one attempt to realize he was way out of our league. We got to see him annihilate an Atlesian Specialist while we were there."

"Seriously?" Sun leaved forward in his seat attentively.

Blake nodded. "It wasn't even a contest. But we managed to convince him to come back to Beacon with us."

"That's kinda crazy," said Sun.

Blake nodded in agreement with Sun's words. "It was Professor Ozpin's idea," she explained. "He wants to make contact with the Mibu Clan. Do you know anything about them?"

"Never heard of them," said Sun with a shrug. "But it's not as though I'm a history buff, so maybe I just haven't been looking in the right places. You want me to see what we can dig up here?"

"If you can," said Blake. "I'm going to look through Beacon's archives and see if they have anything here. It strikes me odd that there might be an entire Kingdom's worth of people out there, hidden."

Sun frowned. "I'd be more worried about whether or not they're all army-wrecking badasses, like Kyo. One of him stirred up things plenty with Atlas. Imagine what an entire clan of guys like that could do."

Blake shuddered at the thought. She highly doubted that everyone in the Mibu Clan was as strong as Kyo. In any group of people, even if they were all training in the same techniques and fighting styles, there would be all sorts of levels of strength. Blake didn't doubt that there were numerous members of the Mibu Clan who were considerably weaker than Kyo.

Of course...the flip side of that was that there might be at least a few who were even _stronger_ than he was.

If such a clan unleashed their power on the world, just what kind of consequences would there be?

* * *

"This will do nicely, I think," said Kyo as he stared around the sparring room Yang had reserved for them.

The sparring room was one of several. Some of the larger ones were actually fully-equipped classrooms, with raised spectator seating so that the students could watch their peers fight while Professor Goodwitch critiqued their skills, tactics, and abilities. This sparring room was on the smaller side, meant for practice bouts between students during their free periods. As third-year students, Yang and Neo had plenty of free time in between missions and seminars.

"So...now what?" asked Yang.

Kyo set his sheathed sword down, letting it lean against the wall of the room before stepping out into the center. "For a start, show me your Aura," he said.

"Show you...?" Yang blinked in confusion.

Kyo nodded. "Yes. Concentrate on your Aura, then project it outwards from yourself. It's a basic technique."

"Oh! That," said Yang, blinking in surprise. What Kyo had described was a defensive technique that was taught in most Combat Schools. By projecting her Aura out in a powerful surge, a Huntress could drive back a number of weaker Grimm if she was in danger of being overwhelmed or even repel wide-area Dust effects. That said, it was also considered something as a last resort, as expending so much Aura at once could rapidly sap the reserves of even a strong Huntress or Huntsman.

For Yang, the technique was not all too different from unleashing her Semblance, once it was charged up. Neo stepped away from her and Yang closed her eyes. She took a deep breath to settle herself and snapped her eyes open. "HAAAH!" She forced her Aura outwards, the power manifesting as a golden shockwave that washed out around her. The air displaced by the force of the blast formed a wind that was like a slap in the face to Kyo and Neo. Kyo had been standing a little closer than he probably should have, so he ended up being driven back a few paces, having to raise an arm to shield himself from the blast.

"Very impressive," said Kyo. "Your Aura is quite powerful already, but I'm surprised a basic move like that fatigued you so much."

"Well it's basic, but it's not exactly conservative," said Yang, frowning.

"Well then, we have the first thing I can teach you," said Kyo. "By rousing your Aura like that, it makes it easier for me to see it. Can you see your Aura when you're not using it?"

"Not really," said Yang. "I mean, I have an impression of how much is left, but we usually use our scrolls to measure it."

Kyo tilted his head. "That seems counter-productive."

"Why?" asked Yang.

"Well, for starters, using a device like that means you distance yourself from your own sensation, which keeps you from sensing your own limits, which is critical in any combat situation. Furthermore, if you want to check it, I assume that you have to pull it out and look at the screen."

"Yeah," said Yang.

Kyo raised a finger. "Well, there's a free hand that's now occupied. And, in order to look at it, you're taking your eyes off of potential hazards and opponents, making it into a potentially fatal distraction. I'm honestly surprised that they'd teach you to do something like that."

"Well...now that you mention it..." said Yang, blinking at the realization that Kyo had a pretty good point.

"So then, the first step is to refine your awareness of your Aura," said Kyo. "That can be tricky. It's one of the longest preliminary steps to learning any of the styles that the Mibu Clan employs. Of course, that's in part that it's a novice step that develops the skills you later use to master the more advanced techniques."

"Oh? So I'm a novice, am I?" asked Yang teasingly.

Kyo laughed his awkward laugh and blushed slightly. "Well...by Mibu Clan standards, I'm afraid to say..."

Watching them, Neo frowned and she snapped her fingers. Kyo and Yang looked over at her and Neo pointed sharply at Kyo with a stern look on her face.

"Oh, so you want to see my Aura?" asked Kyo.

Neo nodded.

"Uh..." Yang took a few steps back.

"Well...I won't go at full strength," said Kyo. "I don't want to cause unnecessary damage..."

"Brace yourself," Yang told Neo, who looked at Yang in confusion.

Kyo didn't even take any preparatory measures. A second later, his Aura exploded out of him in a blaze of crimson that washed over Yang and Neo. Yang had braced herself, but was still driven backwards, sliding across the smooth floor of the sparring ring, until her back hit the wall with enough force to earn a grunt of pain from her. Neo, on the other hand, had been knocked clean off her feet. Kyo's Aura nearly filled the entire room.

Yang felt as though her body was being crushed against the wall, as though the very air around her had become too heavy to breathe. For a second, she was afraid that Kyo would smother her with the force of his Aura alone. But then its presence relented, and she slumped down.

"Geez!" she gasped. Her ears picked up a faint squeak from one of the other walls. Looking over, Yang saw Neo laying on her side, her back having been forced up against the wall as well. Her eyes had gone from brown and pink to a uniform white color, which happened when her emotions overrode her control over her Semblance and allowing her eyes' natural color to shine through.

"Are you okay, Neo?" asked Yang, running to her side and helping the diminutive girl to her feet.

Neo nodded shakily and stood up.

"That was just the projection of my Aura," said Kyo. "Without any malice behind it, its force is limited."

"Does everyone in your clan have that much Aura?" asked Yang.

"Not everyone," said Kyo with a smile. "While it may sound like boasting, I believe my strength is in the top tier of the Clan."

Yang breathed out a sigh of relief, secretly glad that the entire Mibu Clan wasn't made up of people with Auras as insanely powerful as Kyo's.

"That said, I'm _not_ the strongest in the Clan," conceded Kyo drawing a start from both Yang and Neo, "not yet anyway."

"How many people there are stronger than you?" asked Yang.

"Well, my parents for starters," said Kyo. "Then there are a few of the Clan's elders...less than six, all told, I'd say."

"I'm amazed there's even that many," said Yang in a nervous tone.

"Well, I don't plan on letting them remain stronger than me for long," said Kyo, with a confident smile. "After all, my objective is to become stronger than my father, and he is, without question, the current strongest member of the Mibu Clan."

"Who is your father?" asked Yang.

Kyo's smile widened. "Like I said, he's the strongest. He's also the only other person besides me to be born with the Crimson Eyes constantly active. It's a trait limited to our family line. In the Mibu Clan, he is known as the Crimson King."

* * *

 **When it comes to shipping, in any fandom, I've never been one for OTPs. It always mystifies me how worked up some people can get over the romantic relationships of _fictional_ characters. I'm still more than a little irritated by one author, whose work I was actually enjoying, who up and basically quit the fandom, leaving all his stories unfinished, while essentially throwing a hissy fit, because there were people writing what were essentially anti-Arkos works (usually a story where Pyrrha cheats on Jaune with Cardin in some fashion), amongst other things. Seriously, if that kind of thing isn't your cup of tea, then don't read those stories. But their mere existence isn't some deliberate insult to your preferences.**

 **I admit to having my own preferences, when it comes to RWBY ships, which can affect the kind of stories I both read and write. I tend to shy away from Arkos stories, not because I dislike the pairing, or Pyrrha, but because they tend to be a dime a dozen. An Arkos story needs something more to it, in order to goad me into reading it. Out of all of them, I'll admit that Lancaster is my personal favorite, mainly because Jaune and Ruby really do complement each other as a couple. With the introduction of Oscar, in Volumes 4 and 5, I'll admit to having gained a liking for Rosegarden fics to, despite how many people point out how creepy it is that Oscar has a millennia-old wizard living in his head, which I just think adds an interesting wrinkle. But enough about that...**

 **I will never miss an opportunity to harp on Glynda's little lecture, back in the Volume 1 episode, _Jaundice_ , where she instructs the students to consult their scrolls to check Aura levels. She even tells Jaune to refer to his scroll _during_ combat. How fucking stupid is that? She's basically telling him to, in the middle of pitched battle, stop and consult a _mobile device_! That's like telling a race-car driver, "Hey, make sure you check your phone for texts from the pit crew, while you're out on the track." And Glynda is supposed to be a competent Huntress and teacher. I'm guessing this realization might have occurred to someone on the crew, as it has not been brought up since.**

 **And now for something completely different...**

 **When it comes to Neo, my theory is that Neo's eye-color is a product of her Semblance. Considering that she can switch their colors at will, they might well be as much of an illusion as anything else she does. They change to white when she's startled, and frightened, by Raven's sudden arrival on the train, which leads me to suggest that that is actually the natural color of her eyes, when she forgets to use her Semblance to keep them mismatched.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

"The Crimson...King...?" Yang stared at Kyo, unsure of what to say. "You're the son of the king?"

"Ah, yes...I am," said Kyo, sounding a bit sheepish. "To be honest, it's not all that important."

 _It certainly sounds important,_ thought Yang. "Wait...Does that mean you're a prince?"

"Not really," said Kyo.

"Huh? Does that mean you have an older brother or something?" wondered Yang. _Although he should still be a prince, even if he isn't first in line to inherit the throne._

"Nope, I'm an only child," replied Kyo. "Our family line has always been limited to one child per generation. I'm not entirely sure why."

It seemed strange to Yang, but she couldn't exactly judge, given that she only had a smattering of the facts. "So if you're not a prince, then are you going to take your father's throne or something?" she asked.

Kyo scratched his head. "I don't know yet," he admitted.

"You don't?" Yang was surprised.

"Father says that self-determination is important. More importantly, I shouldn't believe that the throne is promised to me just because I'm his son." Kyo folded his arms and seemed to stare off into the distance. "Father said, before I worry about something as trivial as the throne, I need to go out into the world, experience new things, meet new people, and cultivate my own strength. Only when I surpass him will I be worthy and, even then, by the time I do, I might not actually want it."

 _The throne of his Kingdom or clan or whatever is trivial?_ thought Yang, aghast. A look at Neo told Yang that her friend thought the same.

"Well, we're getting off-topic," said Kyo. "What I just showed you was a basic technique used by the Mibu. As you've probably noticed, it has defensive applications, as it can generate a force that moves things away from your body."

Yang nodded. "They teach us that in Combat School. But it isn't all that efficient, so we try not to use it all that often."

"Well, part of the reason is you aren't going in the proper order," said Kyo.

"The proper order?" Yang blinked.

"Yes," said Kyo. "In terms of learning steps, what you've done and I've demonstrated is essentially Step Three. You can project your Aura outward, but you haven't learned to contain it yet."

"Contain it?" Yang winced internally, wondering if she'd become a parrot.

Kyo nodded. "The main reason I asked you to project your Aura for me was to rouse it so that I can assess it's condition. Rousing your Aura makes it more visible." His eyes narrowed. "Right now, I can see your Aura and, right now, it's leaking away."

"Uh...is that bad?" asked Yang.

"Not in and of itself," said Kyo. "For people in general, it's normal to have your Aura leaking away over time. Your body generates it faster than it can be depleted, unless you expend it in some manner...such as combat."

"That doesn't sound all that bad," noted Yang, frowning slightly.

"It isn't," said Kyo. "Of course, as you get older, you produce less Aura over time. Eventually, you reach a tipping point where the amount of Aura you naturally generate is exceeded by the rate at which it bleeds away and you begin to weaken until your Aura fades away entirely; thus aging and death."

"Oh..." said Yang. "But, if we keep using our Aura, doesn't that mean we'll use it up faster and die sooner?"

"Not necessarily," said Kyo. "Aura is like a muscle in that, the more you exert it, the stronger it becomes. Utilizing your Aura in combat the way you do actually ensures that it will be all that much longer before it begins to weaken."

"Cool," said Yang. Beside her, Neo nodded eagerly.

"It is," agreed Kyo. "But that's just the beginning. You see, the first thing those of us in the Mibu learn is how to contain our Aura so that the faint leaks that normally occur are sealed off, completely containing your Aura. This keeps your power from bleeding away and allows it to build within you. It increases both your reserve of Aura and your body's ability to generate it. This step is known as Tempering."

Yang looked at her own hands. "I need to contain my Aura," she said.

Kyo nodded. "The first step to that, of course, is learning to get a better sense of your own Aura."

Yang narrowed her eyes and concentrated, once again pushing her Aura out of herself. This time, she didn't go full force, but instead let it build up in her arms and hands, like she would if she were about to attack. Of course, normally she'd do it a lot faster, but this time she slowed down and tried to feel it in action. Looking down, she saw her arms shine with a faint, golden glow that formed a sort of outline around them.

"Very good," said Kyo. "Although, the objective is to be able to see your Aura without having to exert yourself. Let me help. Take off your jacket and stand in front of me."

Yang did as she was told, sliding her jacket off and standing in front of Kyo in her top. Kyo raised his right hand and held it up to the back of her head. "Can you feel anything?"

"Yeah..." said Yang, frowning in concentration. "It's...like some kind of pressure."

"That's the feeling of my Aura pressing up against yours," said Kyo. "Because there's no malice, you're not feeling any sense of threat. If I project my Aura into you like this, it should rouse your Aura enough for you to see it without any further effort on your part."

"Sounds good," said Yang with a grin.

"Well...don't get too excited," said Kyo. "Once I do this, the rate at which your Aura bleeds away will increase drastically, it will be almost like what you did earlier, only playing out over a longer period of time. In an hour or less, your Aura will probably be drained away, and you'll be left unable to move."

"Oh..." said Yang.

"That's why it's generally not recommended to do this, especially with novices," said Kyo. "The only reason I am doing this is because you already have experience in controlling your Aura. If it's you, I believe that you can learn to contain it before you run out."

Yang swallowed hard. "And, if I don't get it right away, will there be any long-term consequences?"

Kyo smiled. "No. It will be like you'd expended it all by fighting."

Yang let out a sigh of relief. "Okay then."

"Do I have your permission then?"

Yang nodded and closed her eyes. "Go for it."

Neo watched in fascination as Kyo's body was outlined in crimson, before the light of his Aura gathered in the hand that he held to Yang's head. It abruptly surged out into Yang's head.

Yang jolted and her eyes snapped wide-open. Abruptly, her body felt as though it was on fire, though not like she was going to burn up. She felt hot. Her skin buzzed and tingled. Looking down at herself, she saw the light of her Aura shining across her body, moving in fluid ripples and eddies across her skin, with more it curling and drifting away like golden steam. "Wow!" she gasped.

"Now for the important part," said Kyo. "Lower your hands and arms, stand comfortably and at ease."

Yang did so at once, letting her arms hang loose.

"Close your eyes," said Kyo.

Yang lowered her head and allowed her eyes to drift close.

"Feel your Aura flowing through you," said Kyo. "Instead of letting it drift away, pull it back into yourself, until it flows around you. Draw it in closer until it becomes one with your skin, and not even a single wisp of it escapes."

Yang allowed her senses to extend out to her Aura. To her amazement, she could feel it acutely. Her mind reacted almost automatically to Kyo's words. She began pulling her Aura back in towards herself. Its fluid nature meant it was always in motion, so she pulled it into a constant flow, circulating around her body in a closed circuit that allowed none of it to escape.

Slowly, Yang opened her eyes and looked down at herself. She could still see the shimmering gold of her Aura. But now, none of it was flowing away from her. She was amazed at how natural and easy it felt.

"Very good," said Kyo approvingly. "You have a lot of talent. I thought you'd be quick, but even I can't believe that you managed Tempering so quickly."

"It feels...weird," said Yang. "It's almost like having a second skin..."

"A fairly good analogy," said Kyo with a nod. He walked over to the wall of the sparring room and retrieved his sword. "Much like walking and breathing, this is a natural skill that, once learned, becomes very easy to do. If you continue to practice, before long, you will be able to maintain this condition without thinking about it, even while you're asleep."

He began to walk back towards Yang. "Containing it builds your Aura reserves, and allows you to extend your staying power in battle. With further refinement, even more is possible. Also.." When he reached her, he hefted his sheathed sword by its handle, before swinging it so that the scabbard slammed into the side of Yang's head like a club.

The blow snapped Yang's head to the side, and she was sent skidding across the floor, though she managed to remain standing.

Neo's eyes turned white once again, and she charged right at Kyo, a thin blade extending from the tip of her umbrella.

"Neo! Stop!" shouted Yang, causing Neo to halt, the tip of her blade less than an inch away from the center of Kyo's face, right between his eyes. Kyo stood there, not even flinching, despite the blade's proximity.

"I'm fine," said Yang, standing up straight again and raising a hand to the part of her head that he had struck. _I barely even felt that!_

"Tempering collects your Aura around you and contains it, increasing its capacity to absorb damage from attacks," said Kyo, continuing his lecture. "Also, you'll lose less Aura when you _do_ take hits, because it won't be as prone to scattering."

"This is pretty cool," said Yang, staring at her hands.

"And that's just the first step," said Kyo with a smile. "We'll stop here for today, but I want you to continue to maintain Tempering for as long as you can. The more you do it, the easier it will be to sense and control it when you move on to more advanced applications in the future."

"Okay," said Yang. "So this is what makes the Mibu so powerful." She frowned and examined herself again. "But it seems so simple..."

"It is often the simplest things that can have the most dramatic effects," said Kyo. "Also, like I said, containing your Aura like this helps keep it from bleeding away, so it takes longer for your body to reach that point where more Aura escapes than you produce. Therefore..."

"If I can keep this going constantly, there's no telling how long I could live," said Yang.

"More or less," said Kyo. "There are a slew of other factors that can affect your lifespan. Your Aura only accounts for a few of them. If you're interested, I have a little bit of homework for you."

"Homework?" asked Yang, her brow furrowing as she fought the urge to growl in frustration.

"Your Headmaster, Professor Ozpin..." said Kyo, "...as you found out yesterday, has lived amongst the Mibu before and has learned many of our Aura-manipulation techniques. The question I want you to answer for me is...how old is he?"

"Huh?" Yang blinked and stared at Kyo in confusion.

"How old is your Headmaster," said Kyo. "I imagine that your library here has some form of record or archives, yearbooks or the like, something that records your Academy's history, for both its students and its faculty. If you were to look through them and track your Professor Ozpin back through the years, you might discover something interesting."

Yang and Neo exchanged confused glances.

* * *

It hadn't been hard for Weiss to find an open seminar class to sign her team up for. Of course, that left the issue of what else to do with her day. While the model student in her thought that going to the library and hitting the books again was a useful way to pass the time, the more easygoing part of her that had grown ever since she'd first come to Beacon argued that there wasn't really anything to study for. Seminars were heavily discussion and participation-based, and very rarely, if ever, assigned homework. There were no academic finals during the third and fourth years, advancement being dictated almost entirely by mission credits.

So it was that Weiss found herself at something of a loss as to how to spend the rest of her day as she wandered the halls. Eventually, her wanderings took her into one of the student lounges, where several other students were relaxing or studying. Some were seated at tables, chatting. Others were relaxing on couches. Some were watching the television at one end of the room, which was tuned to the news.

Weiss wandered through the lounge, her ears picking up the chatter of students. Most of them hardly paid her any mind, generally too wrapped up in their own affairs to notice her. The few that did quickly turned back to what they were doing. Weiss wasn't surprised. Ruby had never wanted people to find out the role that RWBY and JNNR had played in the recent conflict. Any recognition would either be by virtue of Weiss' position as heiress to the SDC or as a third-year student, a rare enough sight in the halls of the Academy.

As her wanderings took her near the television, her ears twitched at the voice of the reporter.

" _...with reduced production, Dust prices are expected to rise again over the week. Jacques Schnee, CEO of the Schnee Dust Company has vowed to do whatever it takes to maintain order. Though the instigator of the breakout is believed to be a faunus, the White Fang has not claimed credit for the actions of the Lightning Lord, as some outlets have dubbed the mysterious individual behind the last several incidents. To date, he is currently suspected in the destruction of no few than twelve relocated communities in and around Atlas, drastically reducing manpower for the SDC quarries, and raising the price of Dust across Remnant..._ "

Weiss frowned and moved on, her feelings mixed. As the company's heir, she was concerned with its future, which meant that the financial damage wrought by this "terrorist" worried her. At the same time...

Relocation camps were the benign name for what was actually a heinous practice. Throughout Atlas, faunus had been rounded up under any pretext possible, gathering them together into what were little more than prison camps, meant to serve as labor pools for the SDC quarries and mines. Her father had exploited the current climate of mistrust towards the faunus to the fullest, wringing as much work as he could out of them while paying as little as possible for their labor. Conditions in the quarries were hellish and the laborers were driven like animals.

Considering what they were going through, Weiss couldn't exactly begrudge the so-called Lightning Lord, whoever he was, for liberating them, which was what was actually happening to the faunus in those camps. She could only hope that whoever the perpetrator was, he was guiding them to a place of safety.

* * *

"MADNESS!"

The maid clenched her eyes shut and ducked as a half-full glass flew past her head, shattering against the wall behind her. The amber-colored liquid within spattered across the wall and splashed on her back and hair. Her nose was assaulted by the tang of alcohol, combined with a woody aroma, as the expensive brandy her master had been drinking was splattered like cheap beer.

Only the constant admonishing reminders from her seniors on staff and self-control perfected through years of training kept her from yelping in surprise and fear. Even now, she was fighting the urge to cringe further and whimper as the man in front of her roared at the person on the other end of the CCT call.

"The latest-generation Dust detectors can pick up even trace amounts. They're so sensitive that we have to hose those mongrel workers off before we can put them back in their pens!" Jacques Schnee's conservative, gentlemanly appearance belied the towering rage he was capable of. He was dressed in pristine, white suit, with his white hair combed back over the top of his head, while his finely-trimmed mustache bristled over his mouth. His build was, likewise, rather slight, which flew in the face of just how terrifying and intimidating he could be when he was furious...which he was fairly often nowadays.

"I'm sorry, Sir," replied the hapless subordinate on the other end, the overseer of the latest encampment to be "obliterated" by their persistent enemy. "All I can say is that they never went off. The first sign that something was wrong was when the Knights' signals started to cut off. By then, the target was already within our perimeter."

"Are you saying that our technology is insufficient?" snapped Jacques, glaring at the screen. "Or perhaps you are simply trying to use that as an excuse to cover your incompetence."

"Of...of course not, Sir," replied the unfortunate man with the air of someone who knew that nothing he said was going to end his misery. "It's just that..."

"What?" snapped Jacques.

"I don't believe the target is actually using Dust."

"Are you suggesting that these stories about some kind of Lightning Lord are fake?" snarled Jacques.

"No Sir," answered the man quickly. "I saw the lightning myself. He was practically wearing it, even while throwing it around with wild abandon. It's the main reason he took out our security force so quickly, before most of them even knew what was going on."

"So...?" Jacques raised a skeptical eyebrow. "That sounds very much like advanced Dust application to me. He's probably woven it into his clothing or even channeled it into his own body."

"That's what I thought too," said the man. "But we swept the encampment this morning. We searched from top to bottom. We didn't find a single trace of residue from lightning-Dust. The only residue we _did_ find was from the discharges of our own weapons. Other than that, the camp was clean _._ "

To the maid's surprise, Jacques' expression seemed to soften slightly, the towering rage now fading into the background, being replaced by interest and curiosity. "Are you certain your analysis was accurate? The residue could have been mixed in amongst the rest."

"I'm certain," replied the man. "Ever since this started, I've issued a standing order prohibiting the use of lightning-Dust by our security forces in the encampment."

"Did you always suspect he wasn't using Dust?" asked Jacques.

"No, Sir. I believed that, if there was enough residue, we could determine the make of his Dust, possibly even its origin. I wanted to avoid potential contamination, so I suspended the use of lightning-Dust by my security team. With how much lightning he was throwing around, the residue left behind should have been easy to track."

Jacques nodded and his face softened further. The maid realized that the man on the other end of the call might just manage to talk his way out of this mess. She silently wished him the best of luck.

Consumption of Dust, whether as a cartridge for a weapon or in its natural and powdered forms, would always leave behind a residue. That residue could provide hints to the nature of the Dust used, whether it was naturally-forming or artificially combined. With enough residue, the Dust might even be tracked back to its origin, which would give them important clues to the identity of the culprit. The more efficient a Dustweaver was at channeling Dust, the less residue would be left behind. Similarly, the more advanced the design of the weapon used, the less residue. However, it would be utterly impossible for someone to channel or use Dust so efficiently that they left behind no residue at all.

"If there is no residue from his Dust at all, then that would either mean that his Dustweaving is absolutely perfect-which obviously isn't humanly possible-or..."

"The target is not using Dust at all," said Jacques, catching on to what the overseer was suggesting.

"Which still lies within the realm of possibility," said the man. "In all likelihood, this is some manifestation of the target's Semblance. If it is, it's a powerful one, if it allows him to generate and channel so much electricity without needing to use a speck of Dust."

"I see," said Jacques, scratching his chin. "Very interesting...You are dismissed for now. Submit the results of your investigation to the research department."

"Yes, Sir." said the man, relief audible in his voice before the line cut.

The maid could understand his feelings. The overseer had been able to talk himself out of a very tough spot, enough that Jacques's closing words to him had been "you are dismissed," rather than, "you're fired." The maid had seen Jacques go so far as to order the arrest of other overseers for past losses, using his pull with General Ironwood to create whatever pretense he liked. Some darker rumors suggested that Jacques went so far as to order the deaths of people who failed him badly enough. Of course, those were rumors that were merely traded amongst the staff, with no evidence to support them...

...Not that a man as powerful as Jacques Schnee would allow any evidence of his misdeeds to emerge, if he _did_ commit them.

"What are you gawking at?" snapped Jacques, glaring at the maid, who squeaked in shock at the sudden return of his anger. "Clean that mess up, and get out of my sight. What do I even pay you for?"

The maid bowed to him and quickly turned to begin cleaning up the spilled liquor before retreating to get a broom and dustpan to gather up the shards of broken glass. She was lucky. She had been so wrapped up in listening the conversation that she'd forgotten to do her own job. Previous maids had been fired for less. For all she knew, this might be her last day. However, if luck was on her side, Jacques would get so wrapped up in the conundrum of this criminal, who had been destroying the faunus internment camps, that he probably wouldn't even be able to recall her face an hour later.

As she worked, the maid spared a shudder for whoever was behind these actions, as he would undoubtedly feel the full force of Jacques Schnee's wrath in due time.

* * *

Kyo had been right about the library. Beacon's library hosted copies of its yearbooks going all the way back to the year of its first graduating class, four years after its founding, which had been at the end of the Great War. This gave Yang nearly eighty years of history to go over.

Neo pointed at the book Yang was currently leafing through.

"This...this is from Dad's year," explained Yang, before turning the book around to show Neo a picture of her father's team, which included her biological mother and adoptive mother, as well as her Uncle Qrow. "See?"

Neo nodded and Yang pulled the book back to continue flipping through the pages. "Look! Here's the faculty section," she said, once again turning the book so Neo could see it.

None of the teachers standing together for the assembled photo were familiar to them. The majority of their teachers had still been active Huntsmen and Huntresses back then. A few hadn't even graduated yet.

However...there was one truly familiar face standing at the center of the picture. Professor Ozpin was there, cane still in one hand, mug of coffee in the other. His clothes were slightly different. But, otherwise, he looked just as he did now.

Yang pulled the book back to herself, and stared at the picture in fascination. She felt as though Ozpin had barely aged a day in the time since her father had attended Beacon. She wondered if anyone else had actually noticed that. _But how far back does it go?_ wondered Yang.

She put the book back and got another one from five years further back. She quickly turned to the faculty section. The roster of teachers had changed, but Ozpin was still there, looking much the way he would all those years later. Swallowing hard, Yang went for a yearbook another ten years back. There was Ozpin again. His hair looked a little bit longer. But that was the only difference.

Yang frowned and went all the way back to the first yearbook produced by Beacon, and opened it. To her shock, there was Professor Ozpin, standing in the middle of the assembly of teachers. The image was faded, and his hair was nearly down to his shoulders. But it was unquestionably him. She was interested to note that his fashion choices were different back then. He largely wore the same colors, but his clothes looked more like robes or even...

 _A kimono...like Kyo's,_ thought Yang.

"Unbelievable," she whispered.

"Is that Professor Ozpin?" asked Blake, looking over Yang's shoulder.

Yang dropped the book, clapping her left hand over her mouth to stifle the shriek that would have emerged otherwise. "What do you think you're doing, Blake?" she snapped, turning to glare at her partner, who giggled, a sound that was echoed by Neo a second later, cluing Yang into the fact that Neo had seen Blake approach, but had refrained from informing Yang just so she could see Yang jump.

"You two are jerks," muttered Yang, picking up the book again. "Yeah, it's Ozpin," she said, in answer to Blake's question. "This is from the year of Beacon's first graduating class."

"Unbelievable," whispered Blake, staring at the photo. "That was almost eighty years ago, but he's hardly aged at all."

"Yeah...I mean, it's not so hard to believe that he might be over eighty, there are still a few people left from that time, but..."

"But for him to change so little..." said Blake in awe. "I wonder if there are any earlier records."

"Well, this is the first yearbook Beacon made," said Yang. "Maybe there's an archive of the earlier years."

"Or maybe we can look somewhere else," said Blake, grabbing Yang's arm and pulling her away from the table."

"Where are we going?" asked Yang.

"I'm following a hunch," said Blake, towing Yang to the reference section. Using one of the terminals, Blake pulled up a listing of books on a specific topic.

"The Vytal Conference?" asked Yang.

Blake nodded as she located the books in the catalogue and began to move through the shelves, looking for her selections, pulling them off and handing them to Yang, who stacked them in her arms. "The Academies' founding was included in the Treaty of Vytal, which stipulated their political autonomy from the Kingdoms. Maybe Professor Ozpin was involved even back that far, in which case..."

"In which case, there might be records of him from back then," said Yang,

"I'm also going to pull up some books on the latter years of the Great War," explained Blake. "If he was involved in the Conference, then he might also have had to do with the events leading up to the War's end."

"It's worth a shot," said Yang.

They adjourned back to their table and, along with Neo, they began to page their way through the books, looking for clues.

"Here!" said Blake, pointing to a page in the book she was looking through. "This lists him as one of the mediators during the second round of discussions." She turned the page and gasped. "They even have a picture of him!"

Yang and Neo crowded around Blake. There was a pictured of the assembled delegates who had come to Vytal for the conference. Off to one side were the assigned mediators. Sure enough, there was Ozpin. This time, his clothes didn't resemble a kimono, they were a kimono. His hair was longer still and tied up behind his head. Aside from that, his face looked nearly identical to how he looked now.

"I wonder how much further back this goes," said Yang, going back to her own book.

She looked through several large volumes, checking the index for any mentions of Ozpin. However, references to him were spotty. The same picture that Blake had found popped up in two other books.

Half an hour of research later, it was Neo who stumbled onto the next clue. She rapped the table sharply to get their attention. Blake and Yang moved to stand behind her and look over her shoulders as Neo pointed out another picture.

At first, they didn't see what had gotten her attention. It was a picture from the closing days of the War, when the chief generals of Vale and Mantle's armies met to discuss terms of the first ceasefire. The generals were seated, posed together with their respective staffs, in a display of their solidarity. Behind them was the military camp where the meeting had taken place, with plenty of soldiers and other miscellaneous personnel milling about in the background. Neo pointed very carefully over the shoulder of one of the generals, prompting a gasp from Yang. It was a bit blurry, but she was fairly certain that it was Ozpin. He was turned away from the camera, so most of his face was hidden. But she could see his hair, still tied behind his head, and his kimono, which set him apart from nearly everyone else around him. Even more interestingly, he wore the same taijitu symbol on his back that Kyo did.

"How old is he?" she asked.

"I believe it is considered rude to inquire about your elders' ages."

This time, Yang wasn't able to contain her yelp of surprise. She was joined by Blake, and even Neo, the latter nearly falling out of her chair as the three of them scrambled to turn around and see Professor Ozpin standing just a few feet away, near the end of the shelves, watching them with an amused smile on his face.

"Not even a full day and I see that Kyo has been making waves," observed Ozpin wryly. He looked over Yang and his smile widened a fraction. "...In more ways than one, it would seem."

"Uh...Professor...this..." Yang wasn't sure how to respond.

On one hand, this clearly wasn't a topic fit for open discussion, given that the issue of Ozpin's age had never come up before. But, on the other hand, the books were all from unrestricted sections of the library, open for anyone to use. Nonetheless, Yang got the distinct feeling that they had stumbled onto a secret that Ozpin had taken pains to keep concealed...whatever his reasons for doing so might have been.

"It seems we have some things to talk about," said Ozpin with the smallest of sighs. "I'm sure that this is sudden, but I would like you girls to report to my office in ten minutes. Until then, I'll trust you to be...discreet...about this matter." His stern tone indicated that this was an order, not a suggestion.

Yang, Blake, and Neo shared nervous looks.

"Don't worry," said Ozpin in a much lighter, "you're not in trouble. However, if we are to have this conversation, it would be best to conduct it privately. I don't need the halls of my Academy swamped with gossip."

"All right," said Yang.

"Then I shall see you in ten minutes," said Ozpin, turning about and making his way out of the library.

Yang wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Geez! How does he do that?"

"Maybe it's something else he learned from the Mibu," remarked Blake sourly.

Neo nodded in agreement with Blake.

* * *

Weiss was still at something of a loss for what to do with the remainder of her time. So it almost came to a relief when she bumped into Yang, Blake, and Neo on their way to Ozpin's office after having been summoned there by the Headmaster himself...almost.

"Yang, can't you go one whole day without causing trouble?" demanded Weiss. "What did you do this time?"

"Keep it down," retorted Yang. "I don't think Ozpin wants us to talk about it too loudly."

"About what?" demanded Weiss, though she did lower the volume of her voice.

"Well, it started when Neo and I met Kyo this morning..." Yang proceeded to relate her experiences in learning to control her Aura from Kyo, then Kyo's homework, which led her and Neo to the library, where they met Blake and uncovered an incredible secret about Ozpin's age. In the meantime, they reached Beacon Tower and had entered the elevator to Ozpin's office.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Weiss incredulously.

"I took scans of the pages and the photos with my scroll," said Blake, holding up the device in question.

"If something like this is possible, it would fly in the face of decades of medical development," declared Weiss hotly.

"Maybe that's why it's a secret," said Yang.

"But is it?" asked Blake, prompting her friends to look at her curiously as the elevator doors slid open. "I mean, the evidence was laid out there for just about anyone to see. None of the materials we looked through were restricted. Is it really a secret when it's _that_ easy to look it up?"

"Secrets are strange things, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin, catching the girls' attention and prompting them to get out of the elevator. "I see you brought one extra. Please have a seat."

There were four chairs set out in front of the desk. Where Ozpin got his chairs, no one was completely sure, as there was nowhere to keep them _in_ the office. The girls each took a chair and sat down.

"What do you mean about secrets?" asked Blake.

"You wondered why I did not restrict any of the materials that give evidence of my true age," said Ozpin. "When it comes to secrets, the most secure ones are the ones that no one knows about. I can say, with plenty of experience, that telling others _not_ to investigate something is a surefire way to ensure that at least some of them _will_ investigate it. I think you ladies are quite familiar with that tendency."

Yang, Blake, and Weiss blushed furiously while Neo giggled almost inaudibly.

"As for the evidence being available, that calls for someone to have the desire to examine it," continued Ozpin. "You started by looking up my picture in yearbooks, Ms. Xiao Long, correct?"

Yang nodded.

Ozpin smiled and sipped from his mug. "Yearbooks are lovely things. But they are also not the sort of thing one examines closely. The pages dedicated to the faculty each year are little more than a formality really. Even the faculty rarely look at those pages in depth. At most, a student might look up the faculty page of a particular year to look up a favorite teacher. Students who look through yearbooks of previous years are generally looking for siblings, relatives, or ancestors, so the evidence you specifically sought out is not where just anyone would find it. Indeed, I doubt you would have ever looked at another yearbook aside from the one from your parents' year had Kyo not put you up to looking further back."

"That's true," Yang conceded.

"But there are pictures from those reference books," Blake pointed out. "They include pictures from the Vytal Conference and even further back. Anyone could still find that and they actually have reason to review, depending on what courses they're taking."

"But I do not look as I do now," Ozpin pointed out. "Because you girls traced me all the way back to that point in time, you were able to follow the physical changes I underwent in the intervening years, so that you were still able to recognize me in those old photos."

"You have a point," admitted Yang. "If I hadn't been going through those yearbooks first, I'd have never recognized you."

"I make small alterations to my appearance every year," said Ozpin. "A slight change in my style of clothes, cutting my hair a little shorter, changing the shape of my spectacles. In the general course of things, they amount to little. Three, four, or even ten years from now, despite the changes I've made, you girls would still recognize me easily. However, if you stretch that process out across the better part of a century..."

"Then practically nobody would recognize an image of you from a long time ago," said Blake.

Ozpin set his mug down and spread his hands apart over the desk. "And thus you have it. The issue of my true age remains a secret because I have never called attention to it. If it is never noticed, no one thinks to ask and my presence simply remains a fact of life. No one thinks to question how long it has been that way. However, what lies at the root of this is an even more important question."

"Why would you want the subject of your age to be a secret at all?" said Weiss, cluing in on where Ozpin was going with this.

"Exactly, Ms. Schnee," said Ozpin with a nod.

"So why is it a secret?" asked Yang.

Ozpin stood up and began to pace behind his desk. "As you now know, I spent a period of time with the Mibu Clan, and absorbed their techniques, particularly with regard to controlling my Aura. Those same techniques, practiced diligently, have allowed me to prolong my life considerably. Within the Clan itself, I met individuals who had lived for centuries.'

His audience gasped in shock.

"When I left the Mibu and returned to the world, my objective was putting what I learned to use in order to help bring about a lasting peace. I gained tremendous strength from the techniques I learned. But, at best, that served as an attention-getter, something to put me on the radar of important people, so that I might have their ear and, thusly, bend their thoughts towards seeking settlement and coexistence over victory and obliteration. During the Vytal Conference, when we were establishing the Academies, my objective was to spread the techniques I learned from the Mibu to Huntsmen and Huntresses, so that they might use that strength to protect the people from the Grimm."

"Then why didn't you?" asked Yang, leaning forward in her seat. The metal arm of her chair groaned as the fingers of her prosthetic right hand clenched harder than she meant to. "With those techniques, it could change the way we fight...for the better."

"Because I was stopped," said Ozpin. "In order to obtain the political autonomy required for the Academies, and the Huntsmen they produce, to not be bound to any particular Kingdom, but instead be dedicated to serving people as a whole, I was forced to grant certain concessions, namely that the Mibu Clan's techniques for Aura-control could not be taught to the students."

"Why?" asked Blake incredulously.

"Because, amongst those with whom I had to negotiate were those whose positions were at least partially governed by certain commercial interests," said Ozpin, "or rather, a single particular commercial interest that generates a product considered essential to Huntsmen the world over."

"Dust," said Weiss softly, causing her friends to look at her in surprise. "You're saying that the Dust industry suppressed your teaching of Aura-control techniques in order to make their product more valuable."

Ozpin sighed and nodded. "Yes. That was it in a nutshell. There were other interests too. Because the Mibu Clan members were able to obtain incredible results by refining their Aura-control to such an incredible degree, their weapons are simple by design. They have no need for guns or weapons with mechashift capabilities. Between the Dust and weapon industries there was enough pressure that I was forced to back down."

"Could you change that now?" asked Yang hopefully. "Kyo only really started explaining the basics to me, but there's so much more we could do if we learned to use this power."

"I could," said Ozpin, favoring Yang with a warm smile. "But I am one man, however powerful. I can easily be stopped. However..." His eyes narrowed as he looked at Yang. "If that change were to be diffused throughout you members of the next generation, if you shared your knowledge with one another and saw it disseminated amongst your peers, that would not be so easily stifled.

"I can already see changes being wrought in your Aura, Ms. Xiao Long. Am I correct in assuming that Kyo has taught you how to Temper it?"

Yang nodded then caught herself as she realized that she was no longer maintaining the Tempering, that she'd been allowing her Aura to ebb away again. Closing her eyes, she remembered the sensation of drawing her Aura in around herself and did so.

"That was very quick and easy for someone who only learned that technique this morning," said Ozpin with a chuckle, prompting a faint gasp of surprise from Yang, while Blake and Weiss looked on in confusion, wondering what Ozpin was talking about. "I certainly hope you continue to study. You should definitely ask Kyo for further guidance if you were able to come this far in a single session. I recommend that you get your teammates and friends to join you. You will end up learning something extremely useful."

"Okay," said Yang.

"However, I would rather that you did not mention anything about my age," said Ozpin.

"But that means that if we start attracting the wrong kind of attention, then Kyo would get the blame," said Blake.

Ozpin nodded. "And, fortunately, his current status makes him quite suited to that position. After all, he was teaching you this already, so it would have come to someone's attention at some point."

"He's also already the most wanted criminal on Remnant," said Weiss. "It's not like he could get even _more_ wanted. What would they do, raise his bounty higher?"

Yang frowned, not liking the idea at all. It put nearly everything on Kyo, basically turning him into a scapegoat.

Ozpin seemed to read her mind, as his expression softened. "Ms. Xiao Long, I wouldn't be too worried. Kyo is an attentive fellow. If he was willing to teach you, then it is already because he's aware of the potential response that would bring and he's accepted the possible consequences."

"If you say so..." said Yang dubiously, not sure if that made it any better.

* * *

 **Once again, I'll remind everyone that this was written in the days before it was revealed that Ozpin was a reincarnating wizard, body-surfing his way across the ages in a never-ending spat with his ex. Poor guy. And Blake thought _she_ had it bad with Adam.**

 **I'll admit, Ozpin's explanation for how no one's noticed he's "always" been there is pretty implausible. But I thought it would be a neat way of hiding in plain sight, all the same. Everyone reflects back on their time at Beacon, and Ozpin has just always sorta been...there. So it's something that almost no one has bothered to take a closer look at, over the ages.**

 **We also get a brief interlude with Weiss' dad, who I was gonna call Wyn, before we learned his name was Jacques. Also, before it was revealed that _he_ was the one who married into the Schnee Family, my first impulse was to make him the Schnee in the marriage. In my original conception, Wyn was a true master of the Schnee Hereditary Semblance, particularly summoning, with the nickname One Man Army Schnee, thanks to his ability to summon entire hosts of previously defeated opponents to fight for him, basically able to dominate the battlefield without even needing to raise a hand himself. And, of course, every enemy his summons overrun basically becomes another weapon for him to call upon, so every opponent he defeats makes him stronger in the most literal way imaginable. Needless to say...that idea did not make it into the story. So Jacques is definitely more like canon Jacques, an asshole businessman with no fighting capability whatsoever, but all the money he needs to get plenty of people to do the fighting for him.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

"Where are you staying?" asked Winter as she walked alongside Nigel. "I'll need to contact you once I've made arrangements for our journey to Vale."

Nigel looked at her. "I don't know," he said.

Winter looked at him incredulously. "You mean you're lost or..."

"I came with Ironwood," said Nigel simply. "I thought he was going to take care of it."

Winter groaned and smacked her face with her hand. Silently, she cursed Ironwood for not taking care of Nigel's lodgings if he was going to employ the man.

"If he's not, then I'll sleep wherever," said Nigel with a shrug, seemingly unconcerned by the prospect of not having a place to sleep for the night.

"That's not acceptable at all," said Winter. "I need to have some idea of where you're staying so that I can contact you."

Nigel gave her a hopelessly befuddled look, prompting Winter to sigh in irritation. "Never mind," she said. "Come with me. I have room in my quarters. I can host you there until we leave."

"Okay," said Nigel, still seemingly unconcerned with Winter's agitation, instead following behind her.

Winter wondered if he really was the right man for the job. After all, it seemed like he could scarcely even take care of _himself_ , much less bring down the most dangerous criminal on Remnant.

Though she had quarters in Atlas' military headquarters, Winter also maintained her own apartment in town. In the years since she had joined the military as a Specialist, Winter had obtained the financial means to support herself without needing to rely on her father. Having an apartment of her own was proof of that, as much for her sake as it was for showing her father that she didn't need him or his money.

As they arrived at the door, Winter pulled out her scroll to unlock it, only to freeze when Nigel held an arm out in front of her.

"What?" she asked, looking at him. Any irritation she felt at his sudden interference was swept away when she saw his face. Gone was the vacant look. In its place was a focused gaze and an amazing degree of alertness, all of it focused on the door of her apartment.

"Someone's in there," said Nigel. "He's strong."

Winter blinked and turned her gaze back at the door of the apartment. It took her a few seconds to piece together what was going on. When she did, she let out a sigh that was half-resigned and half-amused. There were only a couple of people who had access to her apartment. Weiss was one of them. The only other person would be...

"It's all right," she assured Nigel. "I know him. Let me past."

"Okay," said Nigel.

"Wait out here," said Winter. "I need to speak with him privately for a moment."

"Okay," said Nigel, once again looking as blank and vacant as he usually did.

Winter opened the door and stepped through it. Her apartment was dark. She usually left the entryway light on when she left so she could see what she was doing when she came in. She wouldn't have needed Nigel's warning to figure out that someone was here.

Winter began to feel along the wall for the switch. Her eyes weren't yet adjusted to the dark, so it took her a few tries to actually locate it. However, as her fingers barely brushed against it, a hand closed over hers and pulled her hand away from the wall. With a small yelp of surprise, Winter was yanked into the apartment and pulled into the darkness. A pair of powerful arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her up against a chest and stomach that might as well have been chiseled from solid stone. On reflex, her own arms reached up and coiled around a set of narrow, yet muscular shoulders. A pair of lips crashed against her own, prying her lips apart and allowing her attacker's tongue to slip in. Winter tasted hints of whiskey on the man's tongue, even as her chin was tickled by the faint stubble that decorated his own. Finally, after an extended period, they parted, a faint gasp escaping Winter as she sought to refill her lungs after the intense kiss.

"Hey there, Ice Queen," said the man, his voice a low growl that sent pleasant shivers down Winter's spine, "did ya miss me?"

"Not as much as you hope, Qrow," said Winter, smirking.

"Well, I guess I need to remind you what you've been missing," said Qrow Branwen. Winter didn't need to be able to see to know that he was now wearing a cocky grin as his arms tightened around her again.

"Not tonight," said Winter, a little bit of urgency in her voice as she moved her hands to Qrow's chest and pushed away. If she let this go on, she'd probably end up forgetting all about Nigel and just leave him standing in the hall. "I have a guest."

"A guest?" Just as before, Winter didn't need to see him to know that his eyebrow was raised. She pulled away and reached over, finding the switch again and flipping it, turning on the entryway lights, allowing her to see Qrow.

As nearly always, he seemed to look perpetually disheveled. His brown hair lay atop his head in a tangled mess, with a set of bangs extending down over his forehead. His loose, white shirt and dark pants were patched, fraying at the sleeves and legs from a life spent mostly on the road. The red cape he wore over his shoulders looked nearly as threadbare, making Winter wonder when he'd last had it mended.

Given his appearance, Qrow should have stunk to high heaven. Given his habits, he should have reeked of stale alcohol. However, standing near him, the only thing Winter could smell was a woody aroma, as though the whiskey he perpetually sipped had diffused throughout his body and infused its scent into his very flesh and blood. Given how much he drank, Winter wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

Qrow tilted his head, allowing him to look past Winter and out the door to where Nigel was still in the hall, staring blankly at them. "Are you cheating on me with a younger guy, Ice Queen?"

"Hardly," said Winter, before turning to her guest. "Mr. Whitaker, you can come in now."

"Okay," said Nigel, stepping past the threshold. As he did, Winter moved close the door behind him.

"Nigel, this is Qrow Branwen, a Huntsman from Vale," said Winter. "He and I...work together frequently."

"Nice to meet you," said Nigel, not seeming to notice or care about the hinted relationship between Winter and Qrow.

"Qrow, this is Nigel Whitaker, a mercenary that Ironwood has assigned to help me on my next assignment," said Winter.

Qrow shot her a confused look. "What's Jimmy doing assigning you a mercenary?" he asked sharply.

Winter sighed. "Let's sit down," she said.

They settled down in the apartment's living room. Winter and Qrow sank down into the couch, while Nigel sat woodenly in an easy chair, seeming almost uneasy at the luxurious feeling of the cushions.

"We've located Mibu Kyo," explained Winter as soon as they were settled.

"Oh," said Qrow, not seeming overly concerned.

"He's at Beacon," continued Winter.

"Somehow I'm not surprised," said Qrow.

"Your nieces brought him there," she continued.

"Sounds like something they would do," said Qrow with a snort and settling against the back of the couch.

Winter's eyes narrowed. "You seem to be taking this rather well, given that your nieces are in such close proximity to such a dangerous criminal."

"Eh, he didn't strike me as all that bad," said Qrow. "Oh sure, he's crazy strong, but he ain't the kind of guy to be a threat to others if they don't threaten him first."

"You've met?" asked Winter, her eyes narrowing further.

"We've bumped into each other a couple of times on the road," said Qrow with a dismissive wave of his hand. "He's a fairly nice kid, a little bit battle crazy at times, but nice all the same."

"He's also the single most dangerous criminal on Remnant," Winter pointed out.

"Doesn't he have that bounty because he pissed Jimmy off something fierce?" asked Qrow. "Given the way James has been acting lately, he could stand to be taken down a few more pegs before he gets it hammered into his head that he's not going to accomplish anything by throwing the weight of his battleships around."

Winter sighed and lowered her head. Silently, she admitted to herself that Qrow had a point. Atlas' military expansions had reached a level not seen since the Great War. Everywhere she went, she was pestered by rumors that Ironwood intended to start a new one. There had been plenty of speculation that he saw Atlas as the world's babysitter and was planning to use his amassed firepower to force the other Kingdoms to see things his way.

It was making diplomatic negotiations difficult, but Winter was beginning to think that James didn't care or, worse, might actually be planning to do what people feared he would do. His ambition to protect the people was admirable. But Winter was beginning to think that that ambition was being overshadowed by his need to control everything and eliminate all dangerous variables.

"In any case," said Winter, "I have my orders. I will be leaving for Vale soon, and taking Mr. Whitaker with me."

"Well, I guess we'll have to postpone our date," said Qrow with a chuckle, leaning back. "But it sounds like fun."

"Are you planning on coming with me?" asked Winter.

"Eh, this might be good to watch," said Qrow. "Jimmy's been losing touch, but his eye for talent hasn't gotten that bad yet, wish I could say the same about his eye for character."

Remembering Farran Smith and his overtures towards her younger sister, Winter winced in silent agreement. "I believe that the General wanted to speak with you the next time you were in town though," she said. "I think he maybe wanted you to help find this Lightning Lord who has been destroying the encampments operated by the SDC."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that," said Qrow noncommittally, "right as soon as I decide I need to bring him in, rather than track him down and offer to help him."

Winter pressed her lips into a thin line. That kind of talk was practically treason. Of course, as a free Huntsman, Qrow was free to say what he liked, for now. She knew that Ironwood would probably close the Free Speech loophole sooner or later, if he had his way. There was no way that anyone would sanction a mission to assist what Ironwood and Jacques Schnee had dubbed "a terrorist engaging in corporate sabotage." However, she wouldn't put it past Qrow to not let that stop him.

Winter sighed again and resigned herself to the presence of an extra companion. It wasn't as though her ship didn't have room. If she tried to stop him, Qrow would just find another way down, and probably get there before her. Besides, Qrow was good for keeping her warm at night.

"So," said Qrow, an impish smile spreading across his face, "when're we leaving?"

* * *

"I don't see it," said Ruby, squinting her eyes, staring hard at Yang.

"I'm afraid I don't either," added Weiss.

"Me neither," said Blake.

"I've got nothing," said Jaune.

"What are we looking for again?" asked Nora.

Neo silently shook her head.

Yang huffed in frustration, realizing she probably should have expected this. She had only just learned to Temper her Aura yesterday, so it was probably a bit much to expect that her friends, who were pretty much on the same level she'd been on before she'd started learning to see what she hadn't been able to see before.

They were standing in the middle of the same sparring room that Yang, Neo, and Kyo had been in yesterday, which was fitting, as they were aiming to do the same thing that they'd done yesterday, just extending the opportunity to the members of RWBY and JNNR.

"Well, that's to be expected," said Kyo, laughing his awkward laugh. "I suppose you'll all need the same treatment, more or less. I must say, I never expected to start up a school in the middle of someone else's school."

"So you're going to jolt their Aura the same way you did mine?" asked Yang.

"Yes," replied Kyo. "I can't do them all at once, so we'll have to walk through this two at a time."

Jaune and Ruby shared a glance. "Ah, what the heck," he said, stepping forward, Ruby moving with him. "It sounds a lot like what Pyrrha did to me when she unlocked my Aura."

"This will be a bit rougher," said Kyo, moving to stand behind them and raising his hands to the back of their heads.

After jolting each member of the two teams, Kyo walked them through Tempering their Aura, drawing it in around them.

"Good, now maintain that as much as you can," said Kyo, roughly an hour later when they finished the process. Surprisingly, they had all managed to get the hang of it rather quickly, which Kyo had chalked up to their previous experience using their Auras in battle. "This is the first and most basic step. The idea is to practice it until it becomes a continual state for you, something you do not cease, even while sleeping.

"Makes sense," said Ruby, staring at the red glow outlining her body. "It feels a bit weird, but not wrong."

"You'll get used to it soon enough," said Kyo. "Part of the reason it feels different to you is because your Auras are still partially roused. They'll settle down before long."

"So now what?" asked Yang.

"Well, I can explain the other steps for you," said Kyo. "But I won't teach them until I'm sure you're ready."

"Okay," said Yang.

Kyo sat, crosslegged, on the floor, nodding to the others. They shared looks and arranged themselves in a loose semi-circle in front of him and sat down as well.

"Tempering is the first step," said Kyo. "It increases your defenses and contains your Aura, which allows it to build in strength over time. By stopping the Aura from leaking away, you are also enhancing your body's ability to generate more Aura, which keeps it from deteriorating over time."

"Which lets you live longer," said Ruby, remembering what Yang, Weiss, and Blake had told her after they got back from their meeting with Ozpin.

"Among other things, yes," agreed Kyo. "The next step is called Suppression."

Abruptly, all sense of Kyo's presence vanished. It was almost as though Kyo himself had disappeared and it was nothing more than some lifeless thing that merely looked like him was sitting in front of them. Yang gasped softly.

"Suppression shuts off the flow of Aura outwards," said Kyo. "Because of that, my body is currently as vulnerable as any person whose Aura is not unlocked. However, this technique is important and useful in other ways."

"It hides your presence," observed Ren. "We could be standing right next to you and not know that you're there unless we saw you."

"True," said Kyo. "It is an Aura that is the source of a person's 'presence,' which is often the first cue that someone is there. It's an unconscious reaction. Otherwise, the presence of things like breath or even a body's heat can be overlooked as merely a facet of the environment. However, it also serves another useful purpose, recovery."

"So it helps you build up Aura after you've expended it," said Weiss, catching on.

Kyo beamed and nodded. "Suppression also teaches you how to build up your Aura, which is critical for the next exercise, Projection."

"That's what you did yesterday," observed Yang.

"Yes," said Kyo. "Projection exerts your Aura, forcing your body to generate more. It's basically one of the most important exercises if you want to build up your Aura to anywhere near my level."

"That makes sense," said Jaune.

"Ooh! It's like weight lifting for your Aura!" shouted Nora eagerly.

"Something like that," agreed Kyo. "All of this is in preparation for the final step, Manifestation."

"What's that?" asked Ruby.

"Manifestation shapes your Aura and uses it to directly affect your environment, creating an ability of sorts." Kyo tilted his head and looked at them. "I believe it is what you in the outside world call a Semblance."

Silence greeted his statement as his audience process what he had just said. In a way, it seemed earth-shattering.

"I don't get it," said Jaune finally. "You're saying that this is the last thing that you people learn when it comes to controlling your Aura, but it's something we already have isn't it?"

"In a sense," said Kyo. "However, your Semblance is something that you 'discover' while skipping important steps in its development. I'm guessing that you've been taught that your Semblance is innate, shaped at birth and something that you uncover later on in life."

They all nodded.

"Not true," said Kyo simply. "It's true that your natural talents and inclinations will affect its form and application, but the essence of Manifestation is deciding how you choose to influence the world. Within the Mibu, there are numerous 'schools' that help people refine specific forms of Manifestation."

"You mean like yours?" asked Yang.

"Pretty much," said Kyo. "Since I was young, I've been learning the _Mumyo Jinpu_ school of swordsmanship. You could say that the _Mumyo Jinpu_ itself is my Semblance. But it's one that I have been shaping and refining since a young age."

"So we could actually decide our own Semblances and set them for ourselves," said Weiss incredulously, staring at her hands. She tried to imagine just what kind of Semblance she'd create. All her life, she'd been taught, had believed that the Schnee hereditary Semblance was the only Semblance she could ever have. To be able to create a Semblance of her own...

"Well, that's a ways ahead," said Kyo, sounding amused. "First things first, we need to get you to that point. Also, I don't know exactly what effect having already 'discovered' your Semblances will have on how your Manifestations develop. I'm not sure if that will limit you or not."

"I guess we'll have to find out," said Yang, already eager to begin trying.

"But that's a ways away," said Kyo, cutting her hopes a bit short. "For now, you all need to work on the basics."

"Ugh..." groaned Ruby. "So boring."

"That's how it always works," said Ren in a wry tone, already closing his eyes and focusing on the sensation of keeping his Aura around him.

* * *

Practice was a relatively simple affair, with little else to do, but try to maintain the Tempering for as long as possible. Stamina wasn't the issue. Rather, it was simply that letting one's thoughts wander could cause the effect to be undone and they would have regather their Aura around themselves. It was simple and easy. But, because of that, it wasn't the most interesting thing in the world.

However, by the time they broke for lunch, all eight of them had a good feel for Tempering and were able to maintain it, even as they made their way to the dining hall to get some food.

"How long does this take?" asked Yang as she and Kyo walked along.

"It varies," said Kyo, prompting an annoyed groan from Yang. "When you think about it, how long did it take you to learn how to walk naturally after you first began to toddle on two legs."

"Uh...I don't remember," said Yang.

"Tempering is works much the same way," said Kyo. "It's an action that becomes much more natural, until it reaches the point where it's easier to do it without thinking about it. That's the objective as far as your training goes."

"I thought so," said Yang glumly.

"Although, we'll be able to move on to other things before that," said Kyo, making Yang perk up. "If anything, I think you'll be ready to learn that in just one or two days and then we can move onto Suppression. Suppression comes fairly easy. After that, most of our focus will be on teaching you Projection."

"And what about Manifestation?" asked Yang eagerly.

"I...probably shouldn't try to teach you that," said Kyo.

"Huh, what's wrong?" asked Yang.

"Well...it's just, the first three steps are very easy to teach," said Kyo. "The issue is that Manifestation is a more complex ability. My skill at teaching would be limited to the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ alone, so I couldn't help you with anything more suited to you personally. If we were able to visit my homeland, there are a number of teachers who could help you, depending on your needs."

"Huh...I wonder if we could do that?" asked Yang.

"Well, the Mibu Clan is generally more accommodating of outsiders than it has been in the past," said Kyo. "And I did invite you to come so that we could ask about the Crimson Eyes anyway. Now it is simply a question of when."

"That would be awesome," said Yang. "When would be a good time?"

"Well, as I told Professor Ozpin, I was planning on heading home in just a couple of months. We have an important holiday coming up and my mother likes me to come home for this one in particular. If you can get permission, I would be happy to bring you along."

"Yes, please," said Yang eagerly.

"Hey! Don't think you're going without me!" protested Ruby, jumping on Yang's back and wrapping her arms around her neck.

"Ack! Ruby!" Yang strained before resigning herself to the inevitable and hoisting her sister up piggy-back style. If anything, it was something of a reassurance that Ruby was back to her usual self. "Kyo only really invited me," she said. "I don't want to pressure him to bringing more people if he doesn't want to."

"It's fine," said Kyo with a laugh at Ruby's antics. "I would be happy for you to bring your friends."

"Okay," said Yang, feeling conflicted. On one hand, she was relieved that bringing more people wouldn't be a bother. On the other hand, she was feeling a little down that she wouldn't be able to go with Kyo by herself.

 _Geez! One date and I'm already thinking like a clingy girlfriend,_ thought Yang. All things considered, she wasn't sure it was right to call Kyo a boyfriend when it came to that. After all, they had only been on one date so far. _Maybe I should change that._

Of course, going on a date with Kyo in Vale wasn't such a simple matter. After all, Kyo was still a wanted criminal. Here at Beacon, he was afforded a degree of protection, according to his arrangement with Ozpin. However if Kyo set foot outside of Beacon, he would not be bringing that protection with him. Within Vale, the police and military would be free to try and apprehend him, and Yang didn't doubt that Kyo would happily defend himself. She was horrified at what kind of havoc that might end up wreaking in the end.

Of course, there were things they could do around Beacon. But the scope of potential activities was much more limited and Yang wasn't sure they would find anything that would be of personal interest to Kyo.

She suspended those thoughts as they arrived in the dining hall. Yang sighed as she took in the expanse, the tables lined up end to end in rows stretching down the vast space, lined with decorative pillars and arches. She and her friends no longer ate here so often. They only actually came up to Beacon itself for seminars and to sign up for missions. When they weren't on mission or taking care of any other related business, they typically took their meals in Vale, in restaurants or at their apartment. In a way, Yang missed the feel of coming to the dining hall three times every day.

"Where you going, little bunny?" sneered a young man's voice, reminding Yang sharply of the one thing she didn't miss about the dining hall.

She turned her head and saw the source of the disturbance. Four first-year boys had surrounded a familiar figure, a girl only a year older than Yang, with long brown hair that hung past her shoulders, and, standing out most starkly, a pair of long rabbit ears that extended out from the top of her head.

"I can't believe one of these animals actually comes here!" crowed one of the boys.

"Don't you know your kind isn't welcome?" added another.

"Please let me through," protested the girl, trying to slip between two of the boys and escape, only for them to close ranks and block her.

Yang growled and clenched her hands into a fist. She felt Ruby let go of her and Yang got ready to go over and intervene. This went deeper than just righting an injustice. Velvet Scarletina was a good friend of hers, a status that extended to the rest of RWBY and JNNR. A fourth-year student, Velvet should hardly have been intimidated by a group of first-years. However, Velvet was a timid, well-mannered girl, who hated to force her way through other people. She was also mindful of her status as a faunus, realizing that using force to stop someone from harassing her would be turned back against her by humans who would claim her actions as proof of the faunus' bestial nature.

"Hey!" she said, stomping up to the boys. "Back off!"

"What?" asked one of the boys, turning around to face her. "You defending this oversized rodent?"

Yang suddenly felt as though she were standing in the middle of a road and a semi-truck had just gone barreling past her, missing her by scant inches. She even felt the passing breeze stir her hair. She whirled around to see Kyo smiling at the boys. However, there was no kindness or warmth in his smile, only a furious rage, absolute and all-consuming. Yang turned back to the boys and saw that they had gone completely pale, their eyes wide and unseeing. Two of them even had tears streaming down their faces. Their arms hung limp as though they had passed out where they stood.

Kyo walked past Yang and stood in front of the boys. "Well now, have you regained your senses?"

His words seemed to jolt the first-years out of their stupor and they blinked furiously before focusing on Kyo with horrified gazes.

"Ah, now that you're back with the living, I have some advice for you," said Kyo. "So I would very much like it if you gave me your fullest attention."

The boys nodded urgently, too terrified to even think about arguing.

"It is truly impressive, when one has great strength," said Kyo, turning a kinder and gentler smile on Velvet, who seemed confused, having not apparently sensed anything. "It is even more impressive when that person willingly refrains from using that strength on someone considerably weaker than her, who, against all common sense, goes out of his way to irk her. As someone older and much stronger than you, this girl should be looked to as an example of wisdom and experience and treated with respect. If you can't manage even that much, then perhaps you have no future in this world."

He fixed the four boys with another malevolent smile, his Aura seeming to dye the air around him a crimson color as his eyes glowed. "To that end, I suggest you not waste your time on stupidity like this any longer. Do we have an understanding?"

The boys nodded even more urgently before.

"Good," said Kyo, his anger fading and his face returning to its normal, pleasant, disposition. "Then there is no need to go any further. Run along now."

The four first-years scrambled to get away from Kyo, rushing down the length of the dining hall, heading for the door as fast as their legs would carry them.

Yang watched them go, her jaw hanging loose. _Just what the hell did Kyo do to them?_

A faint sniff from Velvet snapped her back to reality and Yang rushed to the older girl's side. "Are you okay Vel?"

"I'll be all right," said Velvet, gently wiping away a tear. "Sorry...I just forgot myself for a second."

Yang pulled Velvet into a tight hug. Though Velvet was older than her, she was shorter, and her build much lighter than Yang's. That made it relatively easy for Yang to hug her protectively. In some ways, she felt as though Velvet was actually younger than her.

"It's okay," whispered Yang, gently rubbing one hand up and down Velvet's back. "You don't have to hold it in if you don't want to."

Velvet sniffed again, then broke down into soft sobs as Yang pulled them down onto a bench and allowed Velvet to cry into her shoulder. Someone's weight settled against Velvet's other side and a second pair of arms wrapped around her. Velvet lifted her head just enough to see that Ruby had joined in the embrace. A few seconds later, Blake joined them, followed by Nora. Everyone else stayed back, but watched sympathetically as Velvet poured out her built-up sadness and tension.

After a few minutes, Velvet sniffed again and looked up. Her eyes were a bit red, but the tears had stopped. She wiped her face one her sleeve and allowed herself to lean into Yang, who continued to hold her. "That was intense," said Yang. "Are you doing all right?"

Velvet sighed. "It's just...things have been getting worse. When I'm in town, I feel more and more cold stares. I nearly got detained by the police again. And now those boys..."

"It's not good to hold all that in," said Yang, gently stroking a hand through Velvet's hair. "Why isn't your team helping you?"

"I haven't been telling them," said Velvet.

"What?" shouted Yang, nearly dropping Velvet, her incredulous gaze echoed by her friends.

"Please! I can't tell them about this," said Velvet pleadingly. "I know they mean well, but they always go overboard. Coco nearly got expelled last month, after what she did to those two girls..."

Yang and the others winced, remembering the incident well. Velvet had been cornered by a pair of second-year girls, who had proceeded to yank on her ears, laughing at Velvet's pain until Coco found them. Afterwards, the two girls had to be taken to the infirmary and placed on life support, while Coco found herself in front of Ozpin and Goodwitch, threatened with the prospect of getting kicked out of Beacon altogether. She'd only barely managed to avoid expulsion by the skin of her teeth, and only by suffering some stiff penalties.

Sadly, neither Yatuhashi Daichi nor Fox Alistair were much better in that respect. Team CFVY was extraordinarily protective of Velvet, and they were all prone to going to great, often violent lengths to punish those who persecuted her for her faunus heritage.

"It'll be okay," said Blake, rubbing Velvet's back sympathetically. "If we can find Adam and stop the White Fang, we can start mending bridges."

Like Cinder, Adam Taurus, Blake's former partner, lover, and the current leader of the White Fang, had disappeared during the conflict with Salem. Though White Fang activity had not ceased, it had lessened, at least in terms of the number of incidents. Instead of their previous activities, targeting those they felt had wronged faunus, the White Fang had instead gone over to more straightforward terrorism. They now attacked defenseless targets to inflict the maximum possible civilian casualties. Naturally, this only worsened the relationships between humans and faunus even more...which had probably been Adam's intention all along.

"Sometimes I wonder if we're not too late," said Velvet softly. "With everything that's happening, I don't know if humans and faunus will ever find it in their hearts to forgive and accept one another."

"But you're still trying," said Blake softly.

"I have to keep trying," said Velvet. "I won't turn my back on everything I've done until now. I'll keep fighting, even if I know it's hopeless."

"It's not hopeless," said Blake, gripping Velvet's shoulder tightly. "I know it's not."

"Thank you," said Velvet, allowing herself to relax back into Yang's embrace as they lingered where they were a little longer.

* * *

After spending a little more time helping Velvet calm down again, the group, with the addition of Velvet, settled down for lunch. Velvet had come to the school in order to work on a few adjustments for her weapon and collect some more pictures. She had stopped in the dining hall for a bite to eat when those first-years cornered her.

"You need to talk with your team about this," said Jaune, sitting across from Velvet, with Ruby sitting next to him. "Not just the harassment, but their going overboard too."

"But how?" asked Velvet. "They always get carried away when it comes to me."

"You should remind them that they can't help you if they've been kicked out for causing grievous bodily harm to fellow students," said Weiss simply. "Tell them that if they let their tempers get the better of them, then it's only a matter of time before they're gone and you're here alone."

Velvet looked down thoughtfully for a moment. "That might be doable," she conceded.

They ate and chatted for a while, until it was time for Velvet to leave and head back to Vale. Nowadays, she made it a point to get back home before dark, not wanting to repeat her experience at the hands of Vale's police.

As soon as Velvet left, Yang turned her gaze to Kyo. "What did you do to those boys?" she asked.

"Oh nothing too serious," said Kyo in a jovial tone. "I simply gave them a taste of murderous intent. As weak in both will and Aura as they were, I believe I made them see their own deaths. That was enough to take the wind from their sails."

Yang swallowed hard. She had felt the passing of Kyo's intent like a shockwave, so powerful it had actually carried a tangible force that had moved her hair. Yet, at the same time, she hadn't gotten a hint of the intent behind that power. From the way Velvet had reacted, she hadn't noticed anything at all. Kyo had hit four targets with potent killing intent, while leaving a person standing in their midst completely untouched. It was a spectacular demonstration of both strength and precision. It seemed like every day she learned something new about Kyo that either amazed her...or terrified her.

"So now what?" asked Ruby, looking around. Given that they had only spent half the day on training, there wasn't much else to do.

"I guess we should head back to Vale," said Weiss. "There's not much to do around here and our seminar isn't until tomorrow evening."

Yang threw a concerned look Kyo's way, realizing that, if they left, he would be stuck here alone. On the other hand, it wasn't as though they could bring him to Vale with them...or could they?

"Hmm..." She narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Kyo very carefully.

"What is it?" asked Kyo, actually blushing slightly under Yang's scrutiny.

"I'm thinking you could stand to get some new clothes," she said. "Just how long have you been wearing that ratty old kimono anyway?"

Kyo looked at the sleeves of his kimono, which, admittedly, were looking a bit tattered and threadbare. "Well...how many months now...?"

"Months?" gasped Weiss, scooting as far away from him as her bench would allow. "How do you not smell to high heaven?"

"Lots of cold baths, and I wash it by hand," explained Kyo.

"But the dorms have a laundry machine," Blake pointed out.

"I have no idea how to use one of those," replied Kyo with earnest cheerfulness that made the girls twitch nervously.

"Hmm..." said Yang. "We should definitely get you some new clothes then."

"Well...I don't really need new clothes," said Kyo, "plus I don't have any money for that sort of thing."

"Oh no you don't," said Yang, latching onto his arm and tugging him out of his seat. "I'll pay for your clothes myself if I have to, but you're coming with us."

"Why do we have to take the wanted criminal clothes shopping?" asked Weiss in exasperation as she and the others followed Yang as she towed Kyo towards the exit.

"Well, it would be nice for him to have something else to wear," said Yang brightly. "Besides, it'll probably make him less apparent. Right now, he sticks out like a sore thumb."

"Oh," said Blake, catching on. "You want to be able to take him into Vale without causing a stir."

"Pretty much," said Yang, flashing her partner a thumbs up. "I mean, imagine having to spend all your time stuck up here at Beacon, especially when you aren't a student, so it's not like you have classes or anything."

Everyone grimaced at that idea. It wasn't that Beacon was an uncomfortable place to spend their time, but the variety of opportunities for recreation were limited. As a non-student, Kyo basically had very little to do with his time as he didn't have the usual student worries of completing assignments, studying for exams, or training for Goodwitch's Combat Class. While Beacon was a lovely place, the novelty of it would wear off fairly quickly if one was stuck there indefinitely with nothing to do.

"And, while you're wearing your new duds, we can get that thing to a tailor to be mended," added Yang, tugging gently on the sleeve of Kyo's kimono.

"Well, when you're so insistent, I can hardly argue," said Kyo with his usual awkward laugh, gently rubbing the back of his head as Yang towed him towards the docks.

* * *

"Well, we're on course for Vale," said Winter, coming back into the cabin of her personal airship and settling into one of the luxuriously padded seats. The living quarters of her vessel seemed better suited for a luxury ship, rather than a military aircraft. Next to her, Qrow shifted uncomfortably in the too-soft-to-be-practical cushions of the couch. Nigel had been given one of the passenger rooms on the aircraft, and had sequestered himself in there, giving the couple their privacy.

"What's our ETA?" he asked, trying to take his mind off of his discomfort.

"We should arrive in approximately seventy-two hours," said Winter, "assuming the weather holds."

"Huh." Qrow leaned back and stretched his arms upwards. "That's faster. You've given this gaudy hunk of junk some upgrades."

Winter sniffed at his inelegant descriptor of her airship. Instead, she sighed and leaned against him, letting her head rest against his shoulder.

Qrow lowered his arms, allowing one to wrap around her and pull her closer. "Been a while," he said blithely while Winter nodded silently.

"I thought you'd stop by sooner," she said. "I thought things were supposed to get better after Salem was stopped."

"If the world's problems could be magically fixed by taking care of one person, even something like her, then there wouldn't really be any need for Huntsmen or Huntresses," replied Qrow casually. "Even if Salem ain't a problem anymore, there's still plenty of crap she left lying around that needs cleaning up."

"You mean Queen?" asked Winter. "Cinder?"

"Not sure if we should keep calling her that," said Qrow. "I'm pretty sure she wasn't as subservient to Salem as she was pretending to be."

"Because she left?" wondered Winter.

"I wouldn't be as worried if it were simply a matter of getting out of dodge," said Qrow. "I could understand her being the type to bail out if things looked like they were heading south. But that wasn't it."

"Then what happened?" asked Winter.

Qrow sighed and scratched his head with his free hand. "The scary part is _when_ she chose to abandon Salem. According to Ruby, it was at the moment where things were at their tipping point. If Cinder had pitched in right then and there, things probably would have gone Salem's way, and the bad guys would've won."

"But..." prodded Winter.

"But instead of jumping in and helping her boss out, Cinder turned tail and ran," said Qrow. "She spent years working for Salem, arranging things so they were just right. She put her life on the line to ensure Salem's plans went smoothly. And then, at the crux of it all, the very minute when she could make sure they reached fruition, she just up and left...like none of it mattered at all to her. Since then she's gone completely off the grid. I haven't found a hint of her at all."

"But she still has the Fall Maiden's power," said Winter.

"Yep," said Qrow. "Which is bad news. Even if she isn't enacting some kind of plan for that demon woman, she's still plenty dangerous on her own."

"So you've given up?" asked Winter, frowning at the idea.

"Not completely," said Qrow. "But if I've got no clue where to look, then I'm just chasing my tail. Sometimes it's better to back off and wait. If she's still working some kind of agenda, she'll stick her head out, sooner or later. When that happens, I'm not letting her get away again."

Winter frowned darkly. "Do you think that she'd been manipulating Salem all this time?"

"That's one way to think about it," said Qrow. "But I think there may be something else to it. Salem might just have been a means to an end for her. So Cinder let Salem use her as a tool until she got what she wanted out of the deal, then bailed at exactly the right time to cost Salem her victory so that Salem wouldn't be around to oppose whatever she has in mind."

"I don't like the sound of whatever that might be," said Winter, biting lightly on her thumbnail.

"Me neither," said Qrow.

* * *

 **For those of you who noticed something familiar about the "basics" of Aura-manipulation that Kyo was teaching, yes, I did pretty much borrow wholesale the basic concepts of Nen from _Hunter X Hunter_. Half the fun of writing a RWBY/SDK quasi-crossover was taking all the crazy powersets of _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ , and working out how they fit into the world of Remnant. To that end, borrowing some concepts from another series seemed to fit the bill.**

 **Truth be told, I've always suspected that might be why, in the series proper, Huntsmen and Huntresses are always referred to as such, as opposed to being called Hunters, something that many fanfic writers like to refer to them as, usually due to it being a more gender-neutral term. While I think it may also be a way to differentiate them from regular hunters, ie the guys who hunt game and the like, I figured that maybe the creators of RWBY wanted to avoid confusion with another series about super-powered martial-artists who _also_ just so happen to wield a mystical force, called Aura. Of course, it could be entirely coincidental, but it's more fun to think this way.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

"Well everyone," said Yang, pulling Kyo out of the store, "what do you think?"

Kyo's worn kimono was replaced by a simple black jacket over a white, button-down shirt. Over his legs, he wore a pair of, rather plain, black pants. His sandals had been replaced by a pair of simple, dark-brown, laceless shoes.

"Well...it's not bad," said Weiss, tapping her chin as she inspected Kyo carefully. "I must admit, it's rather plain-looking."

"Well the point is a look that doesn't draw a ton of attention," Ren pointed out. "His eyes draw enough by themselves, so something so inconspicuous is a point in his favor."

"Although he's still going to get plenty of attention with that thing," Jaune pointed out, gesturing to Kyo's sheathed longsword, which he was still carrying, resting over one shoulder.

"Eh, plenty of Huntsmen have weapons that don't collapse," said Ruby. "It won't be too bad."

"So, does that mean I have everyone's approval?" asked Kyo playfully.

"I think so," said Yang with a wry smirk as she gently prodded Kyo's ribs. "Come on, I've got just the place to hit up."

"You're not going to Junior's place _again_ are you?" asked Ruby warily. "How many times have you trashed his joint now?"

"That was just twice," said Yang hotly. "And the second time was only because the Twins got a little too soused and decided that they wanted some payback."

"You're lucky Junior hasn't complained to Beacon about the damages," said Weiss. "They would've taken it out of your bounty money, and I am _not_ covering your share of the rent and food budget."

"Junior'd never do something like that," said Yang with a giggle. "He doesn't want Beacon's eyes on his business."

"Um...Should I be worried?" wondered Kyo, glancing at Ren, who seemed the most collected of the group.

"Perhaps," said Ren. "But, at this point, we're more worried about Yang causing a commotion than you."

"Ooh! Can I come?" asked Nora eagerly.

"Nope," said Ren, hooking his arm around hers and pulling her away from Yang. "Yang's bad enough. We don't need you going and getting drunk too."

Everyone except Nora winced at his bluntness.

"You'd never think they were together-together," muttered Jaune to Ruby, who giggled.

"I think it's one of Ren's charming points," Ruby muttered back.

Kyo abruptly felt a weight dangling off his right arm and looked over to see Neo clinging to it, beaming. "Oh...you're coming too?"

Neo nodded.

"I see. Can we count on you to keep trouble to a minimum, or make things worse?"

Neo simply tilted her head slightly.

Kyo laughed. "I was afraid of that."

"Wow...he's good," noted Jaune. "It took me forever to get used to how Neo talks."

"Eh, it wasn't too hard," said Ruby, gently bumping Jaune with her shoulder. "You were just too lazy to figure it out for yourself."

Yang frowned. Part of the reason she'd done this was to take the opportunity to get another date with Kyo. She supposed it was her fault for deciding to take him to a place where she had a known history (however exaggerated), than somewhere she was less familiar with. Besides, with his underworld dealings and his shady clientele, Junior would be the last person to notify the authorities if a wanted criminal entered the premises. It would undermine his reputation. Granted, the only times she usually visited Junior's joint were generally because she needed information, which she subsequently cajoled and threatened her way out of having to pay for.

 _Oh well, Neo's not bad company, and she won't get in the way,_ thought Yang with a resigned sigh. "Come on," she said, grabbing Kyo's left arm, nearly making him drop his weapon in the process. "Let's go. It won't be long before Happy Hour starts and I'm looking forward to those free drinks."

"Try to make sure Yang doesn't drink too much!" shouted Ruby as Yang pulled Kyo down the street with Neo following. "She gets super smashy when she's like that!"

"And try to have those two home by ten," added Weiss. "We have a seminar tomorrow, and it wouldn't do to have them still dealing with a hangover."

They watched as Yang towed Kyo and Neo around a corner before they all sighed.

"What's the world coming too when the wanted criminal with history's highest bounty is the trustworthy and responsible one?" wondered Weiss rhetorically.

* * *

A glass filled with fine liquor slid across the bar and into the hand of a waiting patron. Hei Xiong, otherwise known as Junior to his associates and customers, was a massive, bear of a man. His shirt and vest did little to hide his impressive physique. Despite that, the fine tailoring on his clothes and the neat trim of his beard and impeccable grooming of his hair marked him as a man of business first and foremost, even as the aura of power he exuded marked him as a man who wasn't afraid to take care of trouble personally.

Thus it was unfortunate that trouble frequently came in the form of the one person he was incapable of standing up to.

"Blondie!"

It was early yet, so there were few patrons present in his club. However, those who were there already quickly looked up at the shocked tone in Junior's voice. The source of it became apparent as an attractive young woman came strutting into the club, hips and long, blonde hair swaying with each step she took. She moved with the grace and confidence of someone who had absolutely nothing to fear, even in a den of unsavories such as this, where the young and attractive often found themselves preyed upon.

Instead, if anything, it was Junior and his people who were reacting like prey. Junior's henchmen, garbed in black tuxedos with fashionable bowler hats, quickly scattered out of the young woman's way as she made her way over to the bar.

All eyes were on Yang Xiao Long as she made her entrance, which meant most people missed the young man walking just a little bit to the side and behind her, as well as the girl with two-toned hair who accompanied them.

Yang walked straight up to the bar and seated herself at one of the stools, right in front of Junior's face. "Hey there, Junior," she said cheerfully. "What's shakin'?"

If he were to answer honestly, Junior would have said "myself." But Junior was hardly the most honest person in the world. "Blondie...what do you want this time?" His tone was almost resigned, the tone of a man who knew he'd been beaten before the fight even started and had, thusly, conceded to avoid both the shame and pain that would accompany the resulting beating.

"Relax, Junior," said Yang, her voice still as cheerful and easygoing as ever. "I'm here as a customer this time."

"When are you ever not a customer?" wondered Junior out loud. When Yang came to his club, it was usually for information.

"I mean the conventional kind," said Yang. "My friends and I are here for some drinks and some fun, nothing else."

"Friends...?" For the first time, Junior actually took a good look at the people who had accompanied Yang in. His eyes widened as they met the mismatched pair of Neo's, the colors of her own eyes swapping places with a blink. She beamed at him and waved a hand in greeting, which Junior half-heartedly returned. "Oh...you...Been a while."

He turned his gaze to the other person who had accompanied Yang, a young man with messy black hair. There was nothing remarkable about his clothes, but as Junior met the man's eyes, he swallowed hard. The young man's eyes were a vivid, almost luminous, crimson that reminded him far too much of someone else's eyes. The young man's long, sheathed sword was presently leaned up against the counter.

 _Wait a minute...a sword almost five-feet long, crimson eyes...don't tell me..._ Junior paled as he assembled all the clues together in his head. As an information broker for the underworld, it was only natural that Junior had access to a substantial volume of information. Naturally, information about criminals on Remnant's wanted lists were well known to him. A fair few had even been clients of his at times. Thus, even though the man's clothes were different, it wasn't hard to recognize him on sight.

"Your name wouldn't happen to be Kyo...would it?" he asked cautiously.

"It would," said Kyo pleasantly. "It's nice to meet you, Mr..."

"Uh...Xiong...the name's Hei Xiong...But you can call me Junior. That's what most people call me anyway."

"Even though he hardly looks the part," said Yang with a laugh, while Neo giggled and nodded.

Junior sighed and bowed his head. "I don't know what the world's coming to," he said glumly. "I never thought I'd see the day where you'd just waltz in here with a pair of wanted criminals."

Neo glared at him, puffing out her cheeks and resting her hands against her hips.

"Right right...reformed..." Junior waved a placating hand at her, prompting Neo to smile and nod once more. Letting out a defeated sigh, Junior slumped a little. "So what can I get you?"

"Strawberry Sunrise, no ice, and one of those cute little umbrellas," said Yang eagerly.

"I don't even understand why I bother asking," said Junior with a snort before looking at Neo, who tapped a finger on the bar twice. "Right. One Cosmo, coming up." He looked at Kyo. "And for you...?"

"I'll have sake, if you can give me a good recommendation," said Kyo pleasantly.

 _What is this world coming to when the world's highest bounty is the guy giving me the least grief of these three?_ wondered Junior in exasperation. Still, he proceeded to make the drinks, working with the practiced finesse and skill of a professional who had spent the whole of his life doing this sort of thing. For Kyo, he fetched a decent variety of sake (but not his best).

"Ah, this is from Verdan, isn't it?" asked Kyo after sipping from the cup.

"I didn't know you were a connoisseur," said Junior as he went back to wiping down glasses.

"Not particularly," said Kyo. "But I had this the last time I visited Verdan. It has a distinctive flavor, which helps."

Junior nodded and moved on down the bar to help another patron waving a hand for service.

"So you like sake," said Yang with a raised eyebrow. "Is that a big drink in your homeland?"

"I'm told it used to be," replied Kyo. "Rice used to be a staple crop for us. However, in the past couple centuries, we switched to barley and quinoa, which are generally easier to cultivate and use less water. It increases the areas we can grow them in, which helps when planning out settlements. Because of that, we don't have sake all that much anymore."

"If you grow a lot of barley, I'm guessing beer is pretty big over there," said Yang with an eager smile.

"Yes, we have several varieties," said Kyo. "Also, barely wine. There are a few liquors using quinoa too."

"Do you like sake more?" Yang tilted her head around to look at Kyo's cup as she spoke.

"In the sense that it's one of those things I can't find around my homeland all that often anymore," said Kyo. "Rice takes a lot of space and water to grow, depending on the variety, so there are only a few settlements that can manage to cultivate it. Naturally, that means most of it ends up selling as food."

Yang nodded. Agriculture was one of the many things where the Grimm made life difficult. A variety of staple crops required a substantial amount of room to cultivate properly. Clearing and then protecting space for farmland was one of the most difficult tasks for the people of Remnant. Scientists were working on methods of hydroponics that would enable food to be grown in more limited spaces, but such research was still a ways away from being fully implemented.

"Would you like to try some?" asked Kyo, pouring another cup. "This sake is a bit on the sweet side. I think you'd like it.

"Uh...sure," said Yang, sipping the cup he offered her. It was a little sweet, but otherwise very good. The alcohol was much sharper and more prominent than she was used to, so she sipped carefully. Despite the amount of time she'd spent on the club scene, Yang was not a hard drinker, in contrast to her uncle. She'd heard enough bad stories about what happened to young women who drank until they let their guards down to feel that she didn't need to experience it for herself.

As she set down the cup, she noticed Neo grinning slyly at her. "What are you smirking about?"

Neo's grin widened and she tapped her lips.

Yang gasped lightly and pressed her hands to her lips. _I guess that's what you'd call an indirect kiss,_ she thought, though she probably realized she shouldn't make such a big deal of it.

"So how did you wind up with this guy, Blondie?" inquired Junior as he came back over to them, new drinks in hand for her and Neo.

"It was a bit complicated," said Yang. "We ran into him on a mission and sort of ended up inviting him back to Beacon with us."

Junior gave Kyo a skeptical look, but he merely grinned and nodded. "That's basically what happened," he said cheerfully.

"I'm amazed you have the guts to wander around Vale in the open," said Junior. "Aren't you worried about the police?"

"Should I be?" wondered Kyo

Yang and Neo paled at the idea. _We're worried about the police...or their health at least._

Junior looked up from his bar-tending and his eyes widened in surprise and he paled slightly. He began to quickly shake his head and wave, apparently warning someone away. Yang wondered just who he was signaling like that until she heard the click of two pairs of heels on the hard floor behind her.

"You girls wouldn't be looking for trouble again?" Yang asked as she picked up her new glass and took a swallow from it before spinning around on her stool to face the two girls coming up behind her.

They were twins, about the same age as Yang, but with pale skin, green eyes, and black hair. One was dressed in a pale-green dress, while the other was wearing a blood-red dress. The girl in green wore a pair of long boots with stiletto heels...that were actual stilettos. The girl in red wore a pair of wrist-mounted claws that extended out over her hands. Both of them glared at Yang with a simmering hatred.

"My..." said Kyo bemusedly, "I'm usually the one who gets that kind of reaction."

He turned around to face the girls as well. The twins flinched at the sight of his crimson eyes, all the while, Junior frantically waved them away, trying to get the girls to leave these particularly dangerous patrons alone. In the meantime, Neo had turned to look at them as well, but was leaning back on her stool, letting one arm rest on top of the bar as she casually sipped from her drink.

"W-we were just making s-sure that you weren't harassing our boss," said the girl in green, having trouble speaking coherently as she met Kyo's eyes. At first, Yang thought she was intimidated by Kyo until she spotted the faintest blush gracing the girl's cheeks. Her twin was having a similar reaction apparently.

"Th-that's right, Melanie," said the girl in red. "This blonde lummox is nothing but trouble."

"Excuse me," growled Yang.

"I agree, Miltia," said Melanie quickly grasping the conversational lifeline her twin had thrown her. She sidled up towards Kyo reaching for him and coiling herself around his arm, sliding one hand up and down his sleeve. "Why don't you join us, handsome. We can show you a truly good time."

Miltia sidled up to Kyo's other side and pressed her shapely form against him. "That's right," she said. "There's no need to waste your time with this blonde gorilla, when you could have the two of us."

Junior whimpered softly. Far from imagining what would happen when Yang reached the end of her patience for the twins' antics, his imagination was already catapulting him into a future where the twins succeeded in their advances to get into Kyo's pants. His mind was filled with the image of an Atlesian warship hovering overhead, demolishing his establishment with a well-placed shot from one of its cannons. _Of course, that's assuming it survives Blondie first._

"That's a very kind offer, ladies," said Kyo pleasantly. He pulled his arms out of their grip and rested his hands on their shoulders before gently pushing them away. "However, I must decline. I am with Yang right now, and I enjoy her company very much."

"Oh," said Yang, turning a slight glare on Kyo. "So you're saying you would dump me if you didn't enjoy my company?"

"Come now, that's a silly question," said Kyo, still sounding as relaxed as always. "If I didn't like your company, I wouldn't even be here to begin with."

That calmed Yang down. "Oh...right."

Kyo turned back to the twins. "In any case ladies, as you can see, everything is perfectly fine here and there's no need for you to intervene. If anything, you seem to be the ones causing your boss the most distress right now."

The twins looked at each other before looking past Kyo at Junior, who glared at them. They took the hint. Taking one last look at Kyo, they turned sharply away with a synchronized "hmph," pointing their noses in the air at the same time. They strutted away into the strobing lights and thumping music.

Junior slumped down, stopping just short of laying his upper body across the bar, his legs quaking from nerves. "Kid..."

"Yes?" Kyo smiled as he turned back to Junior.

"You've just earned yourself a special pass with all the free drinks you want from now until forever," said Junior.

"Ah, they seem like nice girls," said Kyo. "I'm sure they're very good at their jobs."

"Most of the time," said Junior, before throwing an angry glare at Yang. "But a certain someone always seems to set them off."

Yang merely laughed playfully and shrugged helplessly. "What can I say? I have that effect on people."

Junior groaned and rubbed his face with his hand.

"Hey, come on!" shouted Yang. "We're here to have fun. No need to be a wet blanket. Let's get this party started."

"Since when are we having a party?" wondered Junior, throwing a look at Neo, who merely smiled and shrugged.

As the afternoon passed into evening, they enjoyed more drinks. Yang towed Kyo onto the dance floor, surprised to find that he was rather hopeless at dancing, though he made a fine attempt at it for her sake. At the end of the evening, when they'd had their fun, they left, leaving behind Junior's bar intact, much to its owner's relief.

"I have to admit, that was a lot of fun," said Kyo as he and Yang walked side by side.

After so many Strawberry Sunrises, Yang was feeling more than a little tipsy. As she walked, she found herself leaning against Kyo, who kept an arm around her shoulders to steady her. Neo seemed completely unfazed by the number of drinks she'd consumed, while Kyo himself confessed to merely a light buzz, despite downing quite a copious amount of sake throughout the evening.

"I'm impressed though," Kyo observed. "You maintained your Tempering all evening long. Even now, you're keeping it up. I'd say you've come a long way since you've learned it."

"Thanks," said Yang. Truth be told, she'd almost completely forgotten about it. It was probably a good thing. It meant that Tempering her Aura had become a natural action, something she could do and maintain without even needing to think about it.

On Kyo's other side, Neo frowned and looked down at her own hands, realizing that her Aura was slipping away. She'd neglected to maintain her own Tempering. Yang had only learned the technique a day ahead of her. It seemed unfair that she was already so far ahead.

"Don't worry about it," said Kyo, looking to Neo. "You'll get the hang of it quickly enough. You and the others already have a strong grounding in the most basic aspects of controlling your Aura. Tempering is merely an extension of that. We can start on the next step tomorrow."

His words seemed to cheer Neo up and she nodded eagerly.

Yang pulled out her scroll, fumbling with it a little. "Well...we're a little too late to make the last airship back to Beacon. I guess you'll have to bunk with us tonight."

Neo gave Yang a suspicious look.

"No...I am not inviting him into my bed," said Yang in a huff. "He can sleep on the couch."

"Are you sure?" asked Kyo. "I wouldn't want to impose."

"It'll be fine," Yang assured Kyo as they walked the streets leading to RWBY and JNNR's apartment.

Yang, in her inebriated state, didn't realize that the walk was longer than it should have been. Here and there, Neo led them on abrupt turns that took them along streets they didn't normally follow to get home from Junior's bar. If she had, Yang would have noticed why Neo took those extra turns, namely the presence of police cars, out patrolling the evening streets.

Thanks to Neo's well-timed detours, they made it home without incident.

* * *

"Well, here's a surprise," observed Weiss as she let Yang, Neo, and Kyo into the apartment. "I was expecting a shambling blonde mound. But you still resemble a human being. What in the world happened?"

"Ha ha, Ice Queen," retorted Yang with a glare. "You know I don't get that drunk."

Weiss huffed and turned to stalk away from the group. As she did, Nora bounded over and threw her arms around Yang's neck. "Hey! How did your date go?"

"I wouldn't call it a date, really," said Yang, throwing a wan glance at Neo, who merely smiled teasingly back.

"Of course it was," said Ren, coming out of the kitchen. "Neo was just acting as your chaperone."

Neo beamed and nodded in agreement.

"Hey! I don't need a chaperone," countered Yang.

"I wouldn't say that," said Jaune, also coming out of the kitchen. In his hands was a tray of drinks, water and juice. "You get up to some crazy stuff when someone isn't looking after you."

"I do not!" shouted Yang. Everyone except Kyo gave her a deadpan look. "Not often, anyway..." she amended sheepishly.

"Riiiiiight," said Jaune in a skeptical tone. "Come on and sit down. I've got some orange juice for you. Get some fluids in you so your hangover isn't as bad tomorrow."

"Geez, what are you, my Dad?" Despite her protest, Yang settled onto the couch and took the glass, taking a long sip from it.

"Nope," said Jaune in a playful tone. "But I am your sister's boyfriend, which means I have to look after you too."

Yang groaned and took another sip. Jaune went back into the kitchen and returned with a pitcher as Neo and Kyo took glasses as well. "Anything you prefer?" Jaune asked, looking at Kyo.

Kyo chuckled. "Well, my personal favorite is barley water with lemon and a dash of honey."

"That actually sounds really good," admitted Jaune. "Too bad I don't have any barley right now, or I'd make a batch."

"Don't worry too much on my account," said Kyo. "Juice will work just fine."

"Well, it's just something to keep in mind for later," said Jaune. "I guess you're spending the night with us. I'll get a blanket and some pillows for you."

"Thank you," said Kyo, bowing his head slightly to Jaune.

Yang leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "So," she said softly, "did you have fun?"

Kyo wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began to gently comb his fingers through her hair. "Yes," he said. "I had a wonderful time. And thank you for the new clothes."

"I'm glad," said Yang, her eyelids drifting lower.

She yelped sharply as something gently poked her in the ribs. Yang shot upright and glared at Neo, who grinned impishly back at her, holding her umbrella, the tip of which she'd just used to prod Yang.

"Right right, I get it," said Yang with a groan. She knocked back another glass of juice before getting up and making her way to the bathroom to get showered and changed for bed.

"Sorry," said Jaune, sitting in a chair across from Kyo. "Ruby already went to bed. Otherwise, I'd let you borrow our shower. Think you can manage until morning?"

"I'll be fine," said Kyo, gently patting the cushions of the couch on either side of him. "I've certainly slept in less comfortable places."

"Good to hear," said Jaune. "I've gotta admit, I had some mixed feelings at first...what with you being a criminal and all."

"I can understand that," said Kyo.

"Can you promise me something?" asked Jaune.

"What?"

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "Just promise me you won't hurt Yang."

Kyo's smile faded and he returned Jaune's look with an equally serious one. "I can't promise that," he said. "And I think that you know it's an impossible thing to ask."

"Is it really?" asked Jaune.

"Have you really never hurt Ruby, even once?"

Kyo's question made Jaune flinch. Kyo had a point. Every relationship had its rough spots. He and Ruby had hit those more than once, especially during the tension-filled months of their conflict with Salem. They had butted heads over what strategies to use, what their priorities were, and on whether or not they were really on the same side. Multiple times, they had said things that they ended up regretting and wishing that they could take back. Jaune realized that, maybe, it was unfair to ask it of someone Yang saw as a prospective boyfriend.

 _But then, I'm not a wanted criminal with a billion-lien bounty,_ thought Jaune darkly. Was there really any chance for such a relationship to progress when Kyo was essentially on the run from the world's authorities? Certainly, Ozpin had given him a sanctuary at Beacon. But such an arrangement was temporary at best. Even if he could be protected at Beacon indefinitely, Kyo would definitely want to move on at some point. What then? Would Yang go with him? If they didn't, would Yang be content with a relationship built on brief, fleeting meetings in secret, lest she find herself listed as Kyo's accomplice? From a practical point of view, Jaune saw this relationship as doomed from the start.

 _But I guess I can't do anything about that,_ he thought glumly. _Yang's gonna do what she wants and Kyo's gonna do what he wants. I don't have any way to make either of them give it up. I guess it'll be up to them._

* * *

The next morning, Kyo woke up to the smell of bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Sitting up on the couch, he yawned and stretched, pulling off the blanket that had been lent to him. Getting up, he made his way into the kitchen, where he saw Jaune and Ren hard at work, making breakfast for the rest of their group.

"I get the impression you do this a lot," he said in amusement as he watched their well-practiced motions, the two of them practically dancing around each other as they moved from task to task, neither interfering with the other as they worked.

"Pretty much," said Jaune. "About the only thing Ruby knows how to make in the kitchen is cookies...and she can't do that without making a horrendous mess. Yang's a decent cook, but she's hardly ever up before we are. Blake only wants to cook when there's fish. And Weiss...let's just say that having her own personal chef for a large chunk of her life was not helpful. The less said about her attempts at cooking, the better."

"Nora can't cook anything without making it explode...somehow," added Ren in a tired tone that indicated he'd had to head off multiple efforts by Nora to use the kitchen for her own incendiary purposes. "We don't know if Neo can cook or not. I'd bet she does, but I think she'll let us do it for so long as we let her get away with it."

"Which'll probably be for a while," said Jaune with a laugh. "Neo may be our friend now, but you definitely don't want to be on her bad side."

"Do you know how to cook?" asked Ren, eyeing Kyo speculatively.

"After a fashion," said Kyo with a smile. "I generally have to hunt and forage for my dinner on the road. I know how to make something edible at least. But I'd probably be the last person to call myself accomplished in the kitchen. I only have a basic idea at best of how all those appliances work."

"Well, as good a time as any to learn them," said Jaune, beckoning Kyo into the kitchen. "You're teaching us how to better control our Auras, we can teach you how to cook."

"I'll try my best," said Kyo, making his way to Jaune's side. "I hope you don't have any grand expectations of me though."

"Well, it's pretty simple to start," said Jaune.

* * *

Kyo proved to be a surprisingly fast study in the kitchen. He wouldn't be a gourmet chef by any measurable standard, but he quickly grasped how to use simple appliances like the stove and the microwave. Although learning how much heat a particular food needed to cook properly without burning it had taken him a few tries.

By the time the girls came out of their rooms, breakfast was ready at the table. After breakfast, they returned to Beacon, keeping a sharp lookout for Vale's authorities all along the way. While the police were probably hardly on alert, Yang supposed they would try to arrest Kyo if they recognized him. On the way to the docks, they stopped at the tailor to pick up Kyo's freshly-mended kimono.

When they reached Beacon, they immediately reserved a sparring room and readied themselves as Kyo prepared to explain the next step to them.

"Suppression is very simple and easy to learn," he explained. "In fact, once you've started, it's easier to grasp than tempering. I can see that all of you have been practicing diligently since yesterday. In fact, it looks as though you all can do it without needing to think about it already."

"You were right about it coming quickly to us," said Ruby. "It's almost like we knew how to do it all along."

"Probably because you've been using your Auras already," said Kyo. "What you've learned is very much an iteration on what you already know. It will be the same with other steps. After that, it only comes down to the amount of practice you put in."

"Right," said Ruby.

"Now then, Suppression is the simplest thing," said Kyo. "Close your eyes and feel your Aura emerging from your body. Right now, you're containing that flow with your Tempering. Now...close it off."

Kyo's Aura vanished.

Yang did as she was instructed. Her eyelids twitched as she focused her awareness on her own Aura. She felt it flowing out of her before being contained within her Tempering. Now she reached in herself and closed the flow off.

"Very good," said Kyo approvingly as he felt Yang's Aura vanish. The shimmer of it, visible to his eyes, was gone as well. He narrowed his eyes and heightened his focus, but he couldn't even spy the faintest leak of Aura coming out of her body.

Ren was next to get it. Then, one after the other, the rest all followed suit, their Auras vanishing.

"Wow...that was easy," said Nora. "It was like flipping a switch."

"Pretty much," said Jaune.

"Good," said Kyo. "Then we can move straight on to the next step."

"Projection, right?" said Yang eagerly.

Kyo nodded. "This one is more difficult, because it is an application of multiple skills you've just learned. The idea is to use the sensation of Suppression to build up your Aura within yourself. Allow it to build up within you and then..." A wave of crimson exploded out of him, washing over the group, nearly blowing them off their feet. "You forcefully project it outwards. There's a bit of a trick to the timing you need to get down, otherwise much of the energy will be lost. I can't tell you exactly how, because it's different for everyone."

"Right," said Yang, closing her eyes and taking a relaxed stance. In a sense, they could all already project their Auras. But now, she tried using the sensation of Suppression and Tempering to contain the Aura within her body, allowing it to build up. Then, with a forceful exhalation, she sent it bursting outward into the world around her.

"Whoa!" Ruby had been standing next to Yang when she'd Projected her Aura. Caught unprepared, Ruby was knocked off her feet and sent sliding across the floor.

"Ack! I'm sorry, Ruby," said Yang, rushing to her sister's side, along with Jaune.

"It's okay," said Ruby. "Wow! That was way more powerful than usual for you, though."

"We should probably put some distance between us before we try practicing anymore," said Blake with a wry smile.

"Sounds good," said Jaune with a grin and a nod.

Roughly an hour later, the eight of them slumped to the floor, panting. Ren had been the first to give in, having the lowest quantity of Aura out of all of them. Neo hadn't been far behind him. After that, it was Blake, then Ruby, then Weiss. Finally, it came down to a three-way impromptu match between Yang, Nora, and Jaune to see who could keep practicing the longest. All three of them were drenched with sweat and panting.

"All right..." said Nora, grinning competitively at Yang. "One more time."

"Bring it," said Yang, in between breaths.

They looked to Jaune, who grinned playfully. "I'm in," he said.

They relaxed their breathing, closed their eyes. The glow of their Auras built up around them before abruptly exploding outward with a low rushing noise of displaced air.

"Ha!" said Nora, swaying on her feet after that latest effort. "Can't you guys do better than...that..." Her eyes rolled up into her head and she toppled over, Ren barely managing to make a sliding jump to catch her in time.

"Down to you and me, Lover-Boy," said Yang, throwing a playful grin at Jaune, though her own shaking legs betrayed her tiredness.

"We don't have to," said Jaune.

"Oh yes we do," replied Yang, grinning widely. "Personal pride is on the line now. I refuse to be outdone by my little sister's boyfriend!"

"You can beat her Jaune!" shouted Ruby in encouragement.

"Hey! Why are you taking his side?" demanded Yang, turning to glare at Ruby.

"'Cause he's my boyfriend," replied Ruby impishly.

"Ugh...traitor..." Yang turned to Kyo, who gave her a benign smile.

"Do your best," he said cheerfully.

Yang made a sour face at him before turning to face down Jaune. "Let's do this, Lover-Boy! If I win, I get to call you Vomit-Boy for the rest of the week."

"Fine," said Jaune, rolling his eyes at Yang's competitive streak.

They closed their eyes, the glow of their Auras disappearing, then re-emerging, intensifying, then exploding outward in a rush of energy. Their exploding Auras clashed against each other and their feet slid across the floor as they repelled one another. After a few seconds, the rush of Aura petered out and Yang slumped to her knees.

"Looks like I win," said Jaune, with a grin.

"No way," protested Yang. "I can keep going! I'll get you yet, Arc." She struggled to her feet, only to sway and then fall over. However, her fall was halted as she felt herself land in Kyo's arms.

 _Well...I guess losing isn't so bad if I get to do this,_ thought Yang as she unconsciously pressed a little harder against Kyo, prompting his arms to tighten around her slightly.

Jaune chuckled as he watched them, before he was abruptly knocked over by Ruby in a flying tackle as she began to plant wet smooches all over his face. "My hero," she said as Jaune laughed before pulling her down into a more lasting kiss.

"Well, that was entertaining," said Weiss. "I suppose we need to practice that on a regular basis."

Kyo nodded. "Over time, the amount of Aura you'll be able to generate will improve, which will increase your stamina and make your Tempering stronger still."

"Where do we go from here?" asked Blake.

"From Projection, there are other skills that we'll be able to work on," said Kyo. "I think some of them you are fairly familiar with, such as channeling your Aura into your attacks. However, I think you'll find it much more efficient when combined with Tempering."

"Cool," said Yang still needing to lean against Kyo to stay upright.

She yelped softly as Kyo stooped down, unbalancing her. However, a second later, his arm hooked itself around her legs and Yang was hefted up, Kyo holding her bridal style.

"Hey!" shouted Yang a little weakly, "who said you could do this?"

"I don't think you're in any position to protest," replied Kyo playfully as Yang's friends all chortled in the background.

Yang growled and blushed. But, at the same time, she relaxed and leaned her head into Kyo's shoulder, if only to hide the embarrassment that was plain on her face.

"Wow! I wished my boyfriend would be so kind," said Nora, grinning at Ren.

"I'm much too tired for that," said Ren flatly.

Ruby directed a hopeful look at Jaune. "Ditto," he said.

Ruby widened her eyes and pushed out her bottom lip in her most adorable pout.

"Nope," said Jaune firmly, though everyone noticed he was studiously avoiding looking at Ruby's face.

Ruby sidled in closer, taking away his option of looking away. The two of them locked eyes, Ruby's quivering in the most piteous way possible.

* * *

"You are evil incarnate," groused Jaune as Ruby hung from his shoulders, her legs hooked over his arms. "Forget your Silver Eyes. Your real power is weaponized cuteness."

"You know you love it," said Ruby playfully before kissing the back of Jaune's neck, reveling in the shiver she felt go down his spine.

Given how sweaty they'd all been, they'd spent a considerable period in the showers after they finished training, which left them feeling plenty refreshed. Yang had insisted on making it to the dining hall under her own power, even as Ren finally succumbed to Nora's persistence. As a result, he was carrying Nora in the same manner that Jaune was carrying Ruby. The two boys traded long-suffering looks as they made their way down the hall.

As they entered the dining hall, Yang noticed a change in the atmosphere. It was lunch time, which meant students, mostly first and second-years, had filled in many of the tables. They were chattering away happily as they ate their meals. But the second RWBY, JNNR, and Kyo entered the room, a strange hush fell over everyone.

Suddenly Yang felt a lot of eyes on them. She frowned, looking around, noticing several suspicious or angry glares...most of them directed at one person in particular. _I guess the secret's out,_ she thought, glancing sidelong at Kyo. He was wearing his kimono again, which probably wasn't helping him to keep a low profile. Yang supposed it was only a matter of time before some of the other students had worked out who he was and word had quickly spread. Of course, Kyo terrifying those first-years who had been bullying Velvet yesterday had probably not been conducive to keeping under the radar.

 _Not that it was really all that secret to begin with,_ she consoled herself. Ozpin hadn't gone out of his way to ensure that no one knew that Kyo was here.

As Yang looked at Kyo, her eyes widened as she realized that Kyo was positively beaming. In fact, he seemed almost as happy as she remembered him being under the cherry trees back at the festival. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm feeling wonderful," said Kyo happily. "It's been a while since I've felt so much ill intent being directed at me. It's stimulating."

"You're weird," said Yang flatly, prompting a laugh from Kyo.

They went over to the counter and got their food before making their way to an empty table. As they ate, Ruby or Nora would try to start a conversation, only for their efforts to fizzle out under the oppressive atmosphere that filled the hall. Only Kyo seemed untroubled. Indeed, his delight seemed to increase with each passing moment, as his enjoyment of the malice being directed his way only served to fuel the anger of the students in the hall, which seemed to make him happier still.

"Ahhh, what a splendidly edgy atmosphere," he said blissfully.

 _I had to get a crush on a total weirdo,_ thought Yang, giving Kyo a deadpan look.

"Uh...it's kinda hard on the nerves," said Jaune, keeping his head hunkered down, as though he were the one attracting all the stares.

"I find it refreshing," replied Kyo. "Although, it does become irritating after a while."

"So even you can get tired of being on people's bad side," observed Weiss.

"It's not like that," said Kyo. "It's just that all these people are weak."

Yang noticed that he'd subtly raised the volume of his voice as he spoke, allowing it to carry to nearby tables. The result was immediate as she saw several people at nearby tables flinch or twitch at Kyo's words. The hostility being directed his way multiplied.

"Well...no one's crazy enough to think they're in your league," Blake pointed out.

Kyo smirked. "I'm not just talking about abilities though. I'm also talking about conviction."

"Conviction?" asked Ruby.

"Yes," agreed Kyo, pointing at Ruby. "When we first met, you and your friends had the conviction to confront me, even though you knew I might be more than you could handle. You fought me to the best of your abilities.

"However, these people are weak when it comes to conviction. It's amusing really. I thought these Academies were supposed to train and inspire their students to be protectors of humanity. And yet, the world's worst criminal is sitting right here in their midst and not one of them has raised a single finger my way. Instead, they are perfectly content to sit and judge from a distance, as though any of them had enough commitment to their sense of justice to do anything about me."

Kyo spoke clearly and not a little loudly, his words carrying to the nearby tables, where people began to mutter angrily.

"Goodwitch is gonna flip if you touch off a riot," said Yang, glaring at Kyo.

"Well...I was invited by the Headmaster, so he should expect some turbulence," said Kyo pleasantly.

They ate the rest of their meal, Kyo humming cheerfully all the while, the tense atmosphere only growing worse with each passing second.

* * *

"I'm beat," said Ruby, sagging in exhaustion as they left the dining hall. "I never knew just eating lunch could be so exhausting."

"You're telling me," said Jaune with a groan. "I was sure they were going to jump us by the end there."

"Thank goodness they didn't," said Weiss. "I don't want to be pulled into a pointless fight on Kyo's account."

"If he keeps this up, they'll start attacking him sooner or later," said Ren.

"If that happens, what do we do?" asked Blake.

Yang frowned. "Just sit back and watch, I guess," she said after a moment's thought. "If he wants to incite other people into attacking him, that's his business. Our concern is making sure that he doesn't kill anyone. Not that I think that'll be a problem." If there was anything their fight with Kyo had taught her, it was that he was exceptional at regulating his strength.

"Why is that our concern?" protested Weiss indignantly.

"'Cause we're the ones who brought him back," said Ruby.

"At Ozpin's direction," countered Weiss.

"Are you saying you'll just stand back and let him kill someone, particularly our fellow students?" asked Blake, her eyes narrowing.

"No..." said Weiss, looking down. "Although, if they're like Farran..."

They paused for a moment. "Yeah...If it's someone like Farran, we'll just keep out of it," said Yang.

They moved on, chatting some more, making their way to the main school building and the seminar class Weiss had signed them up for. Kyo had separated from them, deciding to return to the guest dorms, taking most of the attention along with him. As they walked, a shadow swept over the grounds, prompting them to look up.

Weiss gasped, seeing a familiar, sleek-looking Atlesian airship, trailing blue pennants from its engine nacelles. The ship executed a graceful bank as it began to descend towards the docks.

"Winter!" shouted Weiss, already breaking into a run.

"Oh no!" said Ruby, chasing after her.

"What's wrong?" asked Nora as everyone else chased after the pair. "Isn't it just Weiss' sister?"

"Yeah," said Yang. "But Winter's an Atlesian Specialist, remember? If she's here now, then there could only be one reason."

"Yeah, that would be bad," said Jaune.

* * *

"Well, we got here faster than we thought," said Qrow. "Not bad." He leaned forward and tilted his head to look down at the grounds from the porthole.

Winter gently bit down on her thumbnail, her eyes scanning from side to side, as though she expected to see Kyo already, even though they were in the middle of their descent. "The weather was in our favor, and I asked the pilot to push the engines harder than usual. They'll probably need repairs, but it was best to get this over with."

"And where's our guest of honor?" asked Qrow, glancing back at the cabin where the remaining passenger of their vessel had remained for the duration of the trip, not even emerging for meals.

The door slid open and Nigel stepped out. Much to their surprise, his blank expression was gone, replaced by a confident and eager smile. "We're here," he said.

Qrow rolled his eyes. "We knew that already."

"He's close," said Nigel, resting the palm of his left hand against the glass of the window, splaying his fingers out. "I can feel his presence." His smile widened. "It's been so long..."

Winter's eyes widened and she took a step back. "Wait! You know him?"

"Oh yes," said Nigel, not even glancing her way. "We go way back..."

Qrow's eyes narrowed as he watched Nigel. "That's what I thought," he said.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Winter.

"All those years Kyo was walking the earth, wandering around and doing whatever...he wasn't always alone," said Qrow. "Out wandering, he managed to find two or three people nearly as strong as him, and they started following him around."

"Good times," said Nigel in a nostalgic tone. "I miss those days."

Winter glared at him. "All this time...you weren't going to fight Kyo! You were going to help him!"

Her hand went to the hilt of her sword, but Qrow quickly covered it with his own hand. "Don't," he said sharply. "This guy's easily in Kyo's league." He looked at Nigel. "Besides, he's not here to help Kyo. That stupid smirk tells me he wants to fight."

"That's right," said Nigel, his smile widening. "The most disappointing thing about all of us traveling together was that we never got to fight each other. We were always the strongest around. Yet...we never settled who of us was the strongest."

"See..." said Qrow.

Winter nodded and slowly lowered her hand away from her sword.

A few minutes later, the airship aligned with the dock. The door opened and a ramp extended. Winter, Qrow, and Nigel made their way down. As they did, they saw a familiar figure awaiting them.

"Welcome," said Kyo in a pleasant tone, an eager smile on his face. "I thought I sensed someone familiar. It's been too long, Nigel."

"Hello, Kyo," said Nigel. "I've come to fight. Are you ready for me to kill you?"

Kyo's smile widened. "That depends...are you ready to die?"

* * *

 **If you're reading this on the day of release, then...Happy Black Friday...though I think that's a contradiction in terms. No one is ever truly happy on Black Friday, not even people who get exactly everything they think they want. Me, I don't shop on Black Friday, because I work in retail. So I'll be out, manning the register at my job for a full eight hours. Luckily, my workplace isn't as insane as some other places get on this day, we don't have any absurd doorbusters. And we open at six, which, for Black Friday, is unreasonably reasonable. Anywho...**

 **Last chapter, when I admitted to borrowing the concepts of Nen from _Hunter X Hunter_ to develop the Mibu Clan's Aura-manipulation techniques, I meant that in a more broad-strokes sense. So don't expect some absurdly nuanced dive into different Aura-types the way that series goes. Aura in this series is a lot less...um...differentiated. So it isn't as though people can be sorted into types, like Enhancer, Transmuter, and the like. Individual inclinations will affect what kind of techniques and abilities a person will gravitate towards, but they aren't as thoroughly differentiated as they are in that series.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

Kyo and Nigel faced one another, the circle of the docks between them. Both of them were smiling. Kyo's smile was congenial, while Nigel's was eager, almost predatory. A wind swept across the platform, stirring their hair slightly, but neither seemed to notice. The whole of their attention was fixated on each other.

Behind Nigel, Winter swallowed and tensed. In an instant, the air had become charged with an invisible energy, which ground against her senses, like the incessant buzz of a fly by her ear. Beside her, Qrow likewise tensed, sinking into a slight crouch. Even though neither of them intended on participating in the fight to come, neither of them wanted to be caught up in it either. It was a sensation like standing at the edge of a terrible storm that could change course and roll over them at an instant's notice.

"Winter!"

Winter's head snapped up with a faint gasp as she saw a familiar group of eight approaching from behind Kyo. Teams RWBY and JNNR were rushing to the docks, Weiss in the lead.

"Stay back!" shouted Winter urgently, holding up a hand to forestall Weiss' approach. She was horrified at the possible outcome of the two teams' intrusion on this soon-to-be battlefield.

Weiss and the others came a stop just behind Kyo. "Winter! What's going on?" demanded Weiss, taking in the sight of Winter, Qrow, and Nigel facing down Kyo.

"Uncle Qrow!" shouted Ruby and Yang in unison.

"What are you doing here?" asked Yang.

"Well, it sounded like the Ice Queen here..." He gestured to Winter, who huffed indignantly. "...was going on an interesting excursion, so I thought I'd tag along."

"And who is that?" asked Weiss, glaring at Nigel, who seemed completely oblivious to her existence...or the existence of anyone, aside from Kyo.

"Uh...maybe we shouldn't have a conversation like this," said Ruby, looking between Nigel and Kyo. The air carried the sense of being saturated with fire-Dust, just waiting for an open flame.

"Um...Let's see if we can scoot by," said Qrow, gripping Winter's shoulder and carefully steering them along the edge of the platform, giving Nigel and Kyo a wide berth. "Excuse me...don't mind us...just squeezing by..."

Neither of the men moved, seemingly content with staring one another down.

"What's going on?" asked Blake nervously, as she continued to watch the stare-down.

"Ironwood recruited Mr. Whitaker to fight Kyo," said Winter, scowling at Nigel. "Though I'd imagine he'd think better of it, if he knew that they had past history."

"Probably," agreed Qrow. "It's a good thing he didn't or he'd probably attempt something stupid, like trying to arrest Nigel."

"Wait! What?" gasped Yang, looking at Nigel and Kyo. "They used to be friends."

"Actually, I believe we still are," said Kyo, still watching Nigel with a pleasant smile, but now talking to Yang.

"Huh?"

"Isn't that right, Nigel?" asked Kyo.

"I don't care," said Nigel. "I'm here now. I told you we'd fight to the death the next time we saw each other."

"And I told you that I'm happy to take on all comers," replied Kyo pleasantly. "I'm disappointed you didn't come find me sooner."

Silence descended and a tumbleweed inexplicably bounced across the dock. Where it had come from, no one could say. Nigel's smile vanished and his bland, vacant expression returned.

"...You got lost again, didn't you?" said Kyo.

Nigel had nothing to say in response to that.

Kyo let out a small laugh before sighing and lowering his head. "Oh Nigel...you never change." He looked back up at Kyo. "Have you at least been taking good care of Hakuya? Murasame-sama always tells me to check, whenever I go home for a visit."

Nigel's smile returned. "I think I'll let you see for yourself."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Kyo, before looking around. "But I don't think we should fight here," he said. "Things might get...unstable."

Their audience blanched as they remembered that the docks were situated on the edge of a cliff. If the fighting got too rambunctious, entire chunks of the cliffside could end up toppling into the sea. Yang remembered just how terrifyingly powerful Kyo could be. From the way he was acting, Nigel was at least near to him in power, if not just _as_ powerful as he was. No one wanted to think about the kind of damage the two could do if they clashed.

"I don't care," said Nigel, his left hand straying back to rest against the pommel of the massive sword that hung behind him. "I've waited long enough..."

"I would much rather have an appropriate venue," said Kyo. "And I would rather not inconvenience my friends."

"I don't care," repeated Nigel. "The old Kyo wouldn't worry about that one bit. Fight already."

"Perhaps I could be of assistance."

Everyone, except Kyo and Nigel (who was already facing that way), spun in place to see Ozpin and Glynda approaching them. Ozpin looked as calm and relaxed as always, but the grim look on Glynda's face matched the tense atmosphere pervading the docks.

"We have a tournament arena that would be suitable for your match," explained Ozpin. "It's not quite on the level of the Amity Coliseum, but it should be sufficient for our needs."

"Ah! That's very kind of you to offer," said Kyo, turning around for the first time since Nigel had disembarked from the airship.

Light flashed from behind Kyo, and a blazing, vertical crescent of the purest white came rushing at him from behind, carving a line through the concrete of the dock. Yang's eyes saw it, but by the time her mouth had begun to part for the warning she was going to shout on reflex, it had already impacted with a deafening crash. Kyo was swallowed by the cloud of dust that arose from the impact.

"Wa-" Yang's shout died on her lips as she tried to process what happened. Her eyes flicked to Nigel, catching the barest hint of a blur as he returned his blade to its sheath with what looked like an idle flick of his fingers, a stern, intense expression on his face as his one visible eye focused on the cloud of dust where Kyo was.

"What are you doing?" demanded Ruby, her silver eyes sparking and flickering. "How could you just attack without warning like that?"

"I see you're strict as always."

Everyone's eyes were drawn to the cloud of dust, which cleared to reveal Kyo, standing unscathed. He stood, Tenro drawn, its sheath cast to the side, and held horizontally in front of him, his left hand braced against the sword's spine. His feet were surrounded by pulverized concrete, at the end of two furrows that they had plowed through the flooring of the dock. Running between them, stopping just a few inches away from Kyo's body, was the black line drawn by Nigel's attack.

"If he'd allowed me to hit him from behind like that, it would serve him right for dropping his guard," said Nigel firmly.

"See," said Kyo jovially, turning to face the others again. "In any case, I'll be happy to accept your offer, Professor. Please lead the way. Now that he's satisfied, Nigel won't act up again."

"Don't count on it," said Nigel.

The odd group made their way back to Beacon. As they did, everyone, excepting Kyo, kept a nervous eye on Nigel, expecting him to attack again at any second. Winter was especially disconcerted by the situation. She had brought Nigel down to Beacon with the intention of using his strength to bring down Kyo. But now she felt like Kyo was the one protecting her from a dangerous, unpredictable monster.

"Winter...?" asked Weiss, concern in her voice.

"I'm sorry to get you involved with this, Weiss," said Winter. "I never expected the person Ironwood found to be so dangerous."

"Eh, probably for the best," said Qrow indifferently. "We'll be in for a show. That's for sure."

Winter glared at him for a second before sighing. Looking around, she was surprised to see Yang walking unusually close to Kyo. "Are they...close?" she asked.

"They're dating," said Weiss, eliciting a shocked look from Winter.

Qrow, who had been right in the middle of taking a pull from the personal liquor flask he carried with him at all times, spewed his drink from his mouth before breaking down laughing. "Oh that's rich! Is that true, Firecracker?"

Yang turned and smirked at him. "What can I say?" she said. "I have a thing for bad boys."

Winter's horror multiplied while Qrow only laughed harder. "Oh man," he said. "I can't wait until Tai hears about this. He's gonna hit the roof."

"You're taking the fact that your niece just admitted to being in a relationship with Remnant's most-wanted criminal rather well," said Winter icily.

"Hey, he has a bounty 'cause he stepped on Jimmy's toes," said Qrow dismissively. "Besides, everything I've seen says that he's a nice enough of a guy. Out in the settlements, they call him the Festival Bringer."

"Really?" asked Ruby, amazed by the revelation. She frowned and looked at Kyo speculatively. "I thought he was the one who went to festivals..."

"Well, when a guy shows up who can legitimately promise you a one-hundred-percent Grimm-free week, you'd better bet people see that as an excuse to party," said Qrow. "The morale boost that gives helps keep from attracting extra Grimm, which improves the overall safety of the community." He jerked a thumb at Kyo. "This guy's probably done more to protect those settlements and villages than James and his entire military."

Winter frowned, but didn't exactly contest Qrow's statement.

Yang looked worriedly at Kyo. "You two were friends?" she asked, glancing nervously at Nigel.

"We are," said Kyo. Tenro remained drawn, resting across his shoulders as he walked. Yang carried his sheath as she walked alongside him.

"Who is he?" asked Yang.

"His name is Nigel Whitaker," explained Kyo. "I met him whilst traveling somewhere...west of Mistral, I believe. He joined me and we spent a great deal of time traveling together."

"So you didn't always travel alone?" asked Yang.

"Of course not," said Kyo. "Any journey, however aimless, is better with company. Nigel wasn't the only friend I made in my travels."

"That's true," said Nigel. "There's Hayate too. And you were traveling with Sasame too." He paused. "Wasn't she your girlfriend?"

"No," replied Kyo calmly. "More like an older sister."

Yang felt a feeling of relief sweep through her before she caught herself.

"There were three of us," said Nigel. "But Kyo was looking for four."

"Four...? Why four?" asked Yang, looking to Kyo.

"Ah...it's a bit silly," said Kyo sheepishly, scratching the side of his head with his left hand. "My father went out and traveled the world when he was young too. During that time, he met four incredibly strong people who joined him on his journey. They traveled together and fought together. They were referred to as the Shiseiten...or the Four Heavenly Kings, as it is roughly translated. My mother was one of them."

Yang stared at Kyo, and he blushed slightly. "It sounds silly when I explain it like that," he said. "But I thought it would be nice to find friends of my own like that. Apparently it's been something of a tradition for our family."

"So he's as strong as you?" asked Yang, looking over at Nigel.

"That remains to be seen," said Kyo.

"Is that possible?" asked Yang, having a hard time imagining it.

Kyo laughed. "Come now, Yang. Do you think that the Mibu Clan has an exclusive monopoly on Aura-manipulation skills? Even if they aren't formally taught at the Academies, there are numerous people out there in the wide world who have learned to wield their Auras like the Mibu have. Nigel is one of them."

"Okay..." said Yang, once again giving Nigel a dubious look.

"His sword is from the Mibu though," added Kyo.

"What?" Once again, Yang's eyes were drawn to that impressively large sword that hung from Nigel's waist.

"That's right," said Kyo. "Its name is Hakuya. It's a treasured heirloom of the Mibu Clan, even older than Tenro. Nigel took it as his own, the first time I brought him home to visit."

To Yang's surprise, Nigel smiled fondly and traced his fingers along his weapon's pommel.

"Hakuya means White Night," continued Kyo.

"Is the blade white?" asked Yang.

"Almost," said Kyo. "Believe it or not, its blade was designed for speed."

Yang glanced dubiously at the sword. It was almost a match for Qrow's in size, albeit Qrow's was both longer and wider when fully deployed.

"The sword gets its name from the fact that, when its use has been mastered, its speed can be likened to light cutting through darkness," said Kyo.

Yang remembered the attack that Nigel had launched at Kyo on the docks. Its speed had been so blinding that she'd only been able to react to it after the fact. "I can see that," she said nervously.

"We're here," said Ozpin. He'd led them around the Academy to a wide depression that had been carved into the ground. It was circular in shape, at least five-hundred meters in diameter along its outside edge. It sloped downward into a space a hundred meters across of flat, tiled flooring at the bottom. Along the slope were rows and rows of seats, arranged in stadium-style seating. The open floor was several times larger than the floor of the sparring rooms inside the school buildings.

"Wow," said Ruby. "It's kinda weird really. All these years and I've never been back here before."

"Are you serious?" demanded Weiss incredulously. "This is where the Vale Regional Tournament is held every year."

"That may be true, but it rarely sees use by Beacon students," noted Ozpin wryly.

They made their way down into the arena. As Kyo and Nigel made their way out onto the floor, Yang suddenly realized that their little group had grown even further. Looking back, she saw several people following them down the stairs and moving to take seats around the ring.

"Looks like they've got an audience," she told Ruby with a nod.

They were mostly students, though a few members of Beacon's staff dotted the ranks here and there. Yang supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. Nigel's attack on the docks would have gotten quite a bit of attention and word would have spread fast. Now it looked like more than half of Beacon wanted to see the action. Yang noticed that a great many of the faces amongst the crowd were students who'd been glaring at Kyo in the dining hall earlier.

Neither Kyo nor Nigel seemed to notice their audience. Instead, the entirety of their focus was on one another. They said and did nothing as Glynda used her scroll to raise the shields over the ring, which would protect the audience from stray shots as the fight progressed, though Yang worried that the shields might not be enough to contain what was about to take place.

"You're not going to read the rules?" asked Qrow, smirking at Glynda.

"There's no point," she said. "The two of them don't care one whit about any rules."

"True," agreed Ozpin. "At this point, there is only one rule. The person who comes away from this alive will be the winner."

* * *

"Ah! You're smiling again," said Kyo as he watched Nigel.

"Am I?" asked Nigel, seemingly unaware of it.

"It's a rare enough expression on that face of yours," said Kyo. "It makes me proud to put it there."

"I'm excited to finally fight you," said Nigel. "...Or I was..."

"Hmm?" Kyo titled his head in quizzically.

Nigel's right hand rose up to his face and he pulled it down, as though wiping something off. As it dropped away, his smile was gone. "You've gotten soft," said Nigel. "You're not the Kyo I wanted to fight."

"Is that so?" Kyo seemed unfazed by Nigel's change in tone.

"I've heard what you've been doing," said Nigel. "You're going from place to place...people throwing parties for you. The Grimm don't bother you anymore. People don't fear you. You've gotten soft. I can see it?"

"Really?" mused Kyo.

Nigel's eye zeroed in on the audience behind Kyo, namely on Yang, who flinched as she met his gaze. "You've changed. You didn't used to worry about pointless things. Is it because of them?"

"I don't believe so," replied Kyo. "It's only natural that I would have changed since the last time we met. But...as for whether or not I've become soft or weak..." His smile became a challenging smirk that he leveled at Nigel. "I'll let you be the judge."

Kyo's Aura surged throughout the ring, washing over Nigel, who didn't even flinch as it enveloped him. "We'll see," he said.

The two of them stepped closer. Nigel reached around and pulled his sword forward so that he could draw it at a moment's notice. Kyo lowered his sword from his shoulder, holding it at his side.

The two of them took another step. The audience was murmuring in anticipation. The tension was palpable in the air. From her place at the arena's edge, Yang licked her lips nervously, not liking the look Nigel had shot at her.

The two of them were perhaps a meter apart. In an instant, everything went dead silent. Not even the sound of the wind dared to intrude on this moment as Kyo and Nigel stared each other down. Everyone watching was beset by the premonition that they were about to bear witness to something incredible.

Nigel's sword flew out of its sheath, the long, broad, curved blade shining white as it flashed at Kyo with blinding speed. Kyo was already swinging his sword to meet Nigel's head on. The two blades met with a deafening clang that caused everyone in the vicinity to clap their hands to their ears. A shockwave exploded outwards from where the pair clashed, the floor shattering beneath the impact. For the briefest of instants, they seemed to strain against one another. Then, the impact of their respective attacks knocked them away from one another.

They sprang back from their original positions. The instant Nigel's feet touched down, he whipped his sword around and up before bringing it down, launching a white crescent that screamed as it cut a swath across the floor at Kyo.

Kyo dodged almost casually, sidestepping the attack, which rushed past him and etched a line in the shield protecting the audience. The entire field vibrated and crackled ominously, as though that single attack alone had strained it to its limit (which it had).

In the time it had taken for the attack to reach the shield, less than a fraction of a second, Nigel had closed the distance between himself and Kyo again. His blade shined white as he unleashed a storm of slashes at Kyo, attacking from every conceivable direction.

Kyo swayed, bending like a reed, taking small steps as he did so. His body shifted to the slide, bending around or under Nigel's attacks. He moved with such speed that his body actually appeared to be in multiple places at once.

"You'll have to do better than that," taunted Kyo as he sidestepped another downwards slash. At that instant, he caught a flicker in the corner of his eye. His finely-honed instincts warned him of the danger and he jumped sharply to the side, clearing several meters of space between him and his opponent in a single instant.

 _That was..._ Kyo's thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain, his entire body jerking as blood abruptly sprayed from his shoulder.

"Careless," said Nigel plainly. "Lazy...sloppy...weak." His eye was as hard as stone as he raised Hakuya in his right hand, holding it over his head, but letting its back rest against the extended fingers of his raised left hand. "The Kyo I knew was better than this. He wouldn't be caught by something this simple."

* * *

Yang gasped, her hands going to her mouth. For the first time, she saw Kyo bleed and retreat back from an opponent. The two of them were on a completely different level, moving with such speed and power that picking out individual attacks was all but impossible.

 _I've never seen Kyo pressed before,_ she thought. Granted, she'd only seen him actually fight twice. But this was the first time she'd seen an enemy make him bleed. She remembered seeing a flash of...something...in that storm of attacks, but she couldn't be quite sure.

 _Could Kyo...really lose?_

* * *

"Here I come," declared Nigel, his eye narrowing. "Are you ready this time?"

Kyo scoffed. "I'm always ready," he declared.

Nigel's eye narrowed. "We'll see," he said coldly.

Once again, he charged at Kyo, his body practically vanishing, only to reappear right in front of Kyo, bringing the sword down in another slash. Kyo backed away from the strike. As he did, he caught sight of another flicker in his peripheral vision. He focused on it and saw what looked like an arc of light coming at him at a diagonal angle from his right. Then he saw another flicker, this time coming at him from the left. Nigel's first strike, the one Kyo had initially backed away from, was nothing more than an afterimage, left behind as his sword accelerated to an almost impossible degree. What had been one slash had now become three, seeming to close in on Kyo from multiple directions.

Once again, Kyo threw himself back away, trying to gain distance. As he came to a stop, blood arced out of two more wounds. One on his left arm and the other across his chest. They were shallow, barely breaking the skin. But they were an ominous sign all the same.

"I see..." said Kyo. "You've gotten faster, Nigel."

"Or you've gotten slower," said Nigel, his tone as frigid as an Atlesian winter.

Kyo said nothing in response to that. Instead, he vanished, reappearing behind Nigel in a blur. He was already swinging his sword at Nigel's back. However, Nigel hefted his own blade over his shoulder so that it ran down behind his back and intercepted Kyo's attack.

"I saw that coming a mile away," said Nigel.

"Then did you see this?" asked Kyo as Tenro's blade blazed with light.

Nigel's eye widened.

" _Mizuchi!"_

Nigel was engulfed be the wave of air that raced out from Kyo's descending sword. The force of his attack tore the ground apart, cutting apart tile and stone as though it were paper.

"Was that more to your liking?" asked Kyo.

"I've seen that too many times before," said Nigel from within the cloud.

The dust scattered and cleared, revealing that Nigel was unscathed. Instead, he stood in the center of a clear, untouched space as the damage from Kyo's attack split around him to either side. His sword was held, its tip lowered to the point where the damage from Kyo's attack was divided.

"This is boring," said Nigel coldly. The winds stirred up by Kyo's attack drew away the portion of his hair that covered the left side of his face. Gasps rose from the audience. An angry-looking, red and yellow mass of scar tissue, bisected by a vertical scar, resided in the place where his left eye had been.

Kyo canted his head. "I really can't understand you sometimes," he admitted. "Are you proud of that scar or ashamed of it? You hide it behind your bangs, but you don't bother to cover it with anything less likely to be blown away."

"It doesn't really matter to me," said Nigel, as his hair fell back in place. "Since I can't see out of it anyway, it doesn't matter if there's hair covering it or not. I just cut back the hair that blocked my vision. That's all."

His hand rose up and gently pressed against the ruined eye beneath his hair. "Besides, this scar is a reminder. It reminds me of you...of the you that I want to fight. I want to fight the Kyo that gave me this scar."

"A pity that you can't," said Kyo. "Time marches on and all that."

Nigel's one good eye closed. "Then I'll just have to finish this fight and take what satisfaction I can out of it."

* * *

Yang's jaw worked, though she didn't even part her lips. Kyo's _Mizuchi_ had been completely ineffective, even though it had reduced Farran to a bloody mist. Nigel had split it in two like it was nothing. "I can't believe that," she said.

"It means that this Nigel Whitaker is quite skilled," said Ozpin as he took a seat next to Yang. "Far more than splitting the air, his sword can part the atmosphere itself. There are very few ways to defend against the true _Mizuchi_ otherwise."

"You mean you've seen that technique before?" asked Yang, staring incredulously at Ozpin.

"Ms. Xiao Long...I have been on the _receiving end_ of that technique before," replied Ozpin, chuckling at Yang's shocked expression. "Yes, at full strength it does have the capacity to reduce one's enemy to complete nothingness. However, those that have mastered it can control its power and be less lethal in its application. Or, as you have seen, there are those who can defend or withstand it. I managed the latter."

Yang raised an eyebrow.

"The Mibu Clan's healing and restorative techniques are amongst their greatest feats," said Ozpin. "Any scars dealt have long since faded."

"So...you know about Kyo's style then?" asked Yang, looking back out at the arena.

"The _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_...Yes. Amongst the Mibu, it is their most powerful and sacred school of swordsmanship. At any given time, the number of people who learn it is usually no more than three."

"Three?" Yang's fingers tightened aground Tenro's scabbard, which she still held.

"Learning the style is primarily the prerogative of those in the direct line of the Crimson King," explained Ozpin. "Aside from them, the Mibu Clan's Blademaster is usually the only other person who learns it."

"Is it special or something?" asked Yang.

Ozpin smiled cryptically. "I should say so," he said. "At its peak, the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ commands the most destructive force imaginable. It is said to summon the Divine Wind that returns all to nothing. The _Mizuchi_ , which you have seen the destructive potential of first-hand, is merely the most basic technique of the school. In fact, it is said that the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ was created for the purpose of killing gods."

Yang shivered and turned her eyes back to the ring.

* * *

Kyo went on the attack. His sword whipped through a sequence of slashes, moving so quickly that its form appeared to multiply. However, Nigel dodged in much the same manner Kyo had earlier, easily evading those slashes. His own blade blazed a fierce white and he slashed it upwards at an angle. Kyo caught the attack on his sword and was immediately driven back, his feet plowing furrows through the arena floor.

He lifted his eyes and saw a blazing crescent of white coming at him head-on. Bracing himself, Kyo swung his own sword, meeting attack with attack. The white crescent shattered into glowing fragments that bit chunks of concrete out of the floor, chewing it to pieces in front of Kyo.

"That wasn't so bad," said Kyo.

"Sloppy," Nigel's voice answered from behind him.

Kyo spun around, but locating Nigel became a secondary concern as Kyo spotted four more white crescents screaming along the ground at him...coming from four separate directions, surrounding him. Kyo swung his sword with all his strength, turning his body so that the slash carried in a complete circle, the blade becoming little more than a silver streak of light. "HAAAAAAAH!" That single, circular slash managed to intercept all four strikes from Nigel, shattering them and breaking up the ground further.

"That's better," noted Kyo.

"That was just a feint," replied Nigel, now standing right behind him.

Kyo spun around to see that Nigel had returned his sword to its sheath and was now sinking into a crouch, assuming a classic quickdraw stance.

" _Koryuha_."

As Hakuya's guard separated from the sheath, the blade seemed less like a construct of metal and more like something forged from pure light. In an instant, countless streaks of light surrounded Kyo on all sides, slashing him from all directions. Kyo was both thrown and threw himself back, blood streaming through the air from countless lacerations. His body slammed into the ground with enough force to split it open and even leave a crater where he'd landed.

Nigel relaxed his body, now holding his sword in his left hand. "I made that technique specifically for you," he said. "It combines Hakuya's speed with the quickdraw technique and rapid attacks only possible by utilizing both hands." He glared down at Kyo's prone form. "It was a complete waste against you. I didn't even need it."

He transferred his sword back to his right hand and held it straight up over his head. The blade blazed white once again and multiplied. One blade became seven, fanning out in a row above Nigel, all their edges aimed at Kyo. "I suppose it is time to end it," said Nigel coldly.

* * *

"NO!" shouted Yang, shooting to her feet, dropping Kyo's sheath in the process. She rushed to the edge of the arena and pounded against the shield. "Stop it!"

"You can't break through that shield, Ms. Xiao Long," said Glynda curtly. "Trying to interfere would only get you killed."

"Let her through," said Ozpin.

"But-"

"Do it," insisted Ozpin in a commanding tone.

Glynda swallowed her protest and made an opening in the shield for Yang, which she immediately rushed through. Glynda cursed under her breath and closed the shield behind Yang. "I hope you know what you're doing," she said, glaring at Ozpin. "You could be getting her killed."

"My thoughts exactly," growled Qrow.

"I think that her interference might be exactly what we need..." said Ozpin with a cryptic smile, "...or...what Kyo needs, at least."

From her seat beside Qrow, Winter frowned darkly as her eyes watched Yang rush out into the arena.

* * *

"Stop!"

Nigel's head whipped to the side. Yang was coming from his left, the blind spot in his vision, created by the loss of his eye. However, Nigel had long since stopped needing to see to be aware of things on his left side. He had already sensed Yang's approach before she'd even shouted. Now he turned to face her, not because he needed to see her, but to be able to fight properly when she attacked...

...Which she did with a vigor. By the time Nigel had turned to face her, Yang had already leapt into the air, Ember Celica extending to cover her forearms and fists, folding right out of her prosthetic arm as she attacked.

Nigel's sword arm twitched as he prepared to counterattack. However, he hesitated. Yang didn't waste the opportunity he presented her, leading with a powerful right-hook. Nigel leaned back so that her swing missed his nose by millimeters. She followed up with a rapid uppercut from her left, going into a furious combo, mixing rapid jabs with fearsomely powerful pile-driver punches that could level an Ursa Major with a single hit.

Yang's prosthetic right arm was far more powerful than her flesh and blood arm had once been. However, its power came at a cost in speed. As such, Yang used her left for rapid, jabbing attacks to disorient and confuse her opponent, creating openings for a much more powerful punch from her right. With each blow, Ember Celica fired off bursts of flame, imbuing each punch with incredible explosive force, making even those light jabs a force to be reckoned with in their own right. The explosions also served to disorient an opponent's senses. They created shockwaves and bangs that, even when the shots themselves missed, still pounded against the enemy's body, the flashes disrupting sight, the bangs disrupting hearing, the shockwaves themselves traveling into the body, buffeting internal organs and even disrupting the inner ear to throw off an opponent's balance.

None of that fazed Nigel in the slightest. He dodged Yang's attacks with ease, almost as though they were floating lazily through the air at him. He didn't even bother following them with his eye, reacting automatically to their presence without needing to see them. Within the opening seconds of Yang's onslaught, he could have struck her ten times in retaliation with ease.

However, Nigel staid his blade. It was not out of surprise at Yang's intense ferocity. Nor was it anything approaching respect. Rather, his blade remained at his side because he was shocked by Yang's eyes, which had turned the same vivid crimson as Kyo's. _What is this? Is she a Mibu as well...Is she related to Kyo?_

Yang roared. It was a thunderous sound as she unleashed the full force of her right fist. A blazing jet of flame erupted from the barrels of her gauntlet, ripping across the floor and slamming into Nigel, large enough to engulf him completely. It was a Dust round enhanced by the power of her anger and Semblance...and something more. Whether it was the result of her previous practice with her Aura and the new techniques she had been learning or if it was the result of the mysterious power connected to her blazing crimson eyes, Yang couldn't say. Either way, the force of the blow was beyond anything she had ever managed before.

"Never mind," said Nigel from behind her, making her freeze in place with the sound of his voice alone, "thinking while I fight always makes my head hurt. I'll worry about it later...or not..."

 _He dodged it!_ Yang realized. He'd dodged so fast, she hadn't even seen him cross through her peripheral vision.

Turning about, Yang raised her right arm to attack.

"Enough." Nigel's voice reached her ears a fraction of a second after Yang's arm was shattered as a flash of white cut right through it. Thanks to the attack's angle, the stump of Yang's arm was untouched, but the prosthetic was broken into pieces by the attack.

Yang's anger deserted her in a flash. The attack had been lightning fast, faster than anything Yang had ever experienced in all the battles she'd gone through. Not even Adam's sword, which had taken her original right arm, could compare. And Nigel had executed the attack with all the idle irritation of a person waving away an annoyingly incessant fly. Yang's anger was replaced by a hollow sensation, the feeling that, despite all her efforts, she hadn't accomplished anything at all...that everything she'd done up to this point had been completely in vain. Her strength deserted her legs and she slumped down to her knees.

"You don't interest me at all," said Nigel coldly, his eye as lifeless as stone as he stared down at her, "but I'll kill you anyway."

He raised his sword with deliberate slowness, the blade already shining white. Yang could feel its edge poised to cut her in two. They were at least three meters apart, but the sword might as well have already been at her throat for all the difference it made. _It's over._

* * *

"Yang!" Ruby slammed into the barrier, nearly plowing into it face-first. At the last second, she sensed the obstruction and her body reacted automatically, turning to take the impact on her shoulder and side, rather than her head. Her left hand whipped around behind her to draw Crescent Rose, which unfolded into its scythe form as she whipped it around, slashing at the shield.

The scythe's blade etched a line in the construct of light, which vanished immediately. Ruby's attack was nowhere near powerful enough to threaten the shield's integrity. She knew this, but her rational mind had been clouded by her fear for her sister. In the same way she'd known that the shield was there, but had ignored it until she had been about to slam right into it, she also attacked on reflex, moving automatically, despite knowing that she had no hope of breaking through.

"Stop, Ms. Rose," ordered Glynda curtly. "I made an exception for your sister, but I'm not letting another person into that maelstrom."

Ruby bared her teeth and turned to face Glynda, her silver eyes shining. Glynda was a teacher. Normally, attacking her would be something that Ruby would have never even considered. It wasn't just a question of the difference between their strengths and experience. At this point, Ruby's skills were probably equivalent to, if not greater than Glynda's own. However, Glynda's position had always been one that Ruby would have never considered attacking or fighting her in a normal state of mind.

The plight of her sister changed that. Ruby refused to allow even a teacher to stop her from protecting her sister. If Glynda stood between her and Yang, Ruby would go through her if necessary.

"I don't believe your assistance will be necessary, in any case," said Ozpin calmly.

"What?" asked Glynda and Ruby in unison, turning to look incredulously at the Headmaster.

Ozpin smiled and adjusted his spectacles. "Ms. Xiao Long has done her part. This fight was between Nigel and Kyo to begin with. So it shall end between them as well."

"Huh?" Ruby opened her mouth to ask another question, but the words died in her throat. Her entire body broke out in a cold sweat and her arms began to shake, even as her fingers clenched so hard around Crescent Rose's shaft that her knuckles turned white.

In the second after Ozpin had finished speaking, the quality of the air around them had changed completely. It was the same sensation that Ruby and her friends had experienced back at Cherry Grove...but the scale was different by an order of magnitude. In Ruby's mind, where there had been countless thoughts, questions, and musings, all had been silenced. All her conscious thinking had been replaced with a realization that could be summed up in a single word. _DANGER!_

Ruby wasn't the only one affected by this. The sensation washed across the entire arena in an instant, a tangible force like a roaring wind. The students that had come to watch the fight shook and trembled as they were crushed beneath this oppressive feeling. Even Qrow and Winter were shaken. Qrow had actually risen to his feet, his hand going to the hilt of his sword before he could even think of anything else. Winter had already stood up and drawn hers. Yet neither of them moved. Neither of them could move.

Ozpin's smile widened. "What you girls experienced at Cherry Grove was but the surface of Kyo's true strength. Now...everyone here shall see his true mettle. Your sister was instrumental in drawing it forth."

"What?" said Ruby, the word spilling forth almost on its own. In her current state, she couldn't even manage a more complex question.

"The Crimson Eyes Kyo bears have meant different things to the Mibu at different times," said Ozpin seeming to speak to himself as much as to Ruby. "Some consider them sacred. Some considered them profane. Others consider them a mere curiosity. However, those who bear them like Kyo does have always been given a particular label, a label that seems quite apt at this moment."

His eyes focused on the ring. Ruby also turned to look, having to fight against her body's every instinct telling her to run away as fast as her Semblance could carry her. From their position, she could see the black-garbed figure of Kyo rising from where he had fallen earlier.

"Demon Child," said Ozpin.

* * *

 **Nigel is something of a composite of different characters, which fans of the SDK manga might recognize. In terms of fighting-style, he's based on Hishigi, from the Taishiro, and wields Hishigi's sword. Personality-wise, he takes after Hotaru, the ultimate Cloudcuckoolander, with a sense of direction that's even worse than Roronoa Zoro's. In the final chapter of the manga, it's implied that the guy attempted to travel from Mt. Fuji to Edo (now called Tokyo), but wound up in _China_ instead, then went on to accidentally _circumnavigate the entire globe_ , only to go haring off in the wrong direction _again_. Characters like that are fun to write.**

 **On top of that, Hakuya is one of my favorite weapons from SDK. It has a pretty unique design, amongst the various swords that appears in the series, and the way it's used is just damn badass. That's all for today.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

Nigel's sword froze. The light shining from its blade snuffed out in an instant. Yang didn't even need to wonder why. She felt the change too. A rippling wave of red washed over them, stirring her hair with the furry of a hurricane. The air was charged with immense malice, overwhelming malice. It swirled about like a storm. Like any hurricane or cyclone, there was a center, an eye. Yang and Nigel's gazes were immediately drawn to that center.

Kyo had risen into a crouch, his right hand still closed around the handle of his sword, his left braced against the ground, pushing himself back up. His clothes and hair whipped about wildly, tossed by the maddened wind of his own creation. His lips were curled back in the biggest grin Yang ever remembered seeing on his face. What shocked her even more was his eyes. They blazed like stars, their light washing over her. They shined brilliantly, at this distance seeming to make even the light of the sun pale by comparison. If there was one word that could be used to describe Kyo's appearance at this moment, it would unquestionably be "Demonic."

And yet...for some reason, Yang didn't feel an ounce of fear. Her body did not shake as she stared at Kyo. The malice that filled the air was not directed at her at all. Instead, she felt it swirling around her, encompassing her...almost protectively. Even Kyo's blazing eyes seemed strangely beautiful to her. Yang couldn't bring herself to look away. She felt as though she could stare into them endlessly.

"Kyo..." Nigel was staring as well. Unlike Yang, he had broken out into a sweat. His sword arm shook as his grip on the handle of his blade tightened. His heart beat faster in his chest, the rate almost seeming to increase out of control. However, it wasn't fear that transfixed him so...but excitement.

"Ahh! That's better," said Kyo. "My head feels much clearer now." He raised his free hand and rubbed his head through his hair for a moment. "You were right, Nigel. I suppose I was a little rusty. I'd forgotten a little bit. Thanks for reminding me. I didn't used to be such a slow starter. Murasame-sama would laugh at me, if he saw me now."

Kyo's eyes fixed on Nigel and his Aura surged to an even greater extent. "We're not finished here, not by a long shot."

"We'll see about that," said Nigel, raising his sword. "You feel closer to the Kyo I knew. But something is still different. I won't accept you yet."

"Well, whether you accept me or not is of no concern to me," said Kyo. "All that really matters is that you don't get sloppy now. It would be a shame if you were to-" Kyo vanished from where he had been standing as he spoke.

"-die." The last word in the sentence came from directly behind Nigel.

Nigel's eye widened and he spun about, raising his sword as he saw Kyo right behind him, Kyo's own sword already blurring towards him in a powerful slash. _He's faster now,_ thought Nigel. _But still not as fast as me. I can still..._ All thoughts of attack vanished from Nigel's mind the second his sword touched Kyo's.

The force of Kyo's swing blasted Nigel off his feet, throwing him back, slamming him into the ground, sending him plowing a new furrow into the floor of the ring that carried him all the way to its edge, until his shoulder slammed into the barrier. _Such power...this is..._

"Come on, Nigel!" shouted Kyo, still grinning like a madman. "The warmup's long over, but the real fight is just getting started! Don't bore me now!"

"I should be the one saying that," said Nigel, standing up. Hakuya flashed and he launched several shining crescent slashes at Kyo from across the ring. Kyo dodged them with ease, sidestepping one and then the other. However, as he dodged, Nigel closed in in the wake of his strikes, coming within reach of Kyo so quickly that he simply seemed to teleport. Hakuya's blade shined white once again. This time, Nigel put all his strength into the swing as Kyo swung his own sword to meet it. This was not attack against defense, but attack against attack. The clash of their blades rang out deafeningly and the shockwave the impact created shattered the already broken floor even further.

The power between them was equal, and they were both thrown back by the impact. Nigel burst into motion, vanishing from Kyo's sight. All of a sudden, four shining crescents closed in on Kyo from all sides once again.

"Come on!" shouted Kyo, his Aura blasting out from him. He didn't even need to use his sword this time. Instead, the surge of his own Aura deflected all four of Nigel's attacks without Kyo even needing to lift a finger.

Nigel appeared right in front of Kyo, Hakuya back into its sheath, with Nigel poised to draw it. " _Koryuha._ "

Countless rays of light burst out, rushing at Kyo blasting him back. The force of Nigel's attack threw up a cloud of dust, even as Kyo was driven back away. Nigel stood up, his sword in his left hand now, before he transferred it back to his right. "It's over," he said simply.

"I guess I'm not the only one who's changed," said Kyo from within the dust. "You used to hit so much harder than this."

The dust cleared to reveal Kyo, seemingly unscathed. He held Tenro out in front of him, the blade extended across his body, edge upward, the flat braced against the palm of his left hand. The air in front of Kyo was distorted, almost as though Nigel was looking at him through a lens. It was laced with further distortions that looked like...cracks.

 _A barrier...No! A shield of wind,_ realized Nigel, his eye widening.

" _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Timbei,_ " intoned Kyo confidently. He lowered his sword, and the curved shell of wind that had protected his body unraveled.

 _I forgot his style had defensive techniques,_ Nigel thought. His eye narrowed as he examined Kyo more closely, something occurring to him. There should have been no way that Kyo had been standing at all. With that many lacerations decorating his body, from all the earlier techniques that had hit home, Hakuya should have severed muscle fibers and tendons, opened veins and arteries. Kyo's lifeblood should have been draining out of him, and his limbs should have been unable to respond to his commands. And yet...while Kyo's wounds were bleeding, they were bleeding nowhere near as profusely as they should have been.

Kyo's cuts were no more than skin deep. Every blow that Nigel had landed had been dodged the instant Kyo had felt the contact on his skin. Even the countless blows of Nigel's _Koryuha_ had been evaded with that amazing degree of precision. Only someone who had extensively honed their instincts in battle could utilize such a dangerous method of evasion.

Nigel's eye widened and the corners of his mouth twitched. "Kyo…you…"

Kyo grinned. "Are you going to stand there and stare…or are we going to fight?"

Nigel looked around him. "This feeling…" He traced his fingers through Kyo's swirling Aura, feeling Kyo's malice bearing down on him. "…this Aura…" His eye once again focused on Kyo. "…this is what I've been looking for…" Finally, Nigel's smile returned. "This is the Kyo I wanted to fight."

Nigel's own Aura, colorless and clear, exploded out from around him, forcing away Kyo's Aura as the beginnings of a grin formed on his face. "I will defeat you!"

They charged in unison, their blades meeting once again. This time, it was not a fierce clash of brute force against brute force, but instead, the repeated ring as attack met parry, and was followed by counterattack. Back and forth they went across the ring, advancing, retreating, circling, attacking, defending, dodging. Their bodies were little more than dark blurs, surrounded by the shining blurs of their swords, the ring of impact punctuated by the sparks that flew as their Auras clashed against one another. As they fought, their pace picked up, the individual clashes of their swords giving way to a constant ring.

Yang watched them, filled with awe. She was captivated by that brilliant combination of speed, power, and technique that was displayed with each and every move. Swings that looked wild and haphazard were, in fact, precisely targeted. Each step taken was an attempt to reshape the battlefield to give one or the other of them a greater advantage. Every move showcased such grace and polish that it seemed less like watching a fight to the death, and more like watching an intricate dance between two equally-skilled partners.

Whenever she caught a glimpse of their faces, Yang couldn't help but notice that they were smiling. Rather than bitter enemies, they looked like old friends who had just discovered a much-beloved game. Yang realized that this was where Kyo seemed to be the happiest. In the heat of battle, walking that fine line between life and death, this was what brought him the greatest pleasure. The Kyo she'd seen before, the one who smiled while watching the cherry blossoms or sharing a drink at the bar with her, wasn't where he was truly happy. For some reason, Yang felt her own heart skip a beat at that realization.

Kyo and Nigel continued their dance. Nigel's speed was incredible. At any time, his sword would attack one way, while flickering lights betrayed his attacks coming from completely separate directions. His speed was well above Kyo's in that respect. Kyo countered by using his own advantage...raw power. Nigel's defense was neither as fast nor as strong as his attack. When Kyo saw additional attacks coming that he was unable to avoid, thanks to their speed surpassing his own, he abandoned any effort to block or defend and put all his strength into his next swing. Nigel was forced to abandon the attack and dedicate his full strength to his defense.

Kyo was capable of this because he had internalized Nigel's rhythm over the course of their previous exchanges. Far from simply warming up, Kyo had used the first phase of their battle to see how Nigel's fighting style had changed since the last time they had crossed paths, to learn what Nigel now had that Kyo hadn't seen before. From there, Kyo had read his moves and learned to anticipate when Nigel's attack would accelerate to a level that Kyo couldn't catch up with. It was that moment that Kyo would go on the attack to disrupt Nigel before he could follow through.

 _It's not as good as Shinrei's,_ thought Kyo as their exchange picked up pace yet again, _but it does the job well enough._

The two of them clashed once more. Nigel leapt into the air and unleashed a barrage of blazing slashes at Kyo down below. Kyo leapt back as they carved into the ground, throwing up chunks of concrete and dirt. As he did, he almost missed the instant Nigel touched down behind him, Hakuya once more in its sheath, as Nigel sank into another crouch, preparing to draw the sword.

" _Koryu-!_ "

Nigel's eye widened as he realized that Kyo's sword was less than an inch from his throat already. He leapt back, still pulling out Hakuya with all his speed, this time to interpose it between his neck and Tenro. It worked, but the force behind the swing completely blew Nigel off his feet and slammed him against the shield at the edge of the ring...hard. The barrier buzzed and crackled angrily, sparks flying from Nigel's point of contact before he pulled away and sank down into a crouch, breathing hard.

"You've let me see that move two too many times," said Kyo pleasantly. "It's a close-range technique, which means I can see the cues that tell me you're about to use it. I won't let you get one off anymore." His eyes narrowed slightly. "If you're resorting to the same move for the third time, does that mean you've run out of tricks? I expected better, given how you've been acting."

"I have plenty," said Nigel. "It's just as well. We're at the final point in this. You can't avoid my next attack."

Kyo blinked and turned to look behind himself. Yang was right behind him. Throughout the entire fight, even as they moved back and forth and around the ring, Yang hadn't moved a single inch from where she was. She had known unconsciously that any movement on her part would influence the fight, even in a passive way. Despite the battle's intensity, Kyo had been controlling it, guiding their exchanges away from and around her at every opportunity, his skill so great that Yang hadn't been touched by anything larger than a pebble the whole time. During their last exchange, Kyo's dodge had taken him so that he was standing right beside Yang. Then, when Nigel had landed behind him, Kyo had stepped around, even as he turned, to position himself more directly between her and Nigel.

"Oh...so this was what you were aiming for," said Kyo, turning his gaze back to Nigel.

"Ever since she came at me, I'd been wondering about her and her connection to you," said Nigel. "She has the same eyes that you do...sometimes."

"Yes, I've noticed that," said Kyo, chuckling as he scratched his chin. "What's going on? I thought you didn't like thinking while you fought."

"I don't," said Nigel, grimacing. "But it wouldn't go away. I don't understand why you've been protecting her this whole time. If you'd just let me cut her down, we could fight without any distractions. If you're always steering the fight around her, you aren't fully dedicating yourself to defeating me. It's vexing."

"Ah!" said Kyo with a laugh. "So that's what it was. I wondered why you were so frustrated. I didn't realize you were just jealous. That's cute. Also..." He smirked at Nigel. "...you were trying to get my full attention and were upset that I kept steering the fight around her. But doesn't it say more about your abilities that I was _able_ to?"

Nigel's eye narrowed. "We'll see about that. How dedicated are you to her safety? Are you willing to throw away your victory for her sake? Will you take this and open yourself to my deathblow? Or, perhaps, you'll sacrifice her and do what you need to in order to win...just like the Kyo I knew."

Yang swallowed, the fingers of her remaining hand clenching as she watched Kyo's back. She figured that Nigel would probably sacrifice speed for power, utilizing an attack that would be fairly easy for Kyo to dodge, but still too fast for her to escape. However, if Kyo took a more powerful attack, it would hold him in place long enough for Nigel to close the distance and hit him before Kyo could recover. Now she'd become a shackle, holding him in place.

To Yang's amazement, Kyo laughed loudly. "Well, this is the best you could think of," he said. "And here I was hoping for some brilliant strategy. But thinking never was your strong suit."

"You think you can protect the girl and defeat me?" asked Nigel skeptically.

Again, Kyo laughed. "Of course I can. It's far too easy. In fact...I won't have to take a single step from this spot." He relaxed his body, resting his sword over his shoulder and smirked superiorly at Nigel. "Come on. Take your shot. I guarantee that I'll end it right there."

"We'll see," said Nigel, his eye becoming cold. He raised his sword in both his hands. Hakuya's blade shined pure white, and three blades of light fanned out on either side of it, all of them holding the same position as the actual sword, making it clear that Nigel would attack with all seven at once.

"Yang..."

"Huh?" Yang snapped her eyes up at Kyo, surprised to see that he was looking down at her, a warm smile on his face, a smile that filled her with a sense of comfort.

"Do you trust me?" he asked softly.

Yang nodded without hesitation. Kyo's smile wasn't the smile of someone who was preparing to sacrifice himself for her sake. It was a supremely confident one, the smile of someone who didn't believe he could lose. For some reason, Yang was able to put her faith in that smile.

"Then don't move a step," said Kyo, turning back to watch Nigel again. "This will be over soon. Watch as closely as you can. You may not get another opportunity to see this."

Yang swallowed, wondering just what Kyo was about to show her. Kyo lowered his sword to his side and took a breath. Yang suddenly felt the air around him calm and clear, almost as though his will to fight had completely deserted him. However, Yang could still feel it, gathering in his sword. Kyo had completely devoted his Aura to this next technique.

"Die," said Nigel simply, swinging his sword down with both hands.

Seven blades of pure light rushed at Kyo and Yang, tearing apart the ground, bearing down on them faster than Yang had ever believed possible. Her entire body screamed at her to run, to crouch, to put up her remaining gauntlet in some futile effort to block the attack. However, she remained resolutely in place, choosing to instead keep her eyes on Kyo. As she watched, his sword moved...and the light of Nigel's attack vanished before her eyes.

Nigel's blades of light slammed into Kyo, throwing up a massive explosion, tearing apart the remainder of the ring. However, Nigel scarcely even noticed as he saw something moving through the wake of his attack. His eye caught several flickering streams that wound through the air, their motion sinuous...serpentine. _What-?_

Before his thought could complete itself, his body was seized in what felt like steel coils, wrapping around his body and limbs, holding him in place, restricting his every movement. Looking down, he saw the strange outlines in the air, even as his ears picked up a faint hiss. _Snakes!_

His realization wasn't enough to save him, as the coils contracted, becoming vicious whirlwinds that tore at his body, ripping through skin, biting into muscles and tearing open veins. Nigel's blood splattered all around him as his body was slammed into the ground, shattering it. He lay there motionless, unable to fight any longer, or even keep Hakuya in his hands as the blade landed a few feet away, tip-first, with an echoing clang, sinking into the floor and standing upright, almost like a grave marker, _his_ grave marker.

"Like I said," said Kyo, from within the cloud of dust raised by Nigel's attack, "I ended it without taking a single step."

The dust cleared to reveal that the line of damage caused by Nigel's attack had come to an abrupt halt just a few feet away from Kyo, the damage extending to encompass the area around him, save for a clear space where he and Yang were.

Nigel grunted and shifted, managing to move his head so that his mouth was clear and he could speak. "I forgot..."

"That's why I said thinking wasn't your strong suit. You were thinking about Yang so much that you forgot about what _I_ can do." Kyo chuckled. "It's always the same with you."

Nigel's eye narrowed and he strained to look at Kyo as closely as he could. "You've changed," he said.

Kyo laughed again. "Of course I have," he said. "But, contrary to what you think, I got stronger. You just didn't realize it because you've gotten stronger yourself. You always were one to overlook the obvious things."

Nigel huffed. "Then it's over. I lose. Finish me."

Kyo strode over to where Nigel lay and held his blade to Nigel's neck. "I win," he agreed. "But I won't finish you."

"Why?" asked Nigel.

"I thought that'd be obvious," said Kyo. "We're friends. Now that I've won, I don't need to kill you. That would be meaningless."

Nigel groaned and struggled, managing to roll over onto his back. As he did, he tried to press his neck up against the edge of Kyo's blade. "Finish me! I won't accept anything less."

"Ah ah," said Kyo, wagging a finger like a scolding parent. "You don't get any say in this. Remember, you already admitted defeat."

"I did," agreed Nigel.

"That means that, as the loser, your life is entirely in the hands of me, the winner," said Kyo in a taunting tone. "If you were going to do something foolish, like end your own life to keep me from having a total victory, you would have had to do it before you admitted defeat."

Nigel's eye widened and he stared up in Kyo at shock. It wasn't the shock at some kind of profound revelation. It was the shock of someone realizing he'd just been checkmated. He opened his mouth.

"Nope," said Kyo quickly. "No take-backs."

To Yang's shock, Nigel pouted like an angry child, an expression that nearly made her burst out laughing. _It's more like they're settling the consequences of a game of tag than a battle,_ she thought incredulously.

"So," said Kyo, crouching down, resting his sword over his shoulder once again, "as the winner, it is my right to decide whether you live or die and I've made the decision." With his left hand he gently pressed his index finger against Nigel's forehead. "No whining."

"Darn," said Nigel flatly before sighing. "Fine, you win." His eye narrowed. "But, if you let me live, I'll come to fight you again."

Kyo grinned fiercely. "Bring it on. I won't turn down a good fight." Getting back up, he turned to Yang and began walking towards her, holding out a hand to help pull her to her feet.

Yang accepted and stood up. For a second, they stared at each other. "Are you all right?" asked Kyo.

"Y-yeah," said Yang, still trying to process everything that had happened. "I just couldn't stay out of it anymore. I...I guess I just got in the way in the end."

"Not at all," said Kyo. "If anything, I was able to win because of you."

Yang blinked. "Huh? Because I bought you time or something?"

"Well, there's that too," said Kyo, "but that wasn't all there was to it."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"I'll explain but..." Kyo slowly looked around. "...perhaps we should talk somewhere a bit more private."

Yang looked around too and remembered that they were in an arena, now with over a hundred people watching them. She blushed brilliantly before nodding. Kyo laughed and, together, they made their way out of the ring.

Glynda brought down the shield and Ruby rushed out almost immediately, a blur of red and black, trailing rose petals. She slammed into Yang, nearly knocking her off her feet.

"Don't you _ever_ scare me like that again," insisted Ruby, tears streaming down her face as she hugged Yang as tightly as she could manage.

Yang smiled and hugged her sister back with her left arm. "Sorry for scaring you, Sis."

" _Yang Xiao Long!_ "

"Uh oh!" Yang swallowed at the anger infusing Weiss' voice. Weiss was furious.

"Look at what you've done to your arm!" snapped Weiss, coming in closer as Ruby finally let go of Yang and slid to the side, subtly smirking at Yang taking the brunt of Weiss' anger. "You've completely wrecked it! There's absolutely no way to salvage it now! Do you have any idea what that even cost?"

"Sorry, Weiss," said Yang, grinning nervously as she leaned back away from Weiss' wrath. "I guess I'll just have to buy a new one. How much does it cost?"

"How much-?" Weiss' voice cut itself off as her jaw worked up and down silently for the better part of a minute as she wrestled with the words to express the sheer rage currently building in her eyes. Yang took a nervous step backwards.

Weiss opened her mouth to scream at Yang, only to stop herself when Blake rested a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We'll worry about it later," she said. "Let's just get out of here for the time being."

Weiss looked back at Blake before glaring at Yang one more time. She let out an angry sigh, all that rage deserting her as she slumped slightly. "Fine," she said. Then she leveled a finger at Yang, making her flinch back again. "But don't think you're off the hook, Yang."

Yang gulped and nodded. Weiss turned with a final huff and made her way up the steps, heading for the edge of the arena. Winter and Qrow fell in behind her.

"Time to go, I guess," said Jaune, gently taking Ruby's arm.

RWBY, JNNR, Winter, and Qrow began to head for the exit. Kyo walked along with them until he reached Ozpin. "If it's at all possible, could you see to Nigel's wounds?" asked Kyo politely.

"We'll move him into the infirmary," Ozpin promised. "His Aura seems to be healing him already, and I suspect that you avoided causing any long-term damage."

"Thank you very much," said Kyo, bowing his head slightly.

"I consider it fair compensation," said Ozpin. "This was truly a rare opportunity. Even when I resided with the Mibu Clan, I was never privileged enough to witness one of the Four Secrets with my own eyes."

 _Four Secrets?_ wondered Yang as she listened in.

"I'm glad you were satisfied," said Kyo.

" _More_ than satisfied," said Ozpin, casting his eyes around the arena. "It would seem you have made quite the impact."

Yang looked around as well. She'd noticed that everyone was still watching Kyo. However, the look in their eyes had changed. The hostility was all but gone now. It had been replaced by a healthy dose of fear. Yang could understand that. After all, it was terrifying to realize just how dangerous Kyo really was. However, beneath that, there was an undercurrent of another emotion...admiration.

The realization made Yang smile just a little bit wider.

* * *

"Ugh!" groaned Yang, slumping onto a couch in the guest dorms' common room. "I am beat."

"You'd already expended nearly all of your Aura in training earlier," chastised Blake. "You'd have barely recovered after lunch. You're lucky you aren't out cold."

"You used Suppression during the meal to boost your recovery," noted Kyo as he settled next to her. They had been worried about his injuries, but it seemed that his Aura was closing them already. All but the worst had completely faded. However, his kimono was tattered once again.

"I did," said Yang with a nod. She sighed and leaned against Kyo. He was still sweaty, and smelled of blood, but his presence was a comforting one.

"You're still in deep trouble," said Weiss. "That arm didn't come cheap, and I don't know if we can get another one for you."

"It's that bad?" asked Ruby.

Weiss sighed. "Remember? I got you that arm by using my pull with my father, which was difficult enough in its own right. Thanks to him and Ironwood, you got one of the most advanced prosthetics available. Over a year later and it _still_ isn't available on the general market."

"Uh...Whoops," said Yang, looking at her stump again. She'd already knotted the sleeve of her jacket over it, like she did back when she was still recovering. She'd almost forgotten that the prosthetic had been given to her by Weiss.

"Currently I am very much _not_ in my father's favor...again," said Weiss sternly. "The only other way to get an arm that would be a match for your last one would be to get it from Ironwood. And I think we're all in agreement when I say that in his debt is the _last_ place we want to be."

Everyone nodded. Considering what they had learned about Penny, Ironwood no longer seemed like such a trustworthy individual. Yang sighed. A few weeks ago, they would have thought nothing of it. Ironwood had aided them tremendously during the fight with Salem, providing them with all the logistical support they could have asked for as they set about the fight in earnest. Back then, he had been someone they respected and trusted.

"Well...if that's the case, then perhaps there's something my clan can do," said Kyo, making everyone jump.

"I thought your clan had nothing to do with robotics," Weiss pointed out. "That would include prosthetics."

"That's true," said Kyo. "But I wasn't talking about a replacement. I think it may be possible to regrow Yang's arm."

A deafening silence descended on the group for a brief moment before seven throats shouted out in unison. "WHAT?"

Kyo laughed. "Surprised? Our technology is nothing fancy, but, as I told Ozpin, the Mibu Clan's skill in the medicinal and healing arts is second to none. I've witnessed things that our Chief Physician has accomplished that would be considered nothing short of miraculous in the outside world. Considering that, I don't believe that regenerating an arm would be much of a stretch."

"What would it cost?" asked Ren, trying to bring a dose of pragmatism back into the conversation.

"That's...tricky," said Kyo, scratching his head. "I don't know the specifics and it would likely be meaningless to you in any case. Since the Clan doesn't engage in the outside world, they don't use lien as a currency. It's completely without value there. We have our own currency. But, lacking any kind of commerce between the Clan and the outside world, there's no real way to establish comparative value.

"That said, I think I can leverage it as a favor. The Chief Physician was one of my tutors when I was younger, so I think he'd be willing to help. He's a very compassionate person."

"Oh! That sounds super awesome!" shouted Nora eagerly. "We should go there right away! I wonder what airship tickets cost."

"Uh...I don't think it'll be that easy," said Jaune. "They don't deal with the outside world, remember. They don't even have airships. There'd be no way to get transportation directly to their territory."

"I'm afraid that's true," agreed Kyo with a sigh. "However, you are all welcome to come with me when I return. I was planning on returning soon in any case."

"You were?" asked Yang.

"Yes," said Kyo. "An important holiday is coming up in a couple of months. Now that I think about it, I'll have to leave soon, so that I can make it in time."

"Huh but..." Yang blinked and remembered. "Oh...right...you're walking."

"If you wished to accompany me, you are more than welcome to," said Kyo. "Life on the road isn't the most comfortable, but it's doable. I don't think any of you would find the journey terrible."

Ruby shared a look with Jaune, Ren, and Nora. "It wouldn't be the hardest thing we've done," she said with a smile. After all, they had traveled all the way to Haven on foot, after the Fall.

"And, with Kyo around, we wouldn't have to worry about the Grimm at all," added Blake.

Everyone nodded. What had, at first, seemed like a potentially harrowing journey through a Grimm-infested wilderness now seemed like a pleasantly long backpacking excursion. Their greatest issue would be securing supplies to last them through the journey. Granted, they were well-versed in survival skills, especially after their journey through the wilderness. They would also be able to plot their course by navigating from settlement to settlement to resupply along the way.

 _Although, I imagine we'd end up getting swept up into several festivals,_ thought Yang wryly, with a look at Kyo. _No wonder he thinks the trip will take so long._

Yang smiled, she liked the idea of this more than ever. If there was a chance to get her arm back, especially when there wasn't any likelihood that she could secure a replacement prosthetic as good as the one she'd had anytime soon, it was almost as enticing as Kyo's suggestion that she learn about her and her mother's heritage, acquiring the information that would hopefully draw Raven to her.

"Wait a second!" protested Weiss. "What about our seminar classes? What about our mission credits? Factoring that in along with the return journey, we could be out for the better part of four months! We won't be able to graduate!"

"If it's for Yang's arm, that's a risk I'm willing to take," declared Ruby grandiosely.

"Well...I'm going if she's going," said Jaune, raising a hand. "But anyone who wants to stay behind is welcome to. I'm sure Professor Ozpin would allow you to form a new team in the interim for getting the credits you need."

"Don't put that on us," snapped Weiss, glaring at Jaune. "You're just making me feel guilty for being worried about our education."

"That wasn't his intention," said Ren. "He just genuinely wants everyone to be able to do what they feel they need to. This is our best opportunity to secure a new arm for Yang after all."

"Yeah!" shouted Nora, jumping in eager agreement. "And we get to see a brand new place that almost no one from the Kingdoms ever has. We'll be like explorers!"

"I have to admit that my curiosity has been aroused," said Blake with a small smile of her own. "This would also be a chance to expand our own horizons. We'll be going to the place where we can best learn about the new Aura techniques Kyo has been teaching us. Maybe we can get more specialized instruction there as well. It might be worth the risk to our academic standing if we can improve more by doing this than simply going through school."

Neo beamed cheerfully and gave the idea a thumbs-up.

"Far be it for me to undermine the image of my Academy's effectiveness," said Ozpin, standing directly behind Neo, "but I am in agreement that this excursion would be an excellent experience for you all."

"AAH!" Everyone except Kyo shrieked and jumped away from Ozpin after he spoke.

"I'd say your school is plenty effective... _at giving us heart attacks!_ " growled Weiss, panting.

"No, I think that's just him," said Jaune, clinging tightly to Ruby, who was clinging just as tightly back.

"What are you doing here, Professor?" asked Ren, the first to recover from the shock of him appearing so unexpectedly.

Ozpin smiled and adjusted his spectacles. "As a matter of fact, I was coming to find Kyo in order to broach exactly this particular topic. I wanted to suggest that he take a...delegation...from Beacon along with him, when he returned to his homeland. It is my hope that we can begin the process of building ties between the Mibu and the outside world."

"And I'm guessing you had a particular group of students already in mind," said Yang with a sly smile.

"As it so happens, I did," agreed Ozpin. "You have all been instrumental in saving this world, now I wish to place my hopes in you that you might usher in a new age." His smile faded. "For the past eighty years, we were consumed by the idea of preserving peace after the Great War. Because of that, there was a certain dedication to maintaining the status quo in order to avoid conflict. Thanks to that attitude, there was a great deal of suffering, especially for certain kinds of people." He nodded towards Blake as he spoke.

"You're saying that's why the faunus revolted?" asked Ruby.

"That is why the faunus felt the _need_ to revolt," said Ozpin with a tired sigh, settling himself into a chair. "I must admit that I am not innocent of that foolishness either. After the Great War, the faunus lobbied for changes in their treatment, the betterment of their lot. They wished their standing to be improved to be equal to that of humans, as they had a right to. However, after we had worked so hard to bring an end to the last war, we were not eager to provoke new conflict. The issue of the faunus was a contentious one. The viewpoints varied from Kingdom to Kingdom, and many held their views strongly.

"Promoting the faunus' rights would upset a great many people, prompting at least some of them to use force in order to assert their views, which would draw retaliation in kind. It would start a new cycle of bloodshed that could draw us into another war. So recently after the last one, not all wounds had healed and there was still much bad blood and resentment that would be easily exploited by those on either side of the issue to escalate things. Such was our reasoning at the time...or rather...our _excuse_. Because of that, we deferred it, telling the faunus to be patient, until the time was right and the world was more stable. We used that excuse for years...until it reached the point where the faunus could not wait anymore."

"Because they would have been confined to Menagerie," said Blake.

Ozpin nodded. "After that, we again allowed ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of comfort, which Cinder and Salem then exploited to bring us to the edge of ruin. Now...after making the same mistake twice, I am prepared to say that it is time to stop using caution as an excuse and seek a path forward, even if that path is fraught with risk."

He turned his gaze on the eight students of the two teams, passing his eyes across them, one by one. "You were the ones who fought to save the world from that. You succeeded where those older, and who _should_ have been wiser, failed. Because of that, I believe you are the ones to best entrust with this next step."

"Well...when you put it like that, I am so totally in!" exclaimed Ruby eagerly.

"Me too," agreed Yang, leaning just a little bit harder against Kyo, her hand finding his, which she squeezed gently.

"It sounds like a good plan to me," said Blake.

"I'll do it," said Jaune.

"Me too!" agreed Nora.

"I as well," said Ren.

Neo flashed a thumbs up again.

Weiss looked around and let out a defeated sigh. "Fine...I'll go too."

"If it's your graduation requirements you're worried about, Ms. Schnee, I can assure you that you have nothing to fear," said Ozpin. "This will be classed as a diplomatic mission, with sufficient credits to finish out your advancement requirements for the third year, possibly even your fourth, depending on the results. We will also make arrangements for your class credits as well, given that I'm quite certain you will learn a great deal while you are there."

"Well, I guess I can accept that," said Weiss with a nod of her head.

"Excellent," said Ozpin. "I will make arrangements with the commissary to ensure that you will have everything you need. I will leave all other arrangements, including your route and departure date, to you."

"That works for us," said Ruby, after sharing a nod with Jaune.

"Would it be possible to book a bullhead ride to one of the outlying settlements to use as a jumping-off point?" asked Jaune.

"Again, whatever you need," said Ozpin. "Submit your requests to me when you're ready."

They all nodded. Their eyes glittered and they all seemed eager to begin. However, Ruby then noticed something off. "Professor...where's Goodwitch...and Uncle Qrow, and Winter? Weren't they with you earlier?"

Ozpin coughed delicately. "Ah...yes...they were. Specialist Schnee wished to use my office's CCT facilities to send her report directly to General Ironwood. I sent her, along with Glynda and Qrow, on ahead. I excused myself to make a few...inquiries...and perhaps get some more coffee."

"Your office has its own coffee maker," Yang deadpanned.

"You're procrastinating," added Blake in an equally deadpan tone.

Ozpin coughed again. "I simply desired to spare myself a few more minutes before my ears are inevitably assaulted."

They exchanged looks.

"Can't blame him," said Nora with a shrug.

* * *

With Vale or Beacon, there wasn't really all that much cause for people to look up. The occasional airship passing overhead was one of the few reasons they did. People were largely concerned with what happened in front of them. If Beacon students watched the sky, it was for the signs of Griffons, Nevermores, and other airborne Grimm. Because of that, no one noticed a certain cloud.

Granted, the sky was full of clouds, though the day wasn't the sort that would be classified as "cloudy." However, there were plenty of wispy cirrus clouds in light, feathering patterns, stretched across the sky, which was dotted with a few fluffy cumulous clouds for good measure. However, had anyone observed the clouds with particular scrutiny, they would have spotted one that wasn't like the rest.

It was small, looking like a tiny drop compared to the looming, cottony mass of the cumulous clouds. However, unlike the rest of its brethren, which drifted aimlessly on the wind, this cloud moved with surprisingly swiftness, and definite purpose...against the wind no less. It soared unnoticed over the skies of Vale before the tower of Beacon loomed into view. Its speed increasing, the cloud began an arcing descent downwards.

* * *

 **One of the tricky parts of doing a fic with any ties to SDK is that the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ , as it's presented in the original manga, isn't completely developed. Aside from the four ultimate techniques that he learns, the only other techniques Kyo (the one from the original series) has are _Mizuchi_ and _Shin_. It's stated that there are four schools of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ , corresponding with each of the four ultimate techniques; _Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu,_ and _Seiryu_ ; which would imply that each school has its own sub-techniques, the way _Mizuchi_ and _Shin_ are for _Seiryu_. Considering that, I looked through the series, borrowing unnamed actions and moves, and creating other techniques myself. To that end...**

 _ **Timbei:**_ **A technique of the _Genbu_ school, Timbei is one of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu's_ few defensive arts, binding air together to form a curved shield for deflecting attacks. The technique gets its name from the curved shield used in Okinawan martial arts, best known to us westerners as one of the weapons used by _Usui_ in _Rurouni Kenshin_. I got the idea for this technique from something Kyo does in the manga, during his fight against Hotaru. It isn't ever actually given a name, and it's mostly implied to just be Kyo putting up his Ki as a barrier, but I decided to adopt it as an official technique for the purpose of this story, to give my Kyo a broader repertoire.**

 **I can imagine that some readers are getting a little concerned by this point, considering this is the second time this has happened in the story, so far. Kyo goes out onto the battlefield, and does his thing, while the rest of the main cast essentially looks on from the sidelines and marvels at what a badass he is. Please do not worry, this isn't going to be the format of the entire story. Much of this is priming the rest of the characters to take a more active role from now on. They will all get the chance to strut their stuff, not too long from now.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

"UNBELIEVABLE!" roared Ironwood, the force of his voice actually causing a surge of static through the sound system connected to the CCT.

Ozpin, with much practice, and a great deal of will, forced down the grimace that tried to work its way up his face. Standing to his right and slightly behind him, Glynda made no such effort to suppress her expression. Qrow lounged on the front side of the desk, seeming completely unconcerned by Ironwood's wrath.

"It's true, Sir," said Winter stiffly. "Mr. Whitaker was, in fact, an old friend and comrade of Kyo's. However, he attacked anyway."

"He attacked to kill," added Qrow. "So you can relax Jimmy, he did what you wanted, just not for the reason you wanted him to."

"So...Kyo is dead then," said Ironwood, slumping slightly in relief.

"Nope," said Qrow, prompting Winter to throw a shocked glare at him.

"WHAT?" Winter winced at Ironwood's voice.

"He tried," said Qrow casually. "But he lost. He came close though."

"If you're worried about former allegiances, don't," said Glynda. "I can assure you that Nigel attacked to kill. At one point, he had the complete upper hand, until Kyo was able to rally."

"I doubt that," said Ironwood grimly. "People do not abandon their allegiances so easily. They clearly conspired to make it look like a serious fight. If I had known that Nigel Whitaker was one of Kyo's old companions, I would have ordered his arrest as well."

"Your troops would be just as dead," said Qrow. "He's one of the few guys who's up in Kyo's league. Your armies would have had about as much luck against him as they had against Kyo himself."

The holographic image of Ironwood bared his teeth in a low growl. "I'm beginning to think you are all conspiring against me."

Winter paled noticeably. Her arms were folded behind her back, which kept her hands out of Ironwood's sight as they clenched tightly, her nails drawing lines on her arms.

"There are no conspiracies, save those you imagine," said Ozpin. "If anything, you are the one who has gotten out of hand, James. Atlas' buildup of armaments has become excessive. The other Kingdoms have become _very_ mistrustful of you, wondering when you might decide to use your armadas to enforce your own view of the world upon them."

"I'm taking the initiative," said Ironwood. "With the destruction of Salem, the world has not become any safer. Queen and Taurus are both still at large. The White Fang is more violent than ever. Yet I seem to be the _only_ one who has taken steps to counter these threats...again."

"Don't you remember what your 'steps' got you the last time?" snapped Glynda, glaring at Ironwood's hologram. "Your networks were infiltrated. Your ships were rendered worthless. Your own android forces were made to turn on the very people they were supposed to be protecting. Every time you insist on relying on overwhelming power, our enemies turn that to their advantage. It's high time you realized that you can't use a hammer to do a scalpel's work."

Ironwood glowered at her.

Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "We've been over this a dozen times, James. The last crisis has shown that overwhelming force is not the answer. We should aspire to train the best Huntsmen and Huntresses we can, people who can go where they are needed to enforce peace and protect this world. Despite your valid concerns about our enemies...I am feeling most reassured."

"How can you?" demanded Ironwood.

"Because we have, without question, eight of the best Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world right here," said Ozpin with a smile, one that was shared by Glynda, Qrow, and even Winter, though she forced hers down quickly. "Not even finished with their first year of schooling, they thwarted a foe that, for all of your strength and all of your weapons and technology, was too much for you, or any of us. They succeeded where overwhelming power would have accomplished nothing. And they are still only students. With each passing year, month, week, even day, they are growing stronger and wiser. Imagine the things they will be able to accomplish once they are fully trained and have graduated." Ozpin chuckled. "I trust them with the future of our world far more than I could ever trust your armies, James."

"That is beside the point," said James. "The real problem is that Demon Eyes Kyo still lives. And now he has an accomplice at Beacon."

"I would never call Nigel and accomplice," said Ozpin. "I fully expect him to go his own way once he's recovered, which should be fairly soon. He's already promised to track Kyo down and try to kill him once more."

"I doubt that," said Ironwood. "I will be adding Nigel Whitaker to the wanted list. I won't allow a single one of these scum to get away. _Every_ known associate of Demon Eyes Kyo will receive their own bounty."

"So you would include my own students in that?" asked Ozpin. "They have been associating with Kyo quite a bit, you know."

Qrow, Glynda, and Winter all looked sharply at Ozpin, their expressions shocked.

Ironwood's eyes narrowed. "You're depraved Ozpin. Are you really so desperate to court the Mibu Clan's favor that you would use your own students as a shield for a wanted criminal?"

"Hardly a shield," said Ozpin with a chuckle. "Kyo welcomes your efforts to bring him down, particularly because it means he gets to enjoy a good fight. He won't allow my students to get in the way of that. But, I meant it when I said that they are associating with Kyo. At least one of them has gotten quite close to him. They have even been learning advanced Aura-manipulation techniques from him, the kind that are not taught in any of the Academies, the kind that Kyo used to become as dangerous as he is now."

"You know that's forbidden, Ozpin," said Ironwood sternly. "Teaching students forbidden skills is a violation of the treaty."

"Ah, but _I'm_ not teaching them anything," said Ozpin with a smile that, on any lesser man, would have been called taunting. "Kyo has taken it upon himself to instruct them in the basics of Aura-control as taught to him by his own clan. Of course, I have expressed disapproval of this, but one cannot control such a criminal with words alone."

Qrow coughed, desperately trying to hide the laugh that was forcing its way up and out of his throat. "The thing 'bout being the most wanted criminal in the world is that you're free to not give a hoot about the law," he said, smirking at Ironwood.

"You deliberately allowed him to do this," growled Ironwood. "That's the real reason you brought him to Beacon."

"I will deny any such allegations strenuously," said Ozpin. "My intention was merely to use Kyo as a means of establishing contact with the Mibu Clan, so that we might orchestrate the beginnings of a fruitful relationship."

"I wonder if Vale's Council will share your view if I take my misgivings to them," said Ironwood.

"You may," said Ozpin. "The Council may even agree with you. However, they know better than to interfere with the running of my school, after what happened last time."

"They'll still make him listen while they complain," muttered Glynda irritably.

Ironwood snorted and glared at Ozpin. "This isn't over," he said. His hologram cut out.

"I'm sure it isn't," agreed Ozpin, with a sigh, lowering his head.

Winter shuddered and sagged. Qrow wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Easy there," he said.

"We've put you in a rather difficult position, I'm afraid," said Ozpin, looking at Winter. "For that, you have my sincerest apology."

"It's fine," said Winter. "But I'm afraid we can't keep this up much longer. General Ironwood is nearing his breaking point."

"And when that happens, it's gonna be Atlas against the world," said Qrow sourly. "His forces have bulked up enough, he could bring the fight to all three other Kingdoms at once, if he wanted to."

"Ever since the fight with Salem, the Kingdoms' militaries have been mostly decimated," said Glynda. "They were never anything approaching the Atlesian Military, even before the conflict and Ironwood's buildup."

"Jimmy can make up for the difference in manpower with his drones," said Qrow. "He can churn those things out by the thousands. They don't need to be trained and they don't eat or drink. He's set up Atlas Academy to feed him Huntsmen and Huntresses for his Special Forces. Then there's his partnership with Old Man Schnee..."

Winter shook her head. "Father has established a stranglehold over Atlas' Dust supply. Since SDC Dust is the main supplier for Dust in the other Kingdoms as well, Father could cut off supplies to Vacuo, Mistral, and Vale, which would leave them helpless."

"And this whole time, Councilmen are griping over old treaties that keep us from propagating methods of fighting that would free us from our dependence on Dust," groused Glynda.

"I'm not overly concerned," said Ozpin, drawing everyone's confused looks. "Even if we could take the measures necessary to free ourself from that dependence, it would take a military buildup exceeding James' own to put our Kingdoms on even footing with Atlas. Even then, all we would be doing was laying the groundwork for the _next_ Great War. If war does break out, then we will have already lost, and Salem will get her wish from beyond the grave."

"So what do we do then?" asked Qrow. "You don't suggest we roll over and let Jimmy do what he wants, do ya?"

Ozpin shook his head. "What we require is an intercession by a power with capacity to render James' armies meaningless on the battlefield."

Qrow's eyes narrowed. "You mean a power like the power of one man to decimate an entire brigade."

"The Mibu Clan," said Glynda, her voice almost a whisper.

"Kyo alone might be enough," said Winter.

"Well, that's a stretch," said Qrow. "Yeah, he destroyed an entire Mobile Brigade, but even that's a far cry from being able to take on the whole of the Atlesian Military."

"It's just so fortunate that Kyo apparently has friends whose power matches his own," said Ozpin with a sly smile. "Under the right conditions, we might be able to induce them to come back together and combine their strength. In which case..."

"You're starting to scare me, Ozpin," said Qrow. "That's an awfully big stretch there. We can't get Kyo to do anything he doesn't want to."

"Well, it's fortunate that Kyo is making new friends then," said Ozpin. "During this last fight, we saw that his desire to protect them can draw out strength far beyond our wildest imaginings."

"So that's why you had him brought here," said Winter.

"Among other things, yes," said Ozpin. He got up and turned to gaze out the window. "But all of this is merely meant to serve as a catalyst for even greater change."

* * *

"Ah...that feels good," said Kyo as he stepped out of the room he'd been given. After taking a shower, he'd dressed in the casual clothes that Yang had bought for him, leaving his kimono to get mended again.

Yang looked him over, noticing that the cuts were already beginning to fade. "Is that healing ability another technique?" she asked.

"Ah...it's a variant of suppression," said Kyo. "You draw your Aura inward and concentrate its circulation through your body, rather than around it, which speeds your healing. However, it only really works for the most superficial of wounds. For anything deeper, proper treatment is necessary."

"So Nigel wouldn't be getting up on his own?" asked Yang.

"Not really," said Kyo. "He could stabilize himself. But, without assistance, it could be weeks before he had the strength to move under his own power."

"Oh," said Yang.

"So...I see you got a new arm already," said Kyo, looking at Yang's right arm.

The hand that extended from her sleeve was white, its structure extremely bare and light. "This...This is just a temp," she said, flexing her hand. "It works well enough for my basic needs, but I can't use it in a fight. That's why I'm hoping that your clan can really fix me."

"Well...I hope they can too," said Kyo, scratching his head. "I'm not a hundred-percent certain, but close enough."

"Well, even if they can't, the trip'll still be worth it," said Yang. "I'm glad we'll have you though. Then we won't have to worry about Grimm."

"That much is true," said Kyo as they made their way down to the common room, which was deserted, as usual.

They relaxed on a couch, Yang leaning against Kyo. "So...what did you mean when you said that I helped you win?" she asked.

"Well...when you lost against Nigel, I realized that you'd become very important to me," said Kyo. "I didn't want anything to happen to you. That essentially woke my body up so that I could use all of my strength."

"So you got stronger because you wanted to protect me?" asked Yang. "That's so cliche."

"Ah well, even if it's a cliche, it works, so I don't mind," said Kyo with a laugh.

 _I suppose that's true,_ thought Yang. She thought back to what she knew about Kyo and his travels. Qrow had called him the Festival Bringer, because his presence promised a time of safety that allowed the constantly endangered settlements he visited to let down their guard and celebrate. It occurred to her that Kyo traveled so much precisely because of that quality. He visited as many places as he could to give them a reprieve from the Grimm, allowing their strength and morale to recover. As aimless as he claimed his traveling was, even his seemingly random journeys were motivated by a desire to protect others.

"To be honest, a fight doesn't feel as important if there's nothing at stake," said Kyo. "Which isn't to say that I want you to be threatened," he added quickly. "But...I just don't feel as motivated to give it my all if there isn't a real reason behind it."

"I can understand that," said Yang. Turning her head, she lightly kissed Kyo's cheek. "It's sweet of you. Thanks."

"You're welcome," said Kyo, blushing slightly.

"So then, you travel to all kinds of different places," Yang noted. "Is there anything special about them?"

"Quite a few," said Kyo, raising a hand and counting off his fingers. "There's Verdan. Besides, their sake, they have wonderful hot springs. A little to the south and east is Brandywine. They grow the best tomatoes there, and have a Caprese salad that's to die for. Over by Mistral is Anduin, where they have some of the best pumpkin products every fall..."

Yang listened in fascination as she listened to Kyo describe all the places he had been. It seemed that he'd wandered far and wide over Remnant, visiting settlements on every continent. She imagined what it would be like to go so many places, and meet so many people. There was something magical about the idea.

"I'd like to go with you someday," she said. "I'd like to see all the places you've been."

Kyo beamed. "I'd love to show them to you," he said. "It's not just settlements. Out in the wilderness, there are all kinds of things that are more amazing than you can imagine. Over in Mistralian territory, there's a mountain range where I found a cave that sings when the wind blows through it. Up north, there are hot springs that look like rainbows captured in water. To the mountains southwest of Vale, there are enormous aspen groves. When fall comes, entire mountainsides turn as gold as your hair." Kyo gently ran his fingers through Yang's hair and held it up for her to see. Yang tried to imagine a sight like that.

"There are just so many things to see and do," said Kyo with a sigh as he leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "There's so much beauty in this world."

His words made Yang's heart skip. _So that's the real reason he travels so much,_ she thought. It wasn't just a matter of visiting different settlements. Kyo was an explorer at heart. For most, it was a risky occupation. The outside world was fraught with Grimm and exploration meant fighting your way through the wilderness with little or no support. But Kyo, with the aversion the Grimm had to him, was free to wander wherever he liked, which meant he could see things that anyone else from the Kingdom wouldn't be able to without putting their lives on the line. Hearing him describe those things made Yang want to see them for herself.

But that would have to wait. She still had to finish out her schooling at Beacon and she figured she would spend at least the first few years as a fully-fledged Huntress with her team before she was well-situated enough to strike out on her own. She wondered if either she or Kyo could wait that long.

A look at the clock told her it was time to catch the airship back to Vale. Yang slumped a little. She didn't really want to leave right now. She and her friends had already ended up skipping out on the seminar class they'd signed up for because of Kyo's fight with Nigel. The others had already headed back to Vale, while Yang had stayed behind. But now, she either had to leave, or spend the night at Beacon.

"I guess it's time for me to go," said Yang, getting up.

"I can at least walk you to the dock," said Kyo, taking her hand in his as they headed out the door.

They walked in silence as they left the guest dorms, enjoying one another's company as they made their way out to the docks. There, Yang gave Kyo one last kiss on the cheek before embarking on the airship heading to Vale. Kyo watched it fly away before turning back and heading in for the night. As he did, he didn't notice a figure crouched atop the roof of the guest dorms, watching him intently.

* * *

The next morning, RWBY and JNNR returned to Beacon to resume their Aura training. Once again, they spent the morning practicing their Projection. Their seminar had been rescheduled for later in the day, so Weiss lacked any real complaints. Any complaints that might have been made about the tedious practice regimen were quickly dismissed when they found out how much their Auras had strengthened from just one day of practice.

"To be honest, even _I'm_ amazed at how quickly you're developing," noted Kyo as they made their way into the dining hall. Once again, they fell under the scrutiny of countless gazes. However, the hostility that had been so oppressive the previous day was absent. In its place was an apparent grudging respect for Kyo and his strength as the students had learned just why he had such a massive bounty on his head.

"I guess it's because we've always been using our Auras," said Ruby as she nibbled on a cookie idly. "If we wear ourselves out in the morning, we can use Suppression to bounce back for more training in the afternoon."

"We can always do combat sessions," suggested Blake. "That would give us a chance to put our new skills to work."

"Well, it's not like we have anything else to do with our days until we leave to go to Kyo's homeland," said Jaune. "When are we doing that, by the way?"

"I'm figuring our departure will be in two weeks, give or take," said Kyo. "We'll have some extra time, thanks to your plan to take an airship out to the furthest settlement we can reach, and start for there, so that gives us some extra time to work with."

"We can probably train on the road," added Yang.

"Ugh," grunted Weiss with a grimace. "As if we won't be grimy and sweaty enough from slogging through the wilderness."

"If you don't want to work outdoors, you shouldn't have signed up to be a Huntress, Princess," teased Jaune.

"Hey, I can handle being outdoors just fine," protested Weiss. "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Don't worry," said Kyo. "I think you'll find life with my Clan to be plenty luxurious. Granted, we don't have the more modern amenities of the outside world, like scrolls or the Dustnet or television. But I think you'll find that it is a quite appealing place to live."

"If it's so appealing, then why are _you_ out wandering the world?" asked Weiss skeptically.

"It's appealing, but when you've seen it all for so long, you yearn to see something else," replied Kyo with a grin. "It is a wonderful place, but only a small portion of a much larger world. I wanted to see and experience the rest."

"I can understand that," said Yang. "I mean, Patch is a wonderful place and all, but I'd hate to be stuck there my entire life and miss the chance to see what else is out there."

They made their way across a courtyard, heading for the rescheduled seminar that Weiss had signed the two teams up for. Kyo had decided to tag along, curious as to what kind of material Beacon's classes covered.

The class Weiss had signed them up for turned out to be a history seminar taught by Dr. Oobleck. Seminars were more discussion and participation based than they were lectures that the students were required to listen to and take notes for. Their grades were determined primarily by their participation, and papers that they wrote afterwords, rather than any tests on the material. The class Weiss had signed them up for was the history of the Northern Territories, which included Atlas and its attendant settlements.

"Curious about something?" asked Yang as they filed into the classroom.

"I wanted to see if the class would bring up anything about the Mibu Clan or even Leng," said Weiss. If nothing really came up, she intended to press Dr. Oobleck for answers regarding the Mibu Clan personally.

* * *

"Ah yes," said Oobleck as Weiss brought the question up. "That is a very interesting question for you to ask, Ms. Schnee. It is also a very dangerous one."

"Dangerous?" asked Weiss, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I'm sure your friend has told you about the Mibu Clan's previous conflict with Vale and Atlas," said Oobleck to the collective nods of the girls. "Because of that, any acknowledgment of the Mibu Clan's existence, or the fact that Leng is occupied by settlers not from any of the four known Kingdoms, is considered taboo to historians like myself."

"Just taboo?" asked Ren. "You mean it isn't forbidden outright?"

Oobleck frowned. "Forbidding the mention of something is also an acknowledgment of its existence," he said. "As such, any discussion of this subject matter will attract substantial unofficial censure, and even restriction, by the authorities, but no outright legal penalties." Oobleck's eyes narrowed. "However, keep in mind that there is still plenty the authorities subservient to the Council and Atlas can do, even without the weight of the law behind them. When it comes to this topic, they are perfectly happy to bend the rules to keep it from being discussed. As such, when you are outside of this classroom, I expect you all to keep your queries as discreet as humanly possible."

"Why is everyone so adamant about denying their existence?" inquired Blake.

Oobleck sighed. "Partly because their attempt to forcefully annex the Mibu Clan into Vale's territory ended in severe humiliation for the militaries of both Vale and Atlas. The Kingdoms' pride was badly shaken by the ease with which they were defeated. However, the other reason is that many of the facts of the Mibu Clan's existence undermine many of the pillars of our current society."

"You mean their Aura?" asked Yang, leaning forward.

"That one is particularly formidable," said Oobleck. "There are a great many Huntsmen and Huntresses who owe their success to their skill at utilizing Dust. However, if they were able to achieve similar results without Dust and, consequently, drop their consumption, it would be a serious blow to the backbone of the economies of certain Kingdoms, Atlas in particular. If the Huntsmen and Huntresses forgo the use of Dust, then the militaries will gradually follow suit and demand for Dust will drop across the board. However, there are other issues. It is a complex affair, with many factors affecting it."

"Have you ever studied the Mibu Clan?" asked Blake.

"Not personally," said Oobleck, drinking down another mug of coffee. "Besides the issue of the subject's...controversial nature...there is also the issue of contacting the Mibu Clan directly. It involves travel to another continent, primarily on foot, as there are no air routes that are allowed to infringe upon their territory. The journey is not an easy one to make. However, I have spoken to Professor Ozpin about the nature of the Mibu, which was quite an enlightening discussion. I believe that there is a great deal more you can learn about them if you ask him personally. Although...I believe you have an even more effective source sitting a row behind you."

Kyo smiled and waved as everyone's eyes went to him.

"Since you were so kind as to grace us with your presence, perhaps you can provide us with more information about your clan," suggested Oobleck.

"If that's your wish, I'll answer what questions I can," said Kyo, getting up and coming to the front of the room.

For a moment, an awkward silence reined. No one had expected their seminar class to be diverted so extensively.

"Are you okay with this?" asked Yang, feeling like they were maybe overstepping their bounds.

"I'm fine with it," said Kyo with a smile. "To be frank, I was expecting these sorts of questions earlier."

"I guess I'll start then," said Weiss. "Can you tell us about your clan's military and government?"

"Ooh! Do you have Huntsmen and Huntresses too?" asked Ruby eagerly.

"Your dad's the king, right?" said Yang as Neo nodded in agreement.

"Well, now we're certainly off to a running start," said Kyo with a laugh. "All right then...I should start by saying, no, we don't have Huntsmen or Huntresses, Ruby...at least, those are not official positions within the Clan."

Ruby let out a disappointed mewl in response.

"However, you could say that the bulk of our military, if you could call it that, falls within the role taken up by Huntsmen and Huntresses in the outside world," explained Kyo. "Because we don't engage with the other Kingdoms, we have no need for a standing army to serve a defensive or offensive purpose against other nations, so our soldiers are free to concentrate their efforts on suppressing the Grimm." He paused and scratched his head. "Though I wouldn't necessarily call them soldiers either. Our military is very loosely organized and they essentially make up a warrior class charged with combat related activities."

"That does sound a lot like Huntsmen and Huntresses," mused Blake.

"In terms of hierarchy...there isn't much," said Kyo. "In groups, members will naturally defer to those who have more skill and experience. However, the overall leaders of the Mibu Clan's military wing are the Goyosei...or the Five Shining Stars in your language."

"Well...that's not ostentatious at all," said Weiss sarcastically.

Kyo laughed. "I admit that it comes off as rather melodramatic. However, they are the most powerful actively serving members of the Mibu Clan's military. As the name suggests, there are five of them at any given time. Upon entrance, they are recognized by both name and element."

"Element?" asked Yang.

"According to the classical Five Elements," explained Kyo, "fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. They earn their positions by studying the martial arts skills associated with those elements."

"That sounds pretty cool," said Jaune.

"Above the Five Stars are the actual leaders of the Mibu Clan itself," said Kyo. "They are called the Taishirou, or the Four Elders. Despite their name, they are not necessarily the true eldest members of the clan, though they often are as a matter of sheer practicality."

"Practicality?" asked Ren, raising an eyebrow.

"Entrance into the Four Elders is contingent upon showing mastery of several fields, and also possessing transcendent power even greater than the Five Stars," explained Kyo. "Because of that, those who have lived the longest amongst the Mibu Clan are generally those who have amassed the power, skill, and experience to be recognized as worthy of the position. However, there are those who have managed to earn their place there in a relatively short time and at a very young age by the standards of the Mibu Clan through sheer effort and dedication...like my mother."

Yang's eyes widened. "Wait! Your _mom_ is one of these Four Elders."

"She is," said Kyo. "In fact, she managed to earn the position, despite being so young and being someone born outside the clan, in a mere ten years, which is a record by the standards of the Clan. She had to work harder than most, in that time, in order to avoid accusations of nepotism."

"Oh right..." said Yang, smacking her fist into the palm of her prosthetic hand, "...because your dad's the king."

"Wait! If your dad's the king, does that make you a prince?" asked Nora, jumping up.

"Nope," said Kyo.

"Why not?" asked Weiss. "You're the heir to his throne aren't you?"

"Hmm...this is probably the trickiest thing to explain," said Kyo, scratching his chin. "How to put it...Perhaps I'll start with my father. He is technically the ultimate ruler of the Mibu Clan, holding the title of the Crimson King."

"Because of the eyes, I presume," said Blake.

Kyo nodded. "Technically, the position of Crimson King is somewhat nebulous within the clan, primarily because it is the only truly hereditary position restricted to a single family line. The authority of the Crimson King tends to vary according to his preferences. In the past, some had chosen to take a more active role in the governance of the Clan, while others chose to be mere figureheads and pursue their own interests instead. I have been told that there are even gaps in the line of succession, because some ancestors of mine chose not to take up the title at all, and the throne was left empty until a descendant claimed it. Thus, while my father is technically the ruler, the primary authority within the clan lies with the Four Elders."

"That's...weird," said Yang, frowning.

Kyo shrugged. "There are some pieces of information missing. I haven't been told why our lineage is so distinct. Father said that he would only share that knowledge with me when I was ready to receive it."

"So that's why you're not a prince," said Jaune. "You don't have to ascend the throne if you don't want to."

"Mostly correct," said Kyo. "It is true that I will only ascend the throne if I decide that it's what I truly want, though Father said that I will also have to prove myself worthy of the position."

Kyo reached up and pulled off his jacket, then his shirt. His audience gaped, wondering why they were being shown his bare upper body, though Yang was drooling slightly, seeing the powerful, yet supple muscles normally hidden beneath his loose clothes.

"But, like Father, my rank within the clan is somewhat nebulous," said Kyo, turning around. "And its basis is this."

Kyo showed them his back, the sight of which was met by shocked gasps. In the center of his back was a red cross, the same, brilliant crimson as his eyes. The descending arm was longer than the cross bar, tapering to a point at the bottom end, giving it the appearance of a very long, narrow triangle. The crossbar was near the top, its ends forming downward-facing hooks that also came to a point.

It didn't appear to be a tattoo. The way the flesh outlining it seemed raised fractionally suggested it was a scar...or even a brand, something that had been burned into his flesh. However, the color was far too vivid to match the flesh beneath his skin, especially if it had been scarred.

"Did your father do that to you?" asked Yang, horrified at the idea.

"I was born with it, actually," said Kyo. "But it is no ordinary birthmark. Father says that it will change, like it did for him. His looks like this now." Taking up a piece of chalk, Kyo drew a similar shape on the board. The cross seemed slightly longer and more elaborate. Most notably, in its center, where the crossbar met the descending arm, was the taijitu symbol that Kyo wore on the back of his kimono, enclosed in a circle. "He hasn't told me how to make it change. I think it's one of those things I'm supposed to figure out on my own."

Kyo pulled his shirt and jacket back on. "Thus, within the Mibu Clan, I am recognized as the Crimson Cross Knight. I have no actual authority within the clan, and the main privilege accorded to me is the freedom to come and go at will."

"So travel to the outside world is restricted?" asked Blake, leaning forward in interest.

"Very much," said Kyo. "As you've learned from your teacher, we have largely been written out of history, and previous generations of the Clan very much preferred it that way. As such, traveling to the outside world was forbidden to most individuals, and heavily restricted to the rest, though those restrictions have been loosening in recent years."

The discussion continued, Kyo answering what questions he could. Even Oobleck was taking extensive notes as Kyo talked about his homeland, though there were plenty of gaps, thanks to Kyo's imperfect knowledge, and spotty interests in more mundane affairs. They learned that the Mibu Clan's society was loosely feudal in nature, though with a good deal more class-mobility than actual feudalism generally allowed. The Mibu Clan had apparently founded settlements all across the continent they claimed, which was why the sections of it claimed by the other Kingdoms had not been settled either.

As the time for their class drew to a close, Oobleck took back over. "Well...that was an unexpected tangent," he said. "Of course, because of the sensitive nature of this subject matter, I cannot assign you any papers or projects on it. However, given what is occurring and what you plan to do, I can say that it was a worthwhile tangent to explore, so you shall all receive a passing grade for this class. Dismissed."

* * *

They filed out of the room, stretching and yawning, eager to catch the next airship back to Vale so that they could go home for dinner.

"Seminar classes are usually more interesting than usual, but that was especially so," said Blake.

"I'm just glad we get to visit them," said Nora, skipping alongside her. "Kyo made them sound super interesting. This'll be the best field trip ever!"

"Uh...it's technically a mission," said Jaune.

"And we'll be officially representing Beacon and Vale to the Mibu Clan, so we should be on our best behavior," admonished Weiss, throwing a glare at Nora, who took it without flinching.

"Party pooper," Nora muttered.

"Don't worry about it too much," said Kyo. "Protocol is not a major issue to the upper members of the clan, especially when it comes to dealing with outsiders. Though..." He scratched his head. "...I'm not entirely sure there even is a protocol dealing with visitors, since those who come from the outside are almost always immigrating. Hmm...?"

"Even you don't know?" asked Weiss.

"Nope," said Kyo cheerfully, looking back up at her. "I've never really bothered with protocol...so maybe I just don't know about any protocol that there is."

Weiss groaned in frustration while Yang and Ruby laughed.

They continued to chat as they made their way through the courtyard. Their path took them through an archway that then led out to the docks. As they were about to pass through it, their conversation was brought to a sudden halt.

A tremendous pressure descended on the group, as though the air around them had suddenly become heavier than lead. They tensed, legs bending, hands going for weapons as they looked around for the source of the sensation.

"What's going on?" asked Ruby, looking around anxiously. "What is this?"

"It's Aura," said Blake, recognizing the sensation. "It's unbelievably powerful!"

"We're about to be attacked again!" shouted Weiss, drawing her sword.

Ruby's hand reached for Crescent Rose, but paused as she hesitated. The sensation was powerful. But she couldn't shake the feeling that it was...familiar...in some way.

"Not again," groaned Jaune, looking around for the incoming attack.

A figure leapt off the top of the archway, descending like a diving hawk. Light flashed across drawn steel as a sword descended, its slashing edge aiming straight for the top of Kyo's head.

In a flash, Kyo drew Tenro from its sheath, holding the sword over his head and bracing his hand against its back. His defense caught the attacker's blade with an echoing clang, unleashing a shockwave the blew everyone else off their feet, and shattered nearby windows. The pavement underneath his feet shattered from the force behind the impact, though Kyo himself remained unbowed.

With a grunt, Kyo pushed upwards sharply, throwing his attacker off, knocking the figure back. His attacker executed a graceful flip, her fluttering cloak occasionally revealing a petite, feminine form as she twirled through the air, landing on her feet in a crouch, her sword held out to one side.

The sword was a straight-sided, double-edged blade, its sides sloping outward so that it actually widened along its length before tapering sharply into a broad tip, giving it a vaguely diamond-shape. The handle and hilt were very plain and undecorated. But the blade's spine featured a pattern of etchings and inlays enclosed in a rectangle that ran nearly all the way to the tip.

"Crap!" shouted Yang, immediately assuming a fighting stance, though she couldn't do much under these circumstances. She only had one gauntlet left, and her current prosthetic wasn't fit for combat. Under these circumstances, she was probably at less than half of her full strength.

Ruby's hand dropped away from Crescent Rose as she observed Kyo's attacker much more carefully. She was dressed in an ivory cloak, with blue stripes and a high collar that rose above her neck. Her face was hidden by a broad, circular, bamboo hat that was currently tilted down in such a way that Ruby could only make out a single bright-green eye in the space between the collar and the brim of the hat. There was something extremely familiar about that eye, something that made Ruby's fingers tremble. _It can't be..._

Everyone had tensed, preparing for a fight as they prepared to either defend themselves or get out of the way if the attacker went for Kyo again.

To their surprise, Kyo laughed and shouldered his sword, not seeming concerned in the slightest. "You've changed quite a bit. I don't think that's the way you normally say hello to people."

Kyo's attacker rose up. "Well I was so excited to see you, and I wanted to show you what I can do now," she said, her voice light and perky, almost like a child's.

At the sound of this voice, Yang's arms went limp and she nearly dropped to her knees, her strength all but deserting her. All the others immediately lowered their weapons, eyes widening and jaws dropping as their ears were caressed by the sound of a familiar voice, a voice they'd never expected to hear again.

"Actually, I didn't expect to find you here," continued the girl, now lowering her sword and turning it in her grip to slide it into its sheath, which hung from her waist, behind her back, the handle now extending to her right. As she did, her cloak was drawn back, revealing a familiar blouse, and feminine overalls with a black and green collar and black leggings. She lifted her head up so that the brim of her broad hat rose to reveal a light-skinned face dusted with freckles and short, curly, orange hair. "I came here because I wanted to see my friends and let them know I'm all right, so it was really lucky that you were here too."

"P-P-P..." Ruby dropped to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes at the sight of the friend she had thought she'd lost forever.

The other girl beamed cheerfully at her. "Salutations, Ruby."

"PENNY!"

* * *

 **I'll be honest, I had to retool some passages in earlier chapters to make Penny's fate more ambiguous, after Kyo "killed" her. I figured that the audience, at least, saw this coming, even if the characters necessarily didn't.**

 **This chapter is mostly exposition, which I suspect will bore some people, but I felt it important to work out how the Mibu fit into the world of Remnant.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

Ruby got back up to her feet and threw herself at Penny without hesitation. Penny met her with open arms, the two girls colliding as Ruby hugged Penny with all her might.

"You're alive!" gasped Ruby, burying her face into Penny's neck, letting her tears spread across her collar. "I thought I'd never see you again."

Penny hugged Ruby back with just as much enthusiasm. "I thought I wasn't going to see you either," said Penny. "Oh Ruby, it's sensational to see you again."

"What happened?" asked Weiss. "How are you here at all? Kyo destroyed your body, didn't he?"

Still holding Ruby, Penny looked up and smiled at Weiss. "Kyo destroyed my body, yes. But he saved my core. He made it look like he destroyed it so that Ironwood wouldn't keep coming after me, and think I was really dead. Then he brought me to the Mibu, and they were able to make a new body for me."

"But I thought the Mibu didn't know anything about robotics," said Yang, aghast at the situation. She walked up to Penny and gently poked her cheek, trying to reassure herself that Penny was actually there.

"They don't," said Penny. "The body they made for me _isn't_ robotic."

"Huh?" Yang poked Penny's cheek again, surprised at how squishy and soft it felt. This wasn't synthetic skin covering the metal body of an android. This really was flesh and blood.

Ruby felt it too. Penny's hugs had always been bone-crushing in their force, thanks to the robotic body that gave her far-greater-than-human strength. However, though Penny was hugging her back with what appeared to be all her strength, Ruby wasn't feeling any danger of being crushed. Leaning into Penny's neck, she felt something else, something moving through Penny's neck. _A pulse!_ A pulse meant a heartbeat, a heartbeat meant blood moving through veins. Penny's body was no longer that of an android, but a true flesh-and-blood body of a human being.

"How?" gasped Jaune.

"The Mibu were so nice," said Penny, finally letting go of Ruby and dancing back. "They grew this body just for me, and then embedded my Aura into it to give it life."

"So that's what they did," said Kyo with a sigh of relief. "I was worried they wouldn't be able to come up with a solution. But I'm glad my guess was right."

"What guess?" asked Ren, fixing Kyo with a confused stare.

"When you think about it, can Penny actually be called an android, even before she got her new body?" asked Kyo.

"Well..." said Nora, giving Penny a confused look.

"When you think about it, at her core, Penny is actually an entity of pure Aura," said Kyo. "Even when her body was destroyed, her Aura could be removed and implanted into a new one, which means that the body is not the critical aspect of her existence. An android body merely served as a host for Penny's Aura. Therefore, it was my hope that my Clan could help her by providing an organic body for her and then channeling her Aura into that. I'm glad it worked."

"Me too," said Penny, laughing as she gripped the brim of her hat and kicked her feet up playfully. "I'm not as strong as I was when I was a robot, but everything feels so different. It's amazing! And I can eat and sleep and do all those human things." She paused and blinked. "Though using the bathroom took getting the hang of."

Ruby leapt on her again, clinging to Penny with all of her strength. "I don't care," said Ruby, forcing her voice out through sobs. "You're here and that's all that matters to me."

"I'm happy I could make it too," said Penny, returning Ruby's hug.

Kyo tilted his head. "Still, this is a rather unexpected development. I knew it was unlikely that they'd be able to recreate your original weapons so easily. However, I didn't expect you to have the Kusanagi. You must have made quite the impression on Murasame-sama for him to entrust you with that."

"Kusanagi?" asked Yang, looking at Kyo questioningly.

"Her sword," said Kyo, gesturing to Penny.

All eyes (except Ruby's) went to the hilt of Penny's sword. Now that they thought about it, it was quite different from the weapons Penny usually utilized. As an android, she had been equipped with several flying blades guided by wires that were carried in a backpack installed on her body.

"What's so special about that sword?" asked Yang.

"The Kusanagi is _especially_ venerable," explained Kyo. "Remember how Nigel's sword is even older than mine?"

They all nodded.

Kyo stooped to pick up Tenro's sheath. "My sword was forged by the swordsmith, Muramasa. Nigel's blade, Hakuya, was forged by Julian, who was Muramasa's teacher in the art. The Kusanagi is older still. In fact, it is the eldest blade in the possession of the Mibu Clan, possibly even older than the clan itself. It's a treasure of our clan, and one that is guarded quite zealously. Even I'm amazed that Murasame-sama trusted you enough to give you that blade."

"Yeah," said Penny, nodding in agreement. "He's really nice. He actually reminds me a lot of my father."

Kyo chuckled. "I'm sure he'd be happy to hear that."

Ruby pulled back with a gasp. "Oh, Penny!" she said, tears falling from her eyes again. "Your father! I'm so sorry!"

Raising a hand, Penny gently placed it against the back of Ruby's head and pulled Ruby's face back into her shoulder. Penny's smile was still there, but seemed sadder now. "It's all right, Ruby," she said. "I've...come to terms with Father's death. He wouldn't want me to dwell on it."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Yang, her voice tight with relief.

"But that doesn't mean that I won't seek justice for his murder," said Penny, both her tone and her face hardening. Now her smile vanished. In its place was a stony glare, directed at none of the people present, instead staring determinedly into the distance. "Now that I'm back on my feet, I'll make sure that Ironwood gets what's coming to him."

"Don't get carried away too much," said Kyo, coming up to Penny and resting a hand on her shoulder. "You'll get your chance to deal with Ironwood in due time. For now, focus on your friends."

Penny smiled at him. "All right," she said.

"Although," said Kyo thoughtfully, tapping his chin, "this might be an ideal opportunity to give the General some payback in advance."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby, pulling her face back away from Penny's shoulder again.

"What I mean is that we should pay a visit to Professor Ozpin," said Kyo. "He's been in contact with the General fairly often lately, mostly as a consequence of my presence. The General told quite the tale to cover up the true nature of your 'death,' in order to paint me as the perpetrator. And, while I enjoyed the extra attention from all the hunters out for my head, I do believe the good General has been long overdue for some repercussions of his own for his actions. Now would be an excellent opportunity to bring the truth to light."

A sly, vindictive smile spread across Penny's face as she let go of Ruby and began to rub the palms of her hands together, chuckling eagerly. "That sounds like fun," she said.

Ruby swallowed, slightly unnerved by the change that had come over her friend. She wasn't the only one. Everyone except Kyo was disconcerted by this new facet of Penny's personality. Back when they had been fighting together against Salem, Penny had been perpetually peppy and upbeat, always wearing a smile, and never showing an ounce of malice, even towards their worst enemies. In a sense, it was a much more human look for her...which was, ironically, much more unsettling than any of her normal quirks.

"Uh...Penny..." said Ruby a bit nervously, taking a couple steps back from the former android.

Penny blinked, Ruby's voice knocking her out of her reverie. "Oh...sorry," she said giving Ruby a sad smile. "I guess I've changed."

Ruby sniffled and shook her head. "No...you don't have anything to be sorry about," she said. "You've been through so much. It would be weird if you didn't change. We'll get used to it. I'm just so glad you're back."

"Me too," said Penny, hugging Ruby once again.

The group began to make their way to the tower. However, Weiss, Blake, and Ren found themselves lagging behind, the three of them sharing similar, uneasy thoughts. What Kyo and Penny had described seemed utterly impossible, even considering how Kyo had suggested the Mibu might be able to regrow Yang's original arm. To create a functioning human body, whole cloth, seemed to stray uncomfortably close to the realm of magic. They wouldn't have believed it...if Penny weren't standing before them as living proof. The problem was that none of them had any idea of what that might mean.

* * *

Ironwood poured himself a mug of coffee and sighed. Turning his chair, he looked out the window, his eyes tracing their way across the grounds of Atlas Academy. Down below, lines of students marched and ran to the shouts of their instructors, performing their duties with perfect precision. The crack of Dust cartridges being fired was audible, even from up here in the tower. Just as it was in Beacon, Atlas' CCT Tower as also the office of the Academy's Headmaster. From up here, Ironwood could survey his domain, which represented everything that he strove and stood for.

Order.

In this age, that was what was most important. Beyond the walls of the Kingdom, the Grimm prowled, both spreading and feasting upon chaos and darkness. To stop them from overrunning everything and killing everyone, what was needed was a unified front, a concerted effort by _all_ people to drive them back. The last conflict with Salem had taught him how disorder and mistrust could lead to disaster. Because Ozpin and the others had dug in their heels, and tried to play it safe; because they had tried to pretend that everything was fine, and stood idly by while their enemies plotted their downfall; that was why Beacon had fallen, and Vale had nearly been overrun.

If they had all been on the same page and acting together, they could have acted sooner, and brought an end to Cinder's plan before it had a chance to reach fruition. Instead, everything had nearly come crashing down, and the fate of the world had been placed in the hands of children; student Huntresses and Huntsmen, and ones with bright futures to be sure, but _children_ all the same. It was nothing short of a miracle that they had succeeded.

James Ironwood would be damned if he allowed that to happen again on his watch.

However, as he activated the holographic display of the workstation installed in his desk, and began to read the latest reports on the condition of his Kingdom, Ironwood was irritated by the seeming omnipresence of the very thing that he despised. Disorder. It was festering everywhere.

Jacques Schnee was reporting yet another of his work camps lost to the mysterious Lightning Lord, who continued to plague him, the camps' inhabitants vanishing to God-knows-where, and leaving no trace. For all they knew, the faunus in those camps could be dead. Of course, this Lightning Lord could also be a member of the White Fang, turning the faunus he liberated into recruits for the organization to continue their radical acts of terrorism. Ironwood sighed and rubbed his forehead. When would those faunus realize that _they_ were the ones who had made such measures as confinement and segregation necessary in the first place? Walking back his decisions...that would be a sign of weakness, a signal that he was folding to their violence, which would only embolden them further.

Shaking his head, Ironwood turned to the next item on the agenda, only to snort in agitation, and immediately spin his chair around with a grunt so that he didn't have to look at it right away again. Winter's detailed report on Kyo's fight with Nigel Whitaker had arrived, complete with a video of the fight itself. The last thing Ironwood needed right now was to be reminded that Ozpin, his supposed ally, was sheltering the single most dangerous criminal in all of Remnant. Worse still, Ironwood had been tricked into reuniting Kyo with one of his old allies, which had undoubtedly been their plan from the very beginning.

The fingers of Ironwood's right hand tightened around the arm of his chair, the powerful prosthetics sinking into the metal and leaving indents behind, as he remembered where he was and let go. The memory of the pain was still crystal clear in his mind. The wind had been like a blade, slicing through his flesh effortlessly, and carving his state-of-the-art prosthetics to ribbons. The vision of a bird of flames had been burned vividly into his mind. If Kyo had wished, he could have killed Ironwood with that blow, but had been held back from the finishing blow by Penny Polendina, who had realized the chaos that would swamp Atlas if he were killed, a final trace of loyalty shown by that wretched, defective machine.

Ironwood was brought back to reality by a tone that sounded from his desk, signaling a call coming over the CCT. Turning around, Ironwood frowned, dismissing the files he'd been reviewing for a moment. His eyes widened when he saw that the call was coming from Beacon. Perhaps there was a new development, maybe even good news. It was unlikely, but Ironwood could hope.

He accepted the call and brought it up on his office's holographic display, which brought up an image of Ozpin, standing in the center of his office. There was a serious look on Ozpin's face, one that was almost angry, as though he were wrestling with an intense, personal fury.

"Ozpin," said Ironwood, "what is it?"

"It would seem, James, that we have a great deal to discuss," said Ozpin, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses, "such as your falsely accusing Mibu Kyo of crimes that he did not commit."

"I did not imagine my ships burning, and my men lying dead on the ground," said Ironwood, a growl rising in his throat. "Don't you dare tarnish their memory by suggesting that Kyo did not kill them."

"Oh I most certainly would not do that," said Ozpin. "Rather, I would instead point out that Kyo was acting in the interests of another, protecting her from a man who would abuse his authority in order renege on a promise."

"What are you suggesting, Ozpin?" growled Ironwood.

"You refused to allow Penny Polendina to transfer to Beacon, as you had previously promised her, and instead planned to confine her to Atlas, for the sake of studying and duplicating her, using her as a means to develop new instruments of war," said Ozpin. "When Ms. Polendina did not accept those terms, she fled and you pursued. Kyo acted to protect her."

A chill ran down Ironwood's spine, but he did not let any evidence of it reach his face. He'd figured that Kyo would give his side of the story to Ozpin. But still... "You would trust the word of that criminal over me? How long have we been allies, Ozpin? How long have we been friends?"

"Several years now," replied Ozpin. "Which is why it saddens me that I must reconsider our friendship. Trust me, Glynda is quite livid with you for what you did to Ms. Polendina."

"Again, you're taking the word of a criminal seeking to save his own hide over mine," said Ironwood.

"I would not be contacting you if it were merely an issue of your word against his," said Ozpin. "As it so happens, we have obtained some very damning evidence."

"What-?"

Ironwood's voice died in his throat as a new figure walked into the projector, taking up a position next to Ozpin. It was a girl with a striped cloak enclosing most of her body, and her face hidden by the brim of a broad, bamboo hat. Reaching up, she pulled off the hat to reveal none other than the face of Penny Polendina.

Color deserted Ironwood's face and he pushed back with his legs as hard as he could nearly pushing his chair right over. "H-how-? I saw Kyo crush your core!"

"Kyo only made you _think_ that he did," said Penny. "He saved me...from _you_." There was no smile on her face, no bright and cheerful tone. She was glaring at him, and speaking with a voice that fairly hummed with anger, a force that was palpable, even across the continents that separated them.

"This can't be real!" snapped Ironwood. "It's some kind of trick!"

"I am very real, General," said Penny. "Real enough to take your head. I'll show you, the next time our paths cross. I don't care what you do or say, I'll make you pay for killing my father."

"That was..." Ironwood fumbled for words.

"Yet another issue that will need to be discussed," said Ozpin coldly.

"Oz..." said Ironwood, his tone almost pleading now. "Please...You know that what I do I do to protect the people, all the people. Sacrifices must be made."

"Only when they are _absolutely_ necessary, and all other options have been exhausted," admonished Ozpin. "And I am afraid that your standards for what constitutes 'necessity' have become dangerously loose as of late. I will be bringing this to the attention of Vale's Council, and I will also be sharing this information with the heads of the other Kingdoms as well. It is quite likely that your position, and the authority you have been entrusted with will have to be reviewed."

"Ozpin, don't be foolish," said Ironwood. "Polendina is a machine, a remarkable machine I'll grant you, but a machine all the same. She must be studied and controlled, in order to bring out her fullest potential, and allow us to advance our technology to the next level. Imagine what it would be like if we could field an entire army of Polendinas, Aura empowered androids to fight against the Grimm. Imagine having to no longer risk the lives of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Imagine our people safe from harm."

"Instead, I imagine the horrors that you will subject an untold number of artificially created beings to," said Ozpin sadly. "The presence of Aura denotes the presence of a soul, which indicates the presence of life. These would not be mindless machines, like your Knights and Jaegers. They would be people, born into this world for the sole purpose of fighting your wars, and risking their existence for the sake of others...which is noble, when such a path is chosen for oneself, but not so much when it is forced upon one."

Beside Ozpin, Penny's eyes narrowed into an angry glare.

"In all likelihood, the primary result is that Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo will cancel the bounty on Kyo," said Ozpin. "They will recognize that the bounty itself was instated under false pretenses. However, as you have said, Ms. Polendina's status is unique, as there are no laws pertaining to an android with Aura, there is no law in any Kingdom that protects her rights. Because of that, I expect that you will escape censure from the other Kingdoms...for now. But expect them to be much more cautious in their dealings with you."

"You understand that there is no provision in the law for an artificial being with Aura," said Ironwood. "I am within my rights to demand the return of my property."

"I would not abide by those demands even if things were as they had been," said Ozpin, his odd emphasis on the past tense unnerving Ironwood. "But, as things stand right now, Ms. Polendina's status has changed, and she can be recognized as a human now."

"What?" James shot up in his seat, eyes wide, the implication of Ozpin's words hitting home immediately. "You can't mean...?"

Ozpin nodded to Penny at his side. "Ms. Polendina...if you would..."

Penny raised one hand and extended a finger. In her other hand, she produced a needle and used it to prick her extended finger. When she removed the finger, she held it up for Ironwood to see.

The holographic system utilized by their offices wasn't perfect, but the resolution was good enough that Ironwood could easily see the droplet of red welling up from the puncture in Penny's finger. _Blood! But that means...!_

"As you can see, Ms. Polendina is now human...from a biological perspective. She is no longer an android, and cannot be classified as property. You have no claim to her."

"How?" gasped Ironwood. "There's no way that should be possible. You can't just make an android into a human."

"We are not obligated to answer that question," said Ozpin calmly. "I have said my piece, and Ms. Polendina has said hers. This is where it ends...for now. Thank you for your time, James."

The call ended and the signal cut out, leaving Ironwood alone in a barren office. Ironwood slumped back down into his chair and clutched his face in his hands, trying to figure out just what had happened. _There's no way that should be possible,_ he thought. _You can't just take an android and transfer its consciousness into a human body. And that body was visually identical to her android one. It has to be a trick. No! Ozpin wouldn't do something so obvious, not when a falsehood like that would fail under the mildest scrutiny. But if that's the case, then how...?_

Of all the things that had come to light in that session, the fact that Penny was no longer an android was the revelation that rattled Ironwood the most; more than learning that the falsehoods he'd told to get Kyo's bounty instated had been revealed, more than the fact that Penny was still alive, and more than even the fact that Penny had promised to kill him the next time that she saw him. Those other things, while still important and dramatic, were also something that Ironwood had considered the possibility of happening. However, the idea of taking and artificial existence like Penny, and putting it in a human body, a body that seemed to have been created just for that purpose, was beyond his wildest expectations.

 _But where did she get a body like that?_ he wondered. Then it struck him. _Kyo! Kyo had her core! She claimed that he rescued her. There's no way he could have that kind of power, but he must have taken her to...the Mibu Clan._ If that was the case. If the Mibu had been the ones to implant Penny's Aura into a new body, a human body, then their power exceeded Ironwood's worst fears. The Mibu Clan's power wasn't just a transcendent strength that would allow them to dominate the battlefield, but a power that granted them control over life itself.

Ironwood bit on his left thumbnail. _They're monsters. I can't believe Ozpin actually wants to reveal them to the world._

* * *

"That went about as well as could be expected," said Ozpin as he ended the call. "Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Polendina."

"Thank you for helping me," said Penny, smiling at Ozpin.

Ozpin smiled back and rested a hand lightly on Penny's shoulder. "Circumstances derailed our plans somewhat, but you are still welcome to enroll at Beacon, as you originally planned. Though it might make the numbers a little awkward, you are more than welcome to join with Ruby and Juniper."

Behind him, Glynda nodded her agreement, while Ruby and Nora both gasped eagerly, their eyes sparkling. The others showed varying degrees of approval.

Penny's smile faltered slightly and she raised a hand and gently lifted Ozpin's hand from her shoulder. "Thank you, Professor," she said, "but I can't take that offer...not just yet. There are still things I need to do."

"But Penny..." protested Ruby, tears gathering in her eyes again.

"It's not what you think, Ruby," said Penny, turning to look at her closest friend. "I do want to join you and I plan to...just not right away. I still have some obligations I need to fulfill."

"Are you talking about your 'obligation' to go kill Ironwood?" asked Yang, trying hard to keep nervousness from her voice at the idea. As far as she was concerned right now, Ironwood was scum, and she'd relinquished and respect she used to have for him. But, at the same time, going out to hunt down the leader of another Kingdom was a big undertaking, and one that couldn't be done without repercussions.

Penny shook her head. "It's not that," she said. Then, to their surprise, she giggled. "Actually, I'm kinda lucky because I wasn't expecting to be able to take care of here at Beacon. After I showed you all that I was okay, I was planning on going to look for Kyo." She grinned and turned to Kyo, who smiled back. "I'm so lucky that he was here too."

"And why would you be looking for me?" asked Kyo.

"I want to thank you for saving me and freeing me, of course," said Penny, a shy expression crossing her face, an expression that immediately raised Yang's hackles and set her nerves on edge.

 _She couldn't mean..._ Yang's eyes widened as she saw Penny's cheeks redden. _Not good!_

Then Penny rapidly shook her head. "But I was also asked to find you," she said. "Your mother wanted me to give you a message."

"Oh?" Kyo raised an interested eyebrow.

 _A message from his mother?_ Yang's eyebrows went up at that. _A message from one of the ruling members of the Mibu Clan._

"She told me that, if I found you, I needed to ask you to stay put for a while," said Penny.

"Mom wants me to stay where I am?" asked Kyo.

"She said you were probably planning on returning for the Water Festival," said Penny.

Kyo nodded. "That's correct," he said.

"Then she told me to say this," said Penny, clearing her throat, which took a few tries as it was one of the things she wasn't quite used to. "She wants you to stay where you are, and wait for her to send for you. You won't have to _walk_ home this time."

Kyo blinked. "Does that mean...?"

"The Mibu are finishing their development of their very first airship," said Penny, her tone surprisingly excited. "And its inaugural flight will be to come and pick you up to bring you home."

"Wow! That is good news," said Kyo, his eyes widening.

"After I've found you, I need to head back and inform them of your location so that they'll know where to send the ship," said Penny. "They haven't worked out the particulars of how fast it can fly yet, so she couldn't tell me exactly when it will be here to pick you up, which is why she wants you to wait."

"Well...that sounds reasonable," said Kyo.

 _Right, the Mibu don't have scrolls,_ Yang remembered. Without any way of tracking him, looking for Kyo would have been like trying to find a needle in the world's largest haystack. It would be far better to have someone track him down beforehand, so that they would know where to send the ship, though Yang had to admit that it really was lucky that Penny had found him so quickly.

"She also said that you are welcome to bring any guests that you wish," said Penny.

"So that means we can all come," said Ruby eagerly.

"Of course," said Penny.

"Hooray!" cheered Ruby and Nora in unison.

"Wait a minute!" shouted Weiss, catching their attention. "If the Mibu have airships now, does that mean they're using Dust?"

"Nope," said Penny bluntly. "They don't use Dust at all. It's really amazing."

"How?" gasped Weiss, unable to imagine any other way for them to get a vessel off the ground. Granted, there were plenty of possible considerations, such as the use of lighter-than-air technology, like blimps or zeppelins, though she would be quite disappointed if that were the case.

"It's a secret," said Penny in a cheeky tone practically tailor-made to put Weiss' hackles up.

"Why you..." growled Weiss under her breath.

"I guess you'll just have to wait to find out," Blake teased her.

Weiss' reply was an inaudible grumble.

"That seems to be excellent news," said Ozpin a warm smile on his own face. "I am sure that you all have much to talk about. While I appreciate your company, I'm sure that you'd rather speak somewhere more private."

"Oh...right," said Ruby, blushing slightly. They were all still standing in Ozpin's office after all, with both Ozpin and Glynda watching them.

"It _is_ excellent news for you all," said Glynda, smiling, "as it appears you will be spared having to take a long walk to reach the Mibu Clan's holdings, which means that you will have time for additional missions and classes...and will spare us the trouble of having to go out of our way to accommodate your extended...mission." She'd spoken that last part in an almost deadpan manner while giving Ozpin a flat look.

The others nodded. While they had been willing, they were grateful that they'd be able to avoid walking all the way to another continent to reach Kyo's homeland. This development promised to save them a lot of time and effort. Of course, that meant they had more time to take missions, classes, and train.

"I'm sure you'd all like to talk about this a bit more," said Ozpin. "So you are free to go on home."

At his dismissal, they gladly took the elevator down the Tower so that they could catch an airship into Vale. At this point, it was much later than they'd originally planned, though they had a rather generous margin until the last airship left for town.

Getting off the elevator at the ground floor, they were shocked to see a familiar pair of people waiting for them at the entrance to the Tower.

"Uncle Qrow?" said Ruby, raising her eyebrows.

"Winter?" added Weiss, giving her elder sister a dubious look.

"Hey there, kids," said Qrow, grinning and raising a hand in greeting. "We've been waiting for ya."

Beside him, Winter looked unusually pale. It wasn't hard to figure out why, as her eyes were locked on Penny, who returned Winter's look with an oddly expressionless one that gave nothing away about her feelings.

From her place beside Ruby, Weiss felt the bottom drop out of her stomach, as she looked back and forth between her sister and Penny. It wasn't hard to understand why Winter was so nervous. As an Atlesian Specialist, Winter was a part of the military infrastructure that had kept Penny in a virtual state of captivity for so long, and had been dispatched to capture her when Penny had fled. Furthermore, of the Specialists in service to the military, Winter was especially close to Ironwood, and had been privy to many of his secrets, including Penny's true nature as an android, which had still been a secret to the population at large at the time of her first "death." That also meant that Winter had probably been privy to Ironwood's plans for Penny, including his decision to renege on the promise to allow Penny to transfer to Beacon, and the death of Penny's father. And, like a good soldier, she probably had not done anything to try and stop her commanding officer.

The guilty look on Winter's face made Weiss fairly certain that Winter had indeed known what Ironwood had wanted to do with Penny, and, if she had opposed that plan, had not done nearly enough to try and stop or derail it. She could only hope that Penny's wrath was focused primarily on Ironwood himself and not something that would compel her to lash out at anyone associated with him.

"You really are alive," said Winter.

"Yes," replied Penny, her tone level. She was calm, but that calmness only seemed to worsen the tension hanging over that space.

Winter swallowed and walked forward, step by deliberate step, crossing the distance between them, her hands down by her side, but not straying an inch towards her sword. Behind her, Qrow waited, his arms folded over his chest, an uncharacteristically sober and serious look on his face.

Winter stopped a short distance away from Penny, just within arm's reach. If Penny wanted, she could easily reach out and touch Winter with her hand.

 _Or she could attack and cut Winter in two with that sword,_ thought Weiss nervously, her own body tensing.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. It was an awkward silence, the silence that settles when two parties face one another and each waits for the other to say their piece, neither feeling right in being the first one to speak.

Finally, it was Winter who decided to break that silence.

"I won't..." she said hesitantly, "...I won't apologize for what we did to you."

A tiny whimper, softer than a whisper, rose in Weiss' throat as she fought down a horrified grimace. When she saw Penny's eyes harden, she was certain it was the end of her sister.

"Apologizing now...would just be an insult to you," said Winter, lowering her head and staring at her feet. "In hindsight, I wish I had acted differently, that I had done something to stand up for you. I was there when General Ironwood made his decision. I should have at least said or done something to try and dissuade him. But instead, I kept my silence and stood aside, and allowed him to do as he pleased. Because of that, you suffered greatly. My apologizing now would mean nothing."

"Why?" asked Penny. "Why did you?"

Winter sighed. "I made up all kinds of excuses to pass it off," she said. "I told myself that it was for the greater good, not by letting you be studied for the sake of Atlas, but for the sake of maintaining my standing within the military. If I were to enact real change, I would need the power to enforce that change, power that would only be available if I continued to maintain General Ironwood's trust in me. If I challenged him, I would undermine that respect, and be unable to accomplish anything that I'd set out to do. It was the same excuse I've been hiding behind my entire career.

"Weiss chose to inherit the company to try and change it for the better, to undo Father's immoral deeds and restore our family's company to its rightful state. If she did that, I decided to do my part by entering the military, and, from there, doing what I could to change the way things worked in Atlas itself. However, at every turn, I balked at doing what was right, if it involved threatening my standing. I always told myself to wait, wait for the time when my rank was higher, wait for when I had more pull and authority, wait for when I had gathered more people of right mind under me, wait...wait...wait some more. I've hidden behind that excuse for years."

Winter sank to her knees, lowering herself below Penny. "Because of that, I have no right to apologize, nor ask for your forgiveness. The only thing I can do is bow my head and allow you to do what you will."

The tension suffusing the room reached fever pitch. Weiss bit down on her lip so hard that a trickle of blood leaked out of her mouth. Her hands clenched tightly, fingernails digging into her palms. A small, but warm hand covered hers and Weiss looked over to see Ruby give her a gentle smile before squeezing Weiss' hand reassuringly.

Penny looked down at Winter for a long moment. She leaned forward and gently wrapped her arms around Winter's shoulders. "Thank you," she said, her smile returning as she hugged Winter.

Winter's own arms rose up and then wrapped around Penny's torso, Winter hugging her back with much more vigor, almost as though she were drowning, and clinging tightly to the only piece of flotsam keeping her afloat. A choked sob worked its way out of Winter's throat.

"Even if you didn't ask for it, I forgive you," said Penny. "But...what will you do now?"

"What do you mean?" asked Winter, letting go of Penny and getting back to her feet.

"I'm going to Atlas someday," said Penny, her expression hardening once again. "And when I do, I will bring Ironwood down. I forgive you now, but...are you simply going to make the same mistakes again? Will you just go back and serve him without questioning his actions? Will you rely on that excuse once more? What will you do?"

Winter swallowed. She was glad Penny had forgiven her. However, the unexpected questions caught her off guard. It wasn't like the Penny she knew to speak like that. She supposed that Penny's brush with death had changed her a great deal.

It would have been the easiest thing in the world to say that she would do something now, that she'd seen the error of her ways and would now challenge Ironwood's way of doing business. But, in reality, suddenly changing her course of action was far more difficult than that. And Winter didn't dare disrespect Penny with another lie.

"I remember a bit of history I learned when I was younger," said Kyo, suddenly interjecting himself into the conversation. He walked up to stand next to Penny, resting a hand on her shoulder. "It isn't a history that I think you're familiar with. It comes from another era."

"What of it?" asked Winter as Qrow came up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder in much the same way that Kyo was doing for Penny.

"There was once a country," said Kyo. "It was fractured and fragmented in the throes of an almost perpetual state of civil war that had been going on for generations. Various powers fought fiercely for the right to control the nation. In that state, there arose a great warlord, who gathered a great deal of power to himself and successfully began a campaign to conquer the country. His name was Nobunaga.

"However, he was eventually betrayed by one of his generals. One of that warlord's trusted subordinates, named Hideyoshi, rose up in his stead and continued the work of fighting to unify the nation. While he succeeded in this, he was eventually supplanted by a third, Ieyasu, who took over the process, and finalized that country's unification, laying the foundations for a regime that would last for centuries. Collectively, these three would become known as that country's Three Great Unifiers."

"What of them?" asked Winter, wondering what any of this vague story had to do with their current situation or, more importantly, her answer to Penny's questions.

"Well, what you said made me think of a children's story they told us about those unifiers," explained Kyo. "The three of them were confronted with the problem of a caged bird that would not sing. Nobunaga's response was 'Kill it.' Hideyoshi's response was, 'Make it want to sing.' Ieyasu's response was, 'Wait.'"

Winter blinked in confusion. "Wait?"

Kyo nodded. "As a military leader, Nobunaga was renowned for his brutality and use of force to amass his power. Hideyoshi built upon the foundations Nobunaga laid and completed the groundwork for the nation's unification. But it was Ieyasu who, by waiting, was ultimately able to move at the right moment to seize control and truly unify the nation, a unification that lasted some three-hundred years…if I remember my history lessons properly."

"What are you saying then?" asked Winter.

Kyo's smile widened. "If you are looking for a chance to truly do some good for the people of Atlas, then be patient, and wait just a little longer. Your time will come. Of that, I can assure you."

"And how can you assure that?" asked Winter.

Kyo chuckled. "It's just, after our Clan's festival, I've decided to take a little trip...to Atlas."

"Y-you have?" asked Winter, her color deserting her once again.

"Why yes," said Kyo. "I wish to accompany Penny so that she might offer her greetings to the General after all. I think I'll also have a few friends of mine accompany us."

"A few friends..." Though it hardly seemed possible at this point, Winter got even paler at the sound of that.

"Yes," said Kyo with a beaming smile. "I think this will be an excellent chance to call on the General, so that Penny can give him her regards."

"That's...gonna be something," said Qrow nervously, licking his lips before finally giving in and pulling a familiar flask off his hip and gulping down its contents.

"This will be a fun trip," said Kyo cheerfully. "Don't you agree, Nigel?"

"Huh?" A collective gasp rose from the group and their eyes rushed to the entrance to the tower, where a familiar, black-clad figure emerged from behind the edge of one of the doors.

"Not really," said Nigel Whitaker as he stood before everybody. His gaze was intense as it focused on Kyo, which bellied his stated nonchalance. However, the whole situation was undermined somewhat by the fact that, underneath his clothes, he was covered from head to toe in bandages, looking almost like a mummy.

 _Wow...Kyo really got him good,_ thought nearly everyone present.

"But it sounds like fun," said Kyo. "We'll get everyone together: Hayate, Saisei, and you. We'll all go up to Atlas. Just think about it, the General will probably throw everything he has at us. Just imagine, thousands of soldiers and androids, countless mechs, and dozens of airships between us and him."

Nigel turned away, though his body was beginning to quiver. "Sounds boring," he said.

 _He's lying,_ thought Yang as she fixed Nigel with a deadpan stare.

 _He's totally pumped for it,_ Jaune thought to himself.

The others were all of a similar mind.

Nigel took a moment to get himself back under control in order to affect his air of indifference properly. When he did, he turned back to Kyo. "Fine then," he said. "It doesn't really sound interesting, but I'll go along with it. I'm going to go to the Leng ahead of you. You'd better show up. Otherwise, I'll come looking for you."

"Okay, be safe," said Kyo, waving as Nigel turned around and departed, looking as though he planned to simply leave Beacon and walk all the way to the Mibu homeland himself.

"Will he be okay?" asked Yang.

"He'll get lost for sure," said Kyo with a laugh. "But he'll get there eventually. He always does...after six or seven detours...sometimes to a different continent."

Winter sighed. "I'm not looking forward to this at all," she said.

"Well, if you simply pass along this information to the General, I'm sure he'll be glad that you've warned him ahead of time," said Kyo pleasantly. " _I'm_ looking forward to this. I hope that he will too."

"I guess it's time for me to return to Atlas," said Winter.

"Winter?" asked Weiss, stepping forward.

Winter smiled at Weiss. "Right. I can hold off my departure until tomorrow. Why don't we go out to dinner, just the two of us?"

"I'd love to," said Weiss, happy to be able to spend at least a little time with her elder sister before Winter had to leave.

"In that case, why don't we have a night to ourselves," said Qrow, heading over with a grin and throwing his arms around Yang and Ruby.

"Are you leaving with Winter?" asked Ruby curiously.

"I figure I'll stick around with the Ice Queen and bug her some more," said Qrow with a roguish wink.

No one failed to notice Winter's blush, and chuckles and giggles filled the air. At this point, Qrow's relationship with Winter was practically an open secret, at least to RWBY and JNNR. For multiple reasons, the pair were rather reluctant to allow Ironwood, or most anyone else in Atlas, learn about it, least of all Winter and Weiss' father.

"Can Penny come with us?" asked Ruby. She looked pleadingly at the former android. "Or do you have to leave?"

"I can stay the night," said Penny with a warm, happy smile. "Unlike Kyo, I don't have to walk."

 _What does that mean?_ wondered Yang and Ruby at the same time.

They headed back to the docks, now having to hurry a bit to catch the last airship out to Vale for the evening. As the vessel loomed into view, Ruby did something completely unexpected. She stopped, turned, and then threw herself at Kyo, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hugging him tightly. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for saving Penny."

"It was my pleasure," said Kyo, hugging her back.

Ruby pulled back, grinning at Kyo. "And, for the record, you have my full approval to date my sister."

Kyo laughed. "Well I'm glad that I can get that at least," he said, gently ruffling her hair.

Ruby let go and it was Yang's turn. Before Kyo could say a word, Yang hugged him as well...then kissed him. This time, it was no light peck on the cheek, but full on the lips. After a moment, Yang pulled her lips away and grinned eagerly at Kyo. "I needed to thank you properly too," she said.

Kyo was blushing furiously. But he shook his head to clear it. "Well, I'm glad that you're so enthusiastic about it," he said.

Yang smirked. "You better prepare yourself. Once Ozpin gets your bounty lifted, I'm gonna take you on some _real_ dates."

"I'll look forward to it," said Kyo.

"Yang, come on!" shouted Weiss. "The airship isn't going to wait much longer."

Yang sighed, then darted in, snatching another quick kiss off Kyo's lips before turning around and dashing for the airship's ramp, waving over her shoulder as she went.

Kyo waved back and watched as the ramp closed and the airship took off. Then, he slowly lifted his fingers to his lips. "Well then," he said, "I could certainly get used to that."

* * *

 **The fun thing about _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ is how many cool little weapons and artifacts are lying about, many of which I decided to pick up and use in this story. The weapons are definitely the man threads that connect this story back to the SDK manga (we don't really talk about the anime, until I do). Thus, the Kusanagi gets to appear, as Penny's new weapon, since she's no longer an android.**

 **Next chapter...prepare for a completely different story thread. This one is going to follow a character that I've introduced earlier in the story, who hasn't actually appeared yet, as well as a RWBY character, whose design I absolutely love, despite the fact that she's had about a minute, at most, of screen-time in the whole series. I probably take quite a few liberties with her character, with the "probably" part being because there's so little of her character in canon to take liberties with.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

 _Eight months earlier:_

The wind whistled and howled eerily across the night, carrying with it a bitter cold feeling that threatened to leach its way through the scant protection the people wore as they trudged over the dry, but frozen ground. Through the days and nights, they had marched. The airships that had carried them out here had been left behind, having run out of Dust to carry them any further. Now, all they had left was their own legs to carry them onward towards the promise of an uncertain future.

But an uncertain future was better than what lay behind them. Staying where they were held the promise of no future, save that of endless servitude beneath the yoke of the Schnee family. Once, they had been residents of Atlas. As the conflict engulfing the world had escalated, these people had felt increased scrutiny, increased discrimination. They were not the White Fang. They were not terrorists. They were people who wanted to live their lives, just like humans. But the humans chose not to see things that way.

It started gradually. Curfews were put into effect, denying them the right to be out past a certain time of night. Their businesses were marked so that people knew which ones were owned by faunus, not that many faunus had ever been able to open their own businesses in Atlas. They were no longer permitted to assemble. They could not protest. They could not even gather for a funeral or celebration.

They were forced to give up their homes and move; first into concentrated sections of the city that were cordoned off. Then they were forced to abandon those, along with most, if not all their belongings and move out to internment camps constructed further out in Atlas' territory. There, they were promised the opportunity to work. But that promise was a lie. They had been given over to the Schnees, who forced them to work in the Dust quarries and mines with hardly any pay. When they returned to the camps, there was nothing to spend what little money they earned on. The food was barely enough for them to survive, and the Schnees didn't seem to care whether they lived or died.

They had been shocked, the night their liberation came. He arrived out of the west like a thunderstorm, breaking over the camp, cutting down the Knights that constantly patrolled the perimeter, lightning blasting the guards who attempted to stand in his way. In mere moments, he had brought the SDC's security forces to their knees and commandeered the ships and transports they used to move both Dust and personnel to escape.

Their flight had taken them even further north. They had flown to the absolute limit of their ships' range, going as far as they could. When they could fly no further, they set down and left the ships there to rust and crumble while they made the rest of the journey on foot.

They'd marched with all their strength, both young and old. Infants and the infirm were carried. Their liberator was adamant that none be left behind. Their feet were bleeding and blistered in worn shoes. The cold sank in bitter claws through the scant protection of their clothing, threatening them with hypothermia and frostbite. They were at their limits, prepared to collapse at any second.

Their journey had carried them to the northernmost reaches of this continent and out along the peninsula that stretched out west, and slightly south. Just now, their journey had reached the end of that peninsula.

"How much farther?" asked the dog-eared faunus at the lead of the group, hugging a ragged burlap cloak around himself.

"Less than a mile," said the boy in front of him.

Just looking at him, it was hard to imagine this boy as their liberator. He couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen, just looking at him. His silver hair was cut so that it hung in a flat line above his eyes and stretched only a short distance down his neck. He couldn't have been more than a few inches over five feet. He was dressed in a loose, white shirt, with equally loose sleeves that flapped in the wind, along with a pair of dark-blue shorts. His feet were covered by basic white tabi socks and zori sandals. Despite his state of dress, he seemed not to notice the cold in the slightest as he led the way, which certainly set him apart from the throngs that followed him.

The other thing that set him apart was the sword that he wore at the small of his back. It was a slender, straight, double-edged blade. Its hilt lacked any kind of guard and its handle seemed to be inscribed with square-shaped designs that matched its flat, rectangular shape. The sword rested in a sheath that left the handle extending out to the boy's right where he could easily reach down and pull it free.

The boy could have passed for a human, were it not for his most distinctive feature, a pair of amber-colored eyes with vertical, slit-shaped pupils. There was something snake-like about those eyes, a reptilian countenance that showed little inflection, even in the heat of battle. Even while surrounded on all sides and cutting his way through androids and guards alike, the boy had remain calm and composed. Now, during their journey westward, he showed no signs of feeling the hardships that they all endured.

The boy came to a stop, his eyes narrowing against the wind. Behind him, the column of faunus that had been following in his wake shuffled to a stop as well, muttering, wondering what this new delay implied.

However, after a few seconds, the boy's face softened and he smiled, the first real expression he'd shown them ever since he'd appeared before them. "We're here," he said. "He's been waiting for us."

"Who?" asked the dog-eared faunus behind him.

"Your ticket to a better life," said the boy. "Come on. There's shelter up ahead."

The promised shelter was a series of long, low, lodges, built from cut logs. In size and shape, they were not all that dissimilar from the bunkhouses in the camps they had just escaped from. The main difference was that those bunkhouses had been built from the cheapest materials available, and shoddily constructed. At night, the wind slipped in through the gaps between the walls and chilled their sleeping forms to the bone. But, as the weary faunus trudged into one of the lodges, they instead found that the logs had been tightly fitted together so that no wind seeped through once the doors were closed.

On the inside, rows of bunks stretched from one end of the hall to the other, on both sides. In the aisle between them were set long tables and benches, with fires burning intermittently between them, keeping the entire space at a comfortable temperature.

The travelers' eyes were most strongly drawn towards the tables, which were laden down with food. Stew bubbled away in massive pots, loaves of bread were set out to either side. There were plates and bowls for all, though the massive group of faunus couldn't all fit into a single one of the lodges.

"Go ahead and get everyone set up," said the boy, gesturing to the dog-eared faunus in the lead. "The other lodges have the same setup, so no one's going hungry tonight." He turned and gave the man a stern look. The man had been serving as the leader of the faunus in the camp, the one who had helped keep everything organized while they were on the move. "Make sure that the injured get fed first."

The man nodded and quickly turned and started talking to the crowd behind them, relaying the boy's orders. The group split and made their way into the halls. As the boy had promised, there was plenty of room and food and the halls were all warm and comfortable.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," said the boy, turning to head along the tables towards the other end of the building.

"Where are you going?" asked the faunus headman.

"I'm gonna go talk with our ferryman. He's the one taking you across the strait." The boy nodded down to the other end of the building where a single man waited.

Much like the boy, this man hardly seemed appropriately dressed for the weather. He wore a sleeveless, blue vest that hung open, leaving his arms and large portions of his chest and stomach bare, revealing hardened and toned muscles. His legs were covered by loose, white hakama, tied shut around the ankles and held up by a simple white sash. His hair was dark-brown, ruffled and spiky, short save for a simple rattail running down the back of his head. He'd said nothing as the boy and the faunus had entered the lodge, content to watch them with a pair of calm, dark-blue eyes.

The boy approached the man with a smile and the two traded hand clasps.

"You brought a big group with you this time, Hayate," said the man with a grin.

"Some three-thousand, all told," said the boy. "That work camp was packed to the gills. But it was the largest of the ones being run by the SDC."

The man whistled. "Damn...gonna take a few trips to get all of them across. I'm glad we built enough lodges to keep them sheltered."

"I'm sure you can handle getting them all across, Kaito," said the boy, Hayate.

"Hey, it's Shinrei now," the man with a grin. "You keep forgetting that I'm one of the Five now."

"Yeah yeah," said Hayate, waving a dismissive hand. "Whatever. You Mibu are so weird about your names."

"Hey, we _gave_ you yours," retorted Shinrei with a grin.

"What about Sasame?" asked Hayate.

"You mean, Saisei," replied Shinrei. "And she's all set up on the other side. She'll be ready to treat the injured as soon as we get them to her."

"Good," said Hayate with a decisive nod. "Then we'll get the worst across as soon as we can. There was a mine collapse the day I came for them. Some of them are barely clinging to life. We kept them alive with the medical supplies we purloined from the camp. But they aren't going to last much longer."

"All right then," said Shinrei. "I'll get the boat ready."

Hayate turned and walked back up along the tables to talk with the headman. The headman nodded and talked to the people he'd designated to relay orders for him. People weren't happy to interrupt their unexpectedly sumptuous dinner, not when they'd finally arrived after days of walking. However, they were quick to understand the need to get the most badly hurt amongst them to where they could get treatment.

Soon, a fair-sized group of faunus, almost a hundred, were hobbling and limping out of the lodges, some of them with bowls or plates of food still in hand. Others were completely helpless, having to be carried on stretchers. Shinrei was waiting for them. Beyond the lodges, the peninsula terminated in a rocky cliff, albeit a short one, with the water only a couple yards below.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner, folks," said Shinrei. "But we figured that it's best to ensure that all of you make it across, so we're starting with the ones who need serious medical treatment first. This is a six-hour trip, so it's best to get started as soon as possible. At this time, we'll also be embarking families of the injured, until we're at capacity."

"Embarking on what?" asked the headman, looking around. All he could see was water and wind-tossed waves. There was no sign of a boat anywhere.

"I'm glad you asked," said Shinrei with a grin. He raised his hand, which held a strange weapon. It was a long shaft of what looked like dark-blue crystal, easily six-feet in length. The blade on the end was apparently forged from a more transparent crystal, so clear that it was almost invisible in the evening light. It was at least a foot long, with a broad, double-edged shape that widened as it extended out from the shaft before tapering to a broad point, almost like an elongated spade. On the whole, the halberd actually resembled the oar of a boat.

The man turned the weapon in his grip and dipped the blade into the water. Ripples spread out from the point of contact, growing in size and number, far more than the simple touch should have set into motion. The water began to bubble and froth, becoming white as the agitation increased. Then, abruptly, it exploded upwards, a massive object shooting up from beneath the surface.

The bow of the boat jutted upwards into the air, rising up and then falling forward to crash on the water like a breaching whale, throwing up a wave of spray that, thankfully, missed any of the faunus waiting on the shoreline. The boat bobbed up and down before settling and drifting over so that its port side rested up against the rocks of the cliff. The rails of its side rose up only a foot or two above the line of the cliffs themselves.

The boat was a thing of beauty, carved from some dark-brown wood that was either naturally or stained an almost black color. It was a massive longboat, with easily enough room for at least two-hundred passengers. Its prow had been carved into a figurehead, featuring the maned head of a dragon, its mouth closed and expression serene as it surveyed the waters ahead. The outer surface of the boat was further carved and etched with intricate scale patterns.

"How's that for a ride?" asked Shinrei, giving the faunus headman a cheeky grin. "Get everyone aboard. If they can't sit down, get their stretchers situated in the aisle and make sure everyone else watches where they step. Don't worry about strapping them down, I guarantee that this is gonna be the smoothest ride any of you has ever experienced."

"What about the Grimm?" asked the headman, looking around as helpers began loading the injured and aiding their families onto the boat.

It was a valid concern, with so many who had experienced so much hardship and suffering at the hands of the SDC, followed by an agonizing march through the cold and barren wilderness towards God-knows-what. There had been plenty of negative emotions to go around, especially for the injured and those closest to them. There had been plenty of Grimm drawn towards their group. But Hayate had fought them off single-handedly, with ease no less.

Shinrei's grin took on a menacing quality. "The Grimm don't like open water like this," he said. "The land-bound ones can't swim worth a damn. They just sink like stones. The flying ones'll sometimes attack a boat or two, but it's not a frequent occurrence. They don't like to risk drowning either." His grin widened. "But hey, if the Grimm are stupid enough to come at us over the water, I'll be treating my passengers to the best show of their lives, trust me."

The headman swallowed and nodded. At this point, they didn't really have any choice. They had abandoned everything, left behind all that they couldn't carry and followed Hayate and his promise of safety and a better life. Now they had no choice but to trust this stranger as he ferried their people across open water to an unfamiliar continent.

"You sticking around?" asked Shinrei, eying the headman speculatively.

The dog-eared faunus nodded. "I will go last. It's my duty to ensure that everyone else is across first."

Shinrei's grin took on a more friendly quality. "Good man," he said. "What's your name?"

"Duncan," said the man. "Duncan Cole."

"I like you," said Shinrei. "You have my word that every single one of your people will get across safely, or I'll slit my own belly."

Duncan bowed his head modestly. "Thank you so much for your kindness."

Shinrei nodded. "When I get you across, let's go out for a drink."

Not waiting for an answer, he jumped over onto the boat. The faunus had finished loading their injured and infirm, along with their families and caretakers. "Everyone settled?" he asked. He received nods in return. "Great! In that case, here we go. Please keep your hands and arms inside of the ride at all times. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy."

Sitting back at the stern, Shinrei dipped his oar-shaped halberd into the water. He made no move to row or paddle, but the boat began to move all the same. It drifted away from the shore and turned out into the open water, picking up speed with each passing moment until it vanished from sight.

Hayate yawned. "Well, we're off to a good start," he said. "Let's go in for dinner and everyone can get some sleep."

Duncan raised a hand. "Um...I noticed he said that the crossing takes six hours."

"That's right," said Hayate. "With how many people we have, it'll take a little over a week to get everyone across."

"That means, including the return trip, it will take twelve hours in total, not counting the time it takes to load and unload passengers," said the man. "But I didn't see any storehouses here? Should we ration the food?"

"Nope," said Hayate, confidently. "Go ahead and eat your fill, then sleep and relax. You're safe here."

"But supplies...?" protested Duncan.

"Hey, you don't think Kaito's going to come back with an empty boat, do you?" asked Hayate. "There are plenty more supplies waiting on the other side. When he drops off the passengers, Kaito'll load up the boat with everything he can carry, which is a lot mind you, and bring it back. We'll be fine."

"Why?" asked Duncan. "Why are you going to such lengths for us? You may be a fellow faunus, but those people...?"

"The Mibu?" said Hayate. "They have plenty of faunus of their own. They're happy to accept anyone who comes to them, looking for a new life. But an operation like this...?" Hayate scratched his head and ducked it shyly. "They're doing it mainly for me."

"For you?" asked Duncan.

Hayate nodded. "I could've ended up like the White Fang, just looking to spill as much human blood as I could for what they did to me. But I met someone who showed me a different way. I decided to help my fellow faunus, to get them to a place where they could be safe and free and happy. Thankfully, the people on the other side of the water were happy to help."

"So they went this far to help you?" asked Duncan.

"They did," said Hayate. "Though they're happy to be getting so many new residents. From what I've heard, they have six new settlements planned and already under construction. Furthermore, because people are moving out into the settlements, there's hundreds of places opening up in the capital, so there'll be room for everybody." He chuckled. "Enough questions for now. Let's go in and eat."

* * *

The boat only continued to accelerate as the shoreline vanished behind it. However, as Shinrei had promised, the ride was the smoothest one any of the passengers had ever experienced. At the speeds it was traveling, the boat should have been skipping across the waves like a thrown stone, its bow bobbing up and down fiercely. It should have rocked and tossed. However, there was no motion. It glided smoothly through the water, not rocking or bobbing. To the passengers, it hardly felt as though they were moving at all, only the wind tossing their hair indicating that they were in motion. Even then, the air pressure was not as intense as it should have been, given the speed they were traveling at.

The ride was so smooth that many of them, exhausted from the long hours traveling, just to reach this point, began to nod off in their seats. They leaned against each other, heads resting on shoulders, heads drooping, bodies slumping. They forgot their pain and hunger as weariness overtook them. The boat sailed on smoothly through the night, Shinrei watching peacefully from his seat on the stern as he kept the blade of his halberd in the water.

* * *

For the passengers, the only indicator that they'd arrived was the faint bump as the boat's edge gently nudged up against the wooden dock that extended out into the water. Many of them didn't even stir, still resting as they were.

"All right, folks, we're here!" announced Shinrei, stepping off the prow and moving amongst the slumbering faunus, gently rousing them with light touches and gentle shakes, careful not to aggravate any of their injuries.

The people were already milling about the docks, human and faunus alike. Dressed in simple, white kimonos, they moved quickly to help those that were still ambulatory off the boat, while others quickly moved to take charge of the worst injured on the stretchers. Within moments, the boat had been cleared of all its passengers, who were being led down the docks to land, where what was practically a small town awaited them. In their wake, still more people swarmed the boat, quickly loading it down with casks and cases. The benches for passengers folded away into recessed compartments, and it was quickly converted to hold a substantial quantity of cargo.

Shinrei watched this all unfold, relaxing on a folding stool that had been set out on the dock for him. When the ship was fully loaded, he quickly sprang back onto the vessel and took up his weapon yet again.

"Shouldn't you rest a little longer, Shinrei-sama?" asked one of the attendants.

"Nah, I'm good for another four trips, at least," said Shinrei. "If they're as quiet as this one, I could manage six easy." He waved away the woman's worried look. "Nah, don't worry. I'm not going to press my luck. But I want to get those people across as quickly as I can."

Shinrei quickly took his seat yet again, then lowered his blade into the water. Once again, the boat moved smoothly, pulling back away from the dock before turning out into the open ocean and accelerating into the distance, barely leaving a wake behind it.

In the meantime, the passengers were escorted by attentive guides, who led them down a broad lane between rows of buildings. These were of the same, simple, log construction as the lodges they'd left behind on the other side, but smaller, generally large enough for two or three families easily.

The way was lit by lanterns that glowed faintly in the dark, their lights not lit by any kind of Dust that any of the faunus could identify. They had traveled by boat through the night and, though it was morning, the sun had yet to rise over the horizon. However, the climate was as different as night from day from where they had come from. The peninsula they had left behind had been bitter cold, chilled by wind, yet too dry for snow. The air here was warm and slightly humid, but with a faint breeze, which kept it from being too hot. As they progressed down the lane, they reached a large courtyard, covered with clipped, even grass that was as soft as thick-pile carpeting to their weary feet.

On the far side of the courtyard from where they had arrived was a broad, low building constructed of wooden planks fit together tightly. From the building, a girl emerged, a radiant smile on her face as she approached the assembled faunus.

She was even shorter than Hayate, perhaps only a little more than four-and-a-half feet. Yet she carried herself with the calm assurance of someone much taller, moving with long, graceful strides of her tanned legs, which extended from beneath her pale-pink kimono. Her hair was a reddish-brown color, flowing in long tresses, down to the small of her back. As she approached the group, she surveyed them with with dark, forest-green eyes. However, the group's eyes were drawn to the red fox tail that extended behind her, its bottlebrush shape terminating in a pure-white tip. It swayed and swished in her wake.

Coming to a stop a short distance from the group of faunus refugees, she folded her hands in front of her and bowed politely. "Welcome, all of you. I am called Saisei, and I will be seeing to your treatment while you are here. We've been expecting you. I'm going to start with the worst cases, but we'll get to you all, don't worry."

Her eyes swept over the group, taking in those still standing, along with those resting on stretchers, some of them hovering at the edge of death. Her smile faded, but her eyes lost none of their warmth. "You poor dears," she said. "Don't worry. You're all safe now."

She walked right into their midst, between the attendants carrying the stretchers. As she did, the eyes of the faunus watching her widened as Saisei's tail suddenly divided into three. Three became six and, finally, six became nine. Nine swirling tails reached out around her, lengthening strangely as they brushed over each of the most grievously injured, the warm, reddish color of her Aura washing over those her tails came in contact with.

As she did, color returned to faces that were almost as pale as death. Coughs eased, and then ceased altogether. Whimpers of pain softened, then faded entirely. Faces, contorted in agony, relaxed.

"I'll start with him...him...her...and him," she said, pointing out four subjects seemingly completely at random. "I've stabilized everyone else, but we have the least leeway with these four. Get everyone else settled and comfortable."

Turning, Saisei headed back into the hospital building, her attendants following in her wake, carrying stretchers, while still more helped those refugees still able to move on their own in as well.

Looking up at the moon in the sky, Saisei took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. "It's time to get to work."

* * *

On the other side of the water, the sun rose and climbed across the sky. However, the longhouses remained silent, their inhabitants sleeping the sleep of the truly exhausted. Here, there were no overseers to rouse them and force them off to work. There was no menacing clank of Knights or Paladins, or the roar of bullhead engines. The refugees were free to sleep as much as they wished, at least, while they were waiting for Shinrei to return for his next load of passengers.

The beds were soft, fitted with heavy, down-filled comforters. The mattresses were as soft as one might imagine clouds in the sky to be. With full bellies and exhausted bodies, the refugees had fallen asleep to the crackling of the fires in the braziers that continued to warm the halls.

Of everyone there, only one person was not sleeping in a bed. Instead, Hayate was asleep outside, his back leaning against the wall of the centermost longhouse, a light blanket wrapped around him serving as the only protection from the elements. Despite that, he still seemed unbothered by the chill. He slept on the inland side of the house, facing back along the length of the peninsula.

When Shinrei's boat arrived at the shore, Hayate's eyes snapped open, as awake and alert as though he'd never been asleep. Standing up, he unwrapped the blanket from around him and folded it. Carrying it inside, he left it on the table by the door and made his way to the other end of the house and out the other side, where Shinrei was already unloading the longboat.

"Hey," said Shinrei with a grin and a wave before stooping to pick up another crate. "They all still asleep?"

"For the most part," said Hayate. "A few have woken up, but nobody feels like moving yet." He went to Shinrei's side and began to assist him with unloading supplies.

"Can't blame 'em," said Shinrei. "We should have enough here for breakfast...or brunch, I guess...and dinner. Saisei's medicine was in the last batch, so that should have helped their digestive tracks get back up to speed after almost starving. I've brought some heftier stuff to help put some meat back on those bones."

"By the time we're done, I'm sure everyone will be awake," said Hayate.

"This'd go faster if we could get some help," Shinrei pointed out.

"Let them sleep," said Hayate firmly. "After everything they've been through, they've earned it."

They continued to work as the sun climbed into the sky. Slowly, people began to emerge from the longhouses. A few of them spied the two young men unloading the boat and quickly moved to assist. Though Hayate had insisted on not _making_ the faunus help them unload, he did not turn away help that was proffered. Half an hour later, the supplies had been offloaded.

"All right, let's get brunch going, and then we can move on to the next load," said Shinrei with a grin. "No need to rush."

"What about pursuit?" asked Duncan, who'd been among the first to come help them unload. "The SDC's security forces, or even Atlesian Specialists, could be tailing us as we speak. I don't think we got that much of a head start."

"Keep in mind, it's not gonna be any easier for them than it was for you, maybe even harder, in fact," said Hayate as they began to carry food into the longhouses. "We flew to the absolute limit of the range of those airships. Only the military has transports that can exceed that range and, even then, where we walked to is well beyond the Point of No Return for them. If they plan on going back, they're going to have to walk even farther than we did. Only Ironwood's warships have the range to come out this far, and we'd see them well before they saw us."

"Ironwood is practically in Schnee's pocket," Duncan pointed out. "I could easily see him sending out a warship to find us."

Hayate smiled. "If he sends one out here to us, it isn't going back. I'll see to that."

Duncan shivered, but kept moving.

"The long and short of it is don't worry about it," said Shinrei cheerfully. "We're here to protect you folks. Leave everything to us and just focus on getting better."

Duncan nodded, still feeling uncertain about the situation, though his anxiety placed him amongst the minority. All around them, there was an air of ease and relief, people realizing that they truly had escaped the Schnees, and were on their way to a new and better life. Well fed and well rested, they were now filled with hope and optimism. Though there were potential obstacles, that hope and optimism were useful, as they kept the refugees from drawing more Grimm.

The caldrons that had held stew the previous night were filled with water, and swung over the fires to heat, until the water boiled. Once it was boiling, barrels were open and large quantities of grain were poured in. The grains were round and spherical in shape, not looking like anything the refugees had ever seen.

"What is that?" asked Duncan.

"Quinoa," said Hayate as he stirred the beginnings of the porridge in the pot, while adding a generous portion of salt. All along the table, others were following his lead, while Shinrei was seeing to things in the other longhouses. "It's a staple across the water. It's got lots of minerals and nutrients.

As the porridge's rich, nutty and earthy aroma began to fill the longhouse, Duncan couldn't find any reason to complain, not any more than anyone else.

On other fires, pans and skillets were heated to cook bacon and ham. Throughout the houses, the refugees cooked a fine brunch for themselves, once again eating their fill.

Shinrei joined Hayate and Duncan in the central longhouse as they ate. "All right," he said, taking a bowl of porridge for himself and sweetening it with some honey that had come in the supplies he'd brought, "who's next on the passenger list."

"Duncan and I worked it out before bed last night," said Hayate. "We'll start with the orphaned children, and then move on to families. We won't separate any of them, but we can fill any empty seats on the boat with singles or couples."

"Works for me," said Shinrei, stretching. "Getting the kids across first, huh."

"Pretty much," said Hayate.

"Okay then, we'll start loading as soon as we finish with brunch here," said Shinrei.

* * *

As per their plans, once brunch was finished, the next group of people to make the crossing were assembled and led aboard the longship. This group consisted primarily of children of varying ages. Some of them had been orphans for some time, having been forced out of Atlas' orphanages to join their fellow faunus at the work camps. Others had lost their parents to accidents in the mines and quarries, or the cruelty of the Schnee overseers. They accounted for more than half of the load on their own.

Along with them came families, particularly those with the youngest children. Getting everyone on board ended up taking less than half an hour and, before noon was past, Shinrei was on his way, the boat speeding smoothly off into the distance, leaving behind the remainder of the refugees, whose primary struggle was now with boredom.

* * *

Saisei's hand passed over the patient's eyes, gently closing them, a soft pulse of her Aura putting him under. Her other hand, she held over the patient's mangled arm. Lowering it, she inserted it, fingers first, into the appendage, her hand phasing through without so much as breaking the skin. From there, she applied her skills to the best of her abilities, working with her and her patient's Aura to guide bones back into their proper place, then mend them together. On the way out, she rebuilt muscle fibers, reconnected tendons and ligaments, and fixed all other damage she could find.

To the casual observer, it looked absurdly easy, Saisei seeming to barely need more than thirty seconds to complete the treatment, before moving on to the next injury. Only someone approaching her level of skill could see her eyes focused with intense concentration, or the faint gleam of sweat on her brow as she worked with both the utmost speed and delicacy to finish treating one patient so that she could move on to the next.

The worst of them had already been seen to, and her assistants had been assessing the damage to the rest, searching for those with the most critical, life-threatening injuries to be treated first. Even as she worked with her hands on one patient, her nine tails brushed across others, her Aura coaxing theirs into activity, boosting the body's ability to heal itself, stave off infection, and recover energy. When she was in her element like this, Saisei could perform the work of an entire small hospital's staff on her own.

Despite all of this, she had sufficient awareness to notice the shadow looming over her from behind. "Makoto-sama," she said, her eyes not leaving her current patient as she inserted her hand into his abdomen and carefully began to stop his internal bleeding, funneling his blood back into his vascular system in the process.

The man behind her smiled. He was dressed in a kimono covered with elaborate blue and green dragon patterns, its sleeves tied up so that his arms were left bare. The kimono trailed down over a pair of dark-blue hakama that, like Shinrei's were tied closed around his ankles. His hair was an icy-blue color, flowing around the top and sides of his head before being gathered into a single tail that hung down to just past his shoulders. His expression was calm and stern, sea-green eyes missing nothing as they swept across the room.

A couple of the nurses attending another patient yelped at the mention of his name, and immediately turned and bowed to him.

The man's eyes narrowed sharply, and he glared at the nurses. "What is the healer's first rule?" he snapped at them.

"N-never turn your back on your patient," answered one of the nurses timidly.

"Then get back to work," he said curtly.

The nurses quickly turned to do as they were bid.

"Fortunately, that one is well out of danger," commented Saisei, not even needing to glance in the direction of the nurses and the patient they were working on. "And it's not every day that the Clan's Chief Physician comes to check on a refugee hospital."

"There is no excuse for neglecting a patient," said Makoto cooly. "If they have the time and energy to waist on pointless formalities, then they are not dedicating themselves sufficiently."

"As stern as always, Sensei," said Saisei with a slight quirk of her mouth. "But still, to what do I owe one of the Taishirou coming to this humble clinic?"

Makoto's lips curled up in a smile. "As though I need an excuse to come watch my favorite apprentice at work. I am always eager to see your progress." He leaned down to look over her shoulder and watch as she worked. "Your skill is improving by leaps and bounds."

He moved past Saisei to the next patient on her list. Her tail withdrew from the prone woman, allowing Makoto to examine her. His eyes swept over her in a single, swift glance. Then he lowered his hand to her forehead, gently pushing her head back against the pillow. The woman sank into a daze as Makoto closed her eyes, then seemed to sweep his hand down the length of her body in a single movement, before pulling it away. The bandages encasing the woman's once-broken legs fell away, revealing the newly-mended limbs, and the numerous bruises that lined her torso vanished away.

"I suppose I shall expedite your workload just this once," said Makoto as he moved on to the next person. "You are fortunate that I don't feel like waiting for you this time."

As he moved on, Saisei's lips stretched back in a grin. _As if,_ she thought wryly. _You can't stand to see people in pain any more than I can._

With a faint giggle, Saisei lowered her eyes back to her current patient and she continued her own work.

* * *

From there, the days took on a rather predictable pattern. The refugees milled about the lodges, doing what they could to keep themselves occupied while they waited. Shinrei would return with additional supplies, sometimes staying for a meal, before embarking another load of people and taking them across. With each subsequent trip, the number of refugees dwindled, meaning fewer supplies needed to be delivered, which allowed Shinrei to make the return trip faster.

Occasionally, the Grimm came for them, but Hayate, ever watchful, fended them off with ease. He also kept a wary eye along the peninsula, keeping watch for any signs of pursuit from Atlas, though Atlas itself was a long ways away.

Each night, he slept out in the cold, with only a light blanket for warmth, his body tuned to the vibrations through the ground and air, allowing him to sense the approach of anything that threatened his charges.

After around a week of waiting, Shinrei had made the second-to-last of his trips, leaving only a little under two-hundred faunus refugees remaining in the lodge. They had borne their lot with a stoic patience, accepting the boredom as the price of escaping from Atlas, and the Schnees, once and for all. The children had found various things to amuse themselves with, while the adults talked and chatted about old times. A deck of playing cards had even been discovered at one point, which had been an almost monumental occurrence.

 _Maybe we should keep some boardgames in here or something,_ thought Hayate with a chuckle as he watched a large group gathered around a smaller group playing some variant of poker.

"It'll be good to get across with the others," said Duncan as he came over to join Hayate.

Hayate nodded. "Right now, they're all being kept together on the other side, so you'll see everyone before you go your separate ways."

"You're breaking us up?" asked Duncan, his eyes going warily to the remainder of his group.

"I'm not doing anything over there," countered Hayate. "Once the last of you leaves with Shinrei, my job ends. You'll be in their hands after that." He nodded towards the far end of the hall, the end that faced the sea.

"What will you be doing then?" asked Duncan.

"Moving on to the next camp," said Hayate. "Yours was the largest, but there are plenty more. I don't want to keep them waiting any longer than necessary. As it stands, I can easily imagine Schnee trying to shift the burden of the faunus I've freed onto the ones still in captivity, and work them even harder. The more I do this, the harder it is for the rest."

Duncan nodded. "And what about what happens to us over there? Are they really going to break us up?"

"Not so much as break you up as give you choices on where you want to go," said Hayate. "There just isn't enough room in any one place for you all. From what I've heard, they've been opening some new settlements out on their frontier, and people are moving from their capital to the settlements, which means there'll be openings in all those places, plenty for your people to choose from. They're holding off on announcing what's available until everyone's over so that the people who went over first don't get a head start on the rest of you."

"But we'll be free to find new jobs," said Duncan.

"New jobs, new homes, new neighborhoods, the whole deal," said Hayate. "No ghettos, no internment camps, no being forced to work for crumbs at the behest of a greedy corporation."

Duncan sighed and bowed his head. "I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am. We can never repay you for this."

Hayate chuckled. "Live your life as best you can. That's payment enough for me."

Duncan nodded and headed over to join his people. As he left, Hayate's smile faded, and his eyes narrowed. "And now...time to track down some rats."

* * *

 **Admittedly, my grasp of the logistics of moving such a large group of people is...shaky...at best. Math was never my strong suit, and I managed to flunk my way out of a math-major in college. Initially, my plan for this particular thread was that it was going to take place concurrently with the main story. However, certain...developments...necessitated me shifting it backwards in time to arrange for certain things to happen, once this thread intersects with the main plot.**

 **Looking back over this, I realize my sense of direction might be off. Looking at the map of Remnant, you can probably guess what peninsula I'm talking about. It's fairly prominent, extending down from Solitas, towards the continent I've decided to call Leng (once again, being written before Volume 4 started coming out, this section of the story was mostly written before we got official names for the different continents).**

 **I'll admit that my pacing for these different story-threads is a little...wonky. Initially, I started by spacing them out to alternate between chapters. Then, partway through, I basically went "Screw it!" and decided to just keep on this thread, until I finished it up to where I felt safe leaving it off, then went back to the main storyline. Then, after running with that for a little while, I went back to this thread for a few more chapters, and...well, you'll see when we get there. This is one of those issues that comes with being the kind of writer who puts little, if any, effort into mapping things out before I start writing. Hopefully you'll all bear with me for that.**

 **Next chapter, we go back to the main storyline.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17:**

Jaune yawned as he stepped out of the bedroom, and into the living room, stretching gratefully. While he always missed having Ruby to cuddle up to, it was nice to have the bed to himself for a night, and be free to sprawl out however he liked.

The tableau that greeted him as he entered the apartment's living room was, more or less, what he'd expected. Cans of soda and beer littered the coffee table and floor, mingling with a couple of shot glasses, and a bottle of whiskey sitting in the center. Ruby and Penny lay out on the couch, curled up against one another in a way that made Jaune smile and chuckle. He reached down and gently brushed his fingers lightly through Ruby's hair, the contact prompting her to hum contentedly, and tighten her grip on Penny, who reciprocated with all the enthusiasm she could manage while still remaining unconscious.

Yang was sprawled out over the arms of a nearby easy chair, face upturned, snoring uproariously. Shaking his head, Jaune moved to the closet and got out the spare blankets, carefully moving Yang into a more comfortable position before spreading the blanket over her. He then applied the same treatment to Ruby and Penny.

On the chair across from Yang, Qrow was asleep in a more normal position, arms folded, head bowed slightly. Jaune spread another blanket over him, and looked around. Near the base of the television were a trio of scrolls, which served as controllers for the four's gaming binge late into the night. Stooping down, Jaune picked them up and set them on the table.

After that, he set about cleaning up the aftermath of last night's activities, scooping empty cans into a bag to go into the recycling bin later. The whiskey was put in the mostly-empty liquor cabinet (Ruby still being too young to drink by most measures, while nearly everyone else, except for Yang and Neo, weren't much for drinking at all). Cleaning completed, Jaune set about the process of making breakfast for everyone.

A few minutes later, Ren joined him and began helping out almost automatically, the two of them moving about the kitchen with the ease of long practice. Neither of them needed to talk, the comforting morning ritual of making breakfast for their extended family being more than enough for them to bond over.

By the time the first pancakes were sizzling away on the griddle, a sleepy-eyed Neo came wandering into the kitchen.

"Morning," said Jaune, trading a nod with her. Neo smiled at him and nodded back, taking her seat as Ren slid a plate of pancakes and a mug of coffee in front of her. Neo attacked the latter, eagerly gulping a whole one down before starting on her pancakes, while Ren quickly refilled the mug.

A few minutes later, they were joined by Weiss, also yawning and stretching sleepily as she shuffled in, still in her nightgown.

"Morning," said Jaune, by way of greeting, pulling out a chair for her and allowing her to settle into it before pushing it back.

Weiss smiled gratefully at him, gladly accepting her own coffee from Ren. A minute later, Jaune had a stack of pancakes for her too. "Good morning," she said, after setting down her half-empty mug, which Ren immediately topped off.

"How was your dinner with Winter?" asked Jaune.

"Delightful," said Weiss with a pleased hum before biting into a pancake. After chewing and swallowing, she sighed gratefully. "There wasn't all that much to talk about. Understandably, she didn't want to talk about how things are in Atlas. We talked about about my latest missions. She's expressed an interest in going to see the cherry blossoms next year...assuming we're still all around for that."

"Any reason to think we're going to die horribly over the course of the next year?" asked Jaune wryly.

"Well, there's the fact that Yang's boyfriend is apparently planning the downfall of Atlas, or Ironwood's regime, at least. There's an entire Kingdom's worth of people living in secrecy who may or may not be planning to emerge into the open world and cause God knows how much turmoil. My father's determined to make our last name into a faunus cuss-word, while clearly planning to leave an unholy mess for me to clean up when I take over the company...assuming he leaves me a company to take over, after his policies drive it straight into the ground." She gave Jaune a glare. "Did I leave anything out?"

"Aren't you the cheery one this morning?" retorted Jaune, turning back to the kitchen.

Weiss sighed again, this time in disappointment. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm a bear in the morning at the best of times. But you knew that already. It's even worse when there's so much going on."

"It's okay," said Jaune, pausing his task where he could and coming to stand behind her. He gripped her shoulders and began to knead them with his fingers, before moving up to her neck, his ministrations making Weiss shudder, an ecstatic moan working its way out from between her lips, while Neo looked on with an amused expression.

"Ruby's not going to be happy if she catches you doing this," said Weiss as Neo giggled.

"Hey, if I can forgive Ruby for sleeping with another person, then I think she can forgive me for giving her best friend a shoulder and neck massage in the morning."

Neo giggled a little louder, while Ren smirked.

Weiss sighed. "Ruby and Neptune are _so_ lucky I didn't give you the time of day back during our first year."

Finishing the massage, Jaune turned back to preparing more breakfast, managing to create a massive stack of pancakes, just as Nora came ambling into the kitchen. Unlike Weiss and Neo, she didn't care much for coffee (nor did anyone want to risk her imbibing caffeine), but gratefully gulped down the large glass of milk Ren set in front of her, before attacking the pancakes with a ravenous gusto.

Blake was only a few minutes behind her, book already in one hand, not even looking up as Jaune set her own breakfast, along with her morning cup of tea, in front of her, though she did give him a grateful nod.

It was almost noon, and everyone else had finished their breakfasts and gone about their own plans for the day, when a bleary-eyed Ruby, and an equally tired Penny, finally came stumbling into the kitchen.

"Ugh," groaned Ruby lowly.

"Morning, Ruby," said Jaune, leaning over to plant a kiss on her lips, not minding her morning breath. "Have fun last night?"

"Yeah," said Ruby with a yawn.

"You didn't get into any of the booze, did you?" asked Jaune a bit worriedly.

"No," said Ruby in a particularly grumpy tone that made Jaune wince. "But Yang and Uncle Qrow drank themselves silly."

"That's what I thought," said Jaune with a sigh, already getting together juice and coffee, as well as food to help combat the pair of oncoming hangovers he was sure were about to crash his kitchen.

In fact, it was the better part of an hour before a dazed Qrow finally came tottering in like a senior in need of a walker. His eyes squinted against the kitchen lights. Jaune went to the controls on the wall and immediately toned them down.

"Here you go,' said Jaune, setting a plate of hash browns and cooked ham in front of Qrow, along with a cup of juice.

"Coffee," growled Qrow.

"Juice first," said Jaune. "You need sugar, electrolytes, and water. You're dehydrated."

"I don't suppose you've got a little of the hair of the dog?" asked Qrow hopefully.

"Nope," said Jaune firmly. "It's against the rules to break out the liquor at the breakfast table."

"Whose rules?" asked Qrow speculatively.

"Mine and Ren's," retorted Jaune. "You want to eat in our kitchen, you follow our rules."

"I get the feeling you'd bend the rules for my niece," said Qrow, glancing sidelong at Ruby, who grinned back at him, looking a lot more refreshed now that she'd eaten, showered, and changed.

"Maybe," said Jaune. "But I'm not _dating_ you, so the rules shall be enforced."

"Abuse of power," muttered Qrow.

Jaune rolled his eyes, and returned to working on Yang's portion of breakfast, for when she finally hobbled her way through the door.

Down at the end of the table, Weiss had been leisurely reading a newspaper. She lowered it just far enough to gaze over the top of it at Qrow. "What my sister sees in you, I'll never understand," she said.

"You're still a kid, Mini-Ice Queen," said Qrow with a snicker. "You'll understand in time."

"Hey!" protested Weiss as Ruby and Penny both snorted.

Finally, Yang came into the room, shuffling and leaning up against every solid object she could find along the way, apparently not able to remain upright on her own. "Morning," she said in a low groan, not so much as sitting as collapsing into her chair at the table, barely managing to keep her bloodshot eyes open enough to see the plate of food and the glass of juice Jaune put in front of her.

Yang drank down the glass eagerly, which Jaune immediately refilled, then drained it again, then set about demolishing her own breakfast. Only after both she and Qrow had imbibed a substantial amount of liquid did Jaune allow them to have some coffee.

Finishing her mug with a satisfied sigh, Yang set it down and stared across the table at Jaune, who was now hard at work cleaning the dishes while Ren dried. "Ruby...can I marry your boyfriend?"

"No!" snapped Ruby possessively.

"Oh well," said Yang. "I guess I'll have to take advantage of him for as long as I can."

"I'd really rather you didn't," said Jaune over his shoulder.

Yang cackled.

A ringing sounded from the living room, prompting Qrow to lurch up and clumsily hurry into the room to pick his scroll of the table. Picking it up, he saw that Winter was calling him. "Hey, Ice Queen," he said in his smoothest voice.

"QROW! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" roared Winter, the force behind her voice making Qrow reel back and everyone else wince, able to hear Winter's fury from all the way over in the kitchen. "WE WERE SUPPOSED TO LEAVE AN HOUR AGO. GET TO THE DOCKS NOW OR I'M LEAVING YOU BEHIND!"

"All right, all right...sheesh," said Qrow, hanging up. He turned to grin at Yang and Ruby. "Well, I guess I'm off, girls. I'll see you again soon."

"Bye, Uncle Qrow," said Ruby, grinning and waving.

Yang grinned at him and nodded, a gesture Qrow returned. He made for the door, brushing past Weiss on the way. As he did, her nose wrinkled and she scowled at him.

"Winter will probably want to disinfect the cabin of her airship after you've been there," she said.

"I can grab a shower on the ship," said Qrow. He grinned teasingly at her. "Better yet, I can get your sister nice and dirty too and we can take a shower to-"

"SHUT UP AND GET OUT!" screeched Weiss, her face turning bright red as she despised the idea of thinking about her beloved sister getting up to such... _smutty_...activities with this filthy and unkempt man.

Qrow laughed merrily as he skipped out the door, swinging it shut behind him.

Weiss huffed angrily, glaring fiercely at the door, as though willing Qrow to burst into flames on the other side with the force of her anger alone.

"You know, you make it too easy sometimes, Weiss," said Yang with a grin.

* * *

That afternoon, Yang, Ruby, and Penny caught an airship over to Beacon to go see Kyo. Although, Yang had additional plans. If they no longer needed to plan a months-long journey by foot to Kyo's homeland, then that meant she had time to train and further refine her control over her Aura.

Kyo was waiting calmly in the empty common area of the guest dorms, once again reading as he relaxed on a couch. He was wearing his kimono again, the gashes rent in it by Nigel's sword having been mended, presumably by one of the seamstresses on staff at the Academy.

"Oh! Hello," he said, smiling as he looked up from his book.

"Hey yourself," said Yang with a grin and a wave, while Penny bounded over. She threw herself at Kyo, hugging him tightly and knocking him back on the couch. Behind her, Yang frowned and glared at the former android.

"So enthusiastic," noted Kyo with a slight chuckle as he gently returned the embrace, giving Yang an apologetic look as he did so.

"I just wanted to come say goodbye before I left," said Penny.

"You're leaving already?" whined Ruby, tears gathering in her eyes again.

Penny let go of Kyo and spun about to hug Ruby now, which Ruby returned. "Oh Ruby, I'd love to stay. But I did promise Kyo's mother that I'd come back when I found him, and let her know where he is. But I'll see you again soon. You'll be coming to the Water Festival, right?"

"Y-yeah," said Ruby, sniffling.

"I'll be there and I'll be waiting for you," said Penny, beaming at Ruby. "No matter what, I love you. You're my best friend in the whole world, Ruby Rose."

"I love you too," said Ruby, pulling Penny into another embrace.

Grinning slyly, Yang edged over next to Kyo and elbowed him gently. "Good thing Jaune's not here, huh? This might make him jealous."

Ruby and Penny didn't seem overly bothered by the notion. Finally letting go of each other, they followed Penny out to the docks.

"So how are you getting back?" asked Yang.

"The same way I got over here," said Penny with a grin. She drew her sword and swept it in a downward arc in front of her. The broad blade shined white and, to the shock of Yang and Ruby, trailed a mass of clouds behind it. Penny spun about, spreading more clouds behind her, until they merged together into a single mass that she stood upon like a platform.

"Bye! I'll see everyone later," said Penny with a happy wave as the clouds carried her up into the sky and then towards the horizon.

Yang and Ruby watched with wide, disbelieving eyes, unable to look away until Penny's form completely dwindled from sight. "Well...that's at the top of the list of things I'd never thought I'd see," said Yang flatly.

"Clouds are the primary power of the Kusanagi," said Kyo. "Though it may look rather harmless, that sword is capable of unleashing them with devastating power."

"Weaponized...clouds...?" said Ruby incredulously. "Now I've heard everything."

"Well, I doubt Penny has fully mastered it," said Kyo. "Swords like that are not so easy to wield. I imagine she only came into possession of it recently."

Yang gave Kyo a deadpan stare. "You know, after everything involving you that I've seen so far...I'm just gonna roll with it."

"That's probably a good idea," said Kyo with a laugh.

* * *

After seeing Penny off, Yang decided to head for Beacon Tower. Ruby and Kyo followed her, mostly for a lack of anything better to do at the moment. They followed Yang as she boarded the elevator and took it up to Ozpin's office.

Ozpin was there, looking over something on the holographic projector built into his desk. But he switched it off the moment he saw who his visitors were.

"Well now, this is unexpected, but not all that much," he said with an accommodating smile. "How may I help you?"

Yang took a deep breath, closing her eyes before opening them again. "Can you train me?" she asked.

Whatever Ozpin had been expecting, that had not been it. A flicker of surprise, an emotion Ruby and Yang weren't entirely sure Ozpin had even been capable of, crossed his face. He wasn't the only one. Ruby gasped and stared at her sister in surprise. On the other hand, Kyo's smile twitched and widened slightly.

"Well now, I take it back. This is most unexpected. What makes you ask me this question?" Ozpin rested his elbows on the desk, folding his hands together and gazing over them at Yang.

Yang looked down at her right hand. The bare-bones prosthetic was a far cry from the one she used for combat. "Nigel brushed me off like I was nothing," she said softly. "When he attacked, I couldn't even follow his movements. There was no way for me to defend or dodge. I'm damn lucky he didn't decide to cut off my other arm with that slash...or kill me."

Ruby paled noticeably.

"I've been doing the exercises Kyo taught me," said Yang. "But it's not enough. I need to get stronger, better...faster." She looked up at Ozpin. "You know the techniques Kyo taught me, and you know more about _teaching_ them than he does. Kyo's good, but he's not exactly an instructor."

"I can admit to that," said Kyo with a sigh.

"I see," said Ozpin. "I can understand why you came to me then. What you are asking of me though...the issue is somewhat complicated."

"Because of what you're not allowed to teach," said Yang.

Ozpin nodded. "Precisely."

Yang lowered her head.

Then Ozpin smiled slightly. "However, seeing as you already learned these forbidden techniques, I believe it is my responsibility to guide you into shaping them effectively. I would be remiss if I did not offer you guidance as things are now. So I do believe that we have a loophole."

Yang looked back up, her eyes widening. "Really?"

Ozpin chuckled. "Yes, Ms. Xiao Long. I shall help you refine your skills and abilities." He stood up from behind the desk and stretched his arms and bent his back back in a rather uncharacteristic move. "My, how many decades has it been since the last time I instructed a student directly? I must admit that I'm actually looking forward to this."

"When can we start?" asked Yang eagerly.

Ozpin smiled at her and took up his cane. "We can start as soon as we make it to the sparring room, Ms. Xiao Long. I should warn you, I am much stricter than the instructors you are used to. I will not hold back."

 _Stricter than Goodwitch?_ wondered Yang. She had a hard time believing his words. After all, whenever they needed a rule bent or an administrative eye turned the other way, Ozpin had been happy to do what it took to accommodate them. Even his agreeing to train Yang now was bending the rules in that sense. It was hard for her to picture Ozpin as...strict.

But...when she locked eyes with him, Yang felt a shiver go down her spine. When he said it now, she believed him. With a gulp, Yang nodded, and silently bade Ozpin to do his worst.

* * *

It was but the work of a few minutes for them to head down the tower and cross the campus to book one of the sparring rooms. Ozpin picked one of the smaller ones, evidently wanting to avoid attracting an audience. Kyo and Ruby settled in on the benches around the edge of the ring, Ruby pausing to activate the protective field as she did so.

"So how are we doing this?" asked Yang.

"It's actually quite simple, Ms. Xiao Long," said Ozpin. "I will attack, you will defend. We will keep this up for as long as you can possibly manage. Thanks to your dutiful practice of the basic exercises Kyo has taught you, I'm sure that your Aura reserves have improved. However, that is a far cry from being able to utilize those reserves. Tempering only scratches the surface of what your Aura is capable of."

Yang nodded, figuring as much.

"I will not give you any pointers as we spar," said Ozpin. "Rather, it is up to you to feel your own Aura's response as intimately as possible, and begin to adjust in order to better defend against my attacks. I want you to refrain from attacking at this point, so we can focus on developing your reflexes and awareness."

"Okay," said Yang, swallowing hard.

Ozpin raised his cane, holding it like a sword and pointing the tip straight at Yang. "On-guard, Ms. Xiao Long."

Yang raised both her arms, turning her body so that her left arm, and its gauntlet was in the lead. This would be a bit awkward for her, generally since she was better at defending with her right. But there was no way the prosthetic it was currently outfitted with would be able to keep up with the pace of her training. But she couldn't afford to wait until they got to Kyo's homeland to regrow a new one.

Ozpin darted forward, the tip of his cane thrusting out in a sharp jab, aiming straight for her stomach. Yang swept her gauntlet down and blocked it, feeling the clash of her Aura against Ozpin's as the cane glanced off the metal encasing her forearm. Ozpin followed it up with another swift thrust, moving his target up to the center of her head, right between her eyes. Yang reacted quickly to catch that attack as well.

From there, the process went in a fairly routine manner. Ozpin attacked with a rapid series of strikes with his only weapon. Yang had to either block or dodge to avoid being hit. At times, Ozpin would use his footwork to try and flank her, slipping Yang's line of sight to come at her from a blind angle. Yang tried her best to keep up with him, though it wasn't perfect. More than once she was tagged with a jolting blow from the cane, though Ozpin apparently moderated his force to keep from blasting her off her feet.

Though that was only at first. Gradually, the pace began to pick up. Ozpin's strikes came faster, and his cane hit harder. Yang was occasionally unbalanced by a blocked hit, which left her open to Ozpin's followthrough strike. She realized that he was channeling more Aura through his cane to enhance the power behind his blow.

 _I have to match him,_ Yang realized. She shifted more Aura into her left arm, which helped ablate the force of Ozpin's strikes. However, once she did that, Ozpin shifted, stepping around to her right and coming at her. Yang was forced to defend with her right arm, which couldn't keep up quite as well. To compensate, she shifted more of her Aura into her right arm, enough to actually repel Ozpin's attack and give her enough time to bring her left back into play.

However, Ozpin continued to circle to her right, keeping Yang turning and moving, always forcing her to try and defend with her bad arm. Then he would abruptly switch and circle to her left in an effort to throw her off. Yang quickly shifted her Aura back into her left arm, but tried to balance it out by still keeping some in her right as Ozpin moved so that she wouldn't be caught completely off-guard when he switched back to targeting her right again…

…Which he did. When he came around, this time Yang was ready for him, already channeling more Aura into her right arm to supplement what was already there, allowing her to throw off the force of Ozpin's attack. This time, Yang didn't try to turn and bring her left arm around. She knew that Ozpin would simply continue to circle her and force her to use her right until he switched targets again.

The problem was, her prosthetic couldn't keep up with her reaction speed. That hadn't been an issue with her previous one, which had been top-of-the-line, utilizing several advanced technologies that were still considered under-development. Her current one, on the other hand, was military-grade, but nowhere near as responsive as she was used to.

 _If I can't react quickly enough, then I have to anticipate where he's going to attack and get my arm there ahead of time,_ thought Yang, her eyes narrowing as she watched Ozpin. In her training with her father and Uncle Qrow, she had learned a great deal about how to read an opponent. She watched Ozpin's eyes to see them shift when he targeted a new point. She observed his body to catch those subtle shifts of weight that would be a prelude to a sidestep, indicating that he planned to circle her to attack from a new angle. Adding to that, she used her new level of awareness to watch the flow of his Aura. Yang was beginning to see the subtle shifts in it that broadcast whether he was planning a feint or preparing for a heavier blow.

 _I get it!_ she thought. _If I use too much Aura against the lighter blows, then I'm just wasting it. If I adjust the output, I can use just enough to counter his strikes without wasting it needlessly._

Even as she thought that, Yang continued to moderate the amount of Aura in her arms to match it. _It's not like a switch,_ she thought. _I need to be able to continuously adjust on the fly._ She tried her best to do so, though it was tricky gauging how much Aura was behind Ozpin's attacks so that she could match it perfectly with her own defense.

All the while, the two of them continued to dance in the center of the ring.

* * *

From their positions on the sidelines, Ruby and Kyo watched with attentive interest.

"Whoa," said Ruby, her eyes widening as she watched Yang move. "She's faster than I remember her being."

"She's probably faster than _she_ remembers being," said Kyo with a chuckle.

"What does that mean?" asked Ruby.

"Ozpin has been gradually increasing the pace of his attacks as they go on," said Kyo. "He's doing it by such small increments that Yang probably doesn't even realize it most of the time. As she grows accustomed to the greater speed, he increases his own by just a little more. Little by little, he's conditioning Yang to move and act faster in a combat situation.

"By constantly moving to her right and attacking her on her weak side, he forces her to read ahead and anticipate his own attacks, if she wants her defense to be able to keep up with his offense. Furthermore, in order to defend effectively, Yang is forced to work out how to moderate her own Aura to adjust her defense to the force of Ozpin's blows. He's a brilliant teacher. He's actually using the disparity between Yang's arms as a means of forcing her to improve further, and teach her several things at once. She's probably not even conscious of all the things that she's absorbing as she continues to fight him."

"Hmm…" Ruby frowned and pursed her lips as she stared at her sister and the Headmaster.

"Something wrong?" asked Kyo.

"It's just…I guess I don't think Yang should be the only one doing this. We _all_ need to get better. So this kind of training is something that we need to do as well. But…"

"But Ozpin probably has his limits as well," said Kyo. "A one-on-one exchange like this only works because it's drawn out over an extended period of time, which allows Ozpin to be deliberate in his actions as he guides Yang to improve. He obviously can't do this with more than one person at a time, and the time required also limits the number of people he can do this for in a given day."

"And he _is_ the Headmaster of Beacon," added Glynda, making Ruby squeak and jump in surprise to see the Deputy Headmistress there, as though she had materialized out of thin air. Ruby found herself wondering how long Glynda had been watching the exchange. "He has duties of his own to attend to. However effective his teaching is, he cannot afford to spend all day working with just a few students."

"I believe he is doing this way because Yang is the only one who has asked so far," said Kyo. "I remember my own lessons well enough to know that there are ways for one person to effectively teach a larger number of people. I would not be surprised if Ozpin knows those methods as well…better than I do, probably."

Ruby pursed her lips before sighing. "I guess I should just ask," she said.

"That would probably be the best approach," said Kyo. "We probably won't have to wait much longer. This training session is winding down."

That much was true. As they watched, Ozpin was beginning to slow his pace and reduce the power behind his strikes, Yang unconsciously matching him. Ruby checked her scroll and was surprised to see that Yang's Aura was almost all the way down into the red. Her eyes widening, she checked the clock. _They've been at it for two hours!_ she realized in shock. She didn't even realize how much time had passed, she'd been so engrossed in watching the session.

Ozpin continued to slow his pace, guiding Yang into what Ruby realized was a series of cool-down exercises to keep her muscles from seizing up when they were finished. Finally, after a few more minutes, they came to a stop and Ozpin stepped away, lowering his cane.

"Excellently done, Ms. Xiao Long," he said with a smile. "You are an adept student."

"Thanks…Professor…" said Yang in between breaths. Now that the session was over, she realized just how tired she was. Her hair and clothes were soaked with sweat and her skin was practically shining. Her legs felt like they were made of rubber, while her arms felt like they were made of lead.

"If we continue these sessions on a regular basis, I believe that you will improve tremendously in the weeks before your departure," said Ozpin.

"Before you plan that out too much, Ms. Rose appears to be interested in expanding the number of students," said Glynda calmly.

"Is that so?" said Ozpin, turning to regard Ruby.

Ruby nodded.

Ozpin smiled fondly at her. "I am glad that you are also willing to take the initiative to improve, Ms. Rose. I shall extend the invitation to your team, and Team Juniper as well. We will work out compensation for this and consider it as a long-term mission. Team Ruby and Team Juniper will report to the sparring rooms daily for advanced Aura training."

"Okay, Professor," said Ruby, one eyelid twitching. She was sure that Weiss would object to their schedule shifting so much. It had been quite a while since they had done regular training like this. It would almost be like going to class as first-years again. However, she couldn't help but eagerly anticipate the results if they were able to work harder and improve further.

"The Council will not be happy about this," said Glynda.

"As I told Ms. Xiao Long, I believe that we have articulated a sufficient loophole," said Ozpin. "Kyo was the one who initially taught them. I am merely performing…damage control…to ensure that my students do not cause themselves or others harm by utilizing techniques introduced to them by someone rather inexperienced in the act of teaching."

Kyo bobbed his head in acknowledgment.

Glynda sighed. "On your head it be then," she said. "However, you realize that this will increase your workload substantially."

"This is fine," said Ozpin with a chuckle. "I spend far too much time parked behind a desk anyway. I could use the exercise as well."

"If you're certain," said Glynda. "I will do my most to ensure that you do not neglect your duties as Headmaster while this is going on."

"I would expect nothing less," said Ozpin with a nod of his head. He turned to Yang. "Ms. Xiao Long, you are dismissed for the day."

"Yes…Professor," said Yang tiredly, slumping down slightly.

Ozpin gave one last chuckle. "I will see your teams here at the same time tomorrow. Have a pleasant day."

He turned and headed for the door, Glynda falling in behind him, casting one last look over her should as Yang slumped, then practically fell into a sitting position on the floor. Kyo and Ruby quickly hurried to her side, Kyo settling down next to her and supporting her with his arm.

"God! That was exhausting," said Yang. "I didn't even realize how tired I was until it was over."

"That's the advantage of training like this," said Kyo. "Ozpin guided you into gradually exceeding your own limits, both in ability and endurance, so that you weren't even aware of it. As a result, you were able to push yourself longer and harder than you might have been able to otherwise."

Ruby checked her scroll. "We've been at this for a while, Sis," she said. "I guess we should hurry and catch an airship back to Vale."

"Okay," said Yang with a groan, trying to force herself to her feet. It wasn't easy. However, she was spared the trouble as Kyo hooked an arm under her legs and hefted her up bridal style.

"I think I can carry you to the docks at the very least," said Kyo cheerfully.

Ruby giggled as Yang's cheeks flushed a brilliant red. If Kyo carried her to the docks like this, there was no telling how many people would see her like that.

"I'm fine! I can walk on my own," she said.

"Nonsense," replied Kyo with a laugh. "It would be un-gentlemanly of me to not offer you assistance."

"Then could you at least carry me piggyback style?" pleaded Yang.

"Nope," replied Kyo, his tone making Ruby giggle even more loudly. "It's more fun this way."

"Kyoooo!" wailed Yang as the boy in question laughed along with Yang's younger sister.

* * *

Eventually, Kyo did relent and allowed Yang to ride piggyback as they headed to the dock. As they separated, Yang gave Kyo a quick peck on the cheek before she hobbled up the ramp, leaning against Ruby as she walked.

They arrived back at their apartment to find that Jaune and Ren had apparently decided to spare themselves the effort for an evening and had ordered out for pizza.

As Ruby and Yang had feared, Weiss was not nearly so amicable to the idea of their training as they would have liked.

"Are you serious?" she demanded. "You could have at least consulted us before tying us up with these training sessions from now until God knows when."

"Are you really that upset about it?" asked Yang. "Professor Ozpin promised that they would treat it like a mission, so we'll still be getting credits."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "I mean, it's nice that Kyo's taught us the basics and our Auras are getting a lot stronger because of it. But he can't teach us what to do with that Aura as well as Ozpin can and he's offering to teach us directly. Otherwise, we're just spinning our wheels until we leave."

"But we don't have to be," said Weiss. "We could go on regular missions, attend seminars…you know…like normal students."

Beside Ruby, Jaune chuckled ruefully. "Weiss, we're student Huntsmen and Huntresses. There's nothing _normal_ about what we're doing at all."

"I'd just like to have a typical school year is all," complained Weiss.

"Our first school year was cut short because Cinder nearly destroyed Beacon and Vale," said Blake with a sigh. "We spent the bulk of our second year trying to stop her and Salem from finishing that by destroying the other Kingdoms. I don't think a 'typical' school year is in the cards for us."

"Yeah!" shouted Nora eagerly. "Compared to what we did last year, this is the most normal school thing we'll have ever done."

"Besides," added Ren, "this is a good opportunity for us. We will get a chance to be instructed in arts that most Huntsmen and Huntresses have never even heard of. This is a truly rare opportunity, and we would be foolish not to make the most of it."

Neo nodded her silent agreement.

Weiss looked from the faces of one friend to another before finally letting out her breath in a resigned sigh. "Fine…you win."

Yang grinned and laughed. "Come on Weiss, this is a good thing. You need to stop being the eternal wet blanket."

"Someone has to maintain touch with reality to keep you dunces under control," retorted Weiss.

* * *

The next afternoon, all eight of them reported to the sparring room that Ozpin had reserved for their new class. Both Ozpin and Kyo were waiting for them while Glynda watched from the sidelines, busily tapping away on her scroll.

"Welcome," said Ozpin. "I'm glad that you all agreed to come."

"So how does this work?" asked Yang. "I don't think you're going to have enough time to spar against each of us like you did with me."

"That is quite true," said Ozpin. "However, teaching a group is not so difficult a matter. Line up in two rows here." He gestured to the floor in front of him with his cane.

They did as they were bid, Team RWBY forming the line in front, while JNNR lined up behind them.

"To start with, we will begin by working to increase your control over your Auras," said Ozpin. "Ms. Xiao Long, yesterday, you defended against my attacks by shifting the concentration of your Aura between your arms."

Yang nodded. "That's right."

Ozpin smiled. "Believe it or not, that is an important technique, an elaboration on Tempering and what is known as Flow. It is the technique of shifting the concentration of your Aura freely around your body, generally in synch with your movements to enhance your attack and defense, enabling you to adjust quickly and efficiently to the circumstances of battle."

Ozpin's body lit up with a bright-green outline flowing around him. "This is Tempering," he said, not really needing to point it out. "As you can see, this is a completely even coverage of the body. The concentration of Aura at all points is even throughout. As a default state, it has good defenses, especially in comparison to an unTempered Aura. In battle though, it means that the parts that are not threatened by an enemy attack have the same level of protection as the parts that are. That is not an efficient way to fight. If the disparity between attack and defense is too great, your Aura can be ruptured, and your body will take the damage."

The students nodded, understanding what Ozpin was saying.

"To counter this, adjustment is needed," said Ozpin. He raised his left hand and held it up in front of him. "When you attack or defend, you shift the concentration of your Aura into the limb you are attacking or defending with." The glow of his Aura intensified around his left hand.

"The objective is to be able to freely adjust the concentration of your Aura defenses on the fly as the situation demands," continued Ozpin. The glow of his Aura shifted from his left to his right, flowing down to the very tip of his cane as he raised it before he lowered it again. Shifting it back around, he concentrated his Aura around his left forearm, which he raised into a blocking position before extending his hand and concentrating his Aura in his palm, where it blazed like a miniature sun. "This technique is known as Flow, because, as the name suggests, it requires you master flowing your Aura in conjunction with your movements.

"There is a great deal of nuance to this technique. If you are not fast enough in shifting your Aura's concentration, then it will be useless, because your Aura will not reach the necessary location until after you have attacked or have been attacked. However, if you concentrate your Aura too quickly, you end up broadcasting your intentions to your opponent, allowing them to read your moves ahead. The objective is to perfectly synch the flow of your Aura with your own movements."

He adjusted his spectacles. "Now then…this will ultimately be different for each of you, due to your different styles. Ideally, you would have been taught these basics long before you had even picked up a weapon. To simplify matters, until you get more used to the rudimentary aspects of controlling your Aura, I will ask you to set aside your weapons for the time being, and participate empty-handed."

Everyone nodded, Weiss a beat behind the others and moved to set their weapons at the side of the ring. Likewise, Ozpin took his own cane and set it aside as well.

"We'll start slow, and with basic movements," he said. "After that, we will pair you off for very basic sparring. That will be the extent of our practice today. Now then…I want you to follow me through my motions, and shift your Aura to match mine. Do so at your own speed, however long it takes you. Make sure you are deliberate."

And thus they began. Ozpin directed them through slow-motion punches and kicks, making sure that each one of them took their time to ensure that the flow of Aura was right. He paused often to correct issues and help the students through difficulties, although his advice was almost always something along the lines of "Go slower."

Kyo watched the process with interest, taking in Ozpin as he helped the students along, correcting a stance here and ensuring a better distribution of Aura there. He was both surprised and impressed to see that the members of both teams were going through the exercises with an impressive degree of dedication and interest, not only fully committed to learning what Ozpin had to teach, but expressing a genuine interest in the material itself…with one notable exception.

Weiss' eyebrow twitched irritably as Ozpin put them through yet another motion. Truth be told, it wasn't all that hard for her to do. Shifting her Aura around her body became easier with each successive movement, and her natural inclination was to polish these new moves to perfection. However, despite that, her irritation only increased.

It got worse when Ozpin paired them up for sparring. She found herself across from Jaune, of all people. They _still_ had not been allowed to pick up their weapons. Then Ozpin hit them with another bombshell. The purpose of this sparring session was not to defeat their opponent. The objective was to take turns trading attack and defense, practicing shifting Aura from one extremity to another in the process, doing so as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

They went through a variety of movements, going slowly so as not to throw off their own transference. Weiss watched as Jaune raised his fist, moving so painfully slow that she could have hit him a couple-dozen times over in the time it took for him to push it forward in a motion that could hardly be called a punch. Instead, Weiss grit her teeth and moved to match Jaune, trying to smoothly flow her Aura up into her own arm to block it.

Her estimation of his power wasn't perfect, but it was close. There was a jolt as their Auras connected and his arm retracted, forced away from the excess Aura she put into her block. Now it was her turn to attack. Weiss raised her leg to kick, struggling to maintain her balance as she had to slow the motion down to an almost painful degree, channeling an optimum amount of Aura into her leg as she brought it up to meet Jaune's arm as he brought it down in a block, his Aura moving just as slowly and sluggishly as hers.

And on it went. With every exchange, Weiss' frustration mounted. Every time she saw Jaune moving so slowly, her first impulse was to leap at him and exploit every painfully enormous opening for all it was worth, just as she grew frustrated at the openings she was forced to leave whenever she attacked.

 _This is ridiculous!_ she ranted inside her mind. _We're better than this. We've done too much for this kind of training to be any good for us._

In her childhood, she had learned under the finest trainers her father's money could afford. She'd designed her weapon to make copious use of her family's Dust, practically assured that she would have all the supplies of it she would need. Her weapon had been assembled out of the finest materials, painstakingly crafted to meet her expectations. She'd trained at Beacon, the world's premier Huntsman Academy. She and her friends had faced down Cinder Fall, the White Fang, and Salem in a battle for the sake of the world and had won...

...And now...here they were, play-fighting like mere novices. Her outrage mounted with each painfully slow movement, every unnecessary step.

Finally, Ozpin called an end to the session. The eight of them stopped, panting slightly for breath, covered in sweat. They'd been going so slowly that they hadn't even realized they'd been working so hard.

"Well done, for your first day," said Ozpin. "If it continues like this, I expect your growth to be swift indeed. Dismissed."

He took his leave, presumably to attend to his other duties as Headmaster.

"That was way harder than I thought it would be," said Jaune, collapsing onto one of the benches around the sparring ring.

"But it was really neat," said Nora, grinning.

"It was a colossal waste of time!" snapped Weiss.

"What?" asked Ruby, thunderstruck by her partner and best friend's vehemence.

"That was the biggest waste of time I've ever been subjected to," growled Weiss, stalking over to where she'd set Myrtenaster and taking it up again. "I don't want any part of this foolishness any longer. If you all insist on it, then fine...it's your time to waste." She turned and left the room as quickly as her legs would carry her.

"Weiss!" shouted Ruby, her call having no effect on Weiss, who did not slow or turn.

* * *

 **Poor Weiss. She always ends up being the stick in the mud in these sorts of stories. Of course, it can be massively frustrating to invest so much time and effort into something, then essentially be told you've been doing it wrong the whole time. It doesn't help matters that Dust is a big part of who Weiss is and how she fights, and the main caveat of learning the Mibu's way of fighting almost seems like a denial of the importance of Dust.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:**

Six weeks, three days, seventeen hours, twenty-six minutes, and twelve seconds...that was how long this mission had lasted so far. Every second had been an excruciating experience, and Ciel Soleil found herself reminded that each and every second was part of her punishment.

Ciel rubbed her hands along her arms, feeling the thick sleeves of the jacket she'd been wise enough to wear over her black arm-length gloves. The jacket also covered her normal white, button-down shirt, which was far too light for this kind of environment. Reaching up, Ciel adjusted the dark-green beret that rested over her navy-blue hair, cursing the fact that she hadn't picked a longer overcoat, one that would supplement the limited protection from the elements offered by her green skirt. Leaning forward, she surveyed the activities below with attentive, green eyes.

This was the result of her efforts to do the right thing. As it was, she was incredibly lucky to have this mission at all. None of the Atlesian Specialists she'd approached were interested in allowing her to shadow them on missions. Any regular missions were taken before she got a chance to choose them. It always seemed that there were never enough to go around. It looked as though Ironwood was intent on making sure that she flunked out of her current year at Atlas Academy for the crime of trying to help her friend.

Ciel still remembered the shock that had come from learning that Penny had been an android of all things. Penny had been so vibrant, so cheerful, so genuinely alive that Ciel could hardly imagine her as an artificial existence, built from metal, who probably drank oil the way that Ciel drank her favorite cranberry juice. Seeing Penny cut to pieces, her internal components revealed on the stage of the Vytal Festival Tournament, had been one of the most shocking and jarring experiences in Ciel's life. Not only was that the day she discovered that she'd been lied to and deceived by Ironwood, but it was also the day she saw one of the few people she felt she could truly call a friend killed before her eyes.

Fortunately, that latter part was not to last. Penny's core had been retrieved, and she was placed into a new body. Ciel was once again assigned as her handler, to help coordinate Penny's actions with the two teams from Beacon that had risen to confront Cinder, the architect of Beacon's Fall and the one who had orchestrated Penny's first "death," and the mysterious entity known as Salem. Though Ciel had not been part of the final battle, she had been there when Penny had returned.

Ciel had been disappointed to learn that Penny planned to transfer to Beacon. Ciel had been quite happy at Atlas Academy herself, even if she didn't have all that many friends or companions. However, she still wished Penny the best, and hoped that her decision would make her truly happy.

However, the atmosphere of Atlas Academy and, indeed, Atlas itself, was changing. Discipline and obedience, always taught as important virtues, were emphasized with greater importance before. The emphasis was on preserving order, on ensuring that nothing disrupted the current state of affairs that the world rested in, now that the greatest threat to the status quo had been destroyed.

Attitudes in other affairs were shifting as well. Faunus had never been a truly substantial portion of the population at Atlas Academy. But, with the White Fang's increasingly violent activities, they were ostracized by many of their fellow students as well. Even the faculty seemed to view them with greater suspicion. Ciel still remembered the day that Neon Katt had been expelled under circumstances that had seemed rather suspiciously contrived. The remaining three members of her team had resigned alongside her, in a show of solidarity. Apparently, they were not missed, given that they had been viewed as mavericks and outliers, dangerous in their nonconformity. The last Ciel had heard of them, they had moved to Vacuo and were having better luck at Shade Academy. She at least hoped that was true.

However, Ciel had faith and hope that the changes were maybe a temporary madness, something that would settle as the last conflict faded, and the world rebuilt. Ironwood would see that his paranoia was not needed to maintain the safety of the world, and his attitudes would shift. Ciel had wanted to do her part for Atlas, for all its citizens, human and faunus. She wanted to enter the Special Forces and work her way up the ladder, just like Winter Schnee, the Huntress and Specialist she idolized. From there, she could find a way to influence Atlas, and guide it towards a better future.

Her hopes had been dashed the night Penny had appeared in their shared dorm room, her body shaking with a combination of fear, anger, and sadness that Ciel had never seen before. Penny, lacking tear ducts, couldn't cry like a human could. Instead, her body twitched almost spasmodically, and she hiccuped incessantly as the words spilled from her lips in a tide that took all of Ciel's strength of will to keep up with. Penny's revelation had been horrifying. Ironwood had refused to allow her transfer, changing his mind abruptly. He no longer even considered her a person, merely a tool to serve his purposes. Worse still, he had killed Penny's father in cold blood, when the venerable scientist had refused to abide by Ironwood's decision.

Then and there, Ciel had been faced with a painful decision. She could do her duty, at least, what appeared to be her duty. She could try to stop Penny from leaving so that the android could be turned over to Ironwood for study. The alternative was to do what she could to help Penny escape, and stall her pursuers. It was a choice between her career, the future she had aspired for, and her closest friend.

Ciel chose the latter.

They'd moved quickly, acting the smuggle Penny out on a cargo airship bound for one of the outlying settlements in Atlesian territory. After that, Ciel had done all that she could to sow confusion, and stall Penny's pursuers until the android had enough of a lead.

Ciel had later been crushed to learn that her efforts had been in vain. Penny had been killed on the outskirts of Atlas' territory. When the man known as Kyo had been pegged with the crime, Ciel had refused to believe it, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ironwood and his forces had been the true architects of Penny's death. And this time...she wouldn't be coming back.

But Ciel's problems were only beginning. Her role in Penny's escape had been uncovered. To her amazement, she had not been expelled or arrested on the spot. But that appeared to be because Ironwood was determined to make her departure from Atlas Academy as drawn-out and humiliating as humanly possible. Ciel found herself a _persona non grata_ at Atlas Academy. The other students at the Academy began to avoid associating with her. Ciel found herself singled out by instructors, who disciplined her severely for even the most minor of infractions...sometimes even going so far as to make up said infractions wholesale. She was last in line to choose missions, which left her with scut work, hardly worth any credits at all. Specialists who might have been mentors for her refused to work with her.

And now there was this. This had been a mission that she had been assigned, rather than one she had chosen for herself. She had been assigned to this Specialist by Ironwood himself. Their mission was to track and locate the faunus that had been liberated from the relocation camps they had been sent to. To that end, they had tracked the missing faunus endlessly, following as far as their air transports would permit, before continuing the journey on foot. They had moved quickly and quietly, avoiding contact with the Grimm. In the course of this journey, whoever had been responsible for liberating these camps had probably had enough time to go back and liberate a few more.

They had had little to go on, as the liberated faunus always re-appropriated whatever air transports were available in their camps and then flew them north. Along the way, Ciel, and the Specialist she was shadowing, had found graveyards of abandoned airships and bullheads, flown to the absolute limit of their range before being abandoned. Back in Atlas, some had suggested that the faunus were simply committing mass suicide, believing that there was no place for them on Remnant.

Ciel's superior believed otherwise. She had come up with the theory that the faunus were actually flying as far north as they could before proceeding south and west along the peninsula that extended out from the continent's northern reaches. From there, she had theorized that they were then going across the strait, and to the continent across the sea, one that was unoccupied by any of the three Kingdoms that had laid claim to it in the past.

And now, here they were, chilled to the bone, tired after weeks of walking, hungry from limited rations supplemented by whatever they could forage in this barren landscape. But they had found their objective. Looking down below them, Ciel couldn't help but stare in shock at what they had discovered.

Over the past couple of days, they had observed the long houses that had housed the faunus refugees, before watching as they were ferried out across the strait and to the continent on the other side. Ciel couldn't recall learning about any settlements that were on Leng. But this operation was clearly sophisticated, and backed by someone with considerable resources, which spoke of a sizable population on the other side, a prosperous settlement at the very least, if the size of the supply load the ferryman had returned with was any indicator. This was no ad-hoc, last ditch effort to get the faunus out of danger. This was a well-organized, large-scale, smuggling effort.

Now that they had found their objective, their mission was complete. At least, that was what Ciel hoped as she turned to look at her superior.

Sienna Caldwell was a fairly typical Atlesian Specialist, albeit one who was skilled in tracking and wilderness survival, the precise reasons she had been chosen for this mission. Like Ciel, she was watching the faunus below, her brown eyes narrowing as she noted every single detail. Her dark-orange hair was tied back into a simple tail that hung down to the level of her shoulders, which swayed and tossed about in the vicious, chilly winds of these dangerous, northern climes. She was dressed in a dark-gray overcoat, which widened out into a full combat skirt that fell past the level of her knees, the top buttoned, but the bottom open enough that her powerful legs, enclosed in black leggings, were plainly visible. Her hands were covered by thin, black, fingerless gloves.

On her back, she carried a pair of twin swords, practically identical in appearance. Narrow and straight, with a single edge each, the blades were a light-teal color along the edges, with a bright-yellow spine. They were worn with their points pointing downwards so that the handles, concealed behind rectangular hand-guards rose above the level of her shoulders, allowing her to easily reach up and grab them if there was need.

Ciel shivered. Sienna hadn't shown the slightest interest in abandoning their position. It was as though she was determined to watch this whole affair to the end before they turned back to report this to Ironwood. The journey would be harrowing, and every bit as difficult as it had been up. As a matter of fact, it would probably be more difficult than the trip up, given that they were almost out of supplies. _Maybe she's waiting until the faunus are gone, so that she can see if we can raid the lodges,_ thought Ciel carefully. That seemed a wise solution to their problem, assuming there was anything left for them to plunder, after the faunus had left.

Although...were it up to Ciel, she would rather not tell Ironwood about what was happening. These faunus were fleeing in hope of finding a better life, a place where they wouldn't be discriminated against, labeled as criminals, and shipped off to internment camps to be used as cheap labor for the SDC quarries and mines. She didn't blame them for wanting to flee. Ciel had considered leaving Atlas herself. Only the knowledge that Ironwood probably wouldn't allow her to get very far kept her from trying.

"Now what?" she asked, looking at Sienna.

"We do our duty," said Sienna coldly, her eyes flicking to Ciel before flicking back to the buildings below. "Our job is to return and report this to General Ironwood. All that matters is following the orders we were given."

Ciel nodded, a lump forming in her throat. Sienna had been cold to her all throughout their mission, speaking only to give orders. Otherwise, she never initiated a conversation on her own. Her answers to any questions Ciel had were curt, to the point, and spoken coldly and tonelessly. It was as though she hardly even noticed Ciel's presence, though Ciel considered that a better relationship than straight-up hostility. But it made for a lonely journey through the wilderness.

"What will happen to the faunus?" asked Ciel.

"That is not our decision to make," said Sienna.

"It won't be Ironwood's decision to make either," said a voice from behind them.

Ciel yelped and rolled over, trying to get her legs under her after spending the last few hours prone, while observing the faunus below. Sienna was much faster. Rolling onto her back, she sprang up to her feet, her hands blurring to the handles of her swords, which she whipped over her shoulders and down, holding the blades out in front of her, ready for a fight.

Ciel's hand went to her own weapon. In its inactive form, it resided as a gold watch on her left wrist. Closing her fingers about the knob on one side of it and turning activated the watch's mechashift function, the watch expanded, components unfolding until her arm was encased in a golden housing, a slender, double-edged blade extending down and out over the top of her hand. She raised her arm, leveling the blade at the speaker. The blade split in half down the middle, the two sides separating and rotating back, angling backwards, to reveal a concealed barrel.

Before them was the boy who had apparently led the faunus here. There was no mistaking that silver hair or those amber eyes. This was the mysterious Lightning Lord, whose image had only been captured fleetingly by security cameras, and occasionally by the camera of a Knight before it was brought to an untimely end. He reclined on a boulder, his legs crossed, his hands resting on the rock behind him as he leaned back slightly, not even making a pretense of readying himself for a fight.

"One and a half seconds for the specialist," commented the boy with a yawn. "I could've killed you three times already."

Ciel swallowed, but found that her mouth had nothing _to_ swallow, having gone completely dry.

"I have to commend you on finding us out here," continued the boy. "If you took an airship at least part of the way, that means you've been walking even longer than those refugees down there. That takes guts and determination."

"When did you notice us?" asked Sienna.

The boy smiled. "When you first got here," he said. "I could feel your Auras all the way down there. I guess they don't teach you enough about concealment over at Atlas Academy."

Sienna's eyes narrowed, and she edged forward slightly, taking half a step to the side. Ciel looked at her in confusion before noticing that Sienna's movements now put her slightly in front of Ciel herself. _Is she...protecting me?_

"I suppose you don't intend to allow us to leave alive," said Sienna.

"That depends on how you answer my question," said the boy. "Would you be willing to look the other way, and tell Ironwood that you didn't find anything up here?"

Sienna's eyes narrowed. "Very well," she said.

Ciel gasped, her jaw dropping.

The boy smirked. "You're a terrible liar. But I think you knew it wouldn't be that easy anyway."

"You would have never lasted this long if you couldn't see through something that obvious," said Sienna. "And if I truly intended on agreeing to deceive Ironwood, I would know better than to think you would simply take my word for it."

"So it would seem that we are at an impasse," said the boy with a sigh. "I guess our only choice is to fight."

He lowered his right hand to the handle of his sword. Ciel saw Sienna twitch, her legs bending as she set herself to charge, trying to close the gap between her and the boy before he could finish drawing his weapon. Ciel swallowed and sighted down her weapon, ready to cover Sienna.

The first inch of the boy's sword cleared the scabbard, and all thoughts of fighting him flew from Ciel's mind. The sword's blade blazed with light, like white flames, exploding out from the silvery steel in a swirling rush that washed over her like a roaring wind. In fact, Ciel did hear a roaring sound, but realized that it was the blood thundering through her ears. Her breath hitched as the sword's menacing Aura washed over them, chilling her to the core. It was more terrifying than anything she had ever seen or felt. And, with each successive inch that emerged from the scabbard, the feeling only intensified.

 _We can't fight that! There's no way!_ Ciel's mind was in utter panic as she realized that challenging this boy was a death sentence. This was why he had been able to easily destroy the security forces guarding the internment camps. This was true, transcendent power. It was far more than she could ever hope to face.

The roaring in her ears became deafening, and darkness creeped in at the edge of her vision. Ciel's breath caught in her throat and she found herself unable to breathe, the sword's Aura seeming to wrap around her throat and squeeze it closed.

 _I can't..._ Ciel's thoughts came to a shuddering halt, and darkness claimed her. She wasn't even aware of falling to the ground.

* * *

Sienna's ears caught the sound of the boy's blade being re-sheathed, but he was no longer in front of her. He had reached her before the sound of his blade had. Looking to her side, she caught a glimpse of the boy catch Ciel before her head could hit the ground. Before she could so much as flinch, they were gone. A flicker of motion attracted her eyes back to the rock where the boy had been sitting earlier. Now he was resting Ciel on top of it, laying her down carefully to avoid hurting her.

Sienna's eyes narrowed slightly. "That was kind of you."

"I got the impression that she didn't really even want to be here," said the boy, stepping away from Ciel and turning to face Sienna once again.

"That would not be a mistaken impression," she said.

The boy nodded. "Are you still going to insist on going back to tell Ironwood about this."

Sienna nodded. "You are going to have to kill me to stop me."

The boy lowered his head and let out a soft breath. "So be it then."

"I have a request," said Sienna.

The boy raised his eyes to look at her again, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Are faunus the only ones your associates will take across?" asked Sienna, using her head to gesture to the lodges down below.

"No," said the boy. "The journey is open to all those who wish to take it."

"Then...please...send her with them," said Sienna, nodding at Ciel.

"You intend to fight, but you want your subordinate to defect?" asked the boy.

Sienna nodded. "She is far too kind to serve in the Atlesian military as it stands now. She has been ostracized by her peers and teachers for siding with her conscience, rather than her duty. Because of that, they are drawing out her punishment to make it as painful as possible, before they bring an end to everything she's worked for. She deserves better than that. Starting a new life somewhere else is probably the best option for her."

The boy nodded. "I can do that," he said. "But why are you helping her if you still insist on doing your duty?"

Sienna turned her cold gaze back to Ciel. "I have a responsibility to my family. If I were to become a traitor to Atlas, they would suffer for it. However, if I were to die doing my duty, they would be rewarded. At least, this way, I can protect them all."

The boy smiled. "I see," he said. He drew his sword once again. That menacing Aura was still there, the blade sending chills down Sienna's spine. However, it was also more composed, not washing over her like a rushing wind. But Sienna could see that the blade wasn't any weaker. When he'd first drawn it, the boy had unleashed it indiscriminately. Now he was containing it, tempering it, preparing to use all his blade's power against her.

Sienna found herself smiling as well. "My name is Sienna Caldwell," she said, raising her swords.

"I am called Hayate," said the boy.

Abruptly, the pair of them seemed to vanish, moving dozens of meters in an instant as they moved sideways along the cliff that overlooked the lodges below, taking their fight, and its potential collateral damage, away from the unconscious Ciel.

Hayate closed in, swinging his slender, double-edged blade in a sweeping stroke that would have taken Sienna's head off her shoulders. She responded by crossing her own blades to intercept his attack. The force of his blow drove her feet into the ground, shattering rock. Sienna endured the blow before straining back against it, throwing his blade back and lunging forward with two slashes of her own blades.

Cutting Hayate was like trying to cut a cloud. He seemed to drift lazily out of the way of Sienna's attacks, dodging everything with practiced, acrobatic grace. Her slashes missed him by a hair's breadth. After several failed strikes, Sienna danced back, raising her swords. The blades folded downward so that the handles were now at an angle to the blade, triggers unfolding and gun-barrels appearing from behind the blades, aiming out over their spines.

The crack of Siena's shots was accompanied by a crackling discharge as lightning ran along the length of her blades, accelerating the bullets as she fired, turning them into lines of blue light as they arrowed at Hayate, who danced between them. Occasionally, he raised his own sword to cut down the bullets as they came at him. Ducking underneath a pair of shots that Sienna had fired at the same time, Hayate closed the distance between them, his body a blur. Sienna switched her weapons back into their sword forms, crossing them to catch Hayate's slash, which left a silvery trail its wake as he swung.

The force behind the attack was staggering. The trail the sword left was born from a merging of its and Hayate's Auras. It reached past Sienna's guarding blades and cut into her own protective Aura, biting into her flesh and throwing a spray of blood through the air.

Sienna grit her teeth and went on the offensive, charging forward. Her blades worked fiercely, coming at Hayate from different directions, forcing him to parry and dodge as Sienna pressed ahead. The edge of her own blade glowed blue and Hayate danced out of the line of attack, which proved to be a wise chose as Sienna's blade unleashed a glowing, Dust-powered blade of wind that carved a line through the earth as it rushed past Hayate. Sienna followed up with an upward-sweeping slash, launching another blade of wind in the process.

Hayate avoided even these new attacks easily, dancing between them, his body bending and folding at angles that would have made a contortionist proud. Finally, he danced right at at Sienna, his blade raised in a thrust right at the center of her chest. Swinging with all her might, Sienna brought her right blade up in an attacking block that knocked Hayate's thrust off-course, and away from her body. She winced at the impact, which sent jolts through her wrist and all the way back to her shoulder. It was amazing to see just how much power Hayate could put behind his swift and savage strikes.

Sienna attacked, not with her other sword, but with a swift roundhouse kick aimed right at Hayate's temple. Hayate ducked out of the way. Sienna allowed the momentum of her kick to carry her around until she was turned away from Hayate. At the same time, she reversed her grip on her right sword and thrust directly backwards with it.

The blade pierced Hayate right in the stomach...or it seemed to anyway. In actuality, it only struck his afterimage, as he danced back so quickly that his body appeared to be in two places at once.

But Sienna was quick to take advantage of the distance and time her surprise attack had bought her. Spinning back around, she brought her two swords together, their handles joining so that the blades were held flat, pointing straight out in front of her. For a moment, her weapon resembled a blue and yellow broadsword, before the two blades suddenly split apart where their spines had been joined together. At the same time, the combined handles folded down, splitting again, with the one on the right folding to extend out sideways. Crackling arcs of lightning began to climb up and down the weapon's length, jumping across the fork between the two blades. Swirling winds gathered in the gap around the barrels as Sienna leveled the railgun at Hayate.

Hayate stopped and raised his own sword, holding the blade straight upright. He waited as Sienna's attack charged. There would be much more to it than the bullet this time. The acceleration from the lightning-Dust would elevate the bullet's speed well beyond the speed of sound, even as the compressed air drove it even harder and faster. The shot would generate a shockwave that would crush bones and pulverize flesh. Even if Hayate dodged the shot, he wouldn't escape unscathed.

The charge on Sienna's weapon reached critical levels, to the point where the blades and handles were buzzing to such a degree that it felt as though the whole weapon might explode in her hands. Sienna sighted down the length of her blades. For the first time, the corners of her lips curled up in the faintest of smiles.

"Thank you," she said softly, addressing the boy in front of her.

Hayate smiled back and nodded.

Sienna pulled the trigger. Her railgun fired with a roar as the bullets, charged with lightning and wind, rushed out, barreling towards Hayate at an impossible speed. They left a blaze of pure white in their wake, the shockwave of their passing tearing up the ground beneath it. Hayate stood his ground until the shot was almost upon him. When he moved, his blade became a streak of silver that matched the shot from the railgun for speed. He didn't move from the spot, but he brought his sword straight down in a single, powerful stroke.

The shot from Sienna's railgun continued on, now split in two, on diverging courses that carried them around Hayate. Even the shockwave that had came with the bullets had been split in two. But that was not the only thing.

"Magnificent," whispered Sienna, staring in awe at her opponent.

Hayate lowered his blade and sheathed his sword. "As promised, I will take your friend and see that she is conveyed across the water."

"Thank you," said Sienna, smiling more broadly now. In fact, her expression was amazingly tranquil. A line of red emerged from her forehead, continuing down, passing across face, then down her neck, splitting her coat, running between her breasts, all the way down.

An arc of blood sprayed through the air. Sienna bent over backwards, her weapon falling in two, perfectly severed pieces. She fell onto her back, lifeless eyes staring up as more of her blood sprayed upwards before finally ebbing.

Hayate walked over to where Sienna lay in a spreading pool of her own blood. Slowly, he reached down and ran his hand over her eyes, closing them. Standing up, he looked to where Ciel lay, still unconscious. Walking over, he picked her up, cradling her in his arms before taking one more look at Sienna.

"I need a shovel," he said softly.

* * *

Ciel's eyelids fluttered, then slowly drifted open. She found herself staring at a ceiling of wooden beams, lit by a fire off to her side. She was warm, a soft, thick blanket draped over her. She was lying on the most comfortable mattress she had slept on in ages, one that definitely put the dorm beds back at Atlas Academy to shame. For the first time in weeks, she was warm and comfortable.

"You're awake," said a voice off to the side.

Ciel shot upright with a surprised yelp and turned to face the source of the voice, throwing off her comforter and scooting back along the bed until she nearly fell of the other side.

The young man in front of her held up his hands placatingly. "Whoa! Whoa...easy there. You're okay." He gave her a soft smile. "No one's gonna hurt you."

Ciel took a few breaths to calm herself down, closing her eyes and fighting to get her trembling body under control. When she opened them again, she took in the man in front of her. It was the man who had been taking the boat back and forth across the strait. _I've been captured,_ she realized. _Where'_ s _Sienna? What happened to her?_

Before Ciel could even think of what to say or do, her stomach let out a low growl and she felt like it was contorting horribly in her torso.

"Right," said the man, standing up and heading over to the table, where a pot had been set next to the fire. He ladled out a hefty helping of some kind of meat stew into a bowl and brought it back to her with a spoon. "When was the last time you ate? You're better off than those refugees in the next building, but not by much."

Ciel accepted the bowl with a wordless nod of thanks, and practically inhaled the stew. It was beef with vegetables, and the broth had been thickened with ground barley. It was delicious and filling. A single bowl was all that she needed.

"Who are you?" she asked, handing the bowl back to the young man.

He blushed. "Aw geez...I can't believe I forgot that part. My name's Shinrei. Nice to meet you."

"Ciel Soleil," said Ciel, nodding her head. "Where am I?"

"You're in the very place you were spying on," said Shinrei, taking the empty bowl back to the table. "More?"

Ciel's skin had paled at the confirmation of her fears. However, she shook her head in response to Shinrei's question.

"Hey, it's okay," said Shinrei, moving back to her side. "Like I said, no one's going to hurt you. You're safe here."

"But the refugees..." she said.

"Well, they don't know you're here yet," said Shinrei. "But we won't let them do anything to you either. I'll protect you personally if it comes to that."

Ciel had to take another breath to calm herself. "Where's..." She had to force herself to start over. "Where's Sienna?"

"The one you were with...?" Shinrei looked uncertain about how to respond. "Well..."

As if on cue, the door at one end of the lodge swung open, and the silver-haired boy came walking in. Ciel squeaked and shrank away as he approached.

"Easy," said Shinrei, laying a hand gently on her arm. "He's not gonna hurt you either. He's the one who brought you here."

"He did?" asked Ciel, looking incredulously at the boy.

"That's right," said Shinrei, grinning at the boy. "Isn't that right, Hayate?"

Hayate sighed as he came closer. "I'm not sure what I'm agreeing to, but sure."

"Where's Sienna?" asked Ciel again, now directing her question at Hayate.

Hayate's eyes closed for a second before he opened them. "She's dead," he said.

A chill went down Ciel's spine. Sure, Sienna had been nothing but cold to her, but she had also been the only one to not treat Ciel like a traitor. She had taken Ciel on a mission with her when no one else would.

"Can you walk?" asked Hayate.

Ciel nodded. She shifted and swung her legs out over the side of the bed. Fortunately, they didn't wobble, and she was able to stand up easily. Shinrei hovered nearby, just in case she needed some support.

Hayate extended a hand to her. "Come," he said.

He took her out of the lodge and up a narrow path that led up to the cliff she and Sienna had been using as an overlook. Up on the cliff, he showed her a pile of stones. Sienna's swords had been thrust down into the pile of rocks.

"You buried her?" asked Ciel, kneeling in front of the rocks.

"Not very deep," said Hayate. "It's mostly rock up here. But I did what I could."

"And your friend is taking me across with the fa-I mean...refugees?" asked Ciel, looking over at Hayate.

"It was her request," said Hayate, gesturing at Sienna's grave. "Would you prefer to stay?"

Ciel looked at the gave and thought about it for a minute. "No," she said. "There's nothing left for me in Atlas. I would have liked to try and earn back the respect of my peers and teachers, but that's not going to happen. Everything is wrong there now."

"You'll be going to a different land, with different people and different customs," Hayate pointed out. "It won't be easy. And this is also very spur of the moment. This is the last boat out of here. If you decide not to, this won't be happening again until I get back with more refugees."

"What will you be doing?" asked Ciel, though she already figured most of what Hayate was up to.

Hayate frowned and looked back along the barren stretch of land that he and the refugees had traveled over more than a week ago. "I'll be going back to liberate another camp. I can't stop now."

"Why is it just you?" asked Ciel, looking down at the lodges. "If those people on the other side of the strait are supporting you, why don't they send someone to help you?"

"Because I don't want them to," replied Hayate, earning a gasp from Ciel. He smirked. "The Mibu Clan is just accepting refugees displaced by the current political climate in Atlas, and they are simply _not_ asking questions about the refugees' backgrounds. That's the way it needs to be. My actions are those of a lone vigilante...or terrorist, depending on your interpretation. The Mibu neither condone nor condemn my actions, but will naturally engage in humanitarian efforts for the sake of those displaced by me."

"Why?" asked Ciel.

"Because they're planning something important," said Hayate, "something that involves the other four Kingdoms. To that end, the Mibu want to maintain a certain degree of innocence in connection to my actions, but they won't turn their backs on these people either." He sighed. "But that's mostly immaterial. The thing that matters most now is your decision."

Ciel raised her fingers and rested them against one of the rocks that covered Sienna's body. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "Thank you." Standing up, she turned to face Hayate, looking him right in the eyes. "I'll go," she said.

"Well then, let's head back," said Hayate. "Everyone was waiting on you."

Ciel blushed furiously as a shock of horror rushed through her. There was nothing that quite irked her like being behind schedule. Being the cause of something like that horrified her.

"It's fine," said Hayate, seeming to divine the cause of her distress. "There's no real schedule to keep. We're still well within our projected estimates."

"I see," said Ciel, letting out a sigh of relief.

Together, they made their way down the path and headed out to the lodges.

* * *

"Looks like our extra passenger is ready," observed Shinrei blithely as Ciel and Hayate entered the lodge, the one with the remaining faunus refugees.

"What is that human doing here?" asked a teenaged faunus with swiveling bat ears rising from her head.

"She's like you," said Hayate, "an outcast. There's no place for her in Atlas, so she will be going to the Mibu with you."

Troubled murmurs ran through the crowd, but Duncan rose up and raised both his hands. "Enough," he said. "We are here by virtue of the kindness that these people have shown us. We are not the White Fang. We have suffered at the hands of individual humans, particularly those in the SDC. But if humans are being harmed by the conditions in Atlas, then we must show acceptance to them as well. It is not our right to turn her away. Nor should we, even if it were."

The murmurs died down as many faunus lowered their eyes, uncomfortable with the comparisons to the White Fang. Shinrei laughed and clapped Duncan on the shoulder. "I am definitely taking you out for drinks when this is over," he promised. Turning, he addressed the remaining refugees and Ciel. "Let's get this show on the road. Get everyone onboard."

They filed out of the lodge and began climbing aboard the boat. It went faster than many of the previous loadings. The injured and infirm had already been sent across, along with the vast majority of the children. Now, all that remained were the most able-bodied individuals. This was also the smallest load of the trip, consisting of the few who had not been able to fit on the previous boat.

Feeling nervous having so many faunus, many of whom probably still viewed her with suspicion and trepidation (for not entirely unwarranted reasons), sitting around her, Ciel instead opted to sit at the rear of the boat, right next to where Shinrei rested as he used his oar-like halberd to propel the vessel. Seating herself on the bench, Ciel rubbed her hands anxiously.

"Worried?" asked Shinrei.

"...Yes," said Ciel after a moment's hesitation. "I mean...this all came out of nowhere for me. When I came up here with Sienna, I wasn't expecting to suddenly find myself traveling to a new continent and leaving my old life behind."

"Are you okay with it?" asked Shinrei.

"I...I didn't have much of a life left back in Atlas," said Ciel. "Ironwood was drawing out my punishment. My time at Atlas Academy was over. He was just making the pain of that realization last longer. Even if Sienna and I returned, he would just find a new way to make it so that I would be unable to advance to the next year."

"Is that all there is to it?" asked Shinrei.

"...No," said Ciel, again hesitating. "I feel...responsible...for what the faunus are going through. I never did anything to them personally, but...I'm still part of that same system that's oppressing them. I can't be a part of that anymore."

"You won't have to worry about that on the other side," said Shinrei, giving her an encouraging smile. "We'll protect you, even if they tried to come after you...though they'll likely think you're dead when you don't come back."

"I hope so," said Ciel. "You should probably go ahead and start. I don't want to hold us up."

"I already did," said Shinrei, giving her a grin.

Ciel gasped and looked up and around. To her shock, the water was rushing past at fantastic speed. Looking over her shoulder, all she could see of the shoreline was a faint, gray blur rapidly shrinking behind them. They had only just left and they were already going so fast. "How?" she gasped. The boat had no sails and no engines that she could see. There were no signs that any kind of Dust was in use. The boat's acceleration had been so smooth that she hadn't even noticed. Even now, she didn't feel the slightest rock or bob as the boat glided across the sea as though the ocean were as smooth as glass.

"Is this a Semblance?" asked Ciel.

"You could say that," said Shinrei with a small shrug of his shoulders. "We don't call it that over there, and it isn't exactly the same thing."

"How so?" asked Ciel.

"From what I hear, you outsiders learn your 'Semblances' by discovering them through training or whatnot. In the Mibu, we call it Manifestation and we are taught to shape it."

"You shape your Semblances?" said Ciel, eyes wide with amazement.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "There are all kinds of different schools and arts that the Mibu can train in to shape their manifestation. Naturally, you'll have your own talents and inclinations, things that you're better or worse at. Certain arts or skills might be easier for you to learn, or you'll be able to learn them more effectively. But the basic idea is that what shapes your power is ultimately your own will."

Ciel slowly turned and stared over the side of the boat, watching as the water flew past beneath it. "What art is this?" she asked.

Shinrei grinned. "Well, I gave you my name earlier, but that isn't my whole introduction. My name used to be Kaito. However, I was promoted, and given a new name and title."

"They give you a new name when you're promoted?" asked Ciel, amazed at the idea.

"Only for certain positions," said Shinrei. "In my case, I've risen to join the ranks of the Five Shining Stars, the official protectors of the Mibu Clan. I was granted the name Shinrei, wielder of the power of water."

"Water," said Ciel, looking overboard again. "That makes sense."

"I'm a student of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , the sacred school of water," explained Shinrei. "The wielder of water in the Five Stars is always a master of the school."

"If you hold such an important rank, does that mean you're one of the stronger members of your clan?" asked Ciel, fascinated.

Shinrei nodded. "The Five Stars are second only to the Four Elders, the rulers of the Clan, in terms of power. My master is one of them, the Chief Physician of the Mibu Clan and Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_."

"What is it like over there?" asked Ciel, turning her eyes towards the horizon, knowing that it was still a bit too soon to spot the land on the other side, but still looking all the same.

"Well...in a lot of ways it's not too different," said Shinrei. "It's just a simple place that people like us call home. But...things are a bit simpler there. From what I've heard, we're a bit low-tech compared to the outside Kingdoms. Because we've learned to do so much with our Auras, we've never developed any technologies based around Dust like the outside world did."

Ciel blinked and rolled her eyes upward, trying to imagine a life without Dust. What level of technology did the Mibu have then? Did they even have electricity or basic conveniences like running water?

In her silent contemplation, she didn't notice as the boat gradually lost speed. She didn't realize until the faunus around her started muttering worriedly. Looking around, Ciel was surprised to see that they had come to a stop. There was no way they could have reached their destination. There was only water all around them, as far as the eye could see.

"Looks like this crossing won't be uneventful," muttered Shinrei, his smile smaller than it had been, though it hadn't vanished entirely. He had withdrawn the blade of his weapon from the water and was now staring off into the distance.

Ciel frowned, following the line of his gaze, then gasped as she saw why he had stopped the boat.

"Grimm!" Duncan's shout was greeted by cries of fear and anxiety as the passengers in the boat shifted about, rushing to the opposite side, as though moving those scant few feet would make them any safer.

"Looks like Nevermores and Griffons," said Shinrei, his eyes narrowing in a squint. "'Bout forty of them. Pretty unusual, really. You don't see a big flock like that over the water very often."

Ciel blinked and stared off into the distance. She was amazed by Shinrei's vision if he could already count how many Grimm there were. All she could see were numerous shadows, winged outlines flapping their way through the sky. "Are they after us?" she asked.

"Maybe," said Shinrei with a shrug. "They might not have even noticed we were here. But then somebody had to go and incite a panic." He turned and fixed Duncan with a deadpan stare. The dog-eared faunus had the sense to look ashamed of himself.

Shinrei shrugged. "Ah well...spilt milk and all that. For all we know, they aren't actually heading this way. It's hard to tell at this distance. Let's just keep going."

"Can we outrun them?" asked Ciel as Shinrei returned his blade to the water and the boat began to move forward again.

"I'm not trying to," said Shinrei. "If they're lucky, they haven't noticed us and'll go on their merry way. If they aren't..." He gave Ciel a grin brimming with confidence. "...you're in for a show, and you'll get to see why I've earned my rank."

The confident, almost roguish expression on Shinrei's face made Ciel's stomach quiver...in a surprisingly pleasant fashion.

* * *

 **Back around the period when I was actually writing this, in the space between Volumes 3 and 4, I had come to theorize that there was no such thing as aquatic Grimm. Obviously, that isn't the case, as future volumes have indicated. But, at the time, I was convinced that deep water was something of a deterrent to Grimm, with them not being able to swim worth a damn. In my mind that was why an island, like Patch, would be considered such a safe place for raising families and whatnot. It would also explain why maritime shipping would be such a major means of moving cargo, hence the large docks and freight ships seen in Volume 1. Of course, looking back, we now know that those ships were all probably armed to the teeth. Some factors of this story are built around that assumption.**

 **Ciel is one of my favorite characters, in terms of design. I can't say entirely why, but I really like the look of her. She's only had about a minute or so of screen-time, tops, so it's not as though there's much character for her to develop. Mostly, for me at least, she becomes what TV Tropes has helpfully termed an OC Stand-in, a character with a sufficient lack of characterization that writers like me typically create our own out of her by filling in the gaps. All we really know about Ciel is that she's a bit obsessed with punctuality...and that she might have a tendency to be literal-minded. Aside from that...pretty much everything else about her character is stuff I made up.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19:**

Weiss stalked out into the courtyard, the evening breeze cooling her sweat-covered skin, which felt nice after what she had just been through...not that she could appreciate it at all. She was too concerned with the boiling anger that rushed through her veins like fire, making her feel hotter than any breeze could possibly cool.

As she looked around the courtyard, Weiss frowned, realizing she had a conundrum. She had no idea where to go. Their apartment was out, and anywhere in Vale also carried the risk of running into one of her teammates, whom she wasn't ready to face after such a spectacular outburst. She supposed she could hang out around Beacon, but knew she couldn't hide there forever.

With a sigh, she decided that it was best to just take a walk and see where her legs carried her.

Weiss wandered as the sun continued to set and the air around her darkened. It was almost time for dinner, and she also needed to catch an airship into Vale if she didn't want to be stuck at Beacon for the night, which, given her sweaty state, was not an appealing prospect.

With an angry sigh, Weiss picked a bench and set herself down into it, finding herself staring over the cliff that looked out over the Emerald Forest. Just a short distance away were the launchpads where first-year students were flung into the forest for their initiation. From here, all she could see was an expanse of rounded green shapes, the forest canopy looking like a sea of green clouds in the fading light.

Weiss looked down at her knees, trying to place just why she was so upset. She was certain that this training was a waste of their time. She hated feeling like a beginner all over again. But, at the same time, there should have been nothing wrong with learning a new set of skills and broadening their repertoires. Then why did this whole thing irritate her so much?

"Hey."

Weiss blinked and looked over, surprised to see Jaune standing by her bench with a small, concerned smile.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," growled Weiss.

"That's fine," said Jaune, settling on the bench next to her.

Weiss wanted to shout at him to get away, to leave her alone. However, another part of her was grateful for the company at least. More importantly, Jaune wasn't pressing the issue. He was simply sitting beside her silently, letting her know that he was there if she needed him, but not forcing her to talk or talking to her if she didn't want him to.

The sun continued to disappear below the horizon. Stars were beginning to dust the sky and the air was getting colder.

"We should head back soon," said Jaune. "We don't have much longer before the last airship leaves."

Weiss frowned.

"Hey, I'll tell everyone to give you some space," said Jaune, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to talk to them, if you don't want to...not yet."

"How can you deal with this so easily?" asked Weiss.

"Huh?" Jaune had to blink a couple of times and stare at her.

"After everything we've been through, and everything we've done, how can you let Kyo and Ozpin take us back to square one all over again?" elaborated Weiss. "It's like everything we've learned about Aura and how to fight is worthless, like we've been doing it the wrong way the whole time. How can you accept that?"

"Um...well...I don't know about the others," said Jaune, scratching his chin. "But me...remember who I am? Mister Faked His Way Into Beacon Knowing Diddly Squat About Being A Huntsman here."

Weiss couldn't help but giggle at his ridiculous title for himself.

Jaune smiled at her and continued. "I mean, I had to learn everything from scratch, without any formal training. Pyrrha was only ever able to teach me the basics."

The mention of the champion's name made Weiss wince, though Jaune seemed comfortable enough to talk about her.

"So I guess I'm not as set in my ways as everyone else is," he continued. "For me, it actually feels kinda good, like I'm on even ground with everyone else for a change. I guess it's sorta what I missed by not going to Combat School or getting formal training." He turned his eyes to Weiss. "I guess it probably doesn't feel that way for you though."

"No," said Weiss. "All my life, I've been told the importance of mastering my family's Semblance, learning to use Dust, taking the fullest advantage of everything that I have. But...now it feels like we're being told that we were wrong to do all of that, like it was just a waste of time, and we have to start over from scratch."

Jaune nodded. "I can see that would be hard to swallow. To a degree, I can't really empathize with that, 'cause I don't have the same experience and schooling that you do. But I think I may have gone through something similar."

"How so?" asked Weiss.

Jaune frowned. "Remember how I was the first few weeks at Beacon?"

Weiss nodded, unable to forget, namely because Jaune had made a pretty substantial impression by flirting non-stop with her throughout that period. But she also remembered him being clumsy and inept in the ring, batted around by sub-par fighters, like Cardin Winchester of all people. She also remembered that brief period where he had become "friends" with Cardin, thanks to Cardin using the knowledge of Jaune's fake transcripts as blackmail material.

"When Pyrrha first offered to help me, I turned her down flat," said Jaune. "I was obsessed with this...I don't know...macho, I guess...idea that I had to get better on my own, that admitting I needed help somehow made me less of a man or something. It was really stupid." He groaned. "I ended up in so deep with Cardin and his buddies that I nearly ended up doing something that I'd regret for the rest of my life. There are times where I look back over that and _still_ feel like clubbing myself over the head. It's not really the same as what you're going through, but I think it's similar."

"You think I'm too caught up," said Weiss, "that I'm just too stubborn to accept the fact that I need to change."

"I wouldn't say that you're not accepting it," said Jaune. "I just think that you're not looking at the whole potential that we have here."

"What do you mean?" Weiss' eyes narrowed.

"Well, the Schnee Semblance is one of the few hereditary ones," said Jaune, "so you've always felt that your Semblance needs to be the same as your mother's and your sister's. But, if you think about what Kyo has told us about this Manifestation thing, then that means that you don't have to be bound by your family's Semblance. You could create your own; not a Schnee Semblance, but Weiss' Semblance."

Jaune's words gave Weiss pause and she turned to look out over the Emerald Forest again. She honestly hadn't thought about it that way. While she wanted to honor her family's history and contribute to building her family's future, she'd also occasionally felt bound, shackled by her last name. When she had been home, she had been "Ms. Schnee," bound to behave in certain ways, participate in certain activities, interact with particular people. She'd had to think about her and the company's reputation. She'd had to meet with the potential suitors her father had introduced to her. She'd had to master her Semblance the way her sister had.

That was why she had come to Beacon. It had given her the chance to be "Weiss," not just a Schnee. But she was amazed at how much that idea had shackled her in ways she didn't even realize. She'd been raised and trained to think about her Semblance and abilities in a certain way. But now she was being given an opportunity to expand her horizons, to do and accomplish something that no Schnee ever had. She could honor her family's legacy, while creating something new for herself.

Finally, she turned and smiled at Jaune. "I think you're right," she said. "Thank you. And I'm sorry for blowing up at everyone like that."

"It's okay," said Jaune. "You're probably not the only one who was feeling a little frustrated. But it helps to talk about it. Uh..." He checked his watch. "Uh oh! We'd better hurry, or we'll miss the last airship."

In the end, they had to run to catch the airship, settling into their seats just as the ramp lifted and the ship lifted off. As she sat next to him, Weiss found herself smiling. "Thank you for everything, Jaune," she said.

"No biggie," said Jaune with a chuckle, scratching his cheek shyly.

Weiss sighed. "You make me so jealous of Ruby sometimes."

Jaune chuckled and covered Weiss' hand with his own, giving it a squeeze. "Well, we can't be together-together...but we can still be friends."

Weiss nodded, glad that she had such kind and loving friends to support her. That was something she could have never gotten as a Schnee, but only as Weiss.

The transport landed with a light jolt on the pad of Vale's docks. Standing up, Jaune turned and offered her his hand. "Let's go home."

Weiss smiled and took it.

* * *

Jaune smiled, throwing a glance at Weiss as she stood proudly next to Ruby, the whole of Team RWBY standing lined up right in front of his own team. The previous night had been a tumultuous one. He and Weiss had returned, and Weiss had immediately, if somewhat hesitantly, apologized for her outburst. Several heart-to-hearts later, she had made up with everyone, and was exchanging tearful hugs with Ruby.

And now, she had come with them, ready to train with a fresh attitude, ready to apply herself to learning a new skill, looking as determined as she always did.

"Good afternoon to you," said Ozpin. "I'm glad you've all chosen to return."

His words made Jaune flinch. Weiss had held her frustration in until the Headmaster was out of earshot, but Ozpin seemed to have ways of finding out nearly anything that went on in the hallways or on the grounds of his school. Jaune sometimes wondered if he should check the restrooms for hidden cameras.

"We'll pick up where we left off yesterday," said Ozpin. "We will be going through the same exercises as before. It may seem boring and repetitive, but that is the first step to learning nearly everything. In time, very little time, by my estimation, we will move on to more advanced applications. Of course, by that time, you may already be on your way to Leng. But the Mibu can teach you as effectively as I can."

Ozpin nodded and flexed his hands. "Let's begin."

* * *

Yang's Aura hummed as she swept her arm around, throwing a slow-motion punch at Neo, who matched her Aura's concentration in her blocking arm before responding in kind. It felt somewhat silly to Yang, but she was actually enjoying the novelty of this exercise, even though it was their second day on it. There was something satisfying about feeling her Aura flow smoothly from one limb to the other, even if it felt like it took forever to do it. Actually, she felt as though she was moving a little faster than she had been yesterday, Neo too.

All the same, she remembered Ozpin's admonishment. She needed to focus on keeping the flow of her Aura smooth, not trying to speed up. The flow would speed up as she became more accustomed to it, and her movements would speed up in conjunction with that.

Her right arm rose up to catch Neo's kick, her Aura flowing into her prosthetic limb. At this speed, the specs of her limb didn't matter. However, as her arm moved, Yang felt it twitch and catch. When it met Neo's leg, their Auras hummed and buzzed against each other and Yang's arm began to shake and rattle like the aging bullhead that had carried RWBY out to Cherry Grove.

"Hold on," said Yang, holding up a hand, signaling Neo to back off. Raising her arm, Yang examined it, flexing her elbow, wrist and fingers. Something was definitely off.

 _Oh well, I can fix it after the session,_ thought Yang, deciding to get back to work.

A few rounds later, she was paired up with Blake and going through the exercise, when she raised her right arm to block an incoming blow from Blake. Yang channeled her Aura unto it like usual, but when her limb crossed with Blake's, the prosthetic arm bucked and jolted. There was a loud snap, accompanied by the sound and feel of servos grinding against one another in a manner that was just plain wrong. Yang's arm became stiff and unresponsive and, at the same time, she felt a sharp, stinging pain run up her stump and into her shoulder, like someone had inserted a red-hot wire into the flesh and blood portion of her arm.

"Ow!" Yang reeled back, grasping the point where metal met flesh.

"Yang! Are you okay?" asked Blake, at her side immediately. The rest of their friends joined her, the exercise momentarily forgotten. Kyo also came over from the sidelines to crouch next to her as Yang bared her teeth in pain. Working quickly, she fingered the latches that joined her prosthetic to her own flesh and blood, the arm coming free with several clicking noises. Dropping it, Yang sank back into a sitting position with a groan, Kyo steadying her with an arm around her shoulders.

Examining her stump, Yang saw several small burns, though they appeared to be no more than first-degree ones. Kyo held out the palm of his hand, his Aura shining faintly red on it, which he then gently pressed up against her stump. Yang shivered, then sighed in relief as a cooling sensation washed over the burns, and they began to fade.

"You're just full of surprises," she said, grinning at Kyo.

He chuckled. "A friend taught me that. It can't do much, but it's good for basic first aid."

"Thanks," said Yang, resting her head up against his shoulder and taking a moment to bask in the sense of relief he provided.

In the meantime, Weiss and Ruby were examining the prosthetic. Carefully, Ruby folded back one of the maintenance access panels along the forearm section, near the elbow. She immediately reeled back, coughing as light-gray smoke puffed out, accompanied by the acrid scent of ozone.

Weiss scowled and waved her hand, wafting the smoke away so that she could take a look inside. "Ugh..." she groaned. "It's a mess. Half the circuits look melted, and a bunch of the servos are broken or off alignment. At this point, it's cheaper to just get a new one."

Yang groaned and sighed. "Again," she whined. "How many of these things will I go through before my old arm can be regrown?"

"Probably quite a few at this rate," observed Ozpin placidly. "That is a military-grade prosthetic. However, even the highest-grade ones are not built to withstand the strain of channeling a considerable quantity of Aura through them, especially not as frequently as you use it."

Yang sighed. "It wasn't even all that good. The reaction time just isn't up to snuff, especially compared to my old arm."

"If you'd kept channeling Aura through it the way you do now, you'd wear that one out in short order too," said Weiss with a sigh. "At this point, having your arm regrown, if that's even possible, which I still have some doubts about, is about the only feasible option you have."

Yang sighed and looked down, but was distracted by a faint, tingling sensation in her stump. "Hmm?" Glancing over, she saw that Kyo's hand was still there. Her burns were nothing more than spots of faint pink against her skin now, but Kyo continued to hold his hand up to the nub of skin, circling his fingers around it in a swirling, stirring motion. As he did, his Aura trailed off his hand. Yang saw the glowing gold color of her own Aura stream out and mix with his, the two swirling together before they dissipated.

Kyo seemed to realize what he was doing, blinking then blushing. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'll stop."

"It's okay," said Yang, rubbing her stump with her left hand. "It just felt kinda weird. What were you doing?"

"I was just thinking," said Kyo. "I was remembering something that Saisei taught me."

"What's that?" asked Yang.

"Perhaps you two might like to adjourn for another room for now," suggested Ozpin. "The rest of you should finish your training for the day."

"That works," said Yang, allowing Kyo to help her back up onto her feet.

As Kyo escorted her out of the sparring room, the rest of their group resumed their training, with Ozpin stepping in to take Yang's place.

Kyo and Yang went to the guest dorm's common room and settled onto a couch.

"So what is it?" asked Yang.

"There's something I want to try," said Kyo. "Are you familiar with Phantom Limb Syndrome?"

Yang blinked. "Yeah, I know about it. I go through it." Sometimes she still got those faint twinges, like her right arm was still there. It was rarer now, but they had been almost incessant during her first few months of recuperation after losing it.

"In addition to the physiological causes of the condition, it is also linked to your Aura," explained Kyo. "Even if the flesh is gone, your Aura remembers your arm, and how it was."

"What are you suggesting," asked Yang, frowning curiously.

"I'm going to try something," said Kyo. "I want you to channel your Aura out through the stump of your arm, press it up against the Aura I emit from my hand. Keep it flowing in a constant stream."

Yang nodded. Kyo gently cupped her stump with the palm of his hand, the contact making Yang shiver again. In its own way, this felt almost as intimate as it would to let Kyo touch her in certain...other...places. Despite that, Yang forced herself to focus, releasing her Aura out her stump, almost immediately feeling it come into contact with the Aura emitting from Kyo's hand. The pressure began to lessen and Yang realized that Kyo was moving his hand away.

"Try to maintain the pressure," said Kyo as he continued to withdraw his hand.

Yang did so, pressing her Aura up against Kyo's. As she did, she began to sweat. She was reaching much farther than she usually did with her Aura. It was hard to maintain the flow, but the presence of Kyo's Aura helped to keep hers from dissipating. She was so focused on it, she didn't notice Kyo using his other hand, gently moving it around the stream of Aura emerging from her stump, keeping it from scattering. Instead, she felt a faint pulling sensation as Kyo used his other hand to help her draw out even more of her Aura.

She felt something pop. She wasn't sure what, but it felt like some kind of joint. There was a strange sensation coming from her arm. Yang frowned and felt a twitch run down it. Her fingers felt numb at first, but their feeling gradually returned, accompanied by the tingling sensation of a limb that had fallen asleep, but was slowly waking up. She felt her fingers curl around, meshing with Kyo's fingers, their hands pressed together...

Yang's eyes shot wide open and she gasped. Immediately, she gazed at the source of the sensation. Her jaw dropped. It had been so subtle at first that she didn't realize it, but now she could plainly see what had happened. She'd forgotten that her arm had been severed because she now felt as though it were still there. The pop she had felt had been her elbow. What was more, she wasn't simply feeling Kyo's Aura against her own, she was feeling Kyo's hand, his skin, the faint sheen of perspiration that clung to his palm. Like her, Kyo was sweating slightly, but he looked pleased.

Yang's Aura extended from the stump and had now taken the form of her severed arm, just barely glowing, but otherwise looking as solid and real as her flesh and blood arm had been, although it looked as though it was crafted from spun gold.

"It worked," said Kyo with a faint sigh. "I'm glad."

"Wha-what?" Yang felt tears running down her cheeks. It felt so...so...so real...

"Like I said," said Kyo, "phantom limb syndrome comes partly from the fact that your Aura remembers your arm. It remembers the arm's shape, the arm's feel. I figured that, if we could properly contain your projected Aura, we could guide it into assuming the shape and form of your lost arm. How does it feel?" He curled his own fingers between hers, giving her golden hand a gentle squeeze.

"It feels...real..." said Yang. "But...I don't know...different somehow."

Kyo laughed. "Of course it's real." He said. "You wouldn't be able to use your Aura to attack and defend if it wasn't. It probably feels different because you're feeling things through your Aura, rather than your nervous system. I imagine that it's not quite the same experience."

"It's certainly close enough," said Yang with a sniff. "Thank you so much."

Kyo blushed. "Well...I'm glad it worked," he said shyly. "I wasn't fully sure until the very end."

"So...I can use my Aura to recreate my arm...just like that?" asked Yang.

"Not quite," said Kyo, "at least, not right away. It's going to take a little work before you can do it by yourself."

Yang blinked and looked at their joined hands.

"Right now, it's the pressure from my own Aura that's keeping yours from diffusing," explained Kyo.

"Uh...what does that mean?" asked Yang.

"Well..." Kyo scratched the back of his head with his free hand as he wracked his mind for the appropriate comparison. "It's like...blocks."

"Blocks?" Yang's brow furrowed and she wondered just what in the world Kyo was getting at.

"Yes," said Kyo. "Have you ever lined up blocks, then used your hands to press them together and then lift all them up? Well...you could actually do that with any number of objects, I suppose."

Yang nodded. "I guess..." She remembered doing things like that when she was a kid, or sometimes when she was older and she needed to pick up several small boxes at once.

"The pressure you apply with your hands from both sides holds them together and keeps them from dropping," explained Kyo. "But if you release the pressure..."

"Then it all just falls," said Yang.

"Right now, that's, more or less, what I'm doing. Your Aura is holding its form because I'm applying continuous pressure with my Aura. If I release the pressure..."

"Then the whole thing falls apart," said Yang, staring forlornly at her arm.

"That's right," said Kyo. "So, at the moment, we can only use your Aura to form your arm like this."

Yang sighed sadly. She knew it was too good to last.

Kyo smiled and reached out with his free hand, using a finger to brush aside a strand of Yang's bangs and drawing her eyes back to his. "But it doesn't have to stay like that," he said. "I believe you can learn to do this on your own, without needing my Aura to shape yours or hold it together."

"Really?" gasped Yang.

Kyo nodded. "In order to hold the Aura of your arm together, you need to solidify the Aura around it and then assimilate that state in your mind until it becomes as natural as breathing."

"Oh!" said Yang. "Tempering! If I Temper my Aura around the arm, it'll hold its shape."

"And, over time, you'll be able to form that shape naturally, without any assistance," said Kyo.

"So...how do we start?" asked Yang.

"We already have," said Kyo. "Just focus your senses on the feeling of your arm, assimilate the impression you have of your Aura, the feeling of it being compressed into a definite form. After a while of that, I'll begin to lessen the pressure from my own Aura and it will be up to you to do more of the work to maintain the shape."

Yang nodded. She closed her eyes and began to breathe softly and evenly, letting her senses extend down into the arm of Aura she'd created. It felt so vivid to her, in its own way, more alive than her original flesh and blood arm had been. She bent her elbow, tensed her forearm, flexed her fingers, feeling them move, held in their shape, but responding just like her old arm had. This was no static construct. It was just as alive as her own arm...maybe even more so. Yang got the distinct impression that she could do more than just hold its shape. She could control it. In fact, just moving it like her arm was an exercise in changing its shape.

The pressure exerted by Kyo's Aura began to recede. Yang could feel her arm lightening, threatening to dissolve and blow away like dust in the wind. Her first thought was to clamp down on it and try to force it to hold its shape. But she realized that would be like squeezing toothpaste. Instead, she held onto her impression of her arm, drawing her Aura together and holding it in place.

Kyo pulled his hand away and, slowly, Yang began moving her arm on her own, flexing her fingers, closing her hand into a fist. Bending her elbow. Raising her arm, she held her new right hand up in front of her face. Opening her eyes, Yang stared at the glowing hand of Aura in wonder.

"I'm doing it," she whispered. She began to smile. "I can't believe it. I'm really doing this!"

"Keep moving it around," said Kyo. "Get accustomed to the feel of it. Focus on nothing but the feeling of your arm there and hold that impression for as long as you possibly can."

Yang nodded.

She spent several more minutes moving her arm around. Occasionally, her control would slip, but Kyo would quickly reapply his Aura to help keep Yang's impression from breaking and they would start again. The longer they kept at this, the more natural it felt. Yang no longer felt as though she was exerting her Aura.

"Well, of course not," said Kyo when she told him. "Because you are keeping it contained like that, it doesn't count as expended. If it breaks down, the Aura will be lost, of course. But, until then, the Aura is still yours..." He tapped his chin. "...Which reminds me, you'll probably need my help the first few times to draw it back into yourself. That arm contains far more Aura than you'd normally expend in several attacks. Losing it would result in the loss of a sizable chunk of your Aura."

"That makes sense," said Yang. "Let's go ahead and practice that now so that I can get the hang of it."

"All right," said Kyo, raising his hand towards hers again.

"Yang!"

Ruby's sudden shout jolted Yang, causing her focus to waver. In an instant, the arm constructed from her Aura flickered and then dissolved into minuscule motes of light, scattering like windblown sand in the air in front of her before disappearing completely.

"What the heck was that?" gasped Ruby rushing over. "You had your arm back."

"Ruby!" protested Yang. "You threw me off. Now I've lost all that Au-" Yang swayed, her vision blurring. She toppled over to one side, but Kyo caught her, lowering her down so that she could rest her head in his lap.

"Take it easy," he said. "That's quite a lot of Aura you lost all at once. One of the risks that comes with that, I guess."

Ruby gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "I'm sorry!" she said, rushing to Yang's side. "I didn't mean to interrupt...whatever it was."

Yang twitched and groaned. "It's okay," she said. "I just need to lie down a little."

Kyo rested a hand on her forehead and began to gently brush his fingers through her hair. "Relax," he said.

Yang nodded and her eyes slowly drifted closed.

"What was that?" asked Ruby, thankfully keeping her voice down to keep from disturbing Yang.

"We were trying out an idea of mine," said Kyo. "I got the idea that we might be able to use her Aura to construct a functional simulacrum of her lost arm."

"And it worked?" asked Weiss, peering over Kyo's shoulder at Yang's sleeping face from behind the couch.

"So it would seem," said Kyo. "Since it is composed of Aura, such an arm would be, at once, both stronger and more delicate than any prosthetic. It is not made of any materials that could break or wear out, so it could easily outlast a prosthetic made with even the highest-grade materials."

"But...if she loses her focus, it'll disappear just like that," said Blake, settling into a chair next to the couch. "And it'll take a chunk of her Aura with it."

"For the most part, I was trying out an idea," explained Kyo. "I can't say for sure whether an arm like that will even be functional, much less usable in combat. It will take a lot of work before she could maintain it throughout the course of a fight."

"It's also going to be another thing that she'd have to train with," said Jaune, "on top of the training we already do."

"But it might well be necessary," said Ren. "Until we can get to the Mibu and, assuming they are willing to do so, Yang's arm can be regrown, she's going to need a surrogate of some sort. As we've seen, any prosthetic we could possibly get for her with our current means won't hold up to the strain. It may be worth her while to invest extra time in acquiring this skill."

"Plus it looks super awesome!" added Nora, somehow managing to shout without raising the volume of her voice enough to wake Yang. "Imagine being able to create an arm out of nothing." Her eyes widened. "Ooh! What if I could create more arms for myself. That would be super awesome!"

Neo tapped Nora's shoulder and frowned at her, though her eyes still sparkled with amusement.

"Neo's right," said Ren with a chuckle, "you have enough arms as it is. The last thing we need is to give you more to get into trouble with."

"Aww..." said Nora, folding her arms in a disappointed pout. "That's no fun."

"Where did you get this idea?" asked Weiss.

Kyo explained what he and Yang had been trying, while the others listened with interest.

"It never even occurred to me that Aura could do something like that," said Blake.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure it would work either," said Kyo. "And, like I said, we'll have to wait and see before we know if it's actually viable or not."

* * *

Yang groaned and slowly opened her eyes, finding herself in a dark room, laying on a bed, with the covers drawn up over her.

"How are you feeling?" asked Kyo, leaning over her.

"Pretty out of it," said Yang. "It's not quite as bad as a hangover. But it's close."

"I imagine so," said Kyo, pulling back. She heard the sound of liquid pouring into a cup before Kyo returned to her field of vision. He helped her to sit up, propping her back with pillows, before handing her a cup of some cloudy liquid.

Yang sipped at it, surprised to taste something nutty, slightly sweetened, with a nice lemony flavor as well.

"Barley water," said Kyo proudly, "complete with honey and lemon. The cooks down at the dining hall were willing to oblige me."

"It's good," said Yang.

"It's one of the few recipes I've ever really memorized," said Kyo. "It used to be regarded as quite the cure-all. Even without that, it's still fairly good for headaches and sore throats."

"I'll vouch for that," said Yang before taking a longer sip.

"It was my mistake to put you through that just after taking you out of your training with Ozpin," said Kyo. "Your Aura was already fairly depleted after the exercises you'd been doing. It would have probably taken us a few tries to get you to draw your Aura back in before you got the hang of it."

"Ah well," said Yang, shrugging lethargically. Honestly, it was hard to find the strength.

Kyo beamed at her. "Still, you went into Suppression the moment you lost consciousness, your Aura is recovering quickly."

"That's good," said Yang. She turned her head, surveying her surroundings. The room she was in resembled the room Team RWBY used to share at Beacon. She was in one of four beds that had been set out next to each other. There were desks on each side of the room, next to a bookshelf and a set of drawers. On one side was a closet, on the other a bathroom. "Is this...?"

"My room," said Kyo simply.

"And this...?" asked Yang, looking down where she was laying.

" _Not_ my bed," said Kyo teasingly. "Were you hoping it was?"

Yang blushed, but she still found the wherewithal to smirk at him. "Don't go getting ahead of yourself pal."

"If anything, you seemed to be the one who's a little overeager," Kyo teased back.

"Ugh! If I didn't feel like a sack of potatoes, I'd clock you for that one," groused Yang.

"I thought you liked jokes," said Kyo with a laugh.

"I like it when I'm the one making them," retorted Yang.

"So you prefer to have the upper hand then?" asked Kyo, raising an eyebrow.

Yang raised one back at him.

"Too soon?" asked Kyo.

Now it was Yang's turn to laugh. "Nah, I left myself open for that one," she admitted.

Silence descended between them and they found themselves staring at each other. Kyo was the first to begin blushing and direct his eyes down.

"You finally get a girl in your room and you go all shy on me?" asked Yang, batting her eyelids, even though she was blushing herself.

Kyo chuckled. "Well...need I remind you, I'm not very experienced in this sort of thing."

"I'm not either," Yang reminded him. "I know plenty about flirting. But I don't have much experience in all the stuff...beyond...that."

"So it seems we're partners in awkwardness then," said Kyo.

Yang laughed at that before giving Kyo a determined stare. "Just come here, you."

Reaching out, she caught his shoulder with her left hand and pulled him in, pressing her lips against his. Kyo brought his own hands up and grabbed Yang's shoulders, pulling her towards him, allowing Yang to wrap her arm around his shoulders and deepen the kiss further. Her tongue slipped out, licking along Kyo's lips, questing for entry. After a moment's hesitation, Kyo opened his own mouth to allow it. Yang's tongue traced around Kyo's teeth before wandering along the roof of his mouth and then encountering his own. It took Kyo a moment to get into the swing of things, pressing his tongue back against hers.

They broke apart, panting slightly. They rested their foreheads together, Yang's lilac eyes fixed on Kyo's crimson ones. "As kisses go, that wasn't too bad," she said.

"I'm glad to get your approval," said Kyo.

"So now what?" asked Yang.

"I think we should leave it at this for now," said Kyo. "I'm...not wholly comfortable with going much further."

Yang's blush deepened. "I can't argue with that," she said.

Kyo chuckled. "Also...your sister is waiting outside the door, camera at the ready."

Yang's eyes bulged and she immediately pulled out of Kyo's arms, jumping away from him like his body had suddenly become scorching hot to the touch. "Ruby!" she yelled, glaring at the door, which she now realized was open a crack.

The door opened further and Ruby leaned in. "Awww, but Yang," she whined, "I wanna get some really good pictures for Dad." She raised up her scroll. "He's gonna flip when he finds out who your boyfriend is."

"Don't you dare," growled Yang. She turned her glare on Kyo, who was chuckling at her consternation. "And you! How long did you know she was there?"

"The whole time," said Kyo. "She's been there since before you woke up."

"What?" shrieked Yang.

"You are rather cute when you lose your composure," said Kyo cheerfully, while Ruby nodded enthusiastically over his shoulder.

The next thing Kyo knew, a pillow hit him in the face with enough force to knock his chair over and spill him across the floor.

"You. Are. The. _Worst!_ " protested Yang, her blush intensifying, and her eyes turning a brilliant crimson to match Kyo's own.

Ruby just started laughing hysterically at her sister's consternation.

"This is highly unorthodox, Ozpin," said the Councilman. "You do realize just how much Vale has benefited from our...partnership...with Atlas?"

"I am well aware of that," said Ozpin. "But there are times when such relationships become poisonous, and do more harm than good. I am not asking for direct censure of Ironwood or Atlas. I am merely seeking the lifting of the bounty on Mibu Kyo. Whatever further decisions you and your fellow Council members choose are your own."

"I suppose you are saying that because you've already sent this information to Mistral and Vacuo," said the Councilman, "over our heads no less."

"I merely took measures to ensure that this information was disseminated as efficiently as possible," replied Ozpin.

"And now I'm also hearing about disturbing rumors concerning Beacon itself, rumors that you might be teaching banned material," said the Councilman.

"That is a different matter," said Ozpin. "The students have learned particular skills from an outside source. I am merely in the process of teaching them how to use those skills safely and effectively, so they do not harm themselves or those they protect...damage control, if you will."

The Councilman sighed and growled. "I see that you have all your bases covered this time, Ozpin. I'll let the others know and we will see about getting the bounty lifted. Just be warned, your credibility is being stretched dangerously thin. I hope you have no more unpleasant surprises for us."

"Of course not," said Ozpin. "Have a good day, Councilman."

The screen winked out. Behind Ozpin, Glynda walked up to his chair. "I imagine he won't react well when he hears your plans concerning the Mibu Clan."

"I promised him no more unpleasant surprises," said Ozpin with a wry smile. "Something like that is only unpleasant if you look at it from a particular angle."

"Like, say, from the angle of a Council that has spent the last several decades refusing to acknowledge a particular faction's existence to avoid admitting that they tried to forcibly usurp said faction's territory and were soundly beaten," said Glynda. "From the perspective of the Council, there's nothing pleasant about us opening up relations with the Mibu."

"That depends on what the Mibu can bring to the table," said Ozpin. "I, for one, believe that they have some very potent and valuable things to bargain with. The real issue, when it happens, is going to be James."

Glynda massaged the bridge of her nose. "At this point, I am far past caring what he does, save that we do not allow him to burn our bridges as well as his own."

"True enough," agreed Ozpin. "But the people of Atlas are the ones who are bearing the brunt of his actions. We must keep trying to reach him...if only for their sake."

Glynda's expression was resigned, the look of a woman who knew that their efforts were in vain, but would strive to try anyway. She nodded silently.

* * *

"So..." Yang looked down at her feet as Kyo escorted her and Ruby to the dock. "...I was wondering."

"About what?" asked Kyo.

"Ruby and I were thinking about heading home to Patch for a visit," explained Yang. "The Spring Fair is coming up there, and we were going to see if everyone wanted to come with us."

"I see," said Kyo. "And..."

"Would you like to come?" asked Yang. "There's still time before your friends come for you."

"Yang, are you trying to introduce your boyfriend to Dad?" asked Ruby mischievously.

Yang jolted, as though Ruby had just jabbed her with a live wire. "Th-that wasn't what I had in mind," she said. _Crap!_ she thought. _I forgot about Dad. After what he did to Jaune...what would he do to Kyo?_

Taiyang Xiao Long was the classic image of an overprotective father...at least, as overprotective as a father could be when his daughters were training to be warriors to fight against human-hating monsters. He might not have been able to stop his daughters from choosing a profession that put their lives at risk, but he certainly tried his best to ensure that they did not get into relationships with the wrong sort of people.

He'd put poor Jaune through Hell when he'd found out about Jaune and Ruby's relationship, particularly the part where the two of them were already sleeping together. Jaune had only barely escaped getting pounded to within an inch of his life by a furious Taiyang after Ruby had bodily thrown herself in front of him. And Jaune was one of the most decent guys Yang knew of. Just how would Taiyang react when he learned that Yang was dating Remnant's (formerly) most-wanted criminal?

Unfortunately, the offer was already on the table and Yang didn't want to take it back, which would leave her looking more than a little foolish.

"I would be delighted to join you," said Kyo, seemingly oblivious to Yang's nervousness.

"That's great," said Yang, forcing a smile on her face. Kyo seemed to notice it, but declined to comment, instead leaning in to give Yang a peck on the cheek.

"Just let me know when," said Kyo. "I'll just check with Ozpin, and make sure that no one is going to try arresting me while I'm away."

"Of course," said Yang. She and Ruby boarded the airship, promising to see Kyo the next day.

As she settled into one of the seats, Yang slumped down and groaned. "I just made a mistake," she said.

"Maybe," said Ruby, sitting down next to her, a broad grin still on her face. "Kyo isn't exactly your everyday kind of boyfriend. As good as Dad is, I don't think he's gonna have an easy time scaring Kyo off."

Yang found herself nodding in agreement. Given what he was capable of, Kyo would be hard-pressed to be intimidated by anyone, much less Yang and Ruby's father. In fact, given Kyo's enjoyment of fighting, he'd probably find Taiyang's hostility entertaining.

One thing was for sure, this little trip back home would promise to be anything but dull.

* * *

 **Yang's Boyfriend Meets Her Dad arc inbound. Brace yourselves.**

 **Regarding Yang creating a new arm out of Aura...I'm honestly surprised more people haven't come up with the notion. The basic inspiration comes from an old Larry Niven sci-fi series, about Gil Hamilton, a detective with a psychic arm, who can do all sorts of crazy things with it. I figured that taking Yang's arm in a somewhat similar direction would be pretty interesting.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20:**

"Well, looks like it's time for action," said Shinrei, slowing the boat down to a stop, and drawing his weapon from the water.

"You can't outrun them?" asked Ciel, looking back to see the black, winged shapes looming closer. Her ears could already pick up their angry calls, and the harsh beating of their wings.

"Wasn't trying to," said Shinrei as he stood up and stretched. "I just didn't want to waste time waiting for them to catch up to us, so I decided to cover as much ground...er...water, I mean...as I could before they closed in."

Ciel swallowed and stared nervously up at the flock. They were a mixed batch of Griffons and Nevermores. At least two of the Nevermores were clearly older ones, easily the size of a larger civilian airship. The largest Griffon was about two-thirds their size, but the bony plates and jutting spines that emerged from its body marked it as an older specimen as well. All told, there were at least forty airborne Grimm swooping down at them.

"Can you really fight them?" asked Ciel, throwing a nervous look at Shinrei. She closed her fingers around the knob of her watch, activating it and opening it up into her weapon.

"I'll be fine," said Shinrei, giving her a grin. "This is gonna be good exercise. Just driving this boat back and forth across the strait gets boring after a while." To Ciel's surprise, he took her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Trust me. I promise that no one on this boat will come to harm."

Ciel found her cheeks heating up at the unexpected contact with the man. There was something about the conviction in his voice that made her heart speed up. Shinrei gave her one last grin before leaping off the boat, this action being met with shocked gasps as the other passengers watched.

Instead of plunging into the water, Shinrei landed atop it, standing on the surface as though it were solid. At the barest touch of his toes, something like a ripple spread out around him, except that it completely stilled the water with its passing, so that not a single wave marred the surface. The water around Shinrei and the boat became as smooth as glass.

Shinrei began to move his weapon, spinning it like an oversized baton, whirling it around his body until it became a shimmering blur, the light of the sun dancing off his blade, creating dazzling flashes of light around him before he stopped, sinking into a low stance, his feet sliding across the water's surface without making a single ripple. He grasped the shaft of his weapon in his right hand, holding it straight up behind him, the blade's tip pointing to the sky. He focused his eyes on the incoming Grimm, his expression now completely sober and serious.

Ciel watched as well over a dozen of the smaller Nevermores and all but one of the Griffons immediately began swooping down to converge on Shinrei. As they did, the eldest Griffon and the two giant Nevermores, along with six of their slightly smaller brethren, fanned their wings and pulled back, the Nevermores cawing harshly and angrily. That made her feel slightly better about their chances.

Older Grimm did not simply grow stronger, they grew smarter as well. They became better at thinking things through, whether it was simple tricks like taking advantage of the terrain or environment, or more complex strategies. Had Shinrei not stepped out of the boat to challenge them, the Grimm would have likely circled in the air over the boat before attacking, which would have given the older Nevermores a chance to lead with a barrage of lethal feathers that was their signature attack. They would have been free to attack from all sides and nail down Shinrei by forcing him to protect a large, unmoving target.

Instead, by stepping out onto the water, and into the open, as well as adopting such a deliberately challenging stance, Shinrei had set himself up as a target, enticing in the younger Grimm by appealing to the natural aggression that their older allies had learned to temper. The younger Grimm had swooped in for the attack en-mass, doing Shinrei a favor by coming at him all from the same direction. At the same time, their own bodies formed a screen that kept the older, stronger Nevermores from unleashing their feathers, not if they didn't want to drop the members of their own flock by the score.

It was hard to say whether any hesitation on the elders' part was due to the disruption of their plan of attack, or if they even felt such things as loyalty or camaraderie with their fellow Grimm. It was something of an armchair debate among scholars as to whether or not Grimm were capable of such things. For all that they frequently moved in herds or packs and evidently had some form of socialization, or at least coordination, it always seemed impossible that the Grimm were capable of feelings other than pure hatred for people.

Such a question was immaterial. All that mattered was that Shinrei's actions had tilted the battle to his advantage, though he was still only one person, facing down around forty Grimm.

As the attacking Grimm descended, picking up speed, Shinrei set his weapon to spinning again. The halberd became a blur over his head. The water beneath him began to churn, then swirl around him, like a whirlpool. Tendrils of water began to rise up, almost seeming to reach for the polearm over Shinrei's head. Ciel's jaw dropped as she saw something else moving beneath the water's surface, something sinuous and covered in scales.

" _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu..._ " Shinrei pulled his weapon out of its spin, sweeping the blade downwards, its tip barely cutting through the surface of the water before he sent it sweeping upwards again. His blade seemed to pull a swirling wave up from the spinning water in the same direction as the whirlpool's spin, arcing it up and in front of him. " _Suima Bakuryusen!_ "

The water beneath and around Shinrei's feet exploded upwards into a swirling vortex that rose all around him, its movement following the sweep of his blade, and sending the whole spinning, whirling mass of water at an angle to intercept the diving Grimm. Ciel gasped, all thoughts of worry or fear forgotten, completely replaced by wonder and awe at the sight before her. It wasn't the angry waterspout itself that shocked her so, even though someone being able to move such a gargantuan quantity of water, without the assistance of Dust, was a spectacular feat to be sure.

What truly amazed her were the sinuous forms winding their way long the swirling geyser, moving in accord with its spin; long, flowing coils that were as much a part of a vortex as they were swimming through it. At their ends, elongated heads sporting fanged maws emerged as countless blue dragons swam their way up through the vortex, closing in on the incoming Grimm. Their roars were the rushing of river rapids and the thunder of waterfalls.

A half-dozen Griffons were in the lead, accompanied by at least two of the smaller Nevermores. They tried to swerve away from the incoming attack, but collided with one another in their haste to get out of the way. As they did, the water rushed over them, pulling them in and tossing them through the air.

Then the dragons attacked. Two of them converged on a Griffon, their jaws closing down on its neck and torso respectively. With an almighty pull, they tore the griffon in two, even more dragons swarmed down on the other hapless, captured Grimm, tearing off limbs, tossing the helpless monsters from one toothy maw to another, ripping, shredding, and crushing.

The dragon-infested vortex of Shinrei's attack carved a swath through the attacking Grimm, sweeping still more up, and tearing them apart. The ones that had managed to avoid it scattered out to the side, milling in confusion, their own attack completely forgotten as they tried to comprehend this unanticipated event.

And then Shinrei appeared. Ciel had lost sight of him after the vortex had risen up around him. But now he appeared on its outer edge, riding the waterspout like a surfer catching a wave, his feet gliding through the current he himself had created as he followed the flow of the water up and over, leaping clear of it and launching himself into the air at another Griffon. As he did, he swept his weapon up and over, circling the broad blade around in an overhead swing that brought it down in an arcing cut, trailing blue as Shinrei used a simple Aura-enhanced slash to decapitate his target.

The Grimm in his vicinity immediately rounded on him, closing in and swarming him from all sides. Shinrei didn't falter in the slightest, his feet connecting with the corpse of his victim, he raised one leg, seeming to stand atop the already falling Griffon as more of its kin and several Nevermores closed in from all sides. As they did, Shinrei went to work.

He spun his weapon, keeping it in motion at all times, sweeping the blade around in broad, circular slashes that cut through the Grimms' bodies like they were made of paper. His every move was graceful, perfectly coordinated, with not an iota of wasted energy. He didn't fight so much as dance his way through the Grimm, using their own bodies as platforms, even as he cut them down, one after another.

Ciel's ears picked up a faint tapping noise coming from the boat. It took her a second to realize that _she_ was the one making it, gently tapping the sole of her shoe against the floor in time with Shinrei's steps and swings. _It doesn't just look like a dance,_ she realized. _It_ is _a dance._ Shinrei's movements carried an unmistakable rhythm that allowed him to flow gracefully from step to slash to jump to thrust. More than that, his rhythm seemed to draw in the Grimm around him, causing them to move in time with him, setting them up perfectly to be cut down in the most efficient manner possible.

It was probably one of the most amazing and beautiful things Ciel had ever seen in her life, and Shinrei was only getting started. As she watched, he felled the last of the Grimm around him and used its corpse to leap up higher still. From there, his jump carried him above the dissipating remnant of his first attack, which was only now beginning to peter out, with no Grimm left for it to tear apart. As he did, he swung his blade in a broad arc, moving his grip closer to the halberd's butt end.

Water streamed off the blade in an arc behind its swing. From that sweeping arc of water, more dragons emerged, lunging and lashing out at the Grimm that had dodged to the other side of his attack. The individual dragons were not as tenacious as the ones that had come up through the vortex, but they still tore out throats and disemboweled the Grimm they encountered. The survivors immediately rounded on Shinrei charging through the air at him as Shinrei readied his weapon, prepared to begin his vicious dance once again.

Abruptly, Shinrei turned, pivoting in midair and bringing his weapon up in front of him. He spun the halberd until it became a blur. An instant later, the reason for his change in strategy became apparent, as a hail ebony feathers descended on him from above in a deadly shower. Shinrei's weapon deflected the ones that were in danger of striking him, while countless others fell through the air around him. The young Grimm that had been about to attack him didn't fare so well. All of the remaining Nevermores, and all but one of the remaining Griffons, fell to the barrage as the elder Grimm decided to carry out their attack from above with no further regard for the safety of the younger ones.

The last remaining Griffon made a game effort to get in one last attack at Shinrei. Even though it had survived the attack, one of its wings had been pierced through by a feather as large as the appendage itself. Now it had nothing more than sheer momentum carrying it upward and forward. Shinrei's eyes didn't even flick towards the pitiful monster as he planted his foot on its head and kicked off, his blade sweeping down and around to decapitate it in his wake. His jump carried him even farther upwards, almost to the level where the larger Grimm were still flying.

The elder Griffon let out an angry shriek and charged forward ahead of the Nevermores, its spiked tail flailing in its wake, one of the remaining Nevermores actually having to scramble out of its way with an angry squawk. The other Nevermores unleashed another barrage of feathers that flew past the attacking Griffon, their quills threatening to perforate Shinrei's body in a dozen pieces before the massive Griffon's claws rent him to pieces.

Even from this distance, Ciel could see Shinrei's grin. She also heard his eager voice.

" _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu: Suiha Ryujin!_ " Shinrei swept his weapon in a downwards arc, another gout of water seeming to fly off it. The water increased explosively in volume, going from a small splash to a massive flood in less than a second.

If Shinrei's opening attack had been the vortex of a waterspout, this one was a crashing tidal wave that surged up and out, cresting in midair before descending with thunderous furry on the remaining attackers. Throughout the wave, Ciel caught sight of the weaving, undulating movements of more dragons, some of them leaping forth ahead of the wall of water. The wave, dragons and all, swept over the Grimm. The Nevermores and the lone Griffon shrieked as scaly coils closed around their bodies like steel cables, and fangs sank into their flesh, pulling them in

The entire mass of water dropped down towards the sea, taking the captured Grimm with it. The monsters plunged into the ocean, but Ciel could see that the attack wasn't over yet, as the swirling current ripped at the wounds the dragon fangs had opened in the Grimms' bodies, pulling at them, tearing at them, drawing out whatever passed for blood in those monstrous creatures and bleeding them dry. The Grimm thrashed and writhed, their struggles weakening before finally going still and sinking from sight.

The sole remaining thing in the sky was Shinrei himself. He dropped down, landing on the water, throwing up a small wave upon impact, looking perfectly composed, arms folded with his halberd resting casually over his shoulder. He didn't even need to bend his legs to help absorb the impact. He held the pose for a moment, staring out over the ocean before turning and grinning cheerfully at his passengers.

"And that's how it's done," he said proudly.

The passengers on the ship immediately broke into cheers, clapping excitedly. The refugees looked relieved, entertained even. Shinrei had taken what should have been a terrifying struggle for survival, and transformed it into a beautiful performance that would have put the finest professional dancers in Atlas to shame. Turning to fully face the boat, he swept his arms out and bowed at the waist.

Ciel had to keep a hand over her mouth, as she tried to process what she had just seen and experienced. She felt lightheaded, almost to the point of having difficulty breathing. Watching Shinrei had made her feel detached, almost as though she were watching a video, rather than something going on right in front of her. It took her a second to realize just why she felt that way.

The whole time the battle had been going on, their boat had been completely still. Despite the turbulence of the forces that Shinrei had unleashed, the boat had not rocked, or so much as bobbed. The water around it was as flat and smooth as glass, not a single ripple marring the surface. She got the distinct impression of being in front of a stage, watching a performance.

Shinrei walked across the surface of the water and gently hopped into the boat, again, not making it so much as tilt.

"So...what do you think?" asked Shinrei, grinning at Ciel.

It took Ciel a few seconds to realize that Shinrei was addressing her. Once it registered, she let out a startled squeak and turned away, desperately trying to hide her blush.

"Guess I made more of an impression than I thought," said Shinrei with a small chuckle of amusement.

"I...I'm sorry," said Ciel.

"For what?" asked Shinrei.

Ciel took a few breaths to calm herself down.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Shinrei.

"Y-yes, I'm fine," said Ciel. "That was amazing. It was like watching a dance."

Shinrei chuckled, taking his seat once again. "Thanks," he said. "We've got a few more hours before we reach the other side. But it looks as though the worst is behind us."

Ciel nodded, barely noticing that the boat had begun to move again as Shinrei dipped his blade down into the water once more. "Can everyone in your clan do things like that?"

"Not everyone," said Shinrei. "You'll learn more once we get there. You should get some rest."

Ciel nodded. In truth, not having done all that much, she didn't feel particularly spent. However, on this boat, there wasn't much else to do. Leaning against the side, she let her eyes drift closed.

* * *

The next thing Ciel knew, she felt someone's fingers gently brushing through her hair.

"Hey," said Shinrei in a soft voice. "Time to wake up. We're here."

Ciel blearily blinked her eyes open and yawned. Night had fallen. Looking up, she could see plenty of stars, although the light thrown off by the moon blotted out many of them. Looking around, she realized that their boat had arrived a wooden dock. Already, white robed people were moving about, helping the faunus disembark with what few belongings they'd brought with them.

"How're you feeling?" asked Shinrei, offering an arm, which Ciel took to pull herself upright.

Yawning again, Ciel rubbed her eyes. "Tired," she admitted. "I shouldn't have done that. It threw off my sleep schedule."

"It's fine," said Shinrei, still letting her hold his arm so that he could help her climb out of the boat. "You'll get a chance to reset your clock here. We're in a different time zone from Atlas anyway, so everyone will need some time to adjust. Come on. Let's go get some dinner."

Ciel nodded and allowed Shinrei to lead her down the lane along with the other refugees, not conscious of the fact that she was still holding his arm. All around them, wooden houses rose up, some large, some small. They were surrounded by yards of grass that looked like green carpets. No building was taller than two stories, though some of the houses seemed to sprawl out over a wide area. Each had room for dozens of people at least.

The attendants led the refugees to a open park with rolling hills, dotted sparsely with trees of various types. The air was filled with a heady, woody perfume that caused a wave of relief to spread through Ciel's body. This place made her feel at peace, like the problems she'd left behind in Atlas were nothing more than a distant dream.

In the center of the park was a large pavilion. Underneath that pavilion, the refugees were already seating themselves at long picnic tables as the attendants that had brought them here furnished all manner of foods for the refugees to enjoy.

"Here," said Shinrei, leading Ciel to a bench.

They ate in silence. The food was both good and plentiful, much better than anything Ciel had eaten in the mess back at Atlas Academy. Granted, it wasn't upscale-restaurant-delicious, more like something from a family diner. But it was tasty and filling. Ciel probably ate more than she should have. By the end of the meal, she was feeling bloated and sleepy, looking forward to whatever passed for a bed that these people were willing to provide. At this point, even her sleeping bag on the hard ground would have seemed like a godsend.

"All finished?" asked Shinrei. Ciel realized there was a note of amusement in his voice...right before she realized that she'd almost dozed off with her head against his shoulder. She immediately sat bolt upright, her face flushing red.

"Y-yes," she said quickly and nervously. "I think I'm done."

"Well, let's find you some lodgings then," said Shinrei, once again offering her his arm, as they got up from the table.

"Y-you don't have to," said Ciel, averting her eyes slightly.

"Hey, it'd be my pleasure," said Shinrei in a sincere tone that once again sent butterflies swarming through Ciel's stomach.

He escorted Ciel through the center of the settlement, taking them past another courtyard, with a low, wide, white building in front of it.

"That's the hospital," Shinrei.

"I didn't see anyone injured," said Ciel.

"That's 'cause they were sent ahead of the rest when I started taking people across," explained Shinrei. "They should all be hale and hearty now. Saisei does good work, fast work too. Besides that, she'll have been giving everyone, even the healthy folks, general checkups to work out their physical conditions and see if any of them have any special needs."

"You're all so thorough," noted Ciel. "What is this place?"

"Well, it started out as just a temporary setup at first," said Shinrei. "When Hayate started liberating some of the smaller internment camps around Atlas, we set up tents and pavilions and stuff. But then it became clear that this was pretty serious and he was going to need a fairly large operation supporting him, _especially_ once we realized that a lot of the people he was sending over were severely injured or ill. We started with setting up the hospital. Then we started taking longer to make sure that everyone was fully accommodated, that we had places for them to go, and options to choose from. So we had to keep them longer so that we could make sure that we'd be able to make arrangements that everyone would be happy with. So we started building more permanent structures to ensure that they had good places to stay. We had to establish crops and supply lines to keep them fed, make sure they got access to all the necessities. Little by little, everything just sort of built up."

"Why are you working so hard to help these people?" asked Ciel.

Shinrei grinned. "Part of it is efficiency," he explained. "It's a pain to keep them tied up in a legal limbo for months or years. Keeping them all here in one place helps streamline the organization so that we can assess things easily without stretching our resources. But we want them to be comfortable. Since they just came from internment camps, we don't want this place to feel like one too."

"But they can't leave," said Ciel.

"They can if they want to," said Shinrei. "No one would stop them. But we try to make it clear that we aren't holding them here, we're just trying to make the best arrangements we can."

"But they're almost all faunus, aren't they?" asked Ciel. "Aren't you worried about White Fang sympathizers?"

"I get the feeling that if any of them had been, they probably wouldn't have let themselves get locked up in the internment camps in the first place," said Shinrei. "Besides, even if there were a few, it's worth the risk to do the right thing. The best way to fight the White Fang is to show them that faunus and humans can coexist peacefully, as equals."

"Playing tour guide?" asked a voice behind them.

Shinrei grinned and turned around. Ciel turned with him and found herself looking at a short fox-faunus. Despite her height, Ciel got the impression that she was much older than she looked.

"Hey there, Saisei," said Shinrei with a grin.

Ciel felt Saisei's dark-green eyes move over her body in a single, smooth inspection. Ciel got the extinct impression of an examination, almost as though she had been laid out naked on an operating table, and every inch of her had been painstakingly inspected over the course of just a few seconds. For some reason, Ciel didn't feel anything invasive about the gaze. Instead, all she felt was a sense of warm concern from the faunus in front of her, that the only thing that mattered to her was making sure that Ciel was healthy.

Saisei favored Ciel with a pleasant smile. "Shinrei must have taken a liking to you, if he's showing you around personally."

Ciel blushed furiously, while Shinrei coughed nervously. Their reactions made Saisei titter. After she finished laughing, Saisei fixed Shinrei with a more serious gaze. "Makoto-sama has come up to check on things here. He'd like to speak with you."

"Okay," said Shinrei.

"Why don't you allow me to take over escorting Miss..." She raised a questioning eyebrow at Ciel.

"C-Ciel," said Ciel nervously. She felt so out of sorts, and this girl who looked younger than her, yet sounded older, wasn't helping.

"No need to be nervous," said Saisei, extending a hand for Ciel to take.

Seeing Shinrei nod, Ciel let go of his arm and took Saisei's hand.

"I'll check up on you later," said Shinrei.

"I'd like that," said Ciel, feeling uncharacteristically shy, ducking her head as she spoke.

Saisei giggled again. "Off with you," she told Shinrei, flapping a hand in his general direction.

"Right. On it." Shinrei turned and seemed to take a single step before vanishing in a blur. Ciel blinked. His departure had been so swift and silent, it made her feel like he might have been a mirage. Only a sense of warmth, lingering from where their arms had been in contact with one another, remained as a reminder that he was very real.

Ciel looked down at the girl who held her hand. Saisei smiled back up at her. "So...how has your day been?"

"Turbulent," admitted Ciel.

"I'd imagine," said Saisei. "You aren't a faunus, unlike the rest of our refugees. You also have a well-developed build under those clothes, and the weapon on your arm is quite sophisticated. You seem a bit young to be an Atlesian Specialist, or a fully fledged Huntress, which suggests to me that you're still a student. Your posture and bearing suggest a curriculum with a greater emphasis on discipline than the average Academy, which tells me that you were a student of Atlas." Saisei's eyes narrowed slightly. "Second year...I'd say."

Ciel swallowed and shuddered. Saisei had analyzed her perfectly, using only the most basic observations about her to discern her history.

Saisei sighed and looked away. "Sorry," she said. "I just can't help myself sometimes."

"It's all right," said Ciel. "What else can you tell?"

Saisei looked back up at her, her green eyes piercing in their intensity. "Well...if you were a student, it's highly unlikely that you came with the rest of the refugees. So you were likely part of a mission. I suspect it was a mission trying to track where all the missing faunus went to. Given the nature of such a mission and its low chance of success, it was likely given to you because you are out of favor with the current powers that be in Atlas Academy. That's corroborated by your willingness to come across the strait with the refugees and join us. Given your disorientation and need for contact, this must have all happened over a relatively short time and you're still somewhat confused and uncomfortable with how quickly everything has changed for you."

Ciel shivered again, made a bit more uncomfortable by the sheer degree of accuracy in Saisei's deductions. She wondered if she should let go of Saisei's hand, but Saisei held onto her and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"It's all right," she said. "There's nothing wrong with any of this. It takes a lot of courage to do what you did."

"Or just a lack of hope for my prospects back in Atlas," said Ciel. "My life there was more or less finished. As far as Ironwood and the faculty are concerned, what I did amounts to treason. They probably gave me this mission hoping that I _wouldn't_ come back. If I did, they would simply come up with an even more painful and humiliating way to try and get rid of me. The Specialist I was with gave up her life so that I could have this chance."

Saisei smiled and once again squeezed Ciel's hand. "You are _very_ welcome here. If I had to hazard a guess, you committed that treason because you were forced to choose between your orders and your conscience. Am I right?"

Ciel nodded.

Saisei sighed. "That must have been a difficult choice for you, one that you suffered for greatly."

"It's all right," said Ciel. Taking a deep breath, she settled herself and stared resolutely ahead. "Even now, after what I've been through, I still would have made the same choice. I'm...I'm glad I'm out. There was nothing really left for me back there."

"It's a new chance for you," said Saisei, nodding in agreement. "Here we are."

Ciel looked up, surprised to see that she'd been led to a small house, sandwiched between two much larger residences. It was a low, single-story house, made from polished wood that shined with lacquer. Stepping up onto it, Ciel followed her host's example, slipping her boots off her feet, and setting them just inside the door.

"This is where Shinrei and I stay when we're up here," explained Saisei, giving Ciel a teasing smile. "That way he'll be close if you need him."

Ciel's cheeks blushed furiously again, and she looked away. In the meantime, Saisei led her out into what was clearly a living room. The wooden floors gave way to a depression lined with cushions, with a low table in the center, with just enough room underneath it for people to fit their legs so that the table rested at a comfortable height.

"Well, let's get the important things over with," said Saisei. "Take a seat and stretch out next to the table. Just relax and let me handle everything."

For some reason, Ciel found herself obeying without question. There was a strange sense of assurance in Saisei's voice, not quite a compulsion, but a sense that Ciel should do what Saisei told her for her own well being.

Ciel sat at the corner of the depression, which allowed her to lean against the cushions on one side of it while stretching her legs out in front of her. Working with smooth efficiency, Saisei peeled the socks off Ciel's legs and feet, followed by the fingerless gloves on her hands.

"You've traveled a long ways," observed Saisei, examining Ciel's feet. "Just relax..."

Ciel did as she was told, her eyes half-closing. She felt Saisei's hands glide over the soles of her feet. Blisters and callouses that had formed after weeks of walking over rocky terrain seemed to vanish, leaving smooth, but strong skin in their wake. Saisei began working her way up, her hands seeming to brush away strained and torn muscles, undoing knots and cramps. She worked her way up Ciel's body, fixing the remnants of an old back injury, and the last lingering traces of pain that had accompanied it. From there, she moved down Ciel's arms, easing away the chapping of her skin that had been caused by it being chilled to the verge of frostbite in the dry, wintry conditions of the north.

"There," said Saisei, her voice rich with satisfaction. "That's much better."

Ciel couldn't help but agree. It was the single most soothing thing she'd ever experienced, like she'd spent a week at the spa. Aches and pains that were years old had vanished like the morning mist.

"Just relax like that," instructed Saisei, brushing a caring hand over Ciel's brow. "I'll get your room ready."

Ciel didn't even have the wherewithal to nod. Saisei padded away. She returned about half an hour later, guiding Ciel into a simple bedroom. Like the rest of the house, it was made from polished wood, with the walls and floors lacquered to smooth them out. A small chest sat on one side, with a mirror hanging over it. A simple, but extremely soft-looking futon had been laid out in the center of the floor. Saisei helped Ciel strip out of her clothes and change into a simple, white sleeping robe before laying her down on the bed. Ciel's eyes were closed, and she'd fallen asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

Saisei laughed softly and pulled the covers up. "Good night," she said before leaving the room and turning off the lights.

* * *

"So...the Grimm attacked during your last trip," observed Makoto, his tone calm and neutral.

"Pretty much," said Shinrei with a shrug. "There were a few more of 'em than usual, but nothing I couldn't handle. It happens occasionally during the crossing."

Makoto nodded. "Did you notice anything unusual about them?"

"Nothing came to mind," said Shinrei. "Is something up?"

"Perhaps," said Makoto. "Our enemies are beginning to move."

"You think they have the capacity to mobilize the Grimm?" asked Shinrei.

"With _them_ , anything is possible," said Makoto.

The two of them were seated in a relatively empty room. The walls consisted of sliding screens that had been slid back to reveal the moonlight shining on the sand garden just beyond the porch. This was the most elaborate residence in the settlement, set aside for dignitaries, like members of the Taishiro. They were seated on their knees, with only a thin cushion between them and the straw mats that formed the floor. A wide, clay, bowl-like cup filled with tea sat on the floor in front of each of them, with a cast iron pot sitting on a tiny heater in the floor space at the center of the room.

Shinrei picked up and sipped his tea. "Should we take precautions?" he asked.

"For now, we should carry on with business as usual," said Makoto. "Precautions are already being taken. What is next on the agenda for your refugees?"

"Tomorrow, we're gonna start the interviews," said Shinrei. "We'll get their skills and specialties, whatever work history they might have. Then we can start sorting through the open spaces in the settlements and the capital, and advise them on where they might want to go to get the jobs they want. Do you want us to change it in any way?"

"No, this is fine," said Makoto. "After Saisei and I finish the checkups for this last load of refugees, everyone will be ready to move."

"Done already, huh?" said Shinrei with an amused smirk. Of course, with Makoto helping the treatments and checkups, everything had been over and done with in a matter of hours, even when they were processing thousands of refugees.

"We're ahead of schedule," said Saisei, coming in from an adjoining room and seating herself crosslegged on the floor. Neither Shinrei, nor Makoto batted an eyelid at her informal mannerisms.

"Everything good?" asked Shinrei.

Saisei gave him a cheerful wink. "Of course," she said. "I put your new girlfriend in the room next to yours, and gave her a full checkup."

Shinrei coughed as Makoto raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "She's not my girlfriend," he said. "She's just going through a tough time."

Saisei giggled. "I understand," she said. "But she seems to have taken a liking to you as well. Then again, you _are_ the consummate gentleman, Shinrei."

"Is it anything we should be worried about?" asked Makoto. His expression couldn't be called a frown, but it was a carefully composed neutral.

"Just a little mutual crush is all," said Saisei with a laugh as Shinrei coughed a little more loudly.

"Did you really come up just to help us through this batch?" asked Shinrei, trying to deflect the conversation away from its current, uncomfortable, course.

"Sora wants a thorough report on how the refugees are being handled," said Makoto. "She wants to be assured that they are well cared for."

"Well that would make sense," said Shinrei. "It's good and all that she's worried for their wellbeing, but is that all that there is to it?"

"It is important to our long-term plans," said Makoto. "The Opening is coming, and she wants to present a definitive image of us as a nation to the outsiders who will be attending."

"By which you mean she wants to taunt Atlas with how we've stolen a solid portion of their own population out from under their noses," said Saisei.

Makoto gave her a small smile. "Given the situation, they are likely going to be the ones most resistant to the Opening. However, if we are to succeed, we will need them most of all. It's important that we keep James Ironwood off balance, and keep him focused on the idea of using force to get his way. It will keep him from realizing the true leverage Atlas has over us."

"Well, they have what we need most after all," said Shinrei circumspectly. "But if it comes to blows, will they really give it to us if we give them a sound thrashing."

"Not on their own," said Makoto with a chuckle. "However, if we play such an incident off properly, we may be able to rally the other three Kingdoms behind us in forcing Atlas to acquiesce to our requests."

"Shouldn't be too hard then," said Shinrei. "We can avoid playing hardball with the other three Kingdoms."

"We should be careful not to treat them _too_ differently," said Makoto. "It will undermine our efforts if we are perceived as deliberately baiting Atlas. We must draw out belligerence on their part as naturally as possible."

"Ironwood's gonna go head-to-head with Sora-sama...?" Shinrei lowered his head and snorted. "Heh! I almost feel sorry for the jerk."

* * *

Ciel slowly opened her eyes, blinked once, and then opened them again. Sunlight streamed into her room, muted by the paper that filled the window panels. Even though the room was closed, there was a sense of freshness in the air. She could hear the sounds of singing birds outside. Sitting up, Ciel lifted up her arms and stretched with an almighty yawn, feeling more rested than she had in years.

In fact, she felt _better_ than she had in years. Her body felt completely renewed. As she got to her feet, Ciel was pleased to feel, not only rested, but energized. She even felt like her Aura was stronger. Looking around, she spied a small door that, when opened, led to a small bathroom. Like the rest of the house, everything, even the sink and counter, seemed to have been carved from wood that had been polished, then lacquered to produce a faint shine. Despite the antiquated look, Ciel was surprised to see that there was running water. There were even toiletries ready for her use.

Ciel went through all the steps of her morning routine, finishing by washing her face, which also washed away the last traces of the lingering sleepiness. Coming back into her room, she was surprised to see her normal outfit resting on top of the dresser, looking freshly laundered. Ciel made her bed and removed her robe, folding it and resting it on top of the blanket. She got dressed, her activity interrupted by the loud growl that erupted from her stomach.

Grimacing, Ciel finished getting dressed, and made her way out of her room. For some reason, something about the atmosphere of the place made her want to move as quietly as possible, almost as though an excess of noise was taboo. There was a sense of quiet peace and tranquility. Ciel was loathe to break it.

She padded out into the living room, and her nose was immediately assaulted by the nutty, earthy smell of fresh-cooked quinoa. It was complimented by the heady, savory aroma of miso soup ,and a variety of freshly cooked meats. The aromas combined to make Ciel's stomach growl all the louder, and a tiny bit of drool leaked from the corner of her mouth before she wiped it away.

Shinrei and Saisei were already seated at the table, bowls and utensils in hand, eating vigorously. At the sound of Ciel's stomach, they both looked up at her and grinned. Ciel blushed furiously.

"Good morning," said Saisei cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?"

"Amazingly," said Ciel contentedly. "I feel brand new."

"You should," said Saisei, adopting the most hilariously haughty tone that Ciel had ever heard. "After all, you received the treatment of the great Saisei-sama, the finest healer in the Mibu Clan."

"After Makoto-sama, you mean," said Shinrei with smirk.

"Hush!" admonished Saisei. "He doesn't count." She gave Ciel a wry smirk. "Shinrei here wanted to watch you until you woke up, but I told him that would make him come off as a creepy stalker."

Shinrei coughed loudly, but was unable to hide the red flush of his cheeks. Likewise, Ciel blushed some more.

"I just wanted to make sure she was okay," he protested after he got himself back under control.

"She's not a patient in the hospital, recovering from a life-threatening injury," admonished Saisei. "She was just sleeping off a minor, albeit comprehensive, healing carried out by yours truly. There is absolutely nothing for you to be worried about."

Shinrei responded by puffing out his cheeks and looking sharply away, the expression so uncharacteristically childish that Ciel giggled helplessly at the sight of it.

Saisei laughed as well. "Enough of that. Come and eat with us. I know you're hungry after last night."

"But why am I so hungry?" asked Ciel, sitting down nonetheless. "I haven't done much of anything lately."

"When I heal, there are two approaches that I use," said Saisei. "Depending on the condition of the person I'm treating, I may use one or the other, or some balance of both. The first approach I use is to use my Aura to stimulate your body's natural ability to heal itself. It uses your own body's capabilities to close wounds and repair damage. Even lasting things, like scars, will be repaired over time. My treatment merely compresses that time.

"The other method is what we call Spiritual Surgery. It is much more intensive because I interact directly with the damaged areas and use my own Aura to mend them. With that, I can heal even the most debilitating of injuries in a matter of minutes.

"Generally, I rely on the first method as much as possible, mainly because it is the least invasive. Even when I use Spiritual Surgery to treat serious injuries, I usually utilize my Aura to help a person's body to heal itself after the treatment to help strengthen them.

"As you might guess, I utilized my Aura on you. While you slept, your body continued to repair itself at an accelerated rate. However, because the process is using your body's healing abilities, it's also consuming your own energy. You were well rested, but you've burned a lot of calories, thanks to your healing. You need to eat to replenish your energy."

Ciel gladly loaded down her bowl and plate with food and ate energetically, while Shinrei and Saisei joined her. As they ate, Shinrei and Saisei bickered playfully with one another, reminding Ciel of a pair of siblings. For all that they argued and teased each other constantly, there was an underlying current of affection that showed just how close they really were. Ciel felt like she was eating at a friend's house and listening to their family over breakfast. Though she felt slightly detached from it all, there was something enjoyably familiar about the situation.

Saisei set down her bowl with a satisfied sigh. "I should go," she said. "It's almost time to start the checkups."

"You were gonna start at nine," said Shinrei.

"That's right," said Saisei. "I believe it's almost eight-thirty."

"Eight-thirty-seven," said Ciel automatically.

"Huh?" Both Shinrei and Saisei blinked and looked at her in confusion.

"It's eight-thirty-seven and...twenty-seven seconds," said Ciel.

Saisei blinked. "Wow...how did you do that?"

"It's my Semblance," said Ciel, blushing slightly. "It allows me to keep time."

"Really," said Shinrei.

"It's nothing all that spectacular," said Ciel. "I know it's mostly useless."

"Are you kidding?" asked Shinrei and Saisei at the same time, making Ciel jump and nearly spill her soup.

"There are so many potential applications for that," said Shinrei.

"I'd have so many uses for that ability myself," said Saisei. "With a little training, you could probably perform basic medical evaluations, like taking a person's pulse, in just a few seconds, even faster than I could."

"It would be a huge boon for coordinating forces in the field," added Shinrei. "Knowing exactly how much time has elapsed between particular parts of an operation would make everything run that much more smoothly."

Ciel blinked, surprised at the the enthusiasm of their responses. Her peers had all been so dismissive of the ability because there seemed to be little direct application of it to combat, which made them perceive her to be of less use in battle than someone with a more combat-compatible Semblance.

"It certainly sounds like a useful skill," observed a tall, somewhat elaborately-dressed, man coming into the living room.

Shinrei and Saisei immediately set down their bowls and utensils, jumping to their feet.

"Sensei!" they said in unison, moving to bow to him.

The man held up a hand to forestall any movement. "Enough," he said. "It's bad enough that I interrupted your breakfast. There's no need to stand on ceremony here." He gave them a warm, almost fatherly smile. "May I join you?"

"Of course," said Saisei eagerly, rushing to the kitchen to fetch an extra place setting as the man settled onto the cushions across the table.

"You must be the girl they were speaking about last night," he said, fixing his eyes on Ciel.

"Um...uh..." Ciel blushed yet again and looked nervously at Shinrei, who had sat back down next to her. However, he only managed an awkward cough and refused to meet her eyes.

Seeing that she was on her own for the moment, Ciel turned back to the man. "I am Ciel Soleil," she said politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I am Makoto of the Taishiro," said the man, bowing his head back to her. "I am the Chief Physician of the Mibu Clan. Both Shinrei and Saisei are my students."

"Physician?" Ciel looked questioningly at Shinrei, wondering why he would be studying under a physician. Saisei made sense, but not Shinrei.

"He's also the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ ," explained Shinrei.

"I've been teaching them both since they were very young, so they are like my own children in a way," said Makoto with a smile.

Ciel nodded.

"In any case," said Makoto, "I apologize for eavesdropping, but did I overhear correctly that your Semblance is timekeeping?"

"Yes," said Ciel.

"I see," said Makoto, rubbing his chin.

In the meantime, Saisei set out plates, bowls, and utensils for him. Makoto helped himself to some of the food and began to eat daintily.

"Could I ask you to do something for me?" he inquired.

"Yes," said Ciel.

Makoto's eyes narrowed. "I would like for you to use your fingers to tap the table at a precise three-second interval."

Ciel nodded and set down her bowl. She rested two fingers on the tabletop and closed her eyes, taking a breath before she began to do so. She tapped her fingers every three seconds, responding perfectly in time with her Semblance.

"Now shorten it to two seconds," said Makoto.

Ciel did as she was told.

"Stop for five, and resume."

Ciel stopped, holding it for five seconds and returning to tapping the table at two-second increments.

"Very good," said Makoto approvingly. "You may stop now. I apologize for making you do that in the middle of your meal."

"It's all right," said Ciel. "I am a guest of your clan after all."

"Still, that is no excuse for making you perform for me during your breakfast," said Makoto, bowing his head towards her. "I thank you for your cooperation. Your Semblance interests me."

"It does?" asked Ciel, blinking in surprise.

"It would seem that you have a gift for reading rhythms," said Makoto. "Your movements were perfectly precise. Do you dance at all?"

"Um...a little," said Ciel. She had taken a few dance classes in her youth, and attended a few formal events with Penny, though she usually spent those on the sidelines with Penny, as her minder. Penny had always been more enthusiastic about dancing than Ciel had.

"I see," said Makoto, rubbing his chin again. "Have you considered where you will go, and what you will do here?"

"Um..." Ciel blinked, realizing she hadn't given any thought to it at all.

"We haven't advised her on her options yet," said Saisei. "She would learn at the same time that the refugees do."

"Understandable," said Makoto. He focused his attention back on Ciel. "Perhaps then, I could present you with an option."

Both Shinrei and Saisei gaped at Makoto.

"Would you be willing to return to the capital and study under me," said Makoto. "I think you would make a fine student of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_."

"I...I would?" asked Ciel, her eyes widening.

Makoto nodded. "It's the same school that Shinrei practices."

"I could learn to do the same things as him?" said Ciel somewhat incredulously. "But my Semblance has nothing to do with water."

"That is fine," said Makoto. "I'm sure that Shinrei has explained a little of this to you already, but what you call a Semblance is merely a basic manifestation of your full ability. Your full potential remains largely untapped, and the capability of what you can do with your Aura is not as limited as you might believe. With study, I am certain that you could become a master of water."

"I..." Ciel looked from Makoto to Shinrei, seeing Shinrei's amazed expression. She looked to Saisei, who appeared to have recovered from the surprise. Saisei gave Ciel an encouraging smile.

"Thank you for your generous offer," said Ciel, turning her gaze back to Makoto. "May I have some time to think about it?"

"Of course," said Makoto, bowing his head once again. "I do not wish to pressure you. We have time. You should be advised of your other options along with the refugees. Feel free to think things over for as long as you need."

"Thank you," said Ciel, bowing her head back to him.

Makoto set his utensils down, his meal finished. "Saisei and I will go and perform the checkups for the final group of refugees." He stood up and offered one last bow to Ciel. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Soleil-san. I look forward to seeing you again."

"I do as well," said Ciel, bowing back as best she could, her movements hindered by the table.

"Come," said Makoto, beckoning to Saisei, who immediately followed him, throwing a cheeky wink at Shinrei as she left.

It took Shinrei a second to register why Saisei had winked at him. "Ah!" he said sharply. "She stuck me with the dishes."

* * *

 **At this point, this is where I said "Screw it!" and decided to finish up the first part of the B-storyline with Ciel all in one go, so we'll stick with this storyline for one more chapter, before going back to the main story and the rest of the gang for a while.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21:**

To help ease Shinrei's consternation, Ciel decided to help with the washing. The plates, utensils and cookware all needed to be cleaned. The extra food was stored away for later. Ciel was surprised to note that the Mibu Clan also apparently had some form of refrigeration, which impressed her, seeing as she _still_ saw no signs of Dust usage.

"So...any thoughts about the offer?" asked Shinrei as they worked.

"I'm not sure," said Ciel. "I'm very honored by it. But I don't really know if that's what I want?"

"You're not interested?" asked Shinrei.

"Well, I am," admitted Ciel, "But..."

On one hand, seeing Shinrei turn the ocean into his own personal weapon, and dance his way through a flock of Grimm without hardly even breaking a sweat was impressive. it would be amazing to be able to do that herself. However, at the same time...

"You're still a bit disoriented," said Shinrei. "Everything feels kinda topsy turvy to you now, like the world's stopped making any sense. Makoto-sama's offer is one possible direction for you to take, but you're suddenly being faced with so many."

Ciel nodded. "You aren't upset?"

"I can understand you're being a little too confused to make up your mind," said Shinrei. "I have to admit, it's rare to see him personally invite someone to become his student like that. I was the last one. It means he sees a lot of potential in you, the potential to be better than him when it comes to our art."

"He wants someone to be better than him?" asked Ciel.

"Of course," said Shinrei. "He's always said that the most important aspiration of any master is to be surpassed by his students. Both Saisei and I are aiming to get better than him at our respective arts someday. That he's issued you an invitation means that he thinks you have the potential to surpass him as well. And I don't think he's wrong."

"Would it be bad if I decided not to?" asked Ciel nervously. It made her uneasy that so much was being attached to Makoto's casual-sounding invitation.

"Not really," said Shinrei. "It's a good thing he made that invitation to you in private."

"Would he react differently if he were in public?" asked Ciel. She'd dealt with those kinds of people before. They behaved differently according to who might be watching them. That was technically true of anyone, but some people became especially dangerous if they felt that they were slighted with potential witnesses around them. What might have been something minor turned into a public humiliation for them and they would stop at nothing to redress what they saw as a grievous wrong.

" _He_ wouldn't," said Shinrei. "Makoto-sama has never been all that concerned with maintaining face. He's too focused on his work as the Chief Physician to care about that stuff. It's a trait that all the Elders share to some extent or another. The problem is that a lot of other people are concerned on their behalf. There are some who would see turning him down as a pretty serious insult. Unfortunately, some of those people can be rather dangerous to cross, even by proxy. People who get angry on behalf of others are extra dangerous, 'cause they get that extra kick from a sense of righteousness, whether it's warranted or not."

"I...see..." said Ciel. Her movements stopped, leaving her up to her elbows in soapy water.

Shinrei reached over and dipped his own hand down into the water, finding hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Hey," he said. "It's okay. Nobody here is gonna take offense. All that matters to us is that you're comfortable with whatever decision you make."

"Thank you," said Ciel, squeezing his hand back gratefully as she looked at him.

It took them a few seconds to register that they were standing, arm deep in soapy water, staring into each other's eyes. They both blushed and quickly pulled away from each other, returning to their respective tasks.

As they worked, Ciel reflected on what she had learned. Makoto seemed like an admirable person, especially considering that he didn't seem interested in his own reputation, only his work. But it said a great deal about him that other people considered his reputation to be worth protecting, even if _he_ didn't, and were willing to go out on a limb to do so. She could understand why receiving such an offer from someone who was apparently so important was quite momentous.

A few minutes later, they finished the dishes and returned to the living room. "So what now?" asked Ciel.

"Well, it's up to you," said Shinrei. "We have books and games and stuff for everyone. It's probably nothing as fancy as you would have back in Atlas, but it keeps the boredom away."

"Would it be all right if I took a look around?" asked Ciel.

"Sure," said Shinrei. "Just mind the borders. Our countryside is like any other place on Remnant, so you probably have a good idea of what's out there."

Ciel nodded.

"Otherwise, just take it easy," said Shinrei. "The people working here are kind, so they'll let you know if you wander someplace you shouldn't, usually some place where they're working. You want me to come with you?"

"It's okay," said Ciel. "I can find my way around, I think."

Shinrei nodded. "Okay. Dinner's gonna be at around six...give or take a few minutes. Or you can eat under the pavilion like we did last night. They'll have lunch out there at noon, if you get hungry."

Ciel nodded. "Okay."

Shinrei stepped closer, his nearness making Ciel's heart beat a little faster. He carefully lifted a hand to the level of her shoulder, holding it an inch away from her, almost as though waiting for permission to touch. When Ciel did not flinch or step away, he rested his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "You'll be okay, no matter what you choose."

Ciel twitched her own arms, hesitating for a second. Finally, she gave in and threw them around Shinrei's shoulders, hugging herself to him tightly. Shinrei froze in surprise before returning the favor.

"Thank you so much," said Ciel. "I'm glad I met you."

"Me too," said Shinrei with a small grin.

They let go of each other and Ciel, still sporting a light blush, left the house.

Left in the empty living room with nothing to do, now that his part in the refugee work was done, Shinrei yawned and stretched. "I guess I'll catch up on some reading," he said.

* * *

This place, this settlement was truly amazing. That was the impression that struck Ciel as she wandered about. The refugees were housed in numerous buildings, sprawling complexes with courtyards and gardens, free to come and go as they liked. Everywhere she looked, she could see children playing with toys that had been given to them by their hosts, while the adults chatted or read, or played games of their own. This seemed more like a tourist town than a temporary site for refugees.

 _It'll be hard to leave this place behind,_ realized Ciel. _If they get too comfortable here, they won't want to go anywhere else._ She paused and thought about it. _I guess I'm like that too,_ she realized. The real reason for her hesitation in answering Makoto's question hadn't been confusion or disorientation. She had found herself in a comfortable place. Here she was, being taken care of by others, lavished with attention and consideration. After what she had been through, it was such a relief that she was reluctant to leave it all behind.

Perhaps it was all right. After suffering at the hands of her teachers and her peers, Ciel did feel justified in getting a little pampering. She was happy that the people here cared only for their well being. But it also made her feel ashamed. Nothing good would come of simply languishing in place. If she just stayed here, over time, this place would become just another prison, a luxurious one, but a prison all the same. The Mibu wouldn't need walls or bars or androids to keep her from escaping, because her own sloth would do all that for her. Her own heart and mind would be her true prison.

 _No matter what,_ she thought, _I have to keep moving forward...not just for me, but for Penny too._

But did she want to go to the capital and study the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_? Was that the path she wanted to take? What other options were there?

Ciel wandered further, heading into the park. Aside from the pavilion where food was being served, she saw more children playing. Some were even flying kites in the breeze that blew through the place.

"Interesting, isn't it?"

Ciel yelped and jumped, spinning around to see Saisei grinning impishly at her, the faunus' fox tail wagging eagerly behind her.

Ciel took a few breaths to calm herself down. "Are you done already?" she asked. "It's only been an hour and fifteen minutes."

Saisei giggled. "Yes. It didn't take too long. When Makoto-sama gets involved, these things tend to get taken care of rather quickly. He handled twice the number of patients I did without breaking a sweat."

"It must be hard trying to surpass that," said Ciel.

"Speed isn't necessarily the most important thing," said Saisei, coming to stand next to Ciel. "True, it's extremely helpful in situations where every second counts, and the line between life and death is paper thin. Being faster means that I can help more people in less time, which leaves me more time to help more people. However, that isn't as important to me as ensuring I help the people I do to the fullest extent that I am capable."

She sighed. "Healing isn't like a battle. To 'win' at healing, you save your patient from death in such a way that your patient does not regret living." She gave Ciel an almost sad smile. "I can mend flesh and bone, erase injuries that would hinder a person for their entire life. But my powers only truly help the physical. There are wounds that I cannot heal, even with all the power at my disposal. The same is true for Makoto-sama. No healer is truly perfect. There will always be those that we cannot save, sometimes from themselves.

"So, as a healer, my greatest wish is to be the kind of healer who can reach out to those who are suffering, who can ease the burden of their pain, in whatever form it might take. I want to see to each and every one of my patients and tend their every hurt. I don't simply want to mend their bodies and send them on their way. I want to enkindle within them the will to live with their own strength. That is how I will surpass Makoto-sama as a healer."

"That sounds plenty difficult," said Ciel.

"It is," said Saisei, staring out across the park. "Part of that is why I helped make this place. It was originally just intended to be a way station for the faunus Hayate was liberating from Atlas. But so many of them were suffering, and not just from ailments of the body. The SDC sought to break their spirits, their will to fight for their own lives. So many of them were close to breaking or already broken. So I decided to design this place to mend that which is broken. This is a place of healing, of helping hands, for wounded people to rest and recover."

"But how do you get them to leave?" asked Ciel. "Why would anyone want to leave this?"

Saisei giggled, then began to laugh a little more loudly. "You just hit the nail on the head," she said. "That was my biggest conundrum, when we were first setting this place up. If we wish to alleviate people's suffering, we run the risk of them becoming too attached to the care and concern that is shown to them. Fortunately, the solution proved to be rather effective."

"What solution?" asked Ciel.

"Tell me," said Saisei, "did you ever burn yourself as a child...from like say...touching a hot stove or something of that nature?"

"Yes," said Ciel. They had started walking again, wandering over the grass-covered hills of the park.

"It's something that happens all the time," said Saisei. "A parent warns a child not to do something; playing with sharp objects, touching something that's too hot, playing somewhere dangerous. Of course, lacking experience, the child may go through it anyway until they get hurt as a result. Providing the damage isn't too severe, the hurt heals as though it was never there. But the memory of that pain remains as a reminder for why a child should not do that particular thing."

"What does that have to do with the refugees?" asked Ciel.

"These are people who have been confined," said Saisei. "They were uprooted from their homes and crammed into a confined space, forced to slave away for the profit of someone else. The suffering that they endured, the injuries, many of which we have treated here, have passed. But the memory of it remains. Like a child who touched a hot stove, the memory of their pain makes them ill-disposed towards confinement. Over time, that is what this place will come to feel like to them. However pleasant it is here, it will soon come to be another prison for them. After all, they were uprooted and brought here, just as they were when they ended up in those camps in the first place. They may have been handled more gently and with much more benign intentions, but the similarities remain.

"Because of that, they will come to loathe that sense of helplessness and long to work to determine the course of their own lives. That will drive them to move forward. It helps that, while we provide them with basic enjoyments to pass the time while they recover, we don't provide too many. There are only so many activities for them here. We will not add to the diversity or try to increase their options, which will engender a sense restlessness that, hopefully, will drive them to strike out and forge their own way through the world."

"Wow," said Ciel. "You've thought everything out so well."

"That is my healing," said Saisei, her voice filled with pride. "I don't want to simply mend what is broken within them. I want to leave them stronger and healthier than they were before they were hurt. I don't want to give them the strength to simply do what they did before, but the strength to move forward and do more. I want to see them flourish."

Ciel felt a tear fall from her eye. Saisei's dedication and compassion were moving. She had put so much thought and care into the creation of this place, all for the sake of lost people who had already lost so much. Saisei had striven to go above and beyond for their sake.

 _Which means I can't languish here either,_ she thought. _I have to find the strength to move forward, and do my best too, so that everything they've done wasn't for nothing._

She heard Saisei giggle again and looked down to see Saisei beaming up at her. "There it is," she said proudly. "That's the look, the sign that I've done my job."

Ciel blinked and stared.

"You looked so lost when you first came here," said Saisei, "so lost that you had to be led by the hand. But now I see fire in your eyes. I'm glad. Whatever you choose to do, I believe that it will definitely be the best choice for you."

"Thank you so much," said Ciel, bowing her head towards Saisei. "Thank you for everything."

"There's no need for that," said Saisei, taking Ciel's hand in hers. "It's moments like this that are the affirmation of everything that I do."

* * *

That night, Shinrei and Saisei were surprised that Makoto opted to join them for dinner as well. Ciel wasn't so surprised. She suspected that Makoto had already deduced that she'd arrived at an answer.

"I would be honored to accept your offer," she said, bowing her head to Makoto across the table. "I will study under you."

Makoto smiled, looking…relieved…by her answer. "I'm glad," he said. "I think you will do well. Once Shinrei and Saisei are done here, we'll move on to the capital."

"What's left?" asked Ciel.

"We'll be giving the refugees their options tomorrow," said Saisei. "With the checkups done, all that's left are the interviews to determine where they'd like to go. Fortunately, the staff here can handle that. We can leave after tomorrow."

"Probably take us a week to get back home," said Shinrei.

"Uh…how are we traveling?" asked Ciel.

All three of them turned and looked at her as though the answer was obvious. "By foot," said Shinrei simply.

"Um…how far is it?" asked Ciel.

"Far enough," said Shinrei.

"I would rather make as much use of the time as I can," said Makoto. "So we will run."

Ciel suppressed the urge to whimper. She'd done long-distance runs during her training at Atlas Academy and in Combat School before that. But she'd never enjoyed it. If their destination was so far away that they needed a week to reach it at a run, Ciel was fairly certain that she'd be unable to keep up.

Shinrei patted her arm. "You'll be fine. I promise."

Ciel gave him a shaky smile, but couldn't completely hide her trepidation.

"We wouldn't be so foolish as to expect you to keep up with us right away," said Saisei.

"To streamline matters, I'll begin your training tomorrow, while we're waiting," said Makoto.

"Okay," said Ciel.

"For now, just relax," said Saisei. "You'll be plenty busy soon enough."

* * *

Duncan sighed, looking at the paper that had been given to him as he wandered down the lane leading to the residence he'd been given. It hadn't been hard for him to find a place for himself. The settlements that the Mibu were setting up across the continent were in dire need of engineers and construction experts. Of course, his skills were a little bit rusty after months spent in the internment camp and mines. The faunus laborers were not permitted to advance beyond a certain level, and engineering was not entrusted to them.

He had been fired from his job back in Atlas quite some time ago, the political climate making it unfavorable to keep faunus on staff. From there, he'd moved from odd job to odd job, doing whatever he could to keep food on his plate. In a way, being moved the SDC-run internment camp had saved him to a certain extent. At least there, things had achieved a certain level of stability.

But now, he had a chance to go back to the kind of work that had been his calling. Granted, it would be tougher than it had been back in Atlas. The Mibu didn't have advanced computer modeling programs, and all the engineering and calculations would have to be worked out with pencil and paper.

 _I'll have brush up on the basics,_ he thought wryly. _I'm way out of practice._

Looking up, he was surprised to see Shinrei standing in front of him.

"Yo," said Shinrei, holding up a bottle of some kind of amber liquor. "I told you we'd go out for drinks."

Besides the bottle, Shinrei had brought a couple of glasses as well. It was easy for them to find a seat on a bench and pour out Shinrei's drink, which proved to be a whiskey with a rich, nutty aroma.

"So...heading out to the frontier, huh?" asked Shinrei as he sipped from his glass.

"In the past, I hadn't given much thought to it before," said Duncan, his dog ears flopping on the top of his head as he enjoyed a drink from his own glass. "The terrain around Atlas is so cold and barren that founding a new settlement is hard. We all tried to keep within the city as much as possible."

"It's a big risk," said Shinrei. "At least, out here, the climate's a lot more temperate."

"But the Grimm are a larger threat," noted Duncan.

"Yes and no," said Shinrei. "Of course, the climate means they won't get frozen solid. But we've spent centuries working out how to best deal with them, and we've come up with some pretty impressive solutions. The settlement you're going to will be using a new system to keep the Grimm away."

"A new system?" asked Duncan.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "It's gonna be huge. We've tested it in a couple of other places, and the results look good. Since it involves a certain type of radiation, we've been careful about making sure whether or not it's safe to implement."

"Radiation?" Duncan shivered nervously.

"Yeah," said Shinrei. "We hit on this a couple-hundred years ago."

"Then why take so long to implement it?" asked Duncan.

"Like I said, it involves long-term exposure to a certain type of radiation," said Shinrei. "We used volunteers to set up test communities for a multi-generational study to ensure that there were no harmful side-effects. The radiation itself is like a repellent to the Grimm. They can't stand it, so they keep away. If it was safe for people, then we can employ it in our settlements and then the threat of the Grimm will almost become a thing of the past."

"That would be incredible," said Duncan with a sigh.

"Of course, travel is still tricky," said Shinrei. "We don't have any fancy airships, or even automobiles. So we're still pretty much a horse and buggy kind of civilization. It's gonna take you a while to get where you're going. Still think you're up for it?"

"I do," said Duncan. "I'm just glad to be doing the kind of work I set out to do in my life, not merely working as another set of hands in the Dust mines."

"But you're going to a mining settlement," Shinrei pointed out.

"An iron mine," said Duncan. "It'll be a nice change of pace. I'm still surprised that there were no Dust mines."

"We don't have much use for Dust here," said Shinrei. "We're more interested in metals and certain minerals. The mountains on the northern section of the continent are full of them. Dust is actually something more of a nuisance for us. We keep coming across deposits then have to tiptoe around them, in mining terms, so that we don't set them off while we're looking for the stuff we actually want."

"I may never get used to that," said Duncan.

"That's why the people in your group who have experience handling Dust will be useful," said Shinrei. "At least they'll know how to work around it without setting it off. If they want to mine it for themselves, more power to them. But there isn't much of a market for it here."

"I'm still at a loss as to how a civilization can function without Dust," said Duncan.

"Eh, we've been doing it. But we've also been making due without a lot of fancy stuff that I hear are everyday things in the four Kingdoms," said Shinrei.

Duncan nodded. "And where will you be going?"

"Back to the capital for a few months," said Shinrei. "I'll be back in a couple of months to help Hayate and Saisei process the next batch of refugees." He grinned at Duncan. "Then I might come out to visit you and see how you're settling in."

"I'd be grateful for that," said Duncan. "After all that you've done, we can't possibly thank you enough."

"Just live your lives as best you can and that'll be plenty for me," said Shinrei. "I'll be honest. We aren't doing this entirely for altruistic reasons."

"So there's profit for you in this?" asked Duncan.

"As a nation, yeah," said Shinrei. "We've been looking to expand for decades. The problem is that our population is small compared to the other Kingdoms. And it grows slowly. People here can live longer, but families don't grow as quickly as a result. Bringing you guys over from Atlas is giving us the population boom we need to access critical resources, clear important spaces of land, and basically boost our prosperity to new levels. We may be nicer than the Schnees, but we're using you folks all the same."

"It isn't the same," said Duncan. "Schnee only wanted to exploit us. Young or old, male or female, previous occupations, we were all the same to him, just warm bodies to move his Dust. But you are making us into the pillars of your future, building your nation's new era with us as part of the foundation. You're making us into your people."

"It won't be perfectly easy," Shinrei pointed out. "We have our own customs over here. You're gonna have to get used to them. Over time, we may adopt whatever customs you folks bring over with you, but there'll be friction at first."

"That's fine," said Duncan with a quiet chuckle, pouring another glass for himself. "Friction from a meeting of different cultures doesn't even compare to the prejudice we endured for the 'sin' of being born faunus. Over here, you've accepted us whether we have ears or tails or some other feature, without even questioning it. I've seen faunus and humans working together without the slightest care for their differences. Ms. Saisei enjoys such respect and authority here. In Atlas, she would have been an outcast."

"That's not a problem," said Shinrei. "Our history has had its dark eras too, periods where we did, things we, as the descendants of those people, aren't too proud of. One of the advantages to a long-lived people is that we can mind those lessons longer than most and they stick around."

Shinrei filled his glass, then used what remained in the bottle to top off Duncan's. "Here's to a brighter future for all of us," he said, raising his glass.

"I'll drink to that," said Duncan, matching the gesture. They clinked their glasses together and took one last drink.

After that, Shinrei picked up the glasses and the empty bottle. "Let's do this again sometime," he said with a grin.

Duncan nodded. "I look forward to it," he said.

* * *

Ciel folded her sleeping robes, setting them atop the blankets of the futon and sighed, taking one last wistful look at the comfortable bed she had used the past couple of days. She'd become quite fond of it and could only hope that she was even half as comfortable where she was going.

"All set?" asked Saisei, coming into the room.

"Yes," said Ciel. "I don't really have anything to bring with me aside from the clothes on my back."

"What about your weapon?" asked Saisei, looking at the watch that Ciel had left on the dresser.

"I don't think I'll need it anymore," said Ciel. "From what I've seen and heard, the weapons for the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ will be different."

"They are...in more ways than one," said Saisei. "I think you'll appreciate those differences a great deal, once you begin learning the school. How did your primer on Aura-control go yesterday?"

Ciel frowned and stared down at her hands. She could see the field of her Aura, contained around her body. She was still uncertain about these new techniques, for all that they had been rather easy to learn. Already, she could perform Tempering without needing to think about it.

"We'll practice on the way down," said Shinrei, also coming into the room. "You'll have a pretty good grasp of the basics by the time we reach the capital."

"How are we going to cover all that distance in a week?" asked Ciel. Last night, she'd reviewed some of the books in the house, which included an atlas, which contained a detailed map of the continent. They were situated on the very tip of the northernmost section of the continent, known as the tip of the Dragon's Wing. Reaching the Dragon's Tail, where the capital was situated, would require a journey down the wing and then overland. Covering that kind of distance in only a week seemed absurd to her.

Shinrei grinned. "We just head south at full speed."

"But the water..." said Ciel, before pausing.

"Now you're beginning to get it," said Saisei with a giggle. "Shinrei and Makoto-sama will take us straight south across the water. For them, it's even easier than traveling across the land. We'll be in the capital in no time."

"You'll be fine," said Shinrei, taking Ciel's hand in his. "Come on. Let's go. Makoto-sama'll be waiting for us."

They left the house and made their way to the southern border of the settlement. As they did, Ciel looked around at the faunus they passed along the way. They all looked animated and excited, eager to move on to their new lives. It lifted her heart to see the hope and excitement in their eyes.

She heard Saisei giggle. "I don't know," said Saisei. "Are you sure you want to study the _Mumyo Saigyo_? You have an excellent disposition. You'd make a great healer. Perhaps you should study with me."

"Nope," said Shinrei. "I saw her first."

Ciel squeaked and blushed.

"I thought it was her decision," teased Saisei.

"It is," said Ciel. "But I've decided that I want to fight. I want to see what I can really do."

"Oh well," said Saisei with a shrug. "I tried."

Makoto was waiting for them at the edge of the settlement. In addition to his regular clothes, he also wore a pair of swords that were held by his sash. One was a longsword, like a katana, although the blade's curve was much more pronounced, with a flower-shaped guard. The other was a tanto of some sort, with a plain white handle, devoid of any kind of wrapping or decoration. He smiled fondly as they approached. "Are you all ready for departure?"

"Let's hit the road," said Shinrei, before turning his back to Ciel and crouching down.

"Huh?" said Ciel, looking at him in confusion.

"Climb on," said Shinrei. "We know better than to think you could run all the way down with us, so I'll be carrying you. Just try not to choke me, okay."

Ciel's blush intensified and she looked questioningly at Saisei, who merely nodded at her. Makoto also nodded. Carefully, Ciel climbed onto Shinrei's back, hugging him around his collar while he hooked his arms under her legs and stood upright.

"Make sure you hold on tight," said Shinrei.

"While we are traveling, I want you to focus on maintaining your Tempering," said Makoto. "At the same time, I will give you instructions to shift your Aura around your body. That will get you accustomed to controlling it."

"When we stop for the evening, you'll practice the other skills," added Shinrei.

"Okay," said Ciel.

With that, they set off. Ciel squeaked and clung to Shinrei desperately, the initial acceleration nearly causing her to lose her grip. Saisei, Shinrei, and Makoto all ran at a speed that would have put the fastest land vehicles in Atlas to shame. They rushed through the forest, the trees and foliage becoming brown and green blurs sweeping past on either side. Ciel had to squint her eyes against the pressure of the wind, grateful for the protection her tempered Aura offered against the various debris that was in their path as they ran. Without it, she would have likely been covered in scratches in just a few seconds.

"Begin by shifting your Aura to your right arm," said Makoto, his voice somehow carrying through the rush of the wind so that Ciel could hear it clearly.

Nodding, Ciel did as she was bid. Makoto continued to give her instructions as they ran. In half an hour, they reached the coast. Without even breaking stride, Saisei leapt onto Makoto's back. Both he and Shinrei stepped out onto the water without any hesitation, actually picking up speed as they began to skate over the water's surface, their steps barely creating ripples. The seas smoothed ahead of them, making the passage even easier and faster, with the largest waves actually parting to allow them through.

The whole time, Makoto continued to instruct her in controlling her Aura, while Ciel did her best to follow his instructions, even as she marveled at the speed of their travel. The land gradually shrank away behind them, before disappearing from sight entirely. Water extended to the horizon in every direction.

They continued that way for a while, the sun climbing into the sky, and then working its way across as they rushed over the water. Ciel wished she knew how fast they were going. All her Semblance allowed her to tell was that they were five hours and thirty-seven minutes into their journey.

At twelve minutes after noon, they came to a stop, still standing on the surface of the water in the middle of the open ocean.

"Time for lunch," said Saisei happily.

"You said it," said Shinrei. "I'm starving."

"Glutton," teased Saisei.

"Makoto and I are doing all the work," Shinrei retorted. "You're just freeloading now."

"I'm sorry," said Ciel quickly.

"You don't have to be," said Shinrei quickly, giving her an apologetic look. "For you it makes sense. Saisei's just being lazy."

"I'm not a water-user, so I can't run across water," countered Saisei, sticking her tongue out at Shinrei.

Seeing them bicker made Ciel giggle again. She could see Makoto smiling as well, clearly amused by the antics of his students, which surprised her a little. She'd expected him to be a bit more stern and demanding. But it seemed he really did see them as surrogate children of his.

"Um...how are we going to have lunch out here?" asked Ciel looking around. There was nothing but water in all directions. She hadn't brought anything with her, but hadn't seen any of her companions carrying any kind of luggage either. What would they be eating, and where could the eat?

Makoto lifted one foot and brought it back down on the water. Ciel watched in amazement as a clicking and crackling noise filled the air. A ripple spread out from Makoto's foot. In its wake the water went smooth...not just smooth...it completely solidified, forming a crystalline platform that rose up above the waves.

"You can get off here," said Shinrei.

Hesitantly, Ciel lowered herself onto the platform, testing her weight on it, little by little. To her amazement, it held, not even bobbing as she carefully let go of Shinrei and tried standing on her own. She expected it to be slippery, given how smooth it looked. As it turned out, its smoothness was so great that it actually gave her plenty of traction. Crouching down, Ciel pressed her hand against it, expecting it to be as cold as ice. But it was relatively warm.

"You didn't freeze it," she said in awe.

"It's one of the main techniques of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ ," said Shinrei. "This is the _Suiseisho_. It's one of the foundational techniques for the rest of the art. You don't freeze the water, but link the atoms together into a solid, crystal structure. It isn't cold because you aren't subtracting energy from the equation, just locking the water in place."

"How does that even work?" asked Ciel, running her hand along the surface of the platform. "I don't think that quite works with the laws of thermodynamics."

"It's something that's only possible through your Aura," said Shinrei. "You'll learn that a lot of things that don't seem possible are."

He stretched out his hand. Ciel's eyes widened as she watched a tendril of water rise up from the sea and wind its way towards his open hand. He closed his hand around it and the water began to flow out from his grip in both directions, continuing to be fed by the stream of water he'd called up from the sea. The water congealed and crystalized, forming a shaft, then the blade, until Shinrei was holding his halberd in his hand.

"This is just the basics of the art," said Shinrei. "When you master it, you won't even need to draw water from your environment. You can use your Aura to _create_ it on your own. Granted, when there _is_ water around, it's a lot easier to just use that than create your own."

With a flick of his wrist, Shinrei tossed his weapon away. Its form melted and it became just so much airborne water that landed back in the sea with a splash.

"Oh, enough showing off," admonished Saisei. "Let's eat."

Ciel's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as Saisei pulled a stuffed bag out from her sleeve. _How did she carry that?_

"Shinrei, fill a pot for me," said Saisei.

"You got it," said Shinrei. He again called water up into his hand, where it wove around in circles, reminding Ciel of rolled clay being coiled to make a pot. Appropriately, the coils of water smoothed out, leaving a perfectly crystal-clear pot sitting atop Shinrei's hand. Water continued to stream out of the sea, now filling it.

"Sensei, if you would," said Saisei, having produced a knife from somewhere, and was now dicing vegetables.

Makoto raised a hand to the sea and Ciel's jaw dropped as several serpentine, azure dragons rose up from the water, each one carrying a fish in its jaws. They tossed the fish towards Makoto, whose hand went to the tanto he wore. He whipped it out, the blade flashing through the air with incredible speed. The fish were skinned, then filleted, then further sliced in an instant before they landed neatly in the pot. Saisei tossed in the cut vegetables along with some seasonings and Shinrei applied his Aura, bringing the whole thing to a boil in a matter of seconds.

All the while, Ciel watched with amazement. The whole scene had a surreal quality, seeming like something she'd read in a storybook, rather than watch unfold before her eyes. They were out in the middle of the open seas, standing on a platform of crystalized, but not frozen, water. _If they can do this much with their Auras alone, then it's no wonder that they don't rely on Dust at all,_ she found herself thinking.

Saisei appeared to notice what was going through Ciel's mind. "Not just anybody in the Clan can do this," she said. "Only Shinrei and Makoto-sama have the skill to do so much with their abilities alone."

"It took a lot of work to reach this point," said Shinrei proudly. "I'm not one of the Five for nothing."

"Now that claim I might dispute," teased Saisei.

"Just try," said Shinrei, the two of them quickly returning to their bickering.

As they did, Ciel turned to look at Makoto. "If you can do so much with your Auras, why not share this with the rest of the world?" she asked.

Makoto looked out over the water. "The rest of the world was not interested, when certain people who had studied our arts tried. In the outside world, there are interests that seek to keep people from realizing their full potential so that they might rely on...other resources."

"You mean Dust?" asked Ciel.

Makoto nodded. "In the past, a small group of outsiders came to our Clan to study our ways. They learned well. When the Great War raged, they left to see if they could use their newly acquired skills to help put an end to it. They succeeded, and went on to establish the Academies, including the one you trained at. However, because they wished for their Huntsmen and Huntresses to remain independent of national allegiance, they were forced to bargain with the Kingdoms, which imposed restrictions on what they could and could not teach."

"Oh..." said Ciel, lowering her gaze.

"That will soon change," declared Makoto. "Once the Opening occurs, the Kingdoms will not be able to live in denial of us any longer. They will be forced to adapt if they wish to remain relevant."

"The Opening?" asked Ciel.

Makoto smiled at her. "You'll see soon," he said. "You may have a role to play in it, though that has yet to be seen."

He turned back to watch the pot, as their simple stew cooked, while Shinrei and Saisei continued to bicker away in the background.

* * *

After their lunch, they rested for a bit to allow for digestion before setting out once again. They continued to travel across the surface of the water at incredible speed. Ciel did her best to remain focused on Makoto's instructions as he continued to insist on her practicing with her Aura while she clung to Shinrei's back.

The sun was almost at the horizon when land finally came into view ahead of them. Ciel blinked as she spotted several land masses with small channels of water between them. They had reached the second spur of the Dragon's Wing, which was formed from a chain of islands, large and small, that stretched out to the east of the continent. They altered their course slightly, aiming for the nearest island.

They set up camp for the evening, Saisei somehow weaving the living wood of the forest to create shelter, and even beds, for them. Shinrei prepared their dinner in much the same way he had their lunch. In the meantime, Makoto continued to make Ciel practice, this time Projection. By the time dinner was ready, Ciel was on the verge of falling asleep. She barely had the strength to eat, then crawl into her bed.

They rose with the sun the next morning and set out again. Once again, they spent the day crossing the open sea between spurs of the Dragon's Wing, eating lunch with no land in sight yet again. By nightfall, they reached the next spur, a long, thin peninsula with a narrow mountain range running down the center of it. Crossing those mountains was a surprisingly arduous journey, for how narrow the stretch of land was and took another day to complete before they reached the southern side of the peninsula.

From there, they proceeded south across the largest stretch of water yet. By the time they reached the shore on the other side, the sun was already well below the horizon. They found themselves on the southernmost spur of the Dragon's Wing. The next morning, they set out across the peninsula, which was wider than the last one. Fortunately, the terrain of this wider peninsula was gentler, consisting of open plains and rolling hills. Still, with the overland distance they had to cover, they still ended up taking another day to get across it.

From there, it was only another short journey across the water to reach the Dragon's Tail, a wider, but shorter peninsula that stretched southwest from the continent. It was a brief crossing, and the rest of the day was spent making their way through an ancient forest of towering trees as they worked their way continuously south.

"We're almost there," declared Shinrei as they settled in for their final night on the road. "It probably won't even take us an hour tomorrow."

"We could keep going, but it'd be rude to come barging in so late in the day," observed Saisei. "Besides, I'd enjoy one more night of peace and quiet in the wilderness before we hit the hustle and bustle of the capital."

Ciel looked around. Something had just occurred to her, something she hadn't even thought about during the better part of their journey. Throughout their trip, she'd seen a few animals, mostly birds and squirrels and the like. However, what struck her was the complete absence of the Grimm. They hadn't been attacked even once.

"Oh...that," said Saisei as they ate their dinner. "You don't have to worry about the Grimm while you're with us. The Grimm won't come near while Makoto-sama is with us."

"He repels them?" asked Ciel.

"They're afraid of him," clarified Shinrei. "The strength of the Taishiro is such that the Grimm associate their presence with imminent death, so they automatically move away from them. Aside from the Elders, there are only a couple other people in the entire Clan with that level of strength."

"Really?" gasped Ciel, looking at Makoto with new appreciation.

"Because of that, the capital doesn't need perimeter defenses like most settlements do," explained Shinrei. "With the Four Elders present, the Grimm won't come near it."

"Of course, even if they weren't there, the Grimm would still stay away," added Saisei.

"Why?" asked Ciel.

"Because the capital is under the protection of someone much stronger," said Shinrei. "His Aura is so powerful he can drive away the Grimm in a hundred-mile radius. If you're lucky, you may get the chance to meet him in the near future."

"Who is it?" asked Ciel.

"The strongest and highest in the Clan," said Shinrei, "the Crimson King."

* * *

The next morning, they rose bright and early and made their way through what remained of the forest. When they broke from the tree line, Ciel gasped in surprise at the sight that greeted her eyes. Ahead of them were vast fields, raising enough food to feed an entire Kingdom easily. Past them, she saw rows of beautiful, immaculate, yet simple buildings that made up what was apparently the capital of the Mibu Clan's territory. The city crawled up the side of a broad, low mountain. Her eyes reaching the summit, Ciel saw faint traces of smoke leaking out of a caldera on top, which made her realize that the capital was built into the side of a volcano.

"Welcome to Onmyo, our capital," said Shinrei proudly. "It's good to be back."

* * *

 **The travelogue section of this chapter is another of those segments inspired by _Hunter X Hunter_ , particularly a part that takes place early on in the Chimera Ant arc, where Gon, Killua, and Kite are traveling by horse, then decide they need to go faster, so they just hop off and start running...at a speed that leaves their guide, and even the horses, staring after them with a look that just screams "WTF!" And, of course, there are the sequences from _Naruto_ where characters are frequently shown to be traveling overland, usually hopping through the trees, and apparently covering miles at time, with no trouble at all.**

 **Next chapter, we go back to the main story for a while.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22:**

"You know, after all this time being used to you not having your arm, that's really disconcerting to see," commented Jaune wryly as Yang came to the table for breakfast.

"Jaune!" admonished Ruby, punching her boyfriend in the arm.

"Well…he's not wrong," admitted Yang, still getting used to the idea of seeing a right arm that wasn't a prosthetic of some sort. Her arm and hand no longer glowed. It was now just a gold arm, its color too bright to be natural skin. It felt slightly different in comparison to her left, but she found that she could use it easily.

After two weeks of practice, she was finally getting used to using her Aura to produce her arm. The first couple of days had been difficult before, with Kyo's help, she had finally worked out how to draw the Aura construct back into herself, rather than let it disperse and take a significant chunk of her Aura along with it.

So far, she'd found that her new arm was quite capable. She was able to use it just as well as she had her original flesh and blood arm. However, she had yet to test its combat capabilities. For obvious reasons, they hadn't tried arming it with a gauntlet. Yang figured she wouldn't actually be able to practice fighting with it until maintaining the arm's cohesion became natural for her, the way Tempering had. However, because the arm was a much more complex construct, it was taking a bit longer to get used to. Every now and then, Yang's control would slip and her arm would dissolve into glittering motes of dust, leaving her feel like she'd just finished a twenty mile run.

Still, as she used it to pick up her fork and dig into the eggs Jaune and Ren had prepared for her, Yang couldn't help but be glad that she and Kyo had made this work. It was a world of difference from having only the most basic sensory information relayed up to her nerves by the limited sensory capabilities of the prosthetic arm. She could feel the cold metal of the fork, the weight of the food balanced on its prongs. In some ways, she felt everything more acutely than she ever had with her nerves, but never in a painful way.

"So…ready to head out?" asked Jaune as he took his own plate to the sink.

Yang's eyes widened. "Uh…"

"Don't tell me you forgot!" protested Ruby in a childishly exasperated tone. "You at least remembered to pack, didn't you?"

"Uh…" said Yang, her tone more sheepish now.

"Aww, geez!" groaned Ruby, rubbing the sides of her head a she slumped over the table. "I always told Mom that I was joking whenever I said that I keep you in line. But you keep making that joke _less_ of a joke all the time."

"Aw, cut me some slack, Ruby," protested Yang. "I've had a lot on my mind…you know…" She raised her right arm and wiggled her fingers to emphasize her point.

"Just finish your breakfast and get packed already," said Ruby. "You're the one who wanted to bring your boyfriend along with us, so you've gotta stop at Beacon and pick him up, you know. We've got twenty minutes before we have to leave."

"Okay! Okay!" said Yang, quickly turning her attention back to her breakfast and bolting it down as fast as she could manage without choking herself.

Leaving the plate for Jaune to clean, Yang rushed back into the bedroom, where she saw a smirking Neo lounging on her own bed, next to a fully-packed suitcase.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up," grumbled Yang, actually hearing a muted giggle come from the shorter girl as Yang turned and quickly began to stuff the necessities into her own bag.

She made it back out into the living room with ten minutes to spare, seeing that everyone else was waiting for her. Her cheeks reddened as they all gave her looks of amusement or annoyance.

"Not. A. Word," she growled.

* * *

To Yang's relief, Kyo was actually waiting for them at Vale's dock, having taken an airship from Beacon to meet them there, and saving Yang the trouble of making the trip to pick him up. Ozpin had confirmed that Kyo's bounty had been cancelled in Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo, though the latter two hardly mattered right now. The important thing was that Kyo was able to visit Vale, and even come to Patch with them, without the fear of people attempting to arrest him…not that Kyo was actually afraid of something like that.

They boarded the airship that would take them out to the island. This time of year, the forest that covered most of the island was lush with greenery, ancient oaks, redwoods, cedar, and maples clustered together, forming a canopy of varying shades of green, rustling musically in the wind. Gardens were full of colorful flowers in full bloom. The air was filled with the sound of birds and other small animals.

The town of Patch, which shared the same name as the island, occupied a section of the island's eastern side, facing Vale. It was a small, simple town. Yang and Ruby led their group through its streets and west, out into the deeper sections of forest that covered Patch. From there, a simple dirt road led up to a large home made from cut logs that sat amidst the trees. This was the house that Ruby and Yang had grown up in.

Yang had the keys to the house and opened the door herself. The moment she did, a pair of muscular arms wrapped around her shoulders and yanked her into the house, where she was pulled into a crushing hug by her father.

"My little girls are both back from school!" he cheered as he swung a protesting Yang about, her friends chuckling and giggling at her consternation.

Taiyang Xiao Long was a tall, powerfully-built man. His head was covered by short, blonde hair the same color as his eldest daughter's, with a tiny patch of beard in the center of his chin, just below his lips. His blue eyes twinkled mischievously as he let go of Yang.

That glint of mischief vanished, replaced by absolute shock as he took a step back. "Yang! Your arm!"

Yang blinked, having momentarily forgotten her new arm. She raised it and glanced at it again. "Oh…forgot about that."

"What on earth happened?" asked Taiyang. "I thought you had a prosthetic. Why does your arm look…like that?" he asked, not really able to find the words to describe the difference. To a certain extent, it did look like Yang's original arm, but there was a sharp difference in color, where it met the point that her original arm had been severed, that Taiyang didn't fail to see.

"Well…I'm trying something new," said Yang, pulling her arm's Aura back into her, the gold construct dissolving and retracting back up into her stump.

Taiyang blinked and stared for a moment. "Did you do that with your Aura?" he asked.

"Yep," said Yang. "We're learning to do all kinds of awesome things with our Auras now."

"Really," said Taiyang, scratching his head nervously. "It sounds like we have a lot to talk about." He lifted his eyes, as though noticing the rest of the group for the first time. "Oh God! Where are my manners? Come in, all of you."

Ruby was the first after Yang and was immediately seized up in a hug of her own, Taiyang nearly squeezing the life out of her before setting her down.

Jaune followed Ruby, trading a hearty handshake with Taiyang. "Are you taking good care of my daughter?" he asked.

"More like she's taking care of me," Jaune teased. "I honestly don't know what I would do without her sometimes."

"Oh Jaune," said Ruby with a giggle and kissing him. "He takes care of me just fine, Dad," she added throwing a playful glare at Taiyang.

Taiyang chuckled and nodded, patting Jaune on the shoulder one last time before ushering him into the house. Next were Weiss and Blake. "Weiss," he said, trading a nod with Weiss. "How is your sister doing?"

"Still with your brother-in-law…" said Weiss, "…for some reason."

"What those two see in each other is a mystery for the ages," said Taiyang, nodding in agreement. Then he hugged Weiss around the shoulders, a gesture that Weiss affectionately returned. She wasn't used to being hugged, especially considering her rocky relationship with her father. She had found herself happy the first time Taiyang had hugged her like this, and now enjoyed it as much as though he were her real father.

"Good to see you again, Blake," said Taiyang, giving Blake a small smile before hugging her as well. "I think you'll enjoy your stay here. The fishermen have been making some impressive catches this season."

Blake had to wipe her mouth, much to the amusement of her friends. "I look forward to it," she said.

After that, it was Neo's turn. Taiyang looked down at the diminutive girl for a moment. The first time they had met had been a rocky start for both of them. Neo had only recently defected from Cinder's side of the conflict, and her role in the Fall of Beacon had become well known to Taiyang. He hadn't been quick to accept her change of heart. But now…

Taiyang pulled Neo into a tight hug, lifting her off her feet. "Good to see you again, Neo. Have you been looking after Yang for me?"

Neo met his eyes and blinked, her brown and pink eye switching places before she beamed at him.

"Good," said Taiyang, setting her back down. "I've stocked up on your favorite ice cream for you."

Neo grinned cheerfully and gave Taiyang a thumbs up.

Next it was time for Ren and Nora, both of whom Taiyang embraced enthusiastically. "Welcome back you two," he said. "How are things between you?"

"No different than usual," said Ren in a calm tone, though Nora giggled and gently poked his cheek.

"So we don't have to worry about any buns in the oven?" asked Taiyang.

"Of course not," said Nora. "I make sure I take all the necessary precautions when we-mmph!"

"Everything is fine," said Ren, his tone still calm and level, even though his hand was now clamped tightly over Nora's mouth.

"Good," said Taiyang. "It's important that you wait until after graduation to start producing children. But I'm sure you'll be great parents either way."

"I'm glad you're so confident," said Ren wryly, though his smile was considerably wider than it had been.

As orphans, Nora and Ren were used to a lack of parental affection. However, Taiyang had always had plenty to spare. After learning their history, he was more than happy to treat them as members of the family, sharing all the love the two of them could ever want.

Finally, Taiyang turned his attention to the final member of their party. 'You," he said, seeing the shining crimson of Kyo's eyes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Kyo pleasantly. "I suppose my reputation precedes me."

"You could say that," said Taiyang. "It would be hard for me not to recognize the single most wanted person in all of Remnant."

"Formerly," said Kyo. "Professor Ozpin was kind enough to arrange for three of the four Kingdoms to drop my bounty…though I'm told that Atlas is being stubborn about it."

"Hmph," snorted Taiyang. "I don't agree with James on much lately, but I might just make an exception in your case."

"Dad!" protested Yang. "Stop that!"

Taiyang turned stern eyes on Yang. "Bounty or no bounty, he's dangerous Yang."

"He's the one who helped me figure out how to do this," said Yang, generating her arm once again and holding it up for her father to see.

"What?" gasped Taiyang, his eyes going wide.

Yang rushed to Kyo's side and wrapped his arm in both her own, hugging him possessively. "And he's my boyfriend now."

"WHAT?" Taiyang reeled as though he'd just been smacked in the jaw.

Kyo laughed awkwardly. "Well, you certainly aren't mincing words, Yang."

"Uh…" Yang blinked, as though she only just realized what she'd said and done. "Well…that's…"

"You know, I was expecting you to tell Dad, but I wasn't expecting you to beat him over the head with it," said Ruby with a wry grin. Both she and Jaune were standing by, eager to watch the fireworks once Taiyang finished processing Yang's announcement.

"Y-Yang…you can't be serious," said Taiyang, finally recovering enough to speak. "There's no way a boy like this-"

"Oh he's more than a good boyfriend," said Yang. "He's great."

Taiyang blinked and gaped at his eldest daughter, clearly not wanting to believe what he was seeing and hearing.

Kyo beamed. "Oh I can see that things are going to be plenty fun here."

"That's putting it mildly," said Blake to Weiss with a wry smile. Weiss giggled and nodded her agreement.

* * *

"Wow, Yang," commented Ruby wryly as they all lounged in the living room, "way to break it to him gently."

Yang sighed. "I got carried away. I really didn't like it when Dad started treating Kyo like a criminal."

"In his defense, I was de-criminalized only recently," said Kyo.

"Yeah, but you never deserved to be a criminal in the first place," said Yang.

"Did I really?" asked Kyo, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Yang and the others blinked.

"Regardless of the circumstances surrounding Penny, the fact remains that I did destroy a significant force of the Atlesian military," said Kyo. "While that means little to me in terms of the materiel they lost, the fact remains that there were hundreds of troops present, men and women who put their lives on the line to carry out what they perceived as their duty."

Yang and the others paled.

Kyo pressed on. "Like Penny, many, if not all of them, had family, close friends, loved ones who have been left behind. So I can't claim true innocence in the matter." While his smile remained in place, there was a hardening of his eyes, a steely determination. "Also, as I told Penny and Winter before, I intend to take a trip to escort Penny to Atlas, so that she can do as she wishes with the General. We will cut down whoever gets in our way in the process."

Yang shivered, a cold feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. For all that he was kind, polite, and cheerful in his demeanor, it was easy to forget that Kyo was a killer. More importantly, he was the kind of killer who relished the prospect of a fight to the death. Despite that, Yang still felt a connection with him, possibly because he so readily accepted the potential for his own death at the same time as he dispensed the death of others. She also knew that, for all that he had killed, he wasn't a wanton killer, who killed without a thought for his victims.

"I guess you have a point," she admitted. Knowing all of that, she could understand why her father would have a hard time accepting him.

Taiyang entered the room carrying a tray of mugs, which he set out in front of everyone, tea for Blake and Ren, coffee for everyone else, except for Nora, and hot chocolate for Nora.

"So, how are things at Beacon?" asked Taiyang, taking a seat, though they noticed he pointedly ignored Kyo.

"They're going okay," said Ruby. "Professor Ozpin is teaching us how to use our Auras."

Taiyang blinked. "How so?" he asked.

"Well, he's teaching us how to control them more efficiently so that we don't have to rely so much on Dust," said Blake. "They're advanced skills that he's technically not permitted to teach."

"Then how is it that he ended up teaching you?" asked Taiyang, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Well, a certain criminal may have went ahead and showed us the absolute basics," said Jaune with a wry grin at Kyo, who chuckled.

Taiyang's expression darkened, as though he had been trying to avoid bringing Kyo into the discussion.

Ruby elbowed Jaune sharply in the side, making him cough nervously and an awkward silence fell over the gathering.

"So...Dad," said Ruby, her eyes brightening with an idea, "how's everything going at Signal?"

Taiyang smiled. "Things are going well," he said. "The new students are a handful, but no one worse than your sister yet."

"I hope not," said Yang, grinning and resting her fists against her hips proudly. "I worked hard for my rep."

"You mean you worked hard to give your teachers headaches," retorted Taiyang. "I'm still not sure whether they actually thought you were ready for Beacon, or if they gave you your diploma and showed you the door as the best way to keep the faculty from resigning en-mass."

Yang only grinned wider.

"So how are preparations for the fair going?" asked Weiss.

"They're going well," said Taiyang. "Since you're all here, I was thinking about asking your help, since we could use some extra hands for gathering produce and getting some extra food for the banquets."

"Cool! I'd love to go hunting," said Ruby eagerly. "Remember that time I nabbed a bear?"

Taiyang laughed loudly. "How could I forget?"

"Wait! What happened?" asked Weiss, staring at her partner in surprise.

"When Ruby was fourteen, she went hunting by herself to get some meat for the Spring Fair that year," said Yang.

"She went without telling anyone where she was going," added Taiyang, throwing a mock glare at Ruby, who blushed, though she kept grinning. "Not even Qrow knew where she was."

"We were all sure she'd gone and gotten herself eaten by and Ursa or something," said Yang.

"But then, early in the evening, about four hours after she left, she came back with an enormous brown bear," said Taiyang. "My little girl came marching right back into town with a bear easily four times her size over her shoulders."

"Good times," said Ruby with a nostalgic grin.

"A right terror before you even got to Beacon," added Jaune with a laugh.

Ruby elbowed him in the side again, but Jaune merely threw a roguish wink her way and she responded with a quick kiss on his lips and giggled.

Taiyang sighed and shook his head. "Well, if you can get a bear or two, that'll be fine. I know there are a few people who wouldn't say no to some venison either."

"There's some good fish in the rivers this time of year," added Blake, in an amusingly eager tone, making the others laugh.

* * *

After finishing their drinks, they set out to start gathering food, breaking up into groups. Ruby and Jaune went off to do some hunting. Blake, Weiss, and Neo set off through the forest to reach a lake with plenty of good fishing spots that Blake had learned about during her previous visits. Ren and Nora went out to forage for fruits and herbs. This left Yang and Kyo to go and do some hunting and gathering of their own.

"Do you have anything in mind you want to look for?" asked Kyo as they wandered through the trees.

"Well...Ruby and Jaune'll probably bag something good," said Yang. "Blake makes me think she'd be happier as a fisherwoman than a Huntress at times, so I know she'll probably do well. Nora can find just about anything she wants when she sets her mind to it. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if she somehow discovered a pancake tree in the forest." She shrugged. "So I guess we'll just look for whatever we come across."

She gave Kyo a curious look. "Are you comfortable using your sword for hunting?"

"I won't need to," said Kyo, pulling what looked like a small, thin, knife from his sleeve. "I've done plenty of hunting and foraging in my travels."

"Then I think we're set," said Yang. "It'll be nice to get some time to have you to myself," she added, wrapping his arm up in her own before pulling him in for a kiss.

"I'm sure it would be," said Kyo when they finished. "But your father, who is currently about fifty yards behind us, might take exception."

"What?" Yang's eyes blazed, turning the same brilliant crimson as Kyo's. However, before she could turn and look for her father, Kyo caught her cheek with his hand and pulled her in for another kiss, his lips and tongue working against hers with a surprising degree of passion. When they pulled away from each other, Yang had to pant for breath, winded by the unexpected kiss. She stared at Kyo in confusion.

Kyo smiled playfully at her. "Let's leave him be," he suggested. "It's more fun this way."

Yang gasped slightly, her cheeks reddening. "Wow...I never took you for an exhibitionist. So you like having other people watch us."

Kyo blushed as well. "Uh...that wasn't exactly what I meant," he said sheepishly. "I certainly would rather not have an audience for anything more than kissing. But...in your father's case..." Kyo leaned in and whispered into her ear. "He's furious now."

Yang couldn't help but giggle, pressing her face into Kyo's shoulder to keep from bursting into out and out laughter, hugging him tightly.

"You are the worst," she said, her voice muffled by Kyo's kimono.

"That I am," said Kyo with a laugh.

They continued on, exchanging kisses and other brief gestures of affection, fully conscious of the fact that Taiyang Xiao Long was watching them from just a short distance away, fuming silently.

* * *

They ended up catching a couple of pheasants with ease. Returning with their catch in tow, they arrived just in time to meet Ruby and Jaune, who had returned with a pair of deer between them. Nora and Ren had arrived an hour earlier, laden with baskets of wild fruits and vegetables that they'd successfully gathered.

Blake, Weiss, and Neo were a little bit behind them, carrying over a dozen fish that Blake had caught over the course of the day.

"Looks like a good haul," said the festival's organizer as he inspected what they'd brought back. "With everything we already have, it'll be plenty."

Already, fires were being lit and stoked as they moved to cook the gathered food, which would be served in addition to supplies brought from the mainland. During that time, Yang, Kyo, and the others made their way around the fairgrounds, taking in the sights and participating in games.

"So how long does this fair go?" asked Kyo as he and Yang wandered, arm in arm.

"Three days," said Yang. "We have the big banquet tonight and then the next two days are pretty much for doing whatever we want."

"Sounds like fun," said Kyo.

"You're probably used to it," said Yang.

"More or less," agreed Kyo. "Is it odd that it's a rarity for me to participate in a festival that I _wasn't_ the cause of?"

Yang giggled and kissed his cheek. To her surprise, Kyo beamed, looking more pleased than ever. "What's up?"

"Your father saw that," said Kyo simply.

Yang glanced quickly over her shoulder and caught sight of her father, pretending to loiter at a stall selling leather goods. However, she could tell that he was watching their every move and, though he was doing his best to hide it, he was absolutely furious with them.

And then Kyo turned and kissed her cheek in return.

Taiyang was no longer doing such a good job of hiding his rage.

"Ooh! What incredible animosity," said Kyo ecstatically.

Yang's expression as she watched Kyo went from fond to flat. _I have the weirdest boyfriend ever._

"It won't be long before he starts getting aggressive you know," she said.

"That sounds like fun," said Kyo.

"For all that he's being an unreasonable jerk about this, he still is my dad," said Yang firmly. "I really don't want to see him hurt."

"I'll do my best," said Kyo.

Yang had her doubts.

* * *

Taiyang Xiao Long knew there was only so much he could do to protect his daughters. He'd neglected them terribly after he'd lost Summer, and the years after that had been spent trying to make up for his mistake. It had been hard to see them off, especially Ruby, to Beacon, where they would be preparing to enter the same dangerous profession that had taken their mother's life.

Then Beacon had fallen, the CCT had gone down, Yang had been maimed, and everything looked as though it were about to go to Hell. Ruby and her friends had set out for Mistral to find a way to stop the ones responsible. The day she'd left had easily been the most terrifying day in Taiyang's life, matched only by the day that Yang had set out after them, with just one arm left to her. He was sure that his daughters would vanish the same way his wife had, that he'd never seen them again.

He'd never been so glad to be wrong.

Taiyang had come to appreciate his daughters and their strength. They had accomplished what no one else could, succeeded where those older, wiser, and more experienced than them had failed. But Taiyang was still their father. He would still do everything in his power to spare them what pain and hardship he could prevent. If he couldn't protect their lives anymore, he could at least protect their hearts. If any man caught the eye of one of his precious little girls, Taiyang would make damn sure he was the right one.

Jaune Arc had proven to be a good lad. He was awkward, clumsy, and goofy. But he was kind, reliable, and absolutely devoted to Ruby. Taiyang had made extra sure that Jaune would be a worthy man for his Little Rose. He'd made every effort to be sure that Jaune would treat his youngest daughter right.

But Yang...Yang was making a serious mistake. Of all the people she could have fallen for, it would have been someone like Demon Eyes Kyo. Taiyang had heard plenty about Kyo. There were plenty of rumors, many frighteningly ominous, that painted him as someone even more dangerous than the woman who had brought about Beacon's Fall. He had been the single most wanted criminal in the world up until a couple weeks ago. In Atlas, he was still wanted. Ozpin might have had his reasons for getting the bounty dropped, but Taiyang didn't think those reasons meant that Kyo was the right person to be around Yang.

When Yang had brought Kyo with her for the Fair, Taiyang had known he was going to be trouble, which was why he had shadowed the pair when they had gone out on their hunting expedition. It had taken all of Taiyang's control not to rip Kyo's head from his shoulders, which had gotten only harder as he'd watched them over the course of the first evening, his rage building with every kiss they exchanged.

But Kyo was dangerous. Taiyang knew that if he was going to take him down, he would need help. Excusing himself from the festivities for a moment, Taiyang dodged around a corner and pulled out his scroll.

"Tai? What's up?"

"Qrow," said Taiyang, "I need your help."

"Yeesh, what's the deal?" asked Qrow in a tired tone. "You sound like that time you found out Ruby was sleeping with the Arc kid...oh...Found out about Yang's new boy, huh?"

"You knew?" snarled Taiyang.

"Met him up at Beacon when I dropped by there for...reasons...Nice guy. Seriously tough though."

"Which is why I'll need your help making sure he doesn't hurt my daughter," said Taiyang.

"Tai, I ain't exactly in the neighborhood right now. If he's over there with Yang and the others, that means they're there for the Spring Fair, right?"

"Right," growled Taiyang.

"I can't make it back in time. You're on your own. Besides, I don't think you really have anything to worry about. He's a nice kid. He won't hurt Yang if he can help it."

"You're not going to convince me to stop," said Taiyang firmly.

"I wouldn't try," replied Qrow. "Go ahead and do what ya want. Have a ball. If you go after the kid, you'll probably make his day. You could challenge him straight up and he'd be happy to oblige. I'd be careful though. His power is the real deal. He's in a whole 'nother bracket. You start a fight with him, you're not gonna win."

"We'll see," said Taiyang.

"Good luck to ya then," said Qrow. "Give the girls my love." He hung up.

Taiyang sighed and put his scroll away. _So I'm on my own then,_ he thought. _Fine. I'll deal with Kyo myself._

* * *

That night, the banquet went on without a hitch. There had been plenty of food for everybody, with enough for them to take home afterwards. The two teams of Beacon students, and their one extra guest, returned to Taiyang's house to sleep. They ended up sleeping late into the next day, not rising until noon, with two important exceptions.

Kyo had risen with the sun, a habitual practice of his, ever since he'd started wandering across Remnant. Having little else to do until the others woke up, he decided to take a walk around the town and enjoy the scenery, while he waited for them. Taking up his sword, Kyo left as quietly as he could, though his departure did not go unnoticed.

Kyo's wanderings took him to the outskirts of town, where he could wander along the border between the town and the forest proper. Unlike many settlements, Patch didn't have a perimeter wall of any kind. As an island, surrounded by water on all sides, Patch was unreachable by all but airborne Grimm, which were easily spotted on the approach. For some reason, that didn't stop the occasional Beowolf pack or Ursa from appearing. But they were considerably rarer than they were on the mainland. People kept an eye out. But otherwise, there wasn't much fear of a mass Grimm attack.

Because of that, Kyo was able to enjoy the tranquility of the border between civilization in the wilderness, the two blending together in a subtle manner that wasn't possible in most other places. He took a deep breath, sucking in a lungful of sweet, morning air, before slowly letting it out. With a chuckle, Kyo took a single glance behind himself, before setting out into the forest.

* * *

Yang yawned as she ambled down into the living room. "Morning," she said, blinking her eyes blearily as she slumped down on the couch.

"It's practically noon," said Ren, coming out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee for her.

"Well...it _is_ a holiday," said Ruby, dropping down next to her sister.

"We'll have brunch ready in a little bit," said Ren, heading back into the kitchen.

Yang blinked, taking a few minutes before her sleep-addled mind pieced together what Ren had just said. "Ren and Jaune are cooking? Where's Dad?"

Whenever they came to visit these days, Taiyang had made it a point to cook breakfast for everyone, especially Jaune and Ren, knowing that they were usually stuck with the chore of preparing the morning meal for everyone, back in Vale. It was his way of thanking them for taking such good care of his girls and their friends, giving them an opportunity to sleep in late, and cuddle with their respective partners.

"He's gone," was all that Ruby had as an answer. "Jaune woke up a little bit ago, but Dad wasn't here, and he didn't make breakfast either."

"That's weird," said Yang as Weiss, Blake, and Neo joined them. She paused for a moment and realized that someone else was missing. "Where's Kyo?" Given that he was staying at Beacon and away from them, Yang wasn't used to seeing Kyo in the morning, which meant it took her a few minutes to actually register his absence.

Shrugs were all the response she got.

"Wait...Dad _and_ Kyo are missing," said Yang, not liking the implications of this.

Ruby got to her feet. "We'd better find them."

* * *

Kyo's feet carried him until he found a forest clearing. There wasn't much here, just some grass, and a few batches of some weed or another. It was relatively level and open, perfect for Kyo's needs. He would have plenty of room out here.

"Are you going to come out yet?" he called over his shoulder. "We should be far enough away from town to not disturb anyone."

With a rustle of bushes, Taiyang Xiao Long stepped out from under cover and into the open. He was dressed in the same clothes he always wore. But, this time, they were supplemented with a pair of silver gauntlets that covered his forearms. They were similar to Yang's weapon. However, aside from their color, they also didn't seem to utilize Dust cartridges like the Ember Celica did. Instead, the right one was mounted with pale-blue Dust crystals, while the right was mounted with red ones.

Taiyang's blue eyes narrowed in a glare that Kyo allowed to run off him like water off a duck's back.

"So, what can I do for you, Mr. Xiao Long?" Kyo asked pleasantly.

"I won't mince words," said Taiyang. "I don't trust you."

"Clearly," said Kyo. "You certainly made that apparent when you spent most of yesterday following us around."

The sound of popping joints filled the air as Taiyang cracked his knuckles. "I want you to stay away from my daughter," he said simply. "She's much too good for the likes of you."

"I can understand your feelings on the latter point," said Kyo. "I even agree with them to a certain extent. Yang is a much better person than I am." He sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately, among my many faults, I happen to be an extremely selfish person. Therefore, I have no desire to honor your wishes."

"You..." growled Taiyang, incensed by Kyo's defiance.

"Now, if Yang herself wanted to break off her relationship with me, that I could accept," said Kyo.

"So if she told you she never wanted to see you again..." said Taiyang.

"Then she wouldn't," said Kyo. "I would do my utmost to ensure that our paths never cross again, if that is what she wishes. It would sadden me, but I would abide by her wishes to the best of my ability."

"Do you really care about her?" asked Taiyang.

"I do," said Kyo with a warm, honest smile.

Taiyang's fists clenched tightly. "Then you should stay away from her. If you don't, then I'll do whatever it takes."

Kyo frowned, then sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair. "I'll be honest, you're making this very hard for me, Mr. Xiao Long."

"That's the idea," growled Taiyang.

"That's not precisely what I meant," said Kyo. "Given your animosity, I would be all too happy to fight you. To be honest, I've really been looking forward to this moment."

"So...what's stopping you?" asked Taiyang, his eyes narrowing.

"Well...you are Yang's father after all," said Kyo. "In a situation like this, I would really rather not hurt you if I can avoid it, as I suspect that would be one of those things that Yang might not forgive me for."

Taiyang snorted. He remembered Qrow's warning. But it was clear that Kyo wasn't nearly as committed to fighting as Qrow had suggested. "That's a pathetic excuse," he said. "It's clear you aren't so committed to Yang that you're actually willing to fight for her."

"I would rather say that I'm sufficiently committed to her that I will _not_ fight for her," said Kyo. "It's much harder for me than you think."

"Then let me make it a little harder!" shouted Taiyang, charging forward, his gauntlets raised.

* * *

"Any sign of them?" asked Yang as she and the others met up in the town square.

"I've asked around," said Ren. "But no one appears to have seen Kyo or Taiyang." Beside him, Nora nodded for emphasis.

"The shopkeeper out on the west end said he thought he saw Kyo," said Weiss. "But he wasn't sure."

"No sightings at the docks," declared Ruby, appearing in a swirling flurry of red petals.

"The cliffs on the south end are clear," added Jaune, coming to a halt, panting for breath and resting his hands on his knees.

Blake and Neo dropped in from above after leaping off the roof of a nearby building. "There's no sign of them in town," declared Blake as Neo nodded her agreement.

Yang chewed on her thumb anxiously. "If they're not in town, then they must be out in the woods."

"Great!" snapped Weiss, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "That narrows down our search to three quarters of the island."

"Calm down, Weiss," said Blake, resting a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Getting angry isn't going to help us with anything."

"How can I calm down?" demanded Weiss. "The man who's been more of a father to me than my _actual_ father is out there with some ax-crazy swordsman who thinks fights to the death are an afternoon's entertainment."

"You don't think we know that!" snapped Blake, her own temper getting the better of her. "He's not important to just you, you know."

"ENOUGH!" roared Yang, her Aura exploding outwards and her eyes flashing red. "We're not getting anything done arguing. If they're in the woods, then we need to start looking... _now!_ "

Weiss and Blake were taken aback by Yang's outburst, but they quickly nodded their agreement and the whole group began to make their way out to the forest. They quickly settled on searching particular areas for any signs of Taiyang and Kyo. But, with only eight of them, there was still a lot of ground to cover.

Yang moved through the foliage, trying to think about where Kyo might have gone. She knew that Kyo seemed to be aware whenever her father had been following them. If Taiyang had started shadowing Kyo this morning, then Yang figured that Kyo would be aware of that too.

 _Wait!_ she thought abruptly. _How does he know about that?_

It hadn't occurred to her before. But Kyo's awareness was remarkable. Even though he hadn't so much as glanced in Taiyang's direction, Kyo always seemed to know exactly where Taiyang was. Now that she thought about it, it went even further than that, like the time she had been in his room, and he'd known that Ruby was outside the door. If she could do that, she might be able to detect Kyo the way he seemed able to detect others.

 _But how?_ Yang wondered.

She looked down at her hands, then frowned, focusing her attention on her right hand, formed from her own Aura. Though it was nothing more than a construct of the energy of her soul, Yang noticed that she could still feel things with it. It had no nerves, so there shouldn't have been any sense of touch, yet she could sense things like texture and temperature even more vividly with her normal hand.

 _So...if I applied that to my Aura in general, I could maybe use it to sense my surroundings without even needing to look,_ she thought.

However, doing that wasn't as easy as it at first seemed. If she wanted to do that, she would have to spread her Aura over a wide area without allowing it to dissipate. Forming an arm had been difficult, because she was using her Aura to maintain a complex and solid shape. But this would be just as difficult in a different way. She would have to project her Aura as far out from her as possible without allowing it to leave her control to make it function as an extension of her awareness.

Realizing that some thing like that would require all of her focus, Yang closed her eyes and drew the Aura of her right arm back into her. _I need to Project my Aura outwards, but I can't force it out,_ she thought. _If I do that, it'll just escape my control and dissipate._

She frowned, thinking it over. _Tempering! I need to temper my Aura, even as I Project it._

Taking a deep breath, Yang began to carefully project her Aura out of her body. She avoided going full force, and instead focused on maintaining it as it spread out farther and farther. She began to break out into a sweat. Spreading it so wide while still maintaining her control was a daunting task, easily as difficult as it had been to first create her right arm.

But, as it continued to spread, she realized that her theory about it had indeed been correct. As her Aura spread, it came into contact with everything around her, the trees, the leaves, the bushes along the ground, everything. She could feel their shape, their position, and even what lay behind them, in the blind spots her eyes could not reach.

However, she was nearing the limit of her control. She had spread her Aura across just a few meters, and it was already on the verge of just scattering into the air. Releasing her breath in a gasp, Yang hurriedly drew her Aura back into herself and sank to her knees, her head aching fiercely.

 _It works,_ she thought. _I can do it. But I can't reach very far. I'm guessing Kyo could spread his Aura over several-dozen meters at least. But there's no way I can reach that far without a lot of practice. But then...what good does it do to work on this? I need to find Kyo and Dad now. Am I just wasting my time?_

She frowned. _I need a way to focus it and reach out without losing control over it...Reach out..._ Yang's eyes widened and her gaze went to her stump. Her right arm was created from her Aura. However, it was much denser, due to the fact that it was solidified. But if she focused her efforts simply on it being able to sense things, she could probably extend it much farther. Because she was used to creating her arm now, she'd have an easier time holding its form without allowing it to dissipate. And, because it was an arm made from Aura, not flesh and blood, it wasn't bound by physical laws. She could control its shape.

Yang raised her stump and channeled her Aura out to form her right arm again. Raising her hand, she held it straight out in front of her, palm out, fingers spread. _Okay...now...I need to reach out as far as I can. I should envision my hand spreading out to envelop everything ahead of me. I don't need to affect it. I just need to feel it._

Her arm expanded, extending forward and widening, the hand seeming to grow to gigantic proportions as her arm stretched further. At the same time, its form grew hazy, then almost invisible to her eyes. But she could still feel it, feel it brushing across every tree and leaf in its path. She felt their shapes perfectly as she reached out farther and farther...

Then she felt it. Her senses, channeled through her extended hand, brushed up against something familiar, another Aura, one that swirled upon her contact with it. It felt like she was brushing her hand against fine, windblown particles. But there was no mistaking it. It was a trace of Kyo's Aura.

 _Stop,_ thought Yang, halting her Aura's extension, still able to feel everything. As she did, she felt Kyo's Aura flowing around her extended hand like a warm breeze. She felt its flow, its direction, and turned, carefully moving her Aura arm to reach in the direction his Aura was coming from.

She realized she could reach farther. Maintaining the mental sensation of reaching her arm out was working incredibly well. It was allowing her to stretch her Aura farther than she'd ever dreamed possible. She continued to reach in the direction she felt Kyo's Aura flowing from. As it did, she felt its movement intensify, feeling more like powerful gusts against her palm than a faint breeze. It ebbed and then surged, then ebbed again.

 _He's fighting,_ thought Yang. As she extended further, she felt another Aura mingling with Kyo's, an Aura that was all too familiar to her, because she had grown up in its presence. _Dad! Oh no! They're fighting._

In her rush to start heading to where she knew they were, Yang almost allowed her Aura to disperse, rather than draw it back to herself. She remembered at the last second, pulling her arm back, which contracted her Aura back into its regular shape. She took a moment to assess her condition. Her head felt a little light, but the ache that had accompanied her first attempt at extending her Aura was nowhere to be seen.

 _This works a lot better for me,_ she thought. _I'll have to talk to Kyo about it._ That was assuming things didn't go horribly wrong in the immediate future...which was looking more and more like a possibility with each passing moment.

Yang broke into a run, charging through the undergrowth as fast as she could, following the direction she had sensed Kyo's Aura in. As she drew closer, she didn't even need to use her Aura to sense Kyo's presence. It swirled about her like the wind itself. Yang surged forward, desperate to find out what was going on and put a stop to it before Kyo or her father did something unthinkable. As she ran, she heard the clang of metal against metal, accompanied by the occasional roar or thunder of impact.

Yang broke through the edge of the forest, her eyes zeroing in on the two forms dancing through the clearing. Her jaw dropped.

"Kyo!"

* * *

 **Admittedly, the main reason this particular little arc exists is because of typical romance stories. Boyfriend A meets Girlfriend B's Dad. Dad threatens Boyfriend A, whether to see if Boyfriend A is worthy, or just straight up trying to run boyfriend A off because Dad doesn't approve. Boyfriend A is usually terrified of Dad, and Girlfriend B winds up having to protect him. It's a scenario as old as stories about dating.**

 **Because of that, the idea of the boyfriend in question actually getting something of a buzz by being constantly threatened by his girlfriend's dad as irresistibly hilarious. Kyo's a solid combat junkie, and Taiyang bombarding him with murderous intent is something Kyo actually enjoys, though he winds up realizing that being too willing to oblige Taiyang's hostility might wind up being a double-edged sword.**

 **Granted, this isn't how I normally envision Taiyang reacting to either of his daughters getting a boyfriend. Taiyang always struck me as a fairly reasonable sort, mostly because he's well aware that his daughters are mature enough to make their own decisions. Of course, when one of his girls comes back with the world's (formerly) most wanted criminal, that might change things.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23:**

Taiyang rushed at Kyo, brandishing his gauntleted fists. Kyo faced him. His thumb pressed against the guard of his sword, pushing it up and baring a tiny portion of his blade's edge. His right hand rose to grasp the handle, but froze just inches away.

Instead, as Taiyang rushed in to attack, Kyo lowered his right hand and allowed the sword to slide all the way back into its scabbard. Taiyang attacked with a flurry of punches, which Kyo swiftly evaded, barely even taking a single step as he wove between them. He almost missed it when Taiyang's left foot came up in a sudden roundhouse kick aimed at his temple. However, Kyo noticed it at the last second. The foot hit his head...and passed through it as the afterimage faded, Kyo having darted back just outside of its reach.

Taiyang growled and narrowed his eyes in an angry glare. _He's not taking me seriously,_ he thought. He once again lunged forward, unleashing powerful blows with his hand. Kyo dodged the first punch with Taiyang's right arm, slipping just to the side of it. However, his eyes widened and he abruptly leapt away as he felt a powerful shockwave explode out from Taiyang's arm as it passed by. Kyo landed, skidding back slightly, as he briefly lost control of his momentum. There was a faint ache in his ribs.

 _A shockwave,_ mused Kyo silently. _His punch was fast, but not fast enough to break the sound barrier. That force must be generated from his Aura. Is that his Semblance then?_

"I've got your attention now," said Taiyang with a broad grin. He slammed his fists together in a move that Kyo had seen Yang use frequently. A shockwave exploded out from the fists, blowing apart the ground and throwing dirt and debris into the air. It dissipated quickly, but Kyo still had to brace himself or risk being knocked over.

Taiyang didn't charge again. Instead, he assumed a basic stance and punched straight out in front of himself with a loud cry. Kyo's eyes widened as he saw the flare of Taiyang's Aura taking the form of his fist, flying out ahead of his punch. Kyo dodged to the side, feeling the breeze as the attack passed him.

 _I see,_ he thought. _So he can project the shockwave straight out ahead of his blows for a distance attack, or he can send it out from the sides to catch me if I try to dodge. That's quite a dangerous ability._

"Take me lightly at your own peril, boy," said Taiyang, slamming his fists together again, producing yet another wide shockwave that Kyo had to brace against.

This time, Taiyang did charge, rushing in and unleashing another furious flurry of attacks. This time, each punch was accompanied by an explosive burst that threatened to rattle Kyo's body, shocking his inner organs, disrupting his inner ear, attacking his sense of balance directly. Kyo focused his will to solidify his Aura around his body to help endure the attacks, which at least made them bearable. Because the shockwaves Taiyang used when Kyo dodged weren't moving in the same direction as his fists, they were more diffused, and had less power.

Then Taiyang did something unexpected. He punched at a downwards angle, aiming for the ground at Kyo's feet, firing a shockwave straight out of his fist. The ground near Kyo's feet exploded and Kyo stumbled slightly, thrown off-balance by the unexpected attack. Taiyang grinned and stepped in, unleashing a devastating uppercut.

"You're mine!" he roared.

His fist impacted with a loud clang, stopped by Kyo's sheathed sword, which he held up and braced with his right hand against the handle, catching Taiyang's punch with the guard. Taiyang unleashed his shockwave, its force blowing Kyo back and sending him skidding across the ground, his feet digging furrows through the dirt.

"Are you finally going to draw?" asked Taiyang, his grin disappearing.

Kyo's crimson eyes blazed fiercely. His Aura swirled around him like a miniature typhoon. His right hand's grip on the handle tightened to the point that Taiyang could hear the sound of the leather wrappings grinding against each other. Then...almost as though he were having to pry his fingers away with an invisible crowbar, Kyo slowly and deliberately let go of the handle and lowered his weapon.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing!" demanded Taiyang. "If you're not going to fight back, then at least have the decency to allow me to beat you to a pulp."

"I can't do that," said Kyo, not smiling for a change, but looking deadly serious. "I don't want to lose and I certainly have no intention of allowing you to beat me. But, at the same time, I don't want to hurt Yang by hurting you. That being the case, this is a rare occasion where I'd much rather call a fight off."

Taiyang growled under his breath. "Scum," he snarled. "You won't even take me seriously as an opponent, much less as Yang's father. Fine! I'll either make you take me seriously, or I'll make you regret taking me lightly."

He slammed his fists together again. This time, instead of unleashing a shockwave outwards, the Dust crystals embedded in the surface of his gauntlets exploded into furious life. His left fist was enveloped in flames, while his right became shrouded in an icy mist. With a roar, he punched forward with his left hand. This time, instead of a mostly-transparent shockwave, a fist formed from pure flame rushed out at Kyo. Kyo dodged sharply, feeling the flames' heat as the fiery shockwave rushed past him.

Taiyang used the opportunity to close in, leaping into the air and punching down with his right fist. Kyo leapt back, barely escaping Taiyang's fist. As he did, Taiyang slammed his fist into the ground. Spikes of ice exploded upwards in multiple directions, reminding Kyo of an attack Weiss had used when Team RWBY had tried to take him down back when they'd first met.

Kyo swung his sheathed sword with his left hand, still gripping the scabbard just below the guard. It wasn't a powerful swing, but it was enough to partially shatter the ice coming at him and keep him from getting impaled. However, he heard Taiyang roar again and Kyo gasped as Taiyang unleashed another mighty blow with his left hand, punching the ice formation he'd just created, shattering it into countless razor-edged fragments that filled the air, rushing at Kyo in a swarm of shrapnel.

Still, Kyo wasn't beaten that easily. Instead, his form seemed to multiply as he danced between the buzzing pieces of ice, using his sheathed sword to block the bits he couldn't avoid. As the storm of shards passed, he saw Taiyang charging him once again, leading with his flaming left fist.

Kyo sidestepped Taiyang's punch, but realized his mistake almost immediately as another shockwave exploded out from Taiyang's passing fist. This time, the shockwave was enhanced by the flames, which scorched Kyo, burning at his Aura, and making his clothes smolder. Kyo jumped back farther than usual. Taiyang's attacks were even more dangerous than Farran Smith's clinging, flaming, jelly, their intensity threatening to burn right through his Aura, even as the shockwave that carried those flames battered Kyo's insides.

Taiyang wasn't done yet. He stopped his charge, turning about to face Kyo, swinging his right arm around in a wide, hooking punch that didn't even come close to Kyo, who didn't even bother to dodge it. However, another shockwave rushed out from Taiyang's fist, flowing downward and then spreading across the ground, freezing it.

"Now I've got you!" yelled Taiyang, winding up and punching straight at Kyo with his left fist again. Another fist of pure flame rushed out at Kyo, who shifted in order to dodge, only to find that he couldn't move an inch. His feet had been frozen to the ground. Instead, he raised his sword again, catching the flames on the guard. The fist exploded, fire washing over Kyo, who intensified his Aura's protection to withstand the flames as they hammered into him, buffeting his body, even as they threatened to burn it.

While Kyo was trying to withstand Taiyang's flames, Taiyang pulled back his right arm and then lunged forward and down, punching the ground with all his might. "YOU'RE MINE!" he roared.

Another thicket of icy spears exploded up from the ground, rushing at Kyo, whose feet were still anchored in place. He had no way to dodge. He could feel Taiyang's intent, his ferocity, being transmitted along those shards of ice aimed at him.

Kyo's eyes blazed brilliantly. Tenro's voice rang out like a bell as it flew from its sheath in a wide, sweeping slash that cut down all the ice coming at Kyo. The power of his swing unleashed a shockwave of its own, shattering the ice into pieces and sending it washing back at Taiyang, who was forced to put up his arms as he was hammered by the shrapnel unleashed by his own attack. The buffeting wind Kyo's sword had unleashed followed just behind, blasting the man off his feet and sending him skidding on his back before coming to a halt.

Lifting his head up, feeling slightly dazed by the impact, Taiyang was transfixed by the sight before him. Kyo's eyes were like crimson stars, shining out of his face. Tenro was held out to his right, the blade shining like a star in its own right. Kyo's Aura swirled through the air around him, making it feel heavy and warm. His presence was overpowering.

For the first time, Taiyang grasped the meaning of Qrow's warning.

Then Kyo closed his eyes and took a long, shuddering breath. His Aura subsided and he lowered his sword before carefully returning it to its sheath. "Sorry about that," he said. "I got carried away."

Taiyang growled and forced himself to his feet, staggering slightly. "I was wrong about you," he said.

"You were?" Kyo raised an eyebrow.

"I underestimated just how dangerous you are," said Taiyang. "You're a monster...no...a _demon_. There's no way I can allow a monstrosity like you to be with my daughter."

"Kyo!"

Both Kyo and Taiyang looked up at Yang's shout, surprised to see her there, standing at the edge of the clearing, panting for breath.

"Oh...uh...hello," said Kyo, grinning sheepishly.

"Don't 'hello' me," snapped Yang, walking up to him furiously. "What are you two doing out here?"

"Ah...well...it's exactly what it looks like," said Kyo with a sigh, and looking down.

Yang frowned at him. "Let me guess...You went out this morning, sensed Dad following you around, so you went out into the forest and called him out."

"Pretty much," said Kyo.

Yang let out a groan. "I thought so," she said. "So why isn't this over already?"

"Hmm?" Kyo blinked. Behind Yang, her father looked even more shocked by Yang's statement.

"I know what you can do, Kyo," said Yang. "If you were fighting seriously, this would be over already. So why did you put away your sword after knocking my Dad back?"

"Well...he is your father," said Kyo. "I was hoping to resolve this in such a way that he doesn't get hurt."

Yang smiled and shook her head. "That's sweet of you," she said. "But it's also not fair to Dad."

"Huh?" grunted Taiyang.

"Pardon?" added Kyo.

"He's going after you with all he's got," said Yang. "The least you could do is fight him properly. I don't want you to kill him, obviously. But maybe take him down a few pegs..."

"Are you sure?" asked Kyo. "I got somewhat lucky with Nigel. I can't guarantee that your father will make a full recovery."

"Just be as careful as you can," said Yang.

"Yang! I don't believe this!" protested Taiyang.

"And I don't believe you, Dad!" snapped Yang, turning around and glaring at him, her eyes flaring crimson. "I think that, by now, you'd learn to trust my judgment. At the very least, let me make my own mistakes."

"That boy is dangerous!" shouted Taiyang.

Yang sighed and pressed her hand to her forehead, even as she shook her head. "Don't I know it," she muttered to herself. "Still, I've made my decision. If you can't accept that, then I'll have to let Kyo thrash you until you do."

Turning around, Yang pulled Kyo into a deep kiss, holding it for the better part of a minute. Kyo's eyes went wide with surprise. Behind Yang, her father's jaw dropped and his entire face flushed a furious red.

Yang pulled back slightly and bumped her forehead against Kyo's, looking into his eyes. "Go get him," she said.

"If you insist," said Kyo with a small laugh as Yang let him go and walked off to the side.

Once again, Kyo drew forth Tenro with a sonorous ringing sound that made Yang and her father's bones hum within their bodies. He cast his sheathe aside and took a basic stance, holding his sword out in front of him. "When you're ready, Mr. Xiao Long."

Taiyang snarled under his breath and activated the Dust crystals in his gauntlets again. "Fine! I'll show Yang just how much of a monster you are!"

Taiyang charged forward at Kyo, both fists raised. As he closed in, he punched out, unleashing a bolt of fire straight ahead of him. Kyo simply brought his sword straight down in a slash, cutting the flames in two so that they split off to either side of him. Taiyang followed up with a hooking punch from his right fist, but Kyo was no longer in front of him.

Having plenty of experience with fights, Taiyang knew better than to rely solely on his eyes. Because of that, when he felt the air moving against his back, he immediately turned around, sweeping his right hand low and swinging it up in a wide, arcing attack. Ice streamed out, washing upwards in a wave, threatening to engulf Kyo. However, Kyo merely swung his sword sideways. The ice completely shattered without slowing his blade down by the slightest fraction. Taiyang altered his strategy, bringing his right arm up to guard and generating even more ice directly in front of it.

The force behind Kyo's swing blasted through his ice and sent him flying. Taiyang was thrown over a dozen meters, his back slamming into a large tree with an echoing crack as his back sank into the wood and the rest of the tree split lengthwise. Taiyang fell out of the crater he'd created in the trunk, while the portion of the tree above him split and fell in two directions with enough force to shake the ground as they landed.

"Is that sufficient?" asked Kyo, calmly waiting.

Taiyang groaned and forced himself upright. "Not even close," he snarled. He charged forward, raising his hands once again and unleashing another flurry of punches at Kyo. His blows were punctuated by flashes of fire and ice, threatening to immolate Kyo one moment, then entrap him and slice him to ribbons the next.

Kyo danced between Taiyang's blows, occasionally flicking his sword to deflect a punch or a shockwave of fire or ice. When he noticed a break in Taiyang's attacks, Kyo swept his sword out again. This time, his blow didn't have as much force behind it. When Taiyang caught the blade on his gauntlets, he was sent skidding back. As soon as his momentum faded, Taiyang growled angrily and threw himself back into the fray, swinging furiously.

Once again, Kyo patiently defended against the onslaught, blocking and evading attacks right and left, looking for an opening. Taiyang realized Kyo's strategy. Kyo was trying to run out his Aura and stamina. Throwing out shockwaves continuously would tax Taiyang's Aura over time, a situation that was only worsened whenever Taiyang was forced to take one of Kyo's blows in turn. On the other hand, Kyo didn't seem to be in the slightest danger of running out of Aura anytime soon.

 _I'll have to go all out,_ he thought, slamming his fists together and putting as much Aura as he could into the next blow. Kyo was already closing in, sword moving to strike. But Taiyang instead punched forward with both his fists at the same time. A combined wave of fire and ice rushed at Kyo, the two blending together, the ice exploding into razor shards with even greater speed as flames filled the space between them.

Kyo held out his sword, bracing its flat against his left hand. " _Timbe!_ " The air congealed in front of him, forming into a domed shape that seemed to solidify just as the ice and fire hit it. The flames buffeted it and the ice pounded it. The dome began to crack like glass as Kyo held his ground, the flames spilling around the sides of his shield and washing across the ground to either side of him, blackening it.

Finally, the shield broke and the last remnants of Taiyang's attack hit home. Kyo was sent skidding back, shards of ice biting into his Aura and the flames singing his kimono. However, Kyo pulled his sword back over his head. As he did, he ran the index and middle fingers of his left hand along the edge of the blade, which burst to shining life.

Yang gasped, her hand going to her mouth as she watched. The last time Kyo had done this, he'd unleashed a wave of wind that had slashed a man into complete nothingness, until nothing remained but a bloody mist. She swallowed, silently praying that he wouldn't do the same to her father.

However, instead of slashing down with the blade, Kyo instead drove it, point-first, into the ground, sinking over half its length into the earth, bracing its handle with both hands. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu...Yato!_ "

As Kyo had been driven back, Taiyang had rushed forward, eager to press his advantage and claim victory. However, just as he was about to come within arm's reach of Kyo, he was stopped cold.

A swirling wave of wind rushed out in front of Kyo, seeming to rise up out of the ground itself. The wind swirled around Taiyang, locking him into place just a few feet away from his target. His arms were pulled down, then crushed against his sides as the wind squeezed him like a vice. Taiyang strained against it, growling and shouting.

"You won't escape that easily," said Kyo with a relieved smile as he raised his eyes to Taiyang. "Yato is short for Yato-no-Kami. The serpents exterminate all who see them."

"Kill me then," snarled Taiyang. "Show Yang just what kind of monster you are."

"I've already showed her exactly what kind of monster I am," said Kyo. "Besides, I can't kill you with this. Yato is only effective as a restraint. The instant I remove my sword from the ground, you will be free to move."

"Then what's the meaning of this?" demanded Taiyang. "Are you hoping that I'll admit defeat?"

"No," said Kyo. "You're too strong and determined for that. Instead, you could say I've put us on even ground. When I remove my sword from the earth, that will be the signal for our final attacks."

Yang frowned, her eyes narrowing as she watched the two face each other. Kyo was only just barely outside of Taiyang's reach. Less than a step and her father would be able to hit Kyo with all his strength. By comparison, Kyo was at much more of a disadvantage. Taiyang was technically well within the range of that long sword, nearly five feet in length. However, this close in, the sword's length actually became a hazard, hampering Kyo's movements, as he wouldn't have enough room to swing the blade effectively once Taiyang stepped in. If Kyo wanted to attack, he would have to retreat the instant he pulled his sword out. No matter how she looked at it, her father had the advantage.

 _You aren't losing on purpose, are you?_ Yang wondered. She didn't want Kyo to kill or irreparably maim her father. But she didn't want him to lose either. He hadn't done anything to warrant the kind of treatment Taiyang was giving him.

"This will be our final exchange," said Kyo, his eyes narrowing and focusing at Taiyang. "Are you ready?"

"Of course," said Taiyang, his eyes narrowing back.

"Then..." Kyo didn't bother to say anything else. Instead, he pulled his blade out of the ground.

The winds binding Taiyang vanished and he immediately charged in, fists cocked to swing, fire and ice swirling around them. Kyo raised his sword and, to Yang's amazement, stepped in too, the two of them practically slamming their bodies into each other as fire and ice scattered around them, swallowing them up in a wave of smoke, dusted with glittering ice crystals floating through the air.

Silence fell over the clearing.

Yang heard a faint gasp behind her, followed by an awed, "Whoa!" She whipped her head around, shocked to see the rest of her friends there, having apparently come up behind her while she was watching the fight. They were gaping openly at the cloud of smoke that still concealed the two warriors, keeping them from seeing which was the victor.

The smoke began to clear, and the first thing Yang saw was the short, blonde hair of her father. The wind picked up, blowing more of the smoke away, revealing that he was standing upright, his eyes hard and his face frozen in stoic determination.

Then the smoke revealed Kyo.

Kyo was still standing. But Taiyang's fists were pressed into his abdomen on either side, his kimono scorched and torn. Yang could see faint burns and bleeding from where the fire and ice had penetrated his Aura. Yang covered her mouth with her hands, stifling a horrified cry as she expected Kyo to keel over any second now. She knew how hard her father could hit ,and Taiyang had been playing for keeps. If Kyo took those kind of impacts at point-blank-range, he was probably grievously injured.

A trickle of blood leaked from the corner of Kyo's mouth.

Crimson eyes were locked with blue eyes, the two of them staring at each other, as though each was willing the other to back away.

Then, finally, Taiyang blinked and sighed. "You win," he said softly.

"Wha-?" Yang blinked and looked closer. She caught the glint of light on metal and realized that she'd missed the position of Kyo's sword. He was holding it so that she was looking at it from an angle that made it difficult to see at first. But now she saw that he was holding it, the handle held just out to Kyo's right, the blade angled across his body and slightly upwards...

...so that the edge rested ever so lightly against Taiyang's neck, angled perfectly to slice through his jugular and trachea with the lightest flick of Kyo's wrist.

With a disappointed groan, Taiyang lowered his arms and stepped away. Likewise, Kyo lifted his sword away from Taiyang's neck and stepped back, resting his sword across his shoulder.

"Dammit!" said Taiyang, falling back into a sitting position, throwing his head back and staring at the sky. "By a step, huh?"

"I'm afraid so," said Kyo, reaching down with his left hand and gently prodding the skin behind the holes that Taiyang's attack had opened in his kimono. He grunted and then winced in pain.

"Kyo!" shouted Yang, rushing to his side immediately. "Are you all right?" she asked, looking at him, half expecting him to abruptly cough up blood and fall over.

"Nothing a little rest can't fix," said Kyo. "I'll be tender there for about a day or so, but my Aura took the brunt of it."

"Thank goodness," breathed Yang, leaning forward, resting a hand on Kyo's chest, even as she rested her face against his shoulder. "You scared me, you jerk."

"I'm sorry," said Kyo, reaching out with his left arm and wrapping it gently around her shoulders. He pulled Yang against him, though not holding her very tightly, possibly because doing so would only press her body up against his injuries.

Meanwhile, Jaune and Ruby tended to Taiyang, who had a thin line of blood right where Kyo's sword had been resting against his neck, the edge just barely breaking the skin.

"That was intense," said Jaune.

"What did you mean when you said, 'by a step?'" asked Ruby.

"I was wondering that myself," added Blake.

"You all saw that last part," said Taiyang, allowing his daughter and her boyfriend to help him to his feet. "You probably noticed the distance between us."

It was Weiss who made the connection. "You were too close to Kyo for him to use his sword properly. A sword that long; he needs room to swing it. But you were already too far inside his range when he stopped you. If he wanted to be able to attack properly, he'd have to step back first."

Taiyang nodded. "That's what typical logic suggests. But then, when he released me, Kyo did the unthinkable and got closer still."

"That's crazy," said Jaune.

"It is," agreed Taiyang. "He was aiming for a vital point. But, at the same time, by getting so close, he was aiming to inhibit my own attack. At that range, I didn't have enough room to put my full power behind my punches, so that killed a lot of their strength. On top of that, I think he concentrated his Aura at the points of impact to block most of the damage."

"That is very unconventional," said Ren.

"There's an old saying in martial arts," said Taiyang with a sigh. "'Let him cut your flesh so that you might cut his bone.'"

"In other words," said Blake softly, "allow an opponent to land an attack so that you can land an even more decisive blow."

"Exactly," said Taiyang. "I got him, but he allowed my blows to land in such a way that I lost most of the force behind them, while he was targeting my neck the entire time, an attack that wouldn't need a lot of force to be potentially fatal."

Taiyang looked over at where Yang and Kyo were still standing, resting against each other. "Doing that is one of the most difficult things in martial arts, throwing yourself so deep into your opponent's range like that. It takes skill, judgment, and courage…lots of courage. That's not the kind of thing a coward or a monster could pull off."

"So you're okay with them now?" asked Nora eagerly.

"I suppose I have no choice but to accept it," said Taiyang with a rueful shake of his head.

"You did really well against him though," said Jaune. "It was down to the wire there, at the end."

To their surprise, Taiyang laughed and shook his head. "No. I'd already lost by that point."

"What do you mean, Dad?" asked Ruby.

"That technique of his… _Yato_ …I think. He said it was just for restraint, but I know he's lying," said Taiyang. "I know a finisher when I see one. If he'd wanted to, he could've killed me…or at least incapacitated me…right then and there. But instead, he gave me one last opening, a chance to use everything I had against him, and he also took a chance to show me his _resolve_ , rather than just his power." A small smile tugged at his lips. "With that, there's no way I could ever say anything but that I lost completely."

"So you're not gonna try and scare Kyo away anymore?" asked Ruby.

"Nope," said Taiyang. "I give up."

"Yay!" shouted Ruby, throwing her hands in the air.

* * *

The journey back to town was a bit more arduous for Taiyang and Kyo as they had worn themselves out with their fight. Kyo was still feeling plenty tender from where Taiyang's blows had landed, while Taiyang's entire body was sore from those occasions where he'd taken direct hits from Kyo.

Yang happily lent her shoulder to Kyo as they walked, though he only needed a little bit of support. While they moved, Yang explained to Kyo how she'd managed to find him.

"Unbelievable," said Kyo, his eyes wide. "You have amazing talent."

Yang blushed slightly. "Is it really that big of a deal?" she asked.

"Extension is a more advanced Aura application," said Kyo. "It combines Tempering and Projection to extend your Aura out around you, not as protection, but as a way to sense your environment beyond your physical senses. It takes a lot of skill and fine control to master, even with formal instruction. Yet you were able to infer its nature from observing what I did, and then work out how to do it on your own through sheer intuition. Your radius may not be all that great, but it will expand with further practice and, as with all your skills, it will become more natural and easier to execute the more you use it.

"However, projecting your arm out to perform extension beyond your initial radius was truly inspired. Though your range was considerably narrower, your reach is even more impressive. And you managed to work all that out for yourself. It's incredible!"

Yang blushed furiously at his enthusiastic praise. "Thanks," she said, before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. "You're pretty amazing too. Thanks for not hurting Dad too much."

Kyo sighed. "I'm just glad it worked out so well. Your father is formidable. I'll be much happier on his good side."

"And here I thought you liked pissing him off," said Yang with a giggle.

"Well...yes..." Kyo rubbed the back of his head. "But that was before I considered the ramifications of fighting him seriously, with the risk of killing him. When I thought about what that would do to you, it wasn't as much fun anymore."

That made Yang smile more widely and she leaned her head on his shoulder. It made her happy that Kyo was considerate enough to be willing to risk losing to her father to keep her from the pain of seeing her father hurt, or even killed. For any normal person, that was probably a given. But, to Kyo, fighting was clearly his true passion. To fight back against that for her sake was harder than he probably made it out to be, especially considering how obliging her father had been when it came to being provoked.

A comfortable silence fell over them as the group made the remainder of the journey back to town.

* * *

The remainder of Patch's Spring Fair went by without incident. Now that she no longer had to worry about her father stalking them to try and threaten her boyfriend, Yang was all too happy to have as much fun with Kyo as she possibly could. She even put on the kimono he'd gotten for her back in Cherry Grove, much to the enthusiastic approval of her friends, even her father admitting that it made her look lovely.

Sadly, the end of the Fair came sooner than she would have liked. Then it was back to Beacon for more training. After multiple weeks, they had become far more proficient at manipulating their Aura in synch with their movements. Yang continued to practice Extension, something that the others soon joined her in. Her range was slow to improve, but it gradually became easier to use the skill without giving herself a headache.

In comparison, Jaune and Ren both seemed especially good at it. Ren's control and awareness were incredible, allowing him to sense his surroundings in extreme detail. Jaune, on the other hand, was soon able to project his Aura as far as twenty meters without breaking a sweat, something Yang attributed to the incredible volume that Jaune seemed to possess.

No one seemed to be able to do what Yang could do with her right arm, which allowed her to project her Aura out to incredible distances. She could spread her reach to sense everything over a hundred meters in front of her in a space up to fifty meters wide. If she narrowed her focus to the width of her arm, she could reach out over a mile, though that wasn't as useful, given how narrow the focus was.

Now that she felt more confident in creating and maintaining her arm with her Aura, Yang began to practice using it in combat. Much to her relief, it proved incredibly capable, responding with impressive speed to move exactly how she needed it to move, often without her even needing think about it. Amazingly, its durability was equal to that of her gauntlet, able to take hits from Aura empowered weapons with ease, though doing so did consume a little of her Aura from the contact. Yang considered rebuilding Ember Celica's second gauntlet, but hesitated, wondering if an Aura construct like her arm would be able to hold such a weapon. Technically, it could, but she wouldn't be able to wear it on her wrist like she had. If she drew her Aura back in, the bracelet would just drop to the ground.

It might not have been much of an issue. Maintaining the arm was so natural for Yang that she could do it without thinking about it, to the point where she'd occasionally gone to bed without pulling her Aura back in. She tried not to do that. If she was lucky, she woke up with her arm still there. If she was unlucky, it dissipated in the night, since she wasn't conscious to draw the Aura back in and she woke up feeling like she'd been punched in the pit of her stomach. Despite that, she found herself able to maintain it throughout the day without any problems.

* * *

"You know...when your people grow my arm back, I think I'll actually miss this," said Yang as she examined it at lunch.

"Perhaps," said Kyo. "To be honest, I'm amazed that it actually worked out so well. I was afraid that such a complex shape wouldn't be feasible for you to maintain and manipulate, even if that was just on the level of your old arm. I'm beginning to think that this was, maybe, something that _only_ you might be capable of."

"Hmm..." said Yang, frowning.

"Now that we've established that you can use it to fight," said Kyo, "You might want to start testing the limits of what it's capable of, seeing what you can do with it in battle."

"You might be right," said Yang with a grin. "I think it's time for us to take a mission so that I can really put this through its paces."

"It'll have to be something relatively short," said Jaune. "There's only a couple weeks left before the ship the Mibu were going to send is supposed to arrive. We'll want to have a few days to make sure that we don't miss it if it comes earlier than we thought it would.

"Just a basic Search and Destroy then," said Ruby, grinning and rubbing her hands together. "Great! I've been getting antsy, waiting around so much."

"We certainly could use another mission," said Weiss. "I won't say that we've been wasting our time, training with Ozpin. However, as third-years, it is our responsibility to ensure that we have sufficient credits to advance and-yes, I do remember that Ozpin is counting our trip as a mission-we can start accumulating credits for next year as well."

"If we get enough, we'll be able to fulfill our graduation requirements before the first semester is over," added Ren.

"You don't need to convince me," said Nora with an eager grin, while Neo nodded next to her.

"I think I've found just the thing," said Blake, who'd already opened up her scroll and was now looking through the various missions on offer. "There's another call for someone to exterminate Grimm in Mountain Glenn."

"Again?" said Yang. "I thought the Grimm weren't gathering there after we killed that Draco."

"There may not be anything actively attracting Grimm to the area, but so long as a perimeter isn't reestablished, Grimm will continue to congregate there," said Ren sagely.

Jaune pulled up the mission on his own scroll. "It doesn't look to serious. No Goliaths or Beringels. Looks like just Beowolves, Ursas, and Creeps. This is a mission first-years could do." He looked up. "We won't net too many credits from this though."

"That's fine by me," said Yang, holding up her Aura-generated limb. "Right now, I'm just looking to put this baby through its paces before I try anything too serious. If it's not going to be reliable in a serious battle, then finding out on a light mission with little risk is better."

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" demanded Ruby, mock-gaping at Yang. "The Yang I knew would have thrown herself into the thickest part of a Grimm nest without a second thought."

"The Yang that did stuff like that got her arm lopped off by Blake's crazy ex," retorted Yang with a sour grimace. Blake winced visibly at the mention of Adam.

"Yang," hissed Weiss.

"Sorry," said Yang, giving her partner and apologetic glance.

Blake gave Yang a small smile. "Well...she's not wrong," Blake pointed out.

Ruby brought up the mission on her scroll and selected it with a tap of her finger. "There," she said, "I've signed us up for it. We can all go."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Jaune with a grin. "This'll be a good break from all that training."

"I hope Ozpin's okay with it?" said Yang.

* * *

"Of course I'm fine with your decision," said Ozpin to the two teams (and Kyo), who had gathered in his office. "Training is important, but it is even more important to put your skills to the test in the real world. Skills that are only effective within the confines of the sparring ring are not worth learning. Ms. Xiao Long's need to test the limits of her new arm aside, this is an excellent opportunity for all of you."

"He's got a point," said Jaune, glancing at Ruby.

"Yeah," admitted Ruby. She found herself eager to test the skills she and the others had been practicing under Ozpin's tutelage. This was a good way to put them all through their paces, and find out whether or not they'd just been wasting their time

"I hope you all have fun," said Kyo as he walked out to the dock with them.

"You don't want to come with us?" asked Yang.

"I'd love to," said Kyo. "But, if I did, I think that would undermine the point of your mission, don't you?"

Yang blinked. "Oh...right..." If Kyo came along, it was likely that the Grimm would scatter and hightail it out of their vicinity as soon as they landed.

A bullhead was already waiting for them, its engines whining, ready to take off at a moment's notice. While everyone else moved to get aboard, Yang turned to Kyo and gave him one last kiss.

"Be careful," said Kyo.

"I'll be fine," said Yang, shooting him one last grin before turning and jumping on the transport herself. The doors closed and the bullhead lifted off, its engines rotating as it went into flight mode, carrying it away to the south.

* * *

Mountain Glenn was silent in the light from the early morning sun as it rose up. The ruined buildings blocked out the light, throwing shadows across the ground and each other, looking like massive tombstones as they loomed over broken and deserted streets. It was an apt description. In a sense, the empty skyscrapers _were_ tombstones, marking the graves of the countless inhabitants that had once filled the attempted expansion of Vale.

Shadows moved amongst the buildings, dark, bestial shapes that ambled about, their noses sniffing around for any sign of their favored prey. They had been drawn to these remnants of human civilization, the remains a suggestion that there might be humans here somewhere. But none had been found yet.

Atop one of the buildings, two figures watched the Grimm wander about.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" asked one.

"More or less," said the other. "There was little remaining in the headquarters. All the data concerning my more recent experiments was wiped out by those infernal brats."

"An unfortunate loss. But you can always rebuild," said the one. "The Master is generous like that."

"A fool like you might not appreciate the complexities of my work, but I'm sure you should be able to appreciate how irritating it is to redo something you've already done because your work was destroyed before," growled the other.

"I can sympathize," said the one. "But no amount of irritation will change the past or bring back what was lost. The only thing you can do is begin again. This time, you have our Lord's protection. Ozpin and his students will not be able to touch you."

"I heard that Salem assumed the same thing," said the other. "Yet they brought her down easily enough."

"Salem was merely a means to an end," said the one. "She served her purpose, so there was no longer any reason to support her. It's better that she is no longer an issue. Extra variables would only make your experiments more difficult."

"Cinder must be feeling quite full of herself," said the other. "Not only did she get the Grimm for us, but she also got the power of the Fall Maiden out of the deal." He glared at the one. "What assurance do I have that you won't do the same to me, when you get what you want?"

The one smiled in a reassuring manner. "Salem was an outsider, a tool, a patsy, not even worth much as a pawn. You...are one of _us_. We gave you one of the sacred names, which means that, so long as you uphold it, we will not betray you. The Master appreciates your work in developing the vessel."

The other grunted. "The previous vessels were all human. The Grimm are fundamentally different. Will they be suitable?"

"I believe so," said the one. "The Master's power has always proven to be far too great for human flesh to contain. Aside from his desired vessel, I believe that the Grimm would be quite compatible, so long as we can adapt them appropriately."

"Hmph..." scoffed the other. "Well...I can't say that it isn't an appealing avenue of research."

The one tilted his head, listening to something in the distance. "There's a ship approaching...one of those...bullheads, I believe they are called."

"Probably from Beacon," said the Other. "They're most likely students out on a mission to exterminate the local Grimm."

"Ah yes," said the one, "that makes sense. I wish we had time to observe them. But I suppose we should be on our way. We have to make the rendezvous within the hour or we'll be left behind. I would prefer to not walk all the way."

"I agree," said the other. "We don't want Ozpin to get wind of the fact that we were out here."

The one chuckled. "I suppose your reckoning with him will have to wait for another time."

"Wait!" said the other, forestalling their departure.

"What is it?"

The other pulled out a device that resembled a scroll. "While I don't want Ozpin to get suspicious, I do want to leave a little present for his precious students. It would be good for them to get a taste of real fear."

"Ah yes...the seed you brought along," commented the one.

"My own special design," said the other. "Within twenty-four hours, it will be ready. It's a shame that we can't hang around and watch the carnage."

"If you're done with that then...let's be off."

The two figures turned and vanished from the rooftop, as though they had never been there in the first place.

* * *

 **I admit to borrowing the ending of Taiyang vs Kyo from the first Kyo vs Yukimura fight in the original SDK manga. That being said, this fight did give me a chance to show off another invented move for the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_.**

 ** _Yato_ : Short for Yato no Kami, this technique is named after a relatively minor set of snake deities. I know I say that we don't talk about the _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ anime, but this is one of those times where I break this rule, as the inspiration for this technique comes from a fight scene in the very first episode.**

 **And now we get the return to Mountain Glenn, along with some appropriately vague conversations hinting at the larger plot. I get the feeling that readers will be able to guess one of the speakers in that conversation, me having probably dropped enough hints.**

 **Next chapter, we get to see RWBY and JNNR show off the fruits of their training...and meet a particularly nasty opponent...in more ways than one.**


	24. Chapter 24

**So...before we begin, this is where I jump in to remind everyone, very emphatically, that this part was written before Volume 4's release. You'll understand why in a little bit...**

* * *

 **Chapter 24:**

The once quiet streets of Mountain Glenn were now filled with the thunder of Dust discharges, the clash of steel, and the angry roars of furious Grimm.

Yang let out a loud battlecry as she closed with a massive Ursa that rose up, meeting her cry with an equally loud roar. Yang cocked back her left fist and punched forward as she came into range, unleashing an orange bolt of flame that slammed into the Ursa's stomach. The impact doubled it over, bringing its chin down right into the perfect position, which made her grin.

She quickly brought her right arm around in an uppercut. She had no gauntlet for that limb, but she compensated by channeling extra Aura through the limb, Projecting it outward as she attacked. Her fist shined gold and burst into furious flames of the same color, creating a bolt of power that exploded as it collided with the Ursa's chin. Far from being thrown back, the Ursa froze into place, namely because the head had been completely destroyed by the blow. Instead, the beast slumped forward onto its belly and its form began to rapidly dissolve.

"Whoa!" said Yang with a grin, panting slightly. Her grin quickly faded into a frown as she realized that she was feeling more winded than she should have, given the kind of opponent she had just taken down. She supposed it was only natural. Lacking a gauntlet and its Dust cartridges for her right arm, she needed to use her own Aura to make up the difference, which meant attacks with her right arm expended considerably more Aura than her left.

It wasn't as though she could only do it a handful of times. Yang's sense of her Aura had improved, to the point where she didn't need to use her scroll to monitor its level. Thanks to their training, her friends were the same. Yang knew she had plenty of Aura left still. She could probably manage well over a couple dozen shots like that before she completely ran out. However, it didn't change the fact that she would have to be more mindful of her stamina, so that she didn't completely wear herself down. Fighting like this, she couldn't push herself for as long as she had back when she still had her prosthetic, even though the amount of Aura she possessed had increased considerably over the course of her training.

"Yang!" shouted Blake, landing next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Yang, giving her partner a smile. "I'm still getting used to fighting like this though."

Blake frowned. "Don't push yourself too hard," she warned. "If you feel like you need to pull back, do it. I'll cover you."

"Aww, thanks Blake," said Yang, grinning again. "I'll be fine. Don't worry. I know my limits."

Blake smiled and nodded.

Right then, a pair of angry Beowolves rounded the corner and threw themselves at the two girls with enraged howls. Yang and Blake rushed forward to meet them.

Blake drew her blade from its sheath. The Beowolf closed in, rising up so that it could thrust its clawed hand at her. The claws and the whole hand punched straight through Blake's torso, which vanished as her shadow took the blow. In the meantime, Blake had jumped up in a leap that carried her above and behind the Beowolf, going into a spin, she unleashed a backhanded slash with her sword, following it up with a slash by the edge of her sheathe on an identical trajectory, the two strikes being enough to sever the beast's head.

Yang met her opponent head-on. Like Blake's enemy, Yang's Beowolf rose up to bring its claws into play as it lunged at her. Yang took the opportunity and jumped right into the creature's chest, pounding it with a succession of lighter strikes that killed the monster's momentum and disrupted its balance, causing it to falter long enough for Yang to pull back her right arm and spend just an extra second or so channeling extra Aura into her limb before punching straight ahead, a bolt of golden flame erupting from her fist to punch a hole straight through the Beowolf's chest.

The two Grimm collapsed at nearly the same time, as Yang and Blake grinned at each other before moving on to search for more targets.

* * *

Jaune stood in the midst of an entire pack of Beowolves. The snarling beasts closed in from all around. They tried to use their numbers to their advantage, one lunging at Jaune from his left, while another came at him from the right, their movements staggered so that the second would catch Jaune's back just as Jaune turned to face the first one. However, Jaune's days of being a complete amateur were well and truly behind him at this point.

Jaune spun about, swinging his sword out in an arc to slice of the first Beowolf's foreleg as it swung its claws at him. At the same time, he used his spin to swing out with the shield on his left arm, slamming its edge into the side of the second Beowolf's head as it lunged in and tried to bite into Jaune's neck. Its head snapped to the side as the impact with the shield broke several teeth in its jaws. It reeled back slightly.

Jaune didn't waste the opening. He reversed directions, spinning back the other way. As he did, he swept his sword out in another slash, decapitating the second Beowolf while his shield came back around to catch the claws of the first one, which attacked with its other limb. before it could recover, Jaune reversed his turn again, allowing him to bring his sword around and drive it right up into the creature's head from below.

Another Beowolf leapt at him. But Jaune turned just in time to catch it with his shield, pressing the face of the shield into the creature's chest as it tried to reach around the impediment with its hands and head, trying to claw at him or bite Jaune's head off. However, rather than try to stop its charge, Jaune instead crouched low and raised the shield, letting the Beowolf's momentum carry itself over his head. Pushing up, Jaune launched the creature over to the other side of him, where its back slammed into yet another Beowolf that had been poised to attack him.

Before they could recover, Jaune lunged forward with a loud yell, thrusting his sword straight into the chest of the Beowolf he'd just thrown, channeling his Aura through the blade so that the force of his thrust continued through to spear the other Beowolf as well. _Wow! Channeling my Aura into these attacks like that is really making them easier._

When the fighting had begun, Jaune hadn't really thought all that much about it. His weapons had become an extension of himself, which naturally meant that they served as conduits of his Aura. That was basic wisdom fledgling Huntsmen were taught, all the way back in Combat School (though Jaune missed out on those lessons). However, Ozpin's teachings had enabled Jaune to more effectively manage the flow of Aura into his weapon, enhancing the edges and tip of his sword or adding to the impact of his shield when he used it offensively. As a result, his sword cut through Grimm flesh like butter, and ones that would have normally taken three or four slashes to go down were taking just one or two.

More Beowolves charged him, and Jaune ducked down, not to avoid an attack, but allow his back to serve as a platform as his partner executed a jumping roll, rolling her shoulder across Jaune's back, which brought her around to deliver a devastating kick with the heel of her boot on the vulnerable snout of an attacking Beowolf. Neo followed up with a thrust of her umbrella, a slender blade extending from its tip to pierce the monster through the eye. She withdrew it quickly and the Bewolf collapsed.

Another beast quickly lunged at her from another angle. Neo retracted her weapon's blade and released the handle, swinging the weapon by hooking the crook over her wrist, she quickly brought it around to face the incoming Grimm. With a grin, Neo pressed the button on the handle, opening the umbrella up, the sudden change startling the Grimm and stalling it for just a second.

Her umbrella briefly cut her off from the Beowolf's sight. Before the creature could react, Neo seemed to reappear above it, having withdrawn the handle from the umbrella. She now held a slender cane with an open end that she planted against the top of the Beowolf's skull. Pulling the trigger just above the hook prompted a bolt of fire-Dust to issue forth from the cane's open end with a shriek, before exploding against the Beowolf's skull and scattering its head into pieces.

Neo flipped back down to land by her umbrella's canopy, catching it with the tip. The canopy closed, allowing Neo to grip it. Tossing it with a flick of her wrist, she closed her hand around its midsection as the blade once again extended from the end. She quickly whipped it around to slash at the throat of another Beowolf, staggering it. Spinning around, she thrust up into the chest of another while angling the cane behind and across her back with the opposite end to blast the Beowolf whose throat she'd just slashed right in the wound she'd opened, blowing a hole out the back of its neck.

Yet another Beowolf waded in, but Jaune stepped in smoothly, pressing his back up against Neo's as he caught the beast's first swing with his shield, deflecting it off to the side before, sweeping up with his blade, and opening the monster up from its stomach and up through its chest.

On the two of them went, moving in unison, covering one another flawlessly. By this point, it would have been virtually impossible to tell that Jaune had been a total amateur who had cheated his way into Beacon by falsifying his transcripts, not even knowing the slightest bit about the basics of being a huntsman. It was also virtually impossible to tell that Neo had once been an enemy, working against Beacon and Vale, fighting to undermine them in preparation for their destruction. The two now moved together, like components of a well-oiled machine, supporting one another and covering for each other's weaknesses.

Before long, they ran out of Grimm to kill. Standing back to back, Jaune and Neo watched as the last Beowolf corpses dissolved.

"Well, that was fun," said Jaune. "Shall we keep going?"

Neo smiled at him and nodded.

* * *

A crimson comet trailing rose petals rushed straight into a quartet of oncoming Ursai. Ruby turned her momentum into a spin, firing a shot from Crescent Rose to add to her speed as she closed with her enemies. With a single, sweeping slash, she used her scythe to mow down all four Ursai. A pair of Creeps leapt up in the wake of the Ursai, charging Ruby as she skidded to a halt.

A series of white bolts zipped past Ruby on all sides, winding through the air before striking the incoming Creeps and blasting them off their feet with crackling explosions. Still more Creeps rose up behind, but a streak of white flashed past Ruby, ruffling her cape with the wind of its passage, as Weiss dove headlong into their ranks, her rapier leading as she plunged it down the throat of one Creep right as it opened its mouth to roar.

Weiss quickly withdrew her weapon as another Creep lunged at her from behind. A glowing glyph appeared between it and her, blasting the Creep backwards onto its back. At the same time, Weiss turned around launched a series of thrusts at another Creep that had been trying to sneak up on her, piercing it in half a dozen pieces before it dropped as well.

The Creep that Weiss had blasted away with her glyph rolled over to get back onto its feet, just in time to be decapitated by swing of Ruby's scythe as she rushed in to support her partner.

Weiss didn't even need to look at Ruby to know what to do next. A flick of her fingers materialized another Glyph beneath Ruby's feet, flaring before propelling Ruby upwards. At the same time, another Glyph, this one featuring swords radiating out like the spokes of a wheel, congealed off to one side of Weiss, between her and the next wave of approaching Creeps. From the Glyph emerged a massive arm, gripping an equally massive sword that whipped around with a wide, horizontal slash that cut down the front ranks, the force of the attack staggering several more Creeps coming up from behind, as they were forced to contend with the corpses of their brethren, which hadn't yet started to dissolve.

Of course, that was when Ruby swept in like a miniature typhoon. Spinning and circling rapidly, Ruby's movements began to pull in the air around her, forming a crimson tornado that touched down in the middle of the Creep pack, pulling them up into the air. Ruby dove down through their flying bodies, her scythe whirling before she slammed down on one final creep, pinning it to the ground with the tip of her weapon, her cape flaring out behind her as the remains of the rest of the Creeps dropped around her like a grotesque rain, accompanied by a storm of falling red petals.

Ruby stood up, taking a breath to steady herself. "Wow…it feels different," she said.

"It does," agreed Weiss, examining her right hand. "Making glyphs feels…different. I think I'm able to use my Aura with more efficiency, and they come together faster."

"And we can cut through them like they're not even there," said Ruby, making a few experimental swings with Crescent Rose.

Weiss sighed and lowered her head. "I suppose I was wrong to dismiss that new training."

"It's okay," said Ruby, patting her shoulder. "It feels weird, being a beginner all over again. But it's really working out for us."

Weiss smiled and nodded.

In the distance, they heard the chatter of rapid shots, accompanied by a loud whoop, which was followed by a thunderous impact. "Sounds like Nora and Ren are having a good time," said Ruby with a laugh.

"Or probably just Nora," said Weiss with a wry smile as they moved out to find themselves some more targets.

* * *

Nora, being Nora, had naturally located the thickest concentration of Grimm yet found in Mountain Glenn. Normally, Yang would have been in the vicinity as well, just as eager for a fierce tussle as Nora was. However, Yang's caution regarding her new arm kept her on the outskirts of the group's chosen hunting grounds, so that she could get a better feel for her new limb's limits without risking suddenly losing it and a significant portion of her Aura in the process, in the midst of a Grimm horde.

Dropping down from above, Nora slammed into the midst of a mixed gaggle of Grimm like a meteor, the explosive impact of her hammer blowing them sky high, killing over a dozen of them with the shockwave alone. Amongst the ones still living, a pair of whirling green blurs flew through them, slicing necks with ease as Ren landed near Nora, catching his thrown weapons without even looking at them.

As the handles of his bladed guns reached his hands, Ren immediately brought them up and opened fire at a squad of charging Creeps, dropping half of them before they even reached the pair. As the remaining ones charged in close, Ren moved to meet them, wielding his blades with swift, economical movements to cut them down.

Behind him, Nora rushed forward, turning her attention to a pair of large Ursa that were closing in. With another eager whoop, Nora slammed her hammer into the first Ursa's stomach and triggered the grenade launcher built within it, blasting the Grimm with an explosive burst that flung it back. The other Ursa came in, paws swinging, but Nora quickly spun the hammer about in her hands, using its shaft to catch the Ursa's first attack before bringing the hammer's head back around to slam into its skull from the side.

As the Ursa fell to the ground with its skull crushed, Nora spun about to face the rest of the horde, an eager grin spreading ever wider across her face as her fingers tightened their grip on the hammer's shaft. Crackling lightning rushed down her arms and into the hammer, which began to hum and vibrate in her grip as she channeled her Semblance to charge its destructive power.

A pair of massive Alpha Beowolves reared up, ready to attack as they closed in, but Ren darted across them, slicing the throat of one before jamming the barrel of his other weapon up under the jaw of the other and pulling the trigger, sending a buzzing barrage of Dust shots up into its head, and blowing out the back of its skull. The two of them dropped, their large bodies actually tripping up the swarming Grimm behind them and slowing down the horde's rush.

Nora swung her hammer back behind her, pulling the trigger, unleashing another explosion that launched her forward like a rocket. With a loud yell, she went into a rapid spin, a move not dissimilar from one of Ruby's attacks and plowed right into the ranks of the approaching Grimm. Her hammer pulverized them, sending body parts flying through the air. Coming out the other side of the horde, Nora slammed her hammer down into the earth and triggered another explosion. The Grimm that had swarmed around her in an effort to catch her once she stopped were knocked back by the shockwave as it also propelled Nora straight upwards. She executed a perfect backflip before descending like a meteor once again, the explosive impact slaughtering the remaining Grimm.

All the while, Ren darted about the outskirts of the group, cutting down those that were not caught by Nora's powerful, crowd-clearing attacks. As Nora rose up from the massive crater she'd left in the street, the final Beowolf fell, its head neatly severed from its body.

"You need to be more careful," said Ren as he came towards Nora. "We're still uncertain how far the cave system extends. You could end up falling through if you do that in the wrong place."

Nora grinned and blushed slightly, flashing her childhood friend, and current lover, a playful salute. "Sorry, Ren," she said. "I'll be more careful."

It was at that moment that the ground beneath her feet shifted and dropped slightly. Nora let out a surprised squeak and jumped clear, just in time, as the asphalt and concrete crumbled away, leaving a gaping abyss where she'd been standing a second earlier.

She landed next to Ren, who gave her a reprimanding glare as Nora grinned sheepishly at him. Then, the crumbling sound continued as the hole expanded further, its edge reaching the nearby ruin of a skyscraper, which tilted perilously before toppling over entirely. Ren and Nora both gaped in shock at the building before rushing to get out from beneath it as it fell down, slamming into the space where they'd been standing, and smashing through into the caverns below. The destruction spreading, two more buildings fell in a sort of domino effect, widening the hole even further.

As they watched the dust settle, Nora turned, her grin now looking distinctly more forced, while Ren continued to glare sternly at her. "Sorry," she squeaked.

* * *

"Well, one thing's for sure," observed Yang, resting her fists against her hips as she stared into the abyss that had been opened almost in the middle of Mountain Glenn by Nora's antics, "Professor Oobleck's going to give us an earful when he learns about this."

 _"Doctor!"_ came a distant shout, seemingly carried by the wind.

"He'll probably rant about how much history we just wrecked," added Blake in a wan tone.

"Oh well. It can't be helped," said Ruby with a sigh. "It looks like we've gotten all the Grimm around here anyway."

"There were more than I thought there'd be, given the kind of mission this was," Ren commented. "I wonder if the spotters missed their count."

"More likely their information was outdated," said Weiss calmly. "In a few hours, the number of Grimm in a given area can change dramatically, depending on the conditions."

The others nodded. It was a frequent issue, that reconnaissance could quickly be made inaccurate over a relatively short period of time. Between the last scouting of Mountain Glenn and their arrival, conditions could change, forcing them to adjust. That was the risk one always carried, going into the field. No form of information gathering was completely perfect or foolproof.

"Well, I think we're good for the day," said Jaune. "We'll call it a night and sweep the other half of Mountain Glenn tomorrow." He looked to Ruby. "That sound good?"

"Yep," said Ruby. "Time to set up camp."

"Okay," declared Yang. "Let's find a building that Nora _didn't_ knock over."

"I _said_ I was sorry!" protested Nora loudly as they set off down one of the streets that hadn't been blasted open by Nora's hammer.

* * *

Whether by bad luck or design, the two teams were completely clueless as to the situation on the other side of Mountain Glenn. In the shadow of a particularly tall skyscraper, there rested a tumorous black mass, looking like a mound of writhing flesh. Its surface rippled and gurgled, moving about as though maggots were winding their way through the flesh beneath. Occasionally, mounds of flesh would bulge outwards, erupting black, smoke-like substance, like pus from a sore, before receding and fading.

With a low growl, a Beowolf prowled up to the mass, sniffing and snorting as it tried to decipher the strange object. Lifting a forepaw, the Beowolf cautiously prodded it with a single claw. But that tiny touch was enough. The Beowolf was unable to pull away, letting out a distressed whine as the flesh sucked its claw in, followed by the paw, then the rest of its arm. The Beowolf's form seemed to melt, running like liquid as its body seemed to dissolve and flow into the mass, being absorbed completely.

The mass shook and twisted before settling. Near the top, a pair of glowing red eyes opened, while, at the center, another, single, but much larger eye of the same color opened as well. All three eyes glared out with barely contained malice before shutting once again, disappearing from sight just as an Ursa came wandering around the corner, and began to investigate the mass, just as the Beowolf before had.

Night fell and, one by one, the Grimm in the area continued to feed themselves to the pulsating lump of flesh.

* * *

"So...everything working all right?" asked Ruby, sitting down next to her sister as the two of them ate their evening meal, cooked over the fire that they'd set in the wide room, belonging to the most stable building they'd been able to find.

"Yeah," said Yang. "It runs my Aura out faster. But that's to be expected, I guess."

Ruby nodded. "We're all burning through our Auras a little faster. I guess that at least shows we're relying on them more."

"It's a good thing we did all that training before coming out here," commented Jaune, sitting next to Ruby.

"I guess so," said Yang. She had to admit that it was impressive how much their Aura reserves had expanded since they had started training under Kyo, then Ozpin. If they had grown this much in just this past couple of months, she could understand how Kyo's Aura seemed so bottomless, seeing as he had apparently been doing this kind of training for almost his entire life.

Ruby finished her meal, and rested her head against Jaune's shoulder. She gazed into the fire, looking more pensive than usual.

"Everything okay?" asked Yang, seeing her sister's unease.

"It's just...I'm a little bit worried about the number of Grimm," said Ruby. "It's not that it's too much to handle, but the difference between how many there are, and the number estimated for the mission is too wide. This would've been way too dangerous for first-years."

"I don't know," said Yang. "I mean, it's still not on the level of how it was back when that Draco was here. It was way more dangerous when we came here on our mission."

"I think Yang's right," said Jaune, wrapping an arm around Ruby's shoulders. "But I think you have a point too. This would be really tough for a first-year team. And, the mission you girls took was given to you special by Ozpin, remember? It was barred to first-years before he made an exception for you."

Yang nodded, conceding the point.

"Whatever the problem is, all we have to do is kill all the Grimm that we find," said Jaune. "I get the feeling we took out the bulk of them today, so tomorrow should go a lot more easily."

"Assuming Nora doesn't drop half the city into the underground," commented Yang wryly, making Jaune and Ruby laugh.

They talked a few minutes longer before everyone settled watches and got ready for bed. With eight of them altogether, none of them needed to keep watch for very long. Despite Ruby's worries, they slept soundly through the night.

* * *

"Right...time for another day of Grimm slaying," said Jaune, stretching and flexing his arms.

Beside him, Ruby giggled as they watched the sunrise together. Back home in Vale, Ruby might not have been much of a morning person. But, in the field, she enjoyed waking up with Jaune to watch the sunrise. It wasn't often that they got to do a tandem mission with the two teams, so it was a good opportunity for them to do things they didn't normally do when they were at home.

Jaune smiled and pulled Ruby in for a kiss. "You'll be careful, right?" he asked.

Ruby nodded. "You be careful too, Jaune."

"Hey, I have Neo to look after me," said Jaune. "I'll be fine."

Ruby nodded and the two of them kissed again.

"Oy! Are you lovebirds ready yet?" shouted Yang from within the building. "I'd like to finish this job today."

Ruby and Jaune grimaced before laughing. "Coming!" she shouted back down at her sister. Together, the two of them descended from the building's roof.

The two teams set out through the ruins, skirting the border of the massive hole Nora had opened up in the ground the day before. They moved cautiously. The other side of Mountain Glenn was supposed to have been built on more solid ground than the side they'd been working on before. But many records had been lost after the settlement's collapse, and no one was completely sure how far under them the caverns extended. There was also the risk that active Grimm in the area might have dug out the caves even farther. Either way, they were resolved to make sure that Nora didn't run amuck with her hammer as much as she had the day before.

However, as they progressed through the ruins, they were met by a troubling situation that was far outside their expectations.

There was no sign of any further Grimm activity, not at all. As they spread out through the streets, searching through the settlement, they saw neither fang nor claw, and didn't hear so much as a growl.

By all rights, this should have been good news. However, given how many Grimm they had fought the previous day, it actually set their nerves on edge. As they continued to make their way through the ruins, the silence became stifling.

* * *

Jaune frowned, moving with careful, measured steps as he and Neo picked their way through the ruins. Both of them watched their step, being as careful as possible to not make any excess noise. Ironically, had they heard or seen Grimm nearby, they would have probably been less cautious. However, the unnatural silence weighed heavily on them, and they did their utmost to keep from disrupting it, afraid that the slightest extra noise would cause some sort of monstrous trap to spring on them.

Even Neo, despite being the most experienced in their entire group, was clearly nervous, edging close to Jaune with a worried look in her eyes. Her umbrella, which she would normally grip casually by its closed canopy when she wasn't expecting to fight immediately, was instead held by its crook, Neo keeping it raised with the point out ahead of her, like a sword.

Both of them were on edge, eyes and ears straining for the slightest sign of activity.

Then something occurred to Jaune, and he almost wanted to slap his face at his own stupidity. "I just remembered," he whispered to Neo. "We can use Extension to expand our search radius."

Neo's eyes widened, and she nodded fervently. She'd forgotten too. Being in the thick of combat yesterday, no one in their group had given much of a thought, if any, to Extension, because it required them to relinquish their Aura's defensive capabilities to spread it over their surroundings. Perhaps because of that, they'd mostly forgotten about using it, even though they were having such a hard time finding any kind of quarry now.

"Keep an eye out for me," said Jaune.

Neo nodded her agreement, and Jaune took a deep breath, lowering his arms and relaxing his body. He trusted Neo to keep any Grimm that attacked him, while he was like this, off his back, until he could get back into combat mode himself. Jaune Projected his Aura outwards, extending it as far as his awareness could reach. Fifty meters was pretty impressive on paper, but it wouldn't completely encompass an entire one of these massive buildings. Still, with it, Jaune could easily tell there was no sign of Grimm in the vicinity.

Being careful to maintain his Aura's expanded state, Jaune began to move, Neo walking alongside him as they searched for the slightest sign of Grimm activity...but finding none.

* * *

"Geez...I can't believe I forgot about this," muttered Yang as she held her right arm out in front of her, the Aura-generated limb barely visible as a cloud of faint, golden light to her and Blake's eyes, stretching out into the distance, passing over and through anything in its path as Yang turned, sweeping it around her in a circle. She didn't want to reach too far in order to broaden its coverage as much as possible. In a way, it was like running her hand over each and every object around her. She could feel them completely, all at once, so long as they were in contact with her Aura.

"I forgot about it too," admitted Blake with a sheepish smile. Her extension radius was still very limited, so she didn't want to rely on it too much.

Yang frowned and turned in a circle, using her Aura to feel out along her reach. "I've got nothing. I know we weren't expecting as many Grimm as yesterday, but this is just plain weird."

"I agree," said Blake. "It's much too quiet. It's not just the Grimm that are absent."

Yang understood. The ruins of Mountain Glenn were in the midst of being reclaimed by nature. Plants of all shapes and sizes wound their way through the cracks in buildings, widening them, gradually wearing them down. Basements and rooms were repurposed as nests and burrows. Even though humanity had given up on this place, it should have been filled with the sounds of nature.

Yet everything was eerily silent. If that wasn't a sign that something was wrong, Yang wasn't blonde.

"Well, I'm not feeling anything," muttered Yang as she continued her sweep. "I can feel the others. But there's no sign of any Grimm. Looks like we'll be able to call it good ear-Wait! Hold on."

"Did you find a Grimm?" asked Blake anxiously.

"I think so," said Yang. "I'm just now realizing I never tried this with a Grimm before, so I don't know what they feel like to my Aura. But I think this is how it would feel. It's like this black...negative...space. It feels really wrong."

"Sounds like a Grimm to me," said Blake.

"It's a pretty big one," said Yang, her eyes narrowing. "But it's shape feels wrong. I can't tell what kind it is."

Blake swallowed. "A new kind," she said softly. "Where is it?"

"About four-hundred meters from where we are now," said Yang, pointing with her left hand. "That way."

Blake nodded and pulled out her scroll. "I'll call the others. Depending on the type, it might be too dangerous to fight as just a pair."

"Good idea," said Yang. "I'll keep feeling it out. I don't think it knows that my Aura's there. It's moving...slowly. I think it's trying to sneak around like us."

"Then it's probably stalking," said Blake. "Who are its targets?"

Yang frowned and carefully moved her Extension around to feel who might be in the Grimm's vicinity. When she felt them, her eyes widened. "Ruby and Weiss!" she said. "It's almost right on top of them!"

"Let's hurry," said Blake, the alarm in her tone matching that in Yang's eyes.

* * *

"Oh God..." groaned Weiss, covering her mouth and nose with her hand, for all the good that it did, "...what is that hideous _stench?_ "

Ruby stifled a groan, doing her best to maintain control as her stomach rebelled, and threatened to reject the remnants of her breakfast. "I don't know," she said. "But it's getting worse."

It had been subtle at first, like the scent of week-old trash. That hadn't been too disturbing to them. After all, Mountain Glenn probably had plenty of waste sites where people had left piles of garbage while abandoning the settlement. However, given how long ago that was, she couldn't imagine there was that much left that hadn't rotted away completely or been picked clean by various animals.

But, as they pressed on, the stench intensified. If there was one word Ruby could describe it, it was the smell of _rot_ ; the stench of decomposing meat mingling with the odor of rotten plants, putrid water, and fecal matter. The scent now almost felt like a force in its own right, as though prolonged contact with it would cause them to rot as well.

And the smell was only getting worse with each passing moment. Ruby and Weiss both fought the urge retch, their stomachs churning, bile rising in their throats.

"Maybe we should try going in another direction," said Weiss, fighting to get her words out without vomiting. "Whatever this is, I doubt even the Grimm could stand this stink."

"I'm all…gah…for it," said Ruby, gagging as she spoke.

They turned right at the next intersection, selecting a path that would hopefully take them away from the source of that nauseating odor. However, their efforts were unsuccessful, as the stench only seemed to intensify with each passing moment.

"Wrong…urp…turn…" said Ruby, almost hurling.

"This…can't be right…" said Weiss.

Ruby stumbled, her balance faltering. She was waging war with herself just to remain upright. Then, through the waves of sickness, she heard something, something that set her nerves on edge. _Is that…hooves?_

Pausing, Ruby strained her ears, trying to pick up the noise. Sure enough, she heard the faint clip clop of hooves against the asphalt. Ruby planted Crescent Rose's spike into the ground so that she could use her scythe as a crutch to lift herself up. Her eyes focused in the direction of the sound. There shouldn't have been _any_ horses in Mountain Glenn.

Her vision was getting hazy, but Ruby saw a figure coming down the street at them. It looked like someone riding a horse.

"E-excuse me," she called out. "Y-you shouldn't be here…"

"R-Ruby," ground out Weiss, her eyes widening, "that's not a person."

"H-huh…" Ruby blinked her eyes furiously, raising an arm and rubbing away the water that had built up in them. When she'd cleared her vision sufficiently, she took another look and gasped in horror, before retching again.

Weiss was right that the creature in front of them was no person. There was no doubt in her mind that she was looking at a Creature of Grimm. But it looked like no Grimm she'd _ever_ seen.

The creature vaguely resembled that of a horse and rider. However, the humanoid portion was attached to the horse's back, sprouting straight up from the horse's spine, featuring a muscular chest, atop which sat a head that seemed too large for its body, rounded and spherical, with a pair of glowing, red eyes glaring out from the white mask of bone set over its face. It arms dangled to either side of the horse's body, scraping lightly against the ground, ending in hands with long fingers that terminated in white, needle-shaped claws.

The horse portion was no better. A single, large, red eye looked out from the center of the white bone covering the top of its head and snout. The horse's mouth opened far too wide for the kind of animal it was supposed to resemble, revealing a maw filled with curved fangs. From its four legs jutted fin-shaped spikes, emerging just above the fetlocks.

However, the most hideous aspect of the Grimm was that it had no skin. Looking at it, Ruby and Weiss could see its white ribs standing out against a background of muscles and tendons, with crimson lines that resembled veins running in weblike patterns across the creature's body.

The horse's mouth opened, and a disgusting sound, like a wet belch, filled the air, a cloud of green mist billowing out from the creature's maw.

"Oh…come on!" protested Ruby in horror. "You can't be serious! It's a Grimm that puts out noxious fumes in the form of a green cloud…Can you possibly get anymore cliche than that?"

"Not the time," protested Weiss, wobbling as the green cloud washed over them, hitting them with the strongest stench yet. It proved too much for Weiss's stomach, and she lurched to the side, retching and vomiting. Ruby managed to hold herself together…just barely. However, she reeled, unable to even think about fighting as the Grimm loomed closer, now brandishing its claw-tipped hands. At best, the most she was able to do was hobble to stand protectively in front of Weiss, who had fallen to her knees, leaning over a pool of her own vomit.

The Grimm paused. With its muscles clearly visible, Ruby could easily see them bunch and tense as its legs bent slightly. The next second, the Grimm was thundering down at her, hands raised to strike, even as the horse's mouth lunged for her head.

"RUBY!" Yang's voice caused the creature to pause. It whirled around just as Yang came thundering down at it like a blonde comet, unleashing a powerful punch with her left arm, launching a bolt of fire-Dust at the Grimm.

The Grimm jumped back, moving with incredible speed that belied its sheer bulk, dancing out of the path of the shot, which struck the street with a loud explosion. Yang landed right in the middle of the scorch mark her shot had left, standing upright, facing the creature. Her eyes narrowed and then abruptly widened.

"HAAH!" With a roar, Yang Projected her Aura out from her body, releasing it in a powerful shockwave that drove back the fumes unleashed by the Grimm, and clearing the air enough that Ruby and Weiss were able to breathe again.

Ruby gratefully sucked in the much fresher air that was now available. "Thanks, Sis," she said working to regain her balance.

"You okay, Ruby?" asked Yang, not taking her eyes off the Grimm for a second.

"I will be," promised Ruby, her nausea subsiding now that Yang's Aura had cleared away the worst of the stench.

Blake had dropped down next to Weiss and was steadying her.

"What the hell kind of Grimm is that?" asked Yang, glaring at the hodgepodge creature that faced them.

"I don't know, but it's bad news," said Ruby.

"Thanks for stating the obvious," said Blake wryly. "It's going to be a job and a half fighting it without getting sick."

Yang nodded gravely. Her Projection had forced the fumes away, but they would just come back again, so long as the Grimm menaced them. She couldn't keep doing that repeatedly, if she didn't want to run out of Aura.

"Where's Juniper?" asked Ruby. If it was just this one Grimm, they could combine their strength against it, and, hopefully, bring it down quickly enough to keep them all from succumbing to the smell.

"Jaune's regrouping them before they come here," said Yang. "They might stand back and watch a little."

Ruby nodded. Jaune's strategic acumen was nothing to scoff at. Many was the time in the past that a seemingly unbeatable foe had been brought down because Jaune had been able to observe its weaknesses, and devise a way to exploit them.

"Let's give him something to work with," she said, sinking into a crouch before shooting forward like a bullet, her body wrapping itself in crimson, trailing red petals.

The Grimm's horse body reared up with an angry, gurgling, whinny, almost like it was drowning. More green fumes trailed from the corners of its too-wide mouth, but not the billowing cloud it had exhaled before. Ruby closed into striking distance, swinging her scythe in a wide, arcing cut at the horse's neck. However, her blade was met by its flailing forehooves, knocking it back. Ruby had to twist before her momentum carried her into the spikes projecting out from the backside of its forelegs. She tumbled past the Grimm and landed, her feet skidding across the asphalt.

The creature turned to orient on her immediately. Rather than spinning all the way around, it turned side-on towards her so that the humanoid potion could swing at her with those too-long arms, threatening to eviscerate her with those needle-shaped claws.

Ruby darted back, Crescent Rose's blade folding in so that she could wield its rifle mode with more ease on the move. Ruby fired several shots, but they seemed to glance off the protruding ribs that guarded the chests of both horse and rider. Her attack only seemed to anger it as the creature whirled about to face her full-on and charged forward, its hooves thundering and gouging chunks of asphalt with each step, closing in on her with a speed that rivaled Ruby's own.

Abruptly, the rider portion ducked down, dipping its head so that the sickle attached to the ribbon of Gambol Shroud slashed right over it. Blake came flying in her attack's wake, her weapon's sheath raised to deliver an even more powerful slash. The Grimm responded by bucking, kicking back with both its hind legs, threatening to spear Blake with the spikes on the back of those legs, if the hooves didn't pulverize her first.

The hooves slammed into Blake's body, then punched right through her, as her shadow took the blow, at the same time propelling her up and over the Grimm's body. Blake went into a whirling spin, slashing at the rider's head with her bladed sheath. The Grimm met her slash with its claws, which clanged sharply off the edge of the blade. At one point, Blake was too slow and the claws ripped through her stomach, only for it to dissolve into a construct of flame that exploded, blasting the creature back.

As it was staggered by the explosion of Blake's fire-shadow, the Grimm almost missed Yang's battlecry as she charged in, punching hard with her left fist, and punctuating it with a blast from her gauntlet. However, the Grimm noticed her approach at the last second and turned towards her slightly, catching the punch on the ribs of the horse portion's chest. At the same time, all four hooves kicked off the ground, launching the Grimm away from Yang's punch so that the majority of her attack's power merely glanced off its ribcage.

The beast landed, then immediately jumped again as a whirling, white glyph appeared under it, ice rushing up where it had been standing. A short distance away, Weiss cursed as she pulled Myrtenaster out of the ground and readied herself for another attack.

The Grimm's jump carried it towards one of the skyscrapers. It twisted so that it could plant its hooves against the side and push off, launching itself down towards Weiss like a massive projectile. Weiss stood her ground, gesturing sharply upwards with the first two fingers of her right hand. A series of glyphs materialized between her and the incoming monster. The Grimm plowed through them, one after another, but each glyph succeeding in stripping at least some of its momentum. Weiss broke out in a heavy sweat as the Grimm's hooves came to within an inch of her face...and halted.

With an angry roar from its horse head, the Grimm was flung away by Weiss' glyph and into the air. Yang, Ruby, and Blake all rose to meet it, weapons raised. The Grimm twisted its body, lashing out with its hind legs to deflect Ruby's scythe, while it swung its clawed hands to bat aside both Blake and Yang.

The Grimm hit the ground, landing on its hooves. The three girls touched down a fraction of a second later. The Grimm tensed, preparing to leap at the girls before abruptly jumping backwards, a jet of flame lancing down from above to scorch the asphalt where it had just been standing. Weiss dropped down to land next to her teammates, panting and sweating.

"This thing's serious trouble," she said, glaring at the two-headed, two-bodied Grimm. "It's so strong."

"It's smart too," said Yang with a frustrated snarl. "It killed the force of my punch by jumping away when it hit. That's not something your average Grimm can do."

"It's coming again!" shouted Ruby, her eyes going wide as the horse portion of the Grimm reared up with another wet, gurgling whinny. When it came back down, it unleashed a thick, billowing cloud of sickly-green fog that washed down the street towards them.

"Oh crap!" shouted Ruby. "Not this again!"

Yang gritted her teeth and stepped in front of the others, preparing to use Projection again to knock it away. However, she froze as another figure dropped down in front of her. Jaune now stood before them, holding his shield out ahead of his body. His body shined white, then he channeled that white into his shield, which began to blaze like the sun. Then, with a loud shout, Jaune thrust his shield forward, launching a wave of light that spread out ahead of him, catching the fog and pushing it back the way it came.

The horse section of the strange Grimm rumbled and whinnied in confusion as its own fog rolled back over and past it. A second later, the blast from Jaune' shield caught it full in the face, sending it reeling back even further.

"Jaune!" shouted Ruby, her voice heavy with relief.

"Hey girls," said Jaune, the confidence in his voice filling them all with relief to match Ruby's, "I've got a plan."

* * *

 **So, yeah. This was written before Volume 4's release, and the revelation of CRWBY's design for the Nuckelavee, or that there even _was_ a Nuckelavee. I honestly love the show's visual design for the creature, particularly the humanoid portion. I also love the jerky, creepy way the human parts move, giving it that really unnatural quality. That said, when it came to execution...I was a little disappointed.**

 **When the last episode of Volume 4 came around, and we finally got to see this beast, supposedly able to bring down entire towns and settlements on its own, in action, what we got was...a low-energy Monkey D. Luffy glued to the back of a geriatric horse. I felt that the fight scene could have done with a little more energy. Maybe it's just a consequence of the technical limitations CRWBY have been working around, it's not like I'm an expert on the animation process.**

 **My design differs a fair bit from the actual show's. The horse having only one eye is a bit closer to the original mythological depictions of the monster, as are the spiky fins on its legs. The concept of it having _really_ bad morning breath came the mythological depiction being able to wilt crops and sicken livestock with its breath.**

 **Aside from that, my idea about this Grimm was that it was big, mean, and _fast_. Visual-wise, I wanted to invoke depictions from _Toriko_ , a manga which features many things that are both absurdly huge, and ridiculously fast; like the Fang King of the Four Beasts, or the Battle Wolf.**

 **Of course, the other main purpose of this chapter is to give our other heroes something to do. Kyo's been the real spotlight hogger of the first part of the story, I'll readily admit. This is a chance for RWBY and JNNR to showcase how much they've learned and grown. And, of course, the fact that Kyo's presence scares away the Grimm for miles serves as a perfect reason for him to _not_ be around.**

 **While I didn't state it explicitly in the story, I think it's fairly obvious to everyone that Neo modified her weapon in order to make it into something of an homage to Roman's Melodic Cudgel. She's replaced the sword blade that used to be concealed in her parasol's shaft with a variant of Roman's gun, firing the same kind of rounds he did. I thought it was a nice tribute.**

 **Speaking of modifications, there are also the points where modifications have _not_ been done. Once again, this was written back before Volume 4 revealed that Jaune had modified his weapon to function as a two-hander sword when sheathed. By the time that episode rolled around, I was too far along to justify its presence, having already developed his abilities to focus on his more standard style, so that variant does not make an appearance in this story, though the parts about it receiving cosmetic upgrades through the addition of parts of Pyrrha's possessions does...and becomes important later on. More on that later.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

"This'll be good," said Yang. "What've you got."

"We need to stop its movement long enough for you and Nora to get your hits in," said Jaune. "It's fast, but if we can lock it into place, I think the two of you working together might do enough damage to kill it in one go."

"Sounds good to me," said Ruby. "But how are we gonna stop it. It's strong and fast and it can see all our attacks coming."

"We've gotta set it up so that it can't dodge," said Jaune. "Yang, wait here, and charge up for the hardest hit you can manage."

"Roger!" declared Yang, slamming her gauntleted fist into her right hand of Aura.

"Ruby and Blake, keep your distance and start shooting. Target its hooves, and try to keep it from getting sure footing."

"Got it," declared Ruby eagerly.

Blake nodded and folded her katana back into its sickle form, working the action to load the the pistol built into it.

Jaune finally turned to Weiss. "We're going in," he declared. "You go high, I go low. Try to target its eyes...all three of them."

Weiss swallowed nervously and nodded. Jaune clasped her shoulder briefly. "Don't worry. Ren and Neo are waiting to make their move."

The two of them turned to face the Grimm, which had apparently grown tired of waiting as it tensed to charge once again. Jaune sank into a crouch as Weiss flicked her fingers in his direction. A white glyph formed behind each of them and they shot forward like arrows. Another glyph appeared on the ground in Weiss' path, launching her up like a springboard, bringing her up just in time to target the horse head and its single, large, glowing eye.

However, the Grimm wasn't caught off-guard so easily. With a loud neighing sound, it turned its head slightly so that Weiss thrust glanced off the white plate of bone over its face before swinging its head back towards her, fanged jaws snapping.

A glyph appeared beneath Weiss feet in midair, launching her up and out of the way, bringing her up to the level of the rider's head. She attacked with another flurry of thrusts. The rider retaliated with sweeping swipes of its claws, screeching as one of Weiss' attacks found its target. However, Weiss was forced to put up her blade to avoid being gouged by the beast's claws, the force behind the swing launching her away.

In the meantime, Jaune's charge took him right between the horse portion's legs, and right below the Grimm's underbelly. Immediately, he began lashing out with his sword, targeting the creature's legs with swift swings. At the same time, Ruby and Blake flanked it from either side and opened fire with their weapons, targeting its hooves, while trying to avoid clipping Jaune with their shots.

Even as the rider portion swiped at Weiss, the horse portion went into action with another roaring whinny. It pranced in place, lifting its hooves and then striking downwards with them as hard as it possibly could, trying to trample Jaune to death, the same motions helping it avoid catching too many shots from Blake and Ruby. Jaune used his shield to deflect the onslaught as best he could, striking out with his sword whenever he saw an opening. The asphalt beneath him and the Grimm cracked and broke as its hooves slammed down over and over again, punching holes through the asphalt.

Weiss pulled out of her tumble and and called forth another glyph at her feet, changing her course and launching her back at the Grimm, aiming for its horse head again. The Grimm spotted her coming in and turned to snap at her as it did, the rider portion also swinging at her with its arms.

Weiss pulled the trigger and a flower of ice blossomed out ahead of her, engulfing the horse head. She created another glyph to launch her over the arc of one of the arm's swipes, sending her into a flipping leap that carried her clear over the Grimm and to its other side. The Grimm used its other arm to smash the ice that was covering the horse head. However, while it did that, it momentarily forgot about trying to smash Jaune with its hooves.

Blake and Ruby didn't miss the opportunity, firing shots at the two forehooves, blasting them, while Jaune took advantage to strike out with his sword, sinking its tip into one of the hind legs.

Weiss saw an opportunity and smiled. She executed an aerial pirouette, sweeping her weapon around her. A quartet of small glyphs materialized in the air around her body ,and Weiss pointed Myrtenaster down at the Grimm, directing four bolts at its legs.

"Move!" she shouted, creating a glyph under Jaune that launched him out from beneath its belly.

As Jaune got out of the way, Weiss' bolts struck all four of the Grimm's legs, transforming into glyphs that worked like shackles, anchoring its legs down and holding it in place.

That hadn't exactly been part of Jaune's plan, but he wasn't about to complain. Instead, he looked up. "Neo! Ren! Now!"

A spinning green object came whirling out of the sky, cutting across the face of the rider portion of the Grimm, cutting out the one eye remaining there. At the same time, a bolt of fire descended with a scream to strike the horse head, exploding in a burst of light, fire, and smoke. The horse head shook itself furiously, trying to rid itself of the effects of the explosion. However, even as its vision cleared, there was a flash, and Neo appeared in front of it, giving the Grimm a mocking smile before thrusting forward with her umbrella, its blade extended, plunging tip-first into the glowing red eye.

Both heads of the Grimm wailed in pain. Neo planted her feet on the horse head and pushed off. However, as she did, the rider, which had begun flailing about with its clawed arms, caught her with a wild swing. Neo's mouth opened and a single, small cry escaped her as she was flung away, blood trailing from her left forearm from a series of deep gouges.

"Neo!" shouted Yang, tensing up, her heart leaping to her throat.

"I've got her," shouted Ruby, already darting under Neo to catch her as she fell.

"Worry later!" added Jaune. "Make sure you finish this now."

Yang nodded and focused on the entrapped Grimm, now blinded, but still plenty dangerous. _I'll get you for that,_ she thought, baring her teeth.

There was a time when Yang would have been glad to see Neo hurting. After all, Neo had once been an enemy who had beaten her into unconsciousness, and then stood over her, prepared to kill her. If Yang's mother hadn't intervened, then Yang would have probably died at Neo's hand.

But the harrowing events of the previous year had changed all of that. Now, not only was Neo a friend, but she was practically family. Yang wouldn't have stayed in the same room as her otherwise. As such, something that had hurt Neo would have to answer to her.

Yang closed her eyes and focused her resolve on the Grimm, vowing to put it down here and now. When she opened her eyes again, they were blazing crimson. Even though she had hardly taken any hits at all, her body seemed to be bursting with power. She felt as though she were on fire. She wanted to do nothing more than take that fire and let the Grimm feel it as well.

"Do it!" shouted Jaune.

Yang roared and surged forward, punching backwards with her left arm and firing a shot, using the recoil to launch herself at the Grimm. As she did, Nora descended from above, her hammer trailing a cloud of pink arcs of lightning a she swung it, aiming for the rider, while Yang came at the Grimm from the front, her right arm raised to strike.

The Aura that made up Yang's right arm blazed as she channeled all her energy and her conviction into it. It began to swell, the joint of her elbow seeming to smooth out into a sinuous curve as scaled patterns began to run up its length, reaching the fist, which swelled and elongated, projections stretching back and out from what had once been her wrist, becoming horns. Her knuckles extended into a snout, which opened, revealing a maw of curved teeth as golden flames spilled outwards.

Everyone watching gaped at the spectacle, as Yang's right arm seemed to transfigure itself into a dragon head, perched at the end of a long neck. Yang herself didn't even seem to be aware of it, totally focused on her need to kill the monster in front of her. The dragon head lunged forward, its jaws closing on the Grimm's horse head. At the same instant, Nora brought her hammer straight down upon the head of the rider.

An explosion of golden flames barreled down the length of the street, completely engulfing the screaming Grimm. Its scream was cut off as Nora's hammer fired with a thunderous boom, sending a geyser of smoke and debris flying straight up. At the intersection of the two explosions, the shadow of the Grimm writhed in pain before being torn apart completely by the awesome forces the two girls unleashed. When the smoke and flames faded, Yang and Nora stood on the edges of a massive trench that had been plowed down the street, with a crater at the end closest to them, stretching down so deep that it looked as though some ancient god had hammered down an oversized post, then later removed it.

Yang panted for breath, having to take a moment to recover her senses from the massive exertion. Her eyes flickered, then faded, crimson reverting to its natural lilac. She flinched up and quickly turned around, remembering her priorities.

"Neo!" she shouted, rushing to her friend's side.

Neo was already being cradled by Ruby, breathing in shallow, hurried breaths, clearly in pain as Ren bent down to carefully peel back the sleeve that covered her slashed arm. Pulling it back revealed a parallel set of deep wounds etched into her flesh, oozing blood at a steady rate.

"Her Aura should be healing it already," said Ruby anxiously. "Why isn't it doing that?"

"Don't know," said Ren, already pulling a medkit from his back. "We can worry about the why later. Staunching the bleeding comes first." He pulled out a bottle of disinfectant and gave Neo an apologetic look. "Sorry, but this is going to sting."

Neo nodded and grit her teeth. Ren applied the disinfectant, and Neo let out a strangled whining sound, throwing her head back, yet doing her absolute best to hold her arm steady as Ren continued to minister to it. Yang joined Ruby in supporting Neo, helping hold her arm steady as Ren began to wind gauze around it.

"I'm calling the bullhead in now," announced Jaune, already working on his scroll. "We can have her to the doctor in less than an hour."

Yang nodded and gently brushed some of Neo's dislodged hair away from her face. "You'll be okay," she promised.

Neo blinked and gave Yang her best smile, but Yang felt uneasy all the same. Neo's irises had lost their mismatched pink and brown colors, instead turning their natural, grayish-white. It was a sign that Neo wasn't using her Semblance anymore...or couldn't. That, and the fact that Neo's wounds refused to begin closing, made Yang feel more and more uneasy as her blood stained the bandages Ren had just wrapped around her arm a dark-red color. Not even the prompt whine of the bullhead's engines could lift Yang's spirits.

* * *

The ride back to Beacon had been mercifully brief. The pilot, understanding the students' urgency, had pushed the transport's engines to their limits to reach Beacon's docks in record time. As the bullhead went into a hover and descended onto the pad, the students could see that medical staff were already waiting, with a stretcher for Neo. She was lifted on and carted off to the school's medical wing before the engines had even finished shutting down.

Though they should have reported to Ozpin for debriefing, everyone instead rushed to the infirmary, which, given the nature of the things students were expected to do over the course of their education at Beacon, matched Vale's best hospitals in terms of the quality of the equipment and the skill of the staff. They settled into the waiting room, doing the best to wile the silent, anxious minutes away.

After about half an hour of waiting, they looked up as the doors opened, not from the side of the surgical theater, but from the doors leading to the rest of the school as Ozpin came striding in. Behind him were Glynda and Kyo, the latter of whom immediately went to Yang's side.

"What happened?" asked Ozpin, his tone calm, despite the atmosphere of tension that permeated the room.

"We encountered a new kind of Grimm," explained Ruby. "It hit Neo."

"Her Aura didn't seem to be helping her wounds close," said Ren.

"I see," said Ozpin, settling in an open seat. "What kind of Grimm was it."

Jaune pulled out his scroll and opened it up, showing Ozpin a picture of the Grimm in question. Jaune had taken the picture while observing the beast fight against Team RWBY, primarily so that it could be catalogued later.

Glynda went pale. "A Nuckelavee," she said in a horrified tone.

"A what?" said Weiss, shocked that Glynda seemed to recognize it.

"An exceptionally dangerous variety of Grimm," said Ozpin. "One has not been spotted for decades."

Glynda nodded. "Its breath was practically a weapon in its own right, capable of rotting entire crops and spreading illness amongst anyone who inhaled it."

"That sounds about right," said Ruby, looking at Weiss, both of them paling slightly at the memory of the awful stench that had nearly left them helpless for the Grimm.

Ozpin pressed his lips together in a tight line. "It is also reported that any wounds it left would fester, leading to an infection that would kill the injured individual even if said person survived their initial encounter with it."

"What?" gasped the seven students, staring in horror at Ozpin.

"Then Neo..." said Ruby, her voice trailing off into a whimper.

Ozpin rested a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Keep in mind that these stories are from decades ago," he said. "Our medical technology has advanced by leaps and bounds since then. What was probably impossible to treat then is most likely little more than a minor inconvenience now."

Ruby nodded, still looking worried. Ozpin's words had done little to reassure them. If it had been some mundane disease, they would have been less worried. But this was the product of a Creature of Grimm.

Yang leaned hard against Kyo, who kept an arm wrapped around her, not minding the grime and soot that had built up over the course of the mission. His presence was a steady warmth that helped calm her. Yang needed that warmth, knowing that the girl she'd come to see as another sister was fighting for her life just beyond the doors.

Those doors opened now, the doctor coming through. He didn't appear to be overly stressed, but that could have been a sign of anything. His face was nearly a match for Ozpin's when it came to practiced neutrality that gave virtually nothing away.

"How is she?" asked Yang, shooting to her feet, unconsciously shrugging of Kyo's arm in the process. Kyo didn't seem to mind, standing up with her and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

The doctor frowned. "I'm not sure how to put it," he said. "I've never seen a condition like this before. She's alive for the time being, but..." He sighed. "Perhaps it's best if you saw for yourselves."

He led them out of the waiting room and down the hall to one of the treatment rooms. Naturally, there wasn't enough space for everyone inside the room, but there was a wide window that they could all look through to see what the doctor was speaking about.

Neo lay on a bed, dressed in a hospital gown. She was hooked up to all manner of devices for monitoring her vitals, and she appeared to be stable for the moment, though she also seemed to be in some pain, if the slight grimace on her face was anything to go by. The gauze had been removed from her arm and it had been re-wrapped in some other material.

"We finally managed to staunch the bleeding," explained the doctor, "But there have been...complications..."

"What sort of complications?" asked Ozpin in a guarded tone.

"Her wounds appear to be infected," said the doctor. "But I have never seen anything like it."

He opened up his scroll to present several images of what lay underneath those bandages. When she saw them, Yang gasped and had to fight to maintain control over her stomach, feeling like she was battling the Nuckelavee's stench all over again.

The parallel gashes across Neo's arm had been red with blood before, when Ren had first bandaged them. But now they had turned a sickly brown color. Worse still was the black that had appeared around the edges of each cut, making her flesh look like it was rotting. Despite her revulsion, Yang forced herself to narrow her eyes and look closer, noticing something troubling. There were black lines, like veins, spreading out from the edge of each wound. They extended maybe a centimeter at most, but the sight of them alone was still plenty troubling.

"It looks worse than your average infection," said Ozpin. "What have you been able to learn?"

The doctor shrugged. "Not much," he admitted. "I've taken samples and am trying to identify the strain. But I can't yet determine if the infection is bacterial, viral, or fungal. However...I fear it may be worse."

"What could be worse?" asked Weiss in a horrified tone.

"That it might be none of those," said the doctor. "She received this wound from a Grimm, did she not?"

The other students all nodded.

"That is very troubling," said the doctor. "Though Grimm can take the form of poisonous animals, such as Deathstalkers and King Taijitu, they themselves are not poisonous. It's largely superfluous for them anyway. Any portion of a Grimm's body that is severed or separated quickly decays and evaporates. That also applies to any substance that they might secrete."

They all nodded in agreement.

"The cases of wounds inflicted by the Grimm becoming infected are rare," said the doctor. "From what we've been able to observe, their bodies do not become contaminated by their environment. The claws of an Ursa that has been through swamplands won't carry any of the bacteria that might be found in that environment. If an injury caused by a Grimm does become infected, it's usually due to some environmental factor that the wound was exposed to before it could be treated."

"So you're saying it could be something other than any mundane infection," said Ozpin.

The doctor swallowed. "At this point, I am mostly sure of it, though I won't have confirmation until I am able to analyze the samples I've taken."

"Are you suggesting some kind of...Grimm...virus?" asked Blake, her eyes going wide with horror.

"A Grimm virus?" asked Jaune, looking at her in confusion.

"It is my suspicion," said the doctor.

Glynda gasped and went pale with shock.

"I don't understand," said Nora.

"It has been our greatest fear since the earliest recorded conflicts with the Grimm," explained the doctor. "The Grimm attacking on the level of unicellular organisms, infecting, decaying..." He shook his head. "For all that they can be terrifying, at least regular Grimm are something you can fight. Even if it is a monstrosity on the size of the Draco that attacked during the Fall, we at least have the capacity to take up arms against it."

He gestured at Neo. "But here is a Grimm that cannot be fought like that. You cannot defeat it with blade or bullet. Because it is not an actual virus or bacteria, no known antibiotics or antiviral medicine could hope to curb its spread. This could be the new evolution of the Grimm."

"I believe that is _enough_ ," said Ozpin, his tone becoming cold and hard. "You will keep this to yourself, Doctor, even if your later findings should confirm it."

The doctor flinched at Ozpin's tone, but nodded. "Of course," he said. "If word of this got out, fear would spread unchecked."

Ozpin nodded. "In the meantime, let's review what options we have."

The doctor sighed and wiped sweat from his forehead. "Our options depend on my findings. There is always the chance that I could be wrong and that this is some kind of mundane infection, in which case, treatment will be a simple matter. However, if my suspicions are confirmed, then..." He shrugged. "I have no idea where to begin."

"For now, let us make sure that Ms. Capello is comfortable and as stabilized as you can make her," said Ozpin.

"Already done," said the doctor. "It will take a little longer for the painkillers to take effect. But she is stable for now."

"Can we see her?" asked Ruby anxiously.

The doctor nodded. "Because of space constraints, I can allow no more than two at a time in the room. Please try not to get her excited. If she falls asleep, then please do not disturb her."

They all nodded and Ruby and Jaune entered the room first. As the visits began Ozpin nodded slightly to Glynda and they took their leave.

* * *

"Even considering the circumstances, you seem troubled," said Glynda, looking at the Headmaster carefully. After years spent serving under Ozpin, Glynda had begun to decipher some of his more nuanced expressions, though his mood remained a cypher to her at many times.

"I am just thinking about what the doctor said," noted Ozpin. "He called this the next evolution of Grimm."

"I am just as uncomfortable with the thought of the Grimm adapting in this direction as anyone," said Glynda. "However, we can still find a way to fight them, I am sure."

"It's not that," said Ozpin. "It's just...we both know someone who was quite fond of the idea of inducing the Grimm to evolve."

Glynda stopped. They were halfway across the courtyard to Beacon Tower, but she froze in place, unable to take another step. Ozpin waited for her.

"You can't be serious," she said. "Dr. Merlot is dead. Team Ruby saw to the destruction of his facility, you saw to the destruction of his data, and _he_ saw to his own demise."

"That is what we believe," said Ozpin. "Of course, given the fact that he self-destructed his facility, we never were able to find his body. More importantly, data is much harder to confine than a person. There is always the possibility that he had backups of it in other locations, maybe even entire auxiliary facilities. Even if the Doctor himself is dead, there is the possibility that someone else might be trying to continue his work."

Glynda swallowed and nodded. If Ozpin was worried about this, then it was definitely worth worrying about. She had to admit that Dr. Merlot's experiments with the Grimm had been horrific and she loathed the idea that they might be continuing, especially if they had advanced in this direction. It was definitely something they would have to investigate carefully.

* * *

The next day brought more bad news as Teams RWBY and JNNR (minus Neo) assembled in the waiting room to hear the results. It had been a difficult, sleepless night for them. Kyo was there with them as well, watching silently as they waited for the doctor's report.

The doctor was pale and uneasy as he entered the room. "The samples evaporated," he said.

"Huh?" Yang blinked in confusion.

The doctor shook his head. "The cultures we took evaporated right out of the petri dish. They were as clean as though we'd never used them, completely sterile."

"How?" asked Weiss. "Even if the infecting agent was gone, there should be some trace of Neo's bodily fluids that were taken for the culture."

The doctor nodded. "The only inference I can make from that is that the infection consumed them and then evaporated in the absence of its preferred environment."

"In other words, the infection cannot survive outside the host's body," said Ren.

The doctor nodded. "That is a small blessing at least. It means that it is not contagious, although I fear that transference could take place through fluid to fluid contact. But that is simple enough to avoid."

"But if the samples evaporated so completely...then that means..." Blake swallowed hard at the implications.

"That the infection is almost certainly some form of Grimm," said the doctor gravely. "In which case, I haven't the slightest notion of where to begin treatment. And..." He opened up his scroll again and brought up another picture of Neo's wound. "...it's spreading."

The image showed the gouges in Neo's arm. Yang was relieved to see that they looked shallower, but that relief faded as she saw the black, veiny markings spreading out from the edges of her wounds, having gained another centimeter at least.

"She's in pain," said the doctor. "Our best medications can only do so much, and the condition of her arm is deteriorating. Before long, I fear that she may suffer severe nerve and muscle damage. And, of course, with each passing day, the infection risks spreading into the rest of her body."

"It could already have spread," said Ren, sounding morose. "If any of the infection got into her circulatory system, it could have been carried to her heart and other organs."

"If there is one bright spot to this, it does not appear that the Grimm pathogen spreads in that manner," said the doctor. "Rather, it instead seems to be advancing through her flesh, spreading locally, and then moving slowly outward."

"Why?" asked Yang.

"Fear..." Everyone turned to see Nora, looking more shaken than anyone had ever seen her. "It wants her to be afraid."

The doctor swallowed and nodded. "That is my hypothesis as well. The pathogen is still a Grimm. Therefore, instead of spreading in a more efficient manner, it wants Ms. Capello to watch as it slowly consumes her body."

"What can we do then?" asked Jaune.

"Right now, the surest option we have...is amputation," said the doctor. "At this point, we can amputate her arm below the elbow and there should be no further risk of the infection spreading."

Everyone's eyes immediately went to Yang, who herself looked pale and uneasy at the idea. The last thing she wanted was for someone to go through the same loss she had. "Is there any other way?" she asked.

The doctor chewed his lip. "Any other options I could propose would be guesswork at best."

"If it's a kind of Grimm, then what about Aura?" asked Ruby. "We could use our Aura to try and fight it."

"That is one of the first ideas I had," said the doctor. "Unfortunately, that is not as easy as it sounds. Ms. Capello's own Aura appears to be locked down right now, so she cannot channel through her own body. I suspect that is a secondary symptom of the infection to keep her from fighting back."

"But we could use our Auras," said Ren.

"Again, that is not so simple or easy as you make it sound," said the doctor, "otherwise we would be doing it already. Aura from another person would not merely affect the Grimm, but her body as well. It would be received as an attack on her own flesh."

"In other words, we'd have to be very careful and delicate," said Weiss. "We would need precise control to ensure that our Aura damages the Grimm, but doesn't hurt Neo."

"Assuming the Grimm does not require a level of damage beyond what Ms. Capello's body can withstand to be destroyed by an Aura attack," said the doctor gravely. "Dust would be an even worse option. Even if we limited ourselves to small, microscopic quantities, there is no doubt that its use would result in considerable damage on its own and severe scarring afterwards. Depending on the level of damage done to her arm, she might as well have had it amputated."

Ruby frowned. There was another approach they could try, but not one she was supposed to bring up before people like the doctor in front of her. The Silver Eyes were a closely-guarded secret amongst those in Ozpin's circle, even if Salem's defeat had put an end to the one responsible for nearly wiping them out. The main issue was that, despite how far she had come, Ruby still only had the barest idea of how the Silver Eyes functioned. And she wasn't sure using them wouldn't hurt Neo, along with the Grimm merged with her flesh. What if her Eyes' power treated them as one and the same?

"Hmm..."

Yang's eyes went to Kyo, who as gently scratching his chin as he seemed to ponder the doctor's words. Finally, Kyo looked up and spoke for the first time since he had come with them to the waiting room. "If we were to go with amputation, I'm assuming that the point of no return would be the moment the infection reaches her shoulder."

"That would be correct," said the doctor, looking at Kyo questioningly.

"By your count, what is your most conservative estimate of the time Neo has before it reaches that point?" asked Kyo.

"If the current rate of spread holds, then seventeen days, at least," said the doctor.

Kyo nodded.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Yang.

"I was just thinking that I know someone who may be able to help," said Kyo. "To combat this particular variety of Grimm, we need someone with precise control and a mastery of the healing arts. Fortunately, I happen to know someone with those skills."

"You mean in the Mibu Clan?" asked Yang, her eyes wide.

Kyo nodded. "She was one of my companions during the early years of my travels, my first one, in fact, seeing as she left the Mibu with me. Her name was Sasame, though she's now Saisei of the Goyosei, holding the power of Wood."

"Wood?" asked Weiss skeptically.

"The domain of Wood encompasses the medical and healing arts," said Kyo. "As such, Saisei is charged with the medical responsibilities associated with the Mibu Clan's military, and she is considered second only to the Chief Physician as a healer. Either of them could probably treat this condition."

"I see," said Jaune, his eyes going wide, "you want to see if Neo can last long enough for us to get her to the Mibu for treatment."

Kyo nodded. "We have a little over a week until the ship is due to pick us up. They probably won't be traveling at full speed when they come for us. However, if I inform them of the urgency of the situation, our trip back to Leng will be all the faster."

"But that's contingent on the expectation that Ms. Capello's condition will last that long," said the doctor. "For all we know, the spread might accelerate. She could have even less time than we fear."

"Fortunately, I have an idea concerning that as well," said Kyo, "one that might buy us some extra time."

"What is it?" asked Yang anxiously.

"Well...you all know that the Grimm go to considerable lengths to avoid coming into contact with me," said Kyo. The others (minus the doctor) all nodded in agreement. "They sense my presence through my Aura, and instinctively retreat from it. Hopefully, that aversion can be found in even such minute specimens."

"You want to use your Aura to slow or stop the spread," said Ren, nodding.

Kyo nodded back. "Given the limits of my control, I dare not try to attack the Grimm myself. However, if I can infuse my presence through my Aura, I may be able to halt the infection's spread."

The doctor nodded. "That might work. However, you'd have to maintain it constantly, until your transport arrives and she could receive treatment from your people. This is no ordinary infection. It is a Creature of Grimm. If it senses the slightest opening, it may accelerate its attack on Ms. Capello's body to keep from being so easily beaten."

The others looked nervously at Kyo. That would mean maintaining his Aura around the infected area for days...until the ship arrived and they could be on their way to his homeland to treat Neo.

"I can manage," said Kyo with a smile. "If it's just a few days, so long as I have water, I don't think it should be an issue. I won't be exerting myself all that much."

"Are you sure?" asked Yang nervously.

Kyo squeezed her shoulder and nodded. "Please take me to Neo."

The doctor nodded and led them down the hallway to Neo's room again. Kyo stepped inside and looked Neo over. Her face was pale and drawn, her eyes still white. She seemed thinner than he remembered. Setting his sword aside, he took one of the chairs next to her bed. Placing a hand on her forehead, he felt her fever. When she met his eyes, Neo gave him a small smile.

"I'm here to help," said Kyo, reaching down and taking her left hand and gently squeezing it, feeling some relief when she squeezed it back. "Try to bear with it a little longer. I know someone who can help you."

Neo nodded and lay back, closing her eyes.

Kyo took a deep breath and raised his hands, holding them up so that they hovered on either side of her arm, just above the point where the infection had spread. Taking a breath, Kyo allowed his Aura to swirl out of his body and flow around Neo's arm, caressing it like a warm breeze. His ears picked up a faint sighing sound and he looked over to see that Neo had abruptly fallen asleep.

"Remarkable," observed the doctor, adjusting his glasses. He kept his voice low to avoid disturbing Neo. "It seems that your Aura has also dulled the pain enough for her to sleep properly."

"That's good," said Kyo, smiling as he watched Neo's sleeping face.

"So now what?" asked Yang, settling in next to him, taking the other chair by Neo's bedside.

"Now we wait," said Kyo. "I'll maintain this for as long as I can. But, should the worst occur..." Kyo's eyes flicked to his sword. "I'm confident in my skill at administering a swift and clean amputation."

Yang swallowed hard and paled. She leaned against him slightly, careful not to jar his hands away from her work. Yang hoped that Kyo's idea was the right one, and that they could truly save Neo in a way that wouldn't maim her the way Yang had been.

* * *

"I see..." said Ozpin as the members of RWBY and JNNR made their report. "Thank you for informing me."

Yang had stayed behind with Kyo, leaving both teams at three strong. Jaune and Ruby nodded.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" asked Weiss. "I don't like all the faith we're putting in this Mibu Clan."

"At this point, it is the only option available to us that could be considered reliable, save for amputating Ms. Capello's arm," said Ozpin. "I have no objection, so long as Kyo's theory about being able to keep the infection at bay proves sound. Please keep me informed on the situation. If Kyo's assessment of his ability to maintain his Aura is overly optimistic, we need to know in advance."

They nodded.

* * *

An anxious week went by, Kyo not budging from Neo's side as he continued to hold his hands steady over her arm, his Aura still swirling around it. True to his estimation, the infection refused to spread any further and, in fact seemed to have halted entirely, though it had not faded away. However, the doctor asserted that it truly was behaving as a Grimm, biding its time until Kyo's control flagged or something drew him away, at which point, it would leap forward aggressively and spread up Neo's arm and into the rest of her body before they had a chance to stop it again.

Yang stayed by Kyo's side as much as possible, giving him sips of water over the course of the day. She was occasionally spelled by one of the others so that she could get some sleep or take a shower. But Kyo hadn't moved at all since he'd started, not closing his eyes any longer than a blink as he carefully maintained the flow of his Aura around her arm. Occasionally, she would wet and soap a washcloth, wiping it over what parts of Kyo's body she could reach without disrupting his work. Despite her efforts, Kyo's odor gradually began to ripen as the days went by.

But she resolved herself to stay by his side all the same. Kyo was doing this for the sake of Neo, for Yang's friend. He continued to hold his hands up, diffusing his Aura around Neo's arm to keep the infection at bay, even as shadows began to form beneath his eyes and red that had nothing to do with his irises spread across their whites.

Ren, being the practical person that he was, had fashioned a pair of stands to help Kyo hold his arms up, which Kyo accepted gratefully.

By the time a week had passed, Kyo's eyes were drooping, and it was a constant fight for him to keep them open. He remained awake by virtue of heightening his focus on Neo's arm. By the tenth day, he was all but oblivious to the outside world, only the leisurely swirls of his crimson Aura indicating that he was still working to stymie the Grimm infesting Neo's arm.

* * *

Then, finally, on the twelfth day of his and Neo's ordeal, good news arrived. Ozpin came into the hospital room, seeing what had become a familiar, almost constant even, sight. Kyo's arms rested on the stands made for them, holding his hands up just a few inches away from Neo's left arm on either side. Neo's face was drawn and pale, but it seemed that she wasn't in as much pain as she had been before Kyo had started. She'd even managed to eat, though doing so with one arm without jarring Kyo and disrupting his efforts was a tricky job.

Kyo's face was pale, the dark bags under his eyes more prominent than ever. His expression was vacant and empty, his crimson eyes fixed, unmoving, on his hands and Neo's arm. Yang sat next to him, gently leaning against him, a water bottle with a straw in one hand, which she would occasionally hold to Kyo's lips, prompting him to sip automatically. While she didn't seem to be in as a bad of shape as Kyo, she looked tired as well, generally catching quick naps while her friends took over for a brief time.

"Professor?" she said, looking up at him.

"I have good news for you," said Ozpin with a relieved smile. "Vale's perimeter sensors picked up an unidentified flying object coming in from the northwest. An aerial reconnaissance ship was dispatched to investigate, and determined that it was an airship of unknown make."

"The Mibu?" asked Yang, her eyes going wide.

Ozpin nodded. "I believe so. The vessel's design is quite unique. There has been no contact via CCT signal from the ship. However, if it is a Mibu vessel, it won't have any such amenities."

"Try basic code," said Kyo. "That's what the Mibu generally use."

Both Yang and Ozpin looked sharply at him. Kyo had managed to rouse himself from his work, and looked sleepily at Ozpin, seeming to have forced himself out of his stupor through sheer force of will.

"Basic? Really?" asked Yang, surprised that even the Mibu would use such an antiquated code.

"In the past, when they've needed to communicate with signals, that was what they used because it was also the standard in the Four Kingdoms, before the CCT system became so prevalent," said Kyo. "It's still utilized for almost any kind of communication over distances too great for just shouting."

"I will inform the military then," said Ozpin, already pulling his scroll out. "At their current rate of speed, they will arrive at Beacon within the hour. I believe we should prepare to move you and Ms. Capello out."

"I understand," said Kyo.

While Ozpin went out to take the call, Yang went and got the doctor to inform him that they were moving Neo and Kyo. Fortunately, Neo's bed was mounted on wheels, which would allow it to be rolled all the way to the docks. They had to make the journey slowly and carefully. Yang used her scroll to send word to the others, telling them to gather their luggage, which they'd packed beforehand, and meet Yang, Kyo, and Neo at the docks.

By the time they'd all arrived, the ship was visible in the sky, soaring above Vale like a graceful bird. It was silver in color, with a slight matte finish that kept the sunlight from reflecting harshly off its hull. Its fuselage was an elongated triangle that swept down to a sharp point, while, to the rear, a blocky engine mount trailing curved nacelles tapered slightly towards its end. Between them, where the ship was at its widest, the hull projected upwards in a pyramid-like shape that flattened out at the top. The main body was flanked by a pair of winglike constructs that hosted a web of slightly-transparent, emerald-green panes that almost seemed like flying stained glass windows. They glowed faintly with their own light, seeming to both propel and direct the craft, folding and tilting as they directed the strange ship towards the dock.

"That's a proof-of-concept ship?" asked Weiss sharply.

"Technically, it would be the first ship the Mibu are willing to send abroad," said Kyo. "I believe the proof-of-concept stage was already a few generations past the last time I left."

"Well, at least it seems that you will be comfortable for the duration of your trip," noted Ozpin.

"As comfortable as we can be," aid Kyo with a sigh, trading rueful looks with Neo.

The ship began to descend, almost seeming to drift towards the landing pad of the docks that had been designated for it. As it did, its wings folded in close to its body, narrowing its profile. Turning sideways, it touched down lightly, almost like a bird alighting on its nest.

It was fairly large, about twice the size of the transports that regularly flew between Vale and Beacon. However, it wasn't anywhere near the size of military warships, particularly the kind used by Atlas. Looking at it, they could see that there was plenty of room for everyone.

A door about halfway up the hull opened, rising upward, even as a ramp extended down. The lights within the vessel made it a bit difficult to make out details of what lay inside. Yang squinted, looking to see who came out.

She wasn't all that surprised when the first person off the ship was none other than Penny, bounding down the ramp to exchange an enthusiastic hug with Ruby.

"Salutations!" she said excitedly, turning to address the others.

"Hey," said Yang, waving her hand in greeting, the others quickly following suit.

"I told you I'd see you again," said Penny to Ruby. "You're going to love it. This ship is amazing." Then her eyes found Neo and Kyo. Penny gasped and rushed to Neo's side. "What happened?"

"It's a bit of a long story," said Ruby in a tired tone.

"One that we can share on the way," said Ren. "We need to get to the Mibu lands as quickly as possible. Kyo said that there's someone there who can help."

"Oh? What's the hurry?"

Everyone's eyes were drawn to the entryway, the lights framing another figure as she began to make her descent. The new arrival was a small fox-faunus, someone whose height was probably a match for Neo's, her foxtail swinging behind her, and her long, reddish brown tresses of hair swaying as she ambled down the ramp at a relaxed pace.

Kyo blinked and looked up, his jaw dropping slightly. "Oh! This is a lucky chance," he said. "I wasn't expecting you to come for me, Saisei."

Saisei giggled at Kyo. "You didn't? It's been far too long. I've wanted to make sure that you're doing well. Your mother gets worried at times. Now then..." Her eyes immediately zeroed in on Neo. "...let's see about you, hmm."

Saisei's eyes seemed to take in Neo's condition with a matter of seconds, all without breaking stride as she walked over. The second she reached them, she was glaring at Neo's arm.

"Out of the way," she said flatly to Kyo. Not even giving him a chance to respond, she whipped her tail around, its form elongating just enough to reach Kyo's face as it clubbed him in the head with enough force to send him sprawling away.

"Hey!" shouted Yang, her eyes going wide with both anger and horror.

"Stop!" shouted Jaune, his hand already going to his sword.

Their anger died, replaced with fear as the black lines covering Neo's forearm twitched, then surged upward, branching and spreading across every inch, racing towards her shoulder.

"Oh no you don't!" snapped Saisei, striking out with her right hand, her fingers sinking up to the the knuckles into Neo's upper arm. "Kyo used your fear of him to keep you in check. But now that he's gone, you think you can do whatever you please, huh."

Saisei's Aura blazed from where her fingers were inserted into Neo's arm, reaching an almost blinding radiance that forced everyone but her to look away.

" _Reject!_ " she intoned, dragging her fingers through Neo's flesh and down her arm before pulling her hand out completely. To everyone's amazement, Neo's arm was completely intact. What was more, the invading black lines had vanished from sight.

Saisei flicked her hand, tossing a glob of black, tar-like substance to the tarmac, where it hissed, then bubbled, before dissolving into black, smoky particles.

"Impudent beast," said Saisei, glaring haughtily at where the glob had been. "Never underestimate Saisei's healing arts." Turning, she fixed a beaming smile on Kyo. "You always seem to get up to the strangest things whenever I'm not around."

* * *

 **So...yeah, Yang's new arm can turn into a dragon...Well, _I_ thought it was cool.**

 **The whole infection-type Grimm has been something I envisioned for a while. It seems like a pretty natural progression for me. What would make Grimm scarier? How about being able to kill you from the inside, while operating on such a small scale that you wouldn't be able to actually fight it the way you normally fight Grimm. In some ways, it's a pity. This isn't a lead-up to some Grimm plague, but something I came up with to make the Nuckelavee even freakier.**

 **With regard to the Mibu airship, I envisioned it as a scaled-up, palette-swapped version of Gilgamesh's Vimana from Fate/Zero, if that's any help in visualizing it. That's just for appearances though, so don't think it can do any of the other stuff the actual Vimana can do...aside from fly.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26:**

"Your bedside manner is brusque as always," observed Kyo, getting slowly to his feet and massaging the cheek that Saisei had just slammed her tail into.

"I don't recall you being my patient at the moment," said Saisei, giving Kyo a mock-glare, before turning to Neo with a kind smile. "How do you feel?"

Neo blinked, looked down at her arm, then back up at Saisei.

Saisei, beamed. "Oh, you don't need those silly things anymore," she said before quickly undoing the bandages on Neo's arm. They fell away, revealing pristine white skin, unmarred by scars of any kind.

Neo gaped down at her arm, amazed to see it healed so completely. She wasn't the only one. The others were all staring at Saisei in almost reverent awe. Neo's affliction had completely stymied Beacon's medical professionals, armed with the most advanced medical technology available. Yet Saisei had cured her in a matter of seconds, not even seeming to break a sweat.

 _So this is what the Mibu can do,_ thought Yang, gazing at Saisei warily.

"Let's see if you can stand up," said Saisei to Neo, offering her a hand.

Neo nodded and swung her legs out over the side of the gurney. Saisei looked over at Ruby. "I'm assuming her luggage is in that pile, over there," she said. "Does she have a pair of shoes?"

Ruby nodded and rushed to sort out Neo's luggage. Given what she had just been through, it would have been foolish to have Neo to try and wear her high-heeled boots after just getting out of bed. Fortunately, she had a pair of comfortable slippers that she typically wore around the apartment. Ruby got those, and a pair of socks, and helped to cover Neo's feet before Saisei gently took her hands again and carefully pulled Neo off the side of the bed and onto the ground.

Neo wobbled a little, not quite used to standing up again after spending so long in bed. Her legs were a bit stiff, but not as bad as she'd initially thought. Even more amazing, all her bed sores had been healed along with her arm, leaving her feeling amazing, despite what she had just been through.

"All right," said Saisei, still holding onto Neo's hands, keeping in front of her and helping her maintain her balance, "let's try walking a little." She gently pulled Neo's hands, stepping back as she did so. "Easy...don't worry...I've got you."

Neo's friends watched with quiet fascination as Saisei carefully led Neo about, exercising her legs and helping her become reacquainted with standing up.

"That's Saisei for you," said Kyo with a small laugh as he wobbled slightly before Yang came up to lend him her support. "Put a patient in front of her, and all else is forgotten."

Saisei's tail became a red and white blur, stretching across the distance between her and Kyo, smacking him across the face again. "Quiet, boy!" she admonished sharply. "Also, you shall refer to me as Saisei- _sama_...or I'm never treating your wounds again."

"I know you wouldn't do that," said Kyo, before flinching as Saisei brandished her tail at him. "But, nonetheless, I concede, Saisei-sama."

"How does she do that?" asked Blake. "A normal faunus couldn't do that with her tail."

"Oh...you mean how she stretches it and all that?" asked Kyo, which got a nod to Blake. "It's part of the skills associated with the power of Wood. Saisei..." Kyo paused and flinched, seeing Saisei flick her tail his way again. "...sama...is a master of body manipulation and modification. Within certain constraints, she can alter her shape and form at will."

"So she's a shapeshifter," said Yang. "Is she even really a faunus?"

"Why yes, I am a faunus," said Saisei, looking over at them, even as she continued to guide Neo around. "And calling me a shapeshifter is overselling it. It's not as though I can transform into animals or anything like that. But I can modify my body in many other ways, such as altering my proportions, or even the pigments in my skin and hair. And..." Her tail suddenly split, becoming three, then six, then nine. "...I can divide my limbs...but splitting my arms and legs would be so crude, don't you think?"

Blake blinked, staring at Saisei's nine tails. "So...it's just like the fox spirits of ancient Mistralian legend."

"More or less," said Saisei with a giggle. "But those legends existed long before Mistral, or any of the Four Kingdoms for that matter, existed at all. Such stories are inherited from the world's distant past." She returned her full attention to Neo, who seemed to be getting around a lot better, not even really needing Saisei's hands to steady herself.

"It's also why she's so short," added Kyo. "Saisei-sama's real form is-OOF!" Kyo was abruptly cut off as three of Saisei's tails attacked him in succession, battering him back to the ground.

"Never talk about a lady's secrets," said Saisei haughtily, though a faint blush on her cheeks betrayed her embarrassment. Pausing, she turned away from Neo and faced the rest of the group, raising her nose proudly. "It is true that I chose this stature. After all, this is clearly the most desirable appearance for a girl like me."

"Huh?" said Blake, Yang, and Nora simultaneously, while Weiss and Ruby exchanged dubious looks. Ren and Jaune wisely decided to remain silent and do their best to keep their faces as neutral as possible, while Penny looked to be on the verge of doubling over with laughter, already holding her stomach tightly and quivering.

"Everyone knows that a small stature and light build are essential elements when it comes to determining cuteness," said Saisei archly. "I chose this form specifically to invoke protective instincts, and come off as non-threatening as possible. It's an ideal."

Beside her, Neo mimicked Saisei's posture and proud expression to a T, making Penny fall over backwards, laughing, soon to be joined by Ruby and Nora. Yang barely managed to stifle her amusement, though a single snort escaped her. Blake pointedly looked away and covered her mouth. Meanwhile Weiss merely stared at Saisei uncomprehendingly. Jaune and Ren, once again, struggled to remain as composed as possible, though their restraint was faltering.

"She calls herself nonthreatening," said Kyo as he got back to his feet. "That's the funniest claim she ever makes."

One of Saisei's tails promptly lashed out at him, swinging up from below to clip his chin, lifting him off the ground and knocking him over onto his back.

Despite the humor of the situation, Yang also regarded the slight, diminutive girl with a sense of awe. After spending so much time with Kyo, and seeing what she was capable of, she was stunned to see Saisei swatting him about like it was nothing, though she suspected Kyo wasn't fighting back on purpose.

Seeing that Kyo was once again disciplined, Saisei turned back to Neo and examined her carefully. "You seem to have recovered," she said. "But I bet you could use some rest. Why don't you go aboard and pick out a room for yourself. We do have some staff to load your luggage. But you can go ahead and take a shower and get some sleep. You could use a good bit of that."

Neo nodded and smiled gratefully at Saisei. Sasei responded by reaching up and brushing a hand across Neo's cheek and brushing back some of her hair. The feather-light touch made Neo blush.

"I'll help her up," said Jaune, coming to Neo's side, Ruby joining him. "Thank you for helping, Saisei-sama."

To their surprise, Saisei laughed. It was a musical sound. She smiled benevolently at them. "Oh, you don't have to be so formal with me. That rule is specifically for Kyo."

"Aww...why?" asked Kyo, before yelping, this time ducking under Saisei's swinging tail.

"Because you're a troublemaking hooligan, who's been doing nothing but making your mother worry," said Saisei sternly. "And you need to take a shower. I'm not letting you aboard the ship when you haven't bathed properly for over a week."

 _She can see that?_ wondered Yang, impressed by Saisei's observation. Sure, Kyo smelled plenty ripe, but to deduce the period so easily was surprising.

"But you just said there are facilities aboard the ship," protested Kyo.

"Yes, but I'm not letting you use them like you are," said Saisei. "This is the Mibu Clan's first official action of state, and I _refuse_ to allow you to sully it. Now hop to it. We leave in an hour and I'm leaving without you if you aren't onboard."

Kyo jumped and rushed off towards the guest dorms like a shot.

"Is that true?" asked Weiss, giving Saisei a critical look.

Saisei giggled. "No, but that boy is too used to getting his own way, so it's good to make him experience a little extra inconvenience every now and then."

Turning, Saisei observed those who remained from RWBY and JNNR, now that Jaune and Ruby were escorting Neo up the ramp and into the airship. "Now then, I'm surprised that Kyo's made so many friends. This is quite the abrupt development."

Yang blushed and scratched her cheek. "Yeah...well...things happened."

Saisei's eyes narrowed slightly and her smile adopted a sly quality that Yang didn't like one bit. "Oh...they did, did they? Kyo must have grown up more than I thought then. We'll have to talk more later."

"Sure..." said Yang, feeling nervous under the discerning weight of Saisei's gaze, feeling as though she was being examined in minute detail.

"I'm sure you're probably all eager to be off," said Saisei. "We'll leave shortly. However, I do have some business to attend to while I'm here."

With that, she turned her attention to Ozpin and Glynda, who had been standing by, watching the proceedings silently. Saisei came up to them and smiled politely, before sinking into a low bow. "On behalf of the Mibu Clan, I offer to you my greetings. I am Saisei of the Goyosei, in direct service to the Taishiro and the Crimson King. I apologize for neglecting you earlier."

"Not at all," said Ozpin pleasantly. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I would also like to offer my deepest gratitude for your prompt treatment of my student. Your concern for the wellbeing of others is a most admirable quality."

Saisei rose from her bow, smile still present, but now looking far more composed, like a true dignitary. "We weren't originally planning to do it like this," she said. "However, when the Elders heard that Kyo was here at Beacon, we figured we could kill two birds with one stone."

"I see," said Ozpin, raising an eyebrow. "Does that mean you were planning on initiating contact with us at some point?"

"It does," said Saisei. "Thus, I have been charged with delivering to you an invitation." From her sleeve, she withdrew a white envelope. "In hopes of forging a brighter future, we are opening our country's borders for the first time, and allowing visitors to come and see our nation for themselves. As such, I wish to invite you to attend our yearly Water Festival. It is my hope that you will pass this invitation on to the listed dignitaries of the Four Kingdoms."

Ozpin accepted the envelope with a smile. "I am quite happy to accept your invitation on behalf of Beacon Academy. I will also relay it to the Academies and Councils of the other Kingdoms as well." He chuckled. "And here I was planning on approaching you to ask the same thing."

"That is what we thought," said Saisei.

Ozpin's smile widened slightly. "And it has been far too long since I have attended the Water Festival. I will be glad to see it again."

"So...you _are_ the outsider who came to the Clan over eighty years ago," said Saisei, sinking into another bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," said Ozpin, bowing lightly back. His smile faded slightly. "If you are planning what I think you're planning, you will be in for a difficult time. James Ironwood and Atlas are likely to be quite obstinate."

"That is what we were aiming for," said Saisei. "What's important is that they are obstinate in a way that benefits us."

Behind Ozpin, Glynda frowned, wondering what exactly Saisei meant by that. She supposed she would find out in due time. But she doubted she would like the answer.

* * *

The better part of forty-five minutes later, Kyo arrived at the pad, hair still damp from his shower, wearing the clothes Yang had bought for him in Vale. His kimono was now rolled up and tucked under his arm. Saisei and Yang were the only ones still waiting on the pad. The others had moved to help the ship's staff load the luggage and claim their own rooms aboard the vessel.

Saisei eyed him speculatively, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't have enough time to launder it, obviously," said Kyo. "If there are any, may I make use of the laundry facilities aboard the ship or is that not permitted, Saisei-sama?"

Saisei's tail rose up and whipped straight down to rap Kyo atop the head. "Don't get cheeky with me," she admonished him with a smirk. "Yes, we do have those facilities aboard the ship and you may use them."

Yang giggled at the interaction between the two, prompting Kyo to give her a wry smile. "Well, I'm glad to see you find this entertaining," he said.

"You two are just like siblings," said Yang. "As an older sister, I know."

"Well, I was basically Kyo's big sister," said Saisei proudly. "I still am in some ways." She threw a smirk at him, while Kyo rolled his eyes.

Saisei shrugged and shook her head. "Well, in any case, now that you're here, we can depart. All the luggage has already been loaded, and everyone else is waiting."

As Yang and Kyo followed Saisei up the ramp, Yang noticed an eager gleam in Kyo's eyes. _It figures,_ she thought. _He's been really excited about this._

The inside of the ship somehow seemed to be both opulent and austere at the same time. The ship was practically a small luxury liner. It had four separate decks, stacked vertically. The second deck, where the entryway was, was the passenger deck, where the staterooms were located. Above that was the common area, consisting of a dining room, kitchen, and other facilities meant to be used by the passengers. Above that, in the projection above the hull, was the bridge, where the crew quarters were also located. Out in front of the bridge, the top of the forward hull also served as an observation deck. The first deck, the only level below the entryway and the passenger quarters, was the engine deck, where the vital systems of the ship that enabled its flight were located.

The floors were actually covered with soft carpeting, while the walls were covered by wood panels that had been stained a dark-brown color, lit by lamps that hung at regular intervals. The lamps themselves seemed relatively simple, but their light was softer than what was normally found on the airship, giving the halls a comfortable ambiance that made it easy to see without being overly harsh.

It was the kind of interior Yang expected to find on the fanciest of flying vessels, like the kind Weiss' father made ample use of. However, aside from that, there was a distinct lack of other kinds of decorations. The wood panelling was unadorned, giving the hallways a rather plain, understated appearance.

The staterooms, whose doors lined the hallways on the lower deck of the airship were plenty luxurious in their own right, each equipped with a low bed that looked almost like a giant cushion to Yang's eyes. There was a chest of drawers on the wall opposite the door, with a small mirror. Next to the mirror was a window that offered a view outside. Each room also had its own bathroom and shower, as well as a small closet. Like the hallways, they were carpeted, with wood panelling over the walls, with soft lighting that generated a soothing ambiance. However, Yang noted that, also like the halls, there was very little in the way of other forms of decoration.

Yang gladly settled her things into the room, though she refrained from unpacking. "How long is this trip supposed to take?" she asked Saisei.

"Well, if we went at top speed, it would take about two days," said Saisei, watching from the door. "However, we'll be traveling at cruising speed, so the trip will take about four." She gave Yang a small grin. "I get the feeling that you no longer have any reason to hurry, so I hope you'll be fine with cruising speed."

"That's fine," said Yang, deciding to keep her clothes mostly packed. Given the distance they were covering, four days was longer than she expected, but not overly so, especially if they were going to take their time.

"Good," said Saisei. "I'll leave you to it. Dinner will be at six, in the dining room. The layout of the ship is simple enough, so I don't think you'll have any trouble finding it. In the meantime, feel free to explore."

Yang nodded and Saisei stepped back, letting the door slide closed. Like the rest of the room, the door seemed to be wood, although there was some form of mechanical power behind it, as it would open or close with the push of a button.

Yang settled her bags into the closet for the time being and went to the window. Her eyes widened in surprise. The ship had already taken off and was now gliding over Vale already. She hadn't even noticed. There was no engine noise whatsoever and the liftoff had been so smooth she hadn't felt a thing. _What on earth is this thing running on?_ Whatever it was, she was at least glad that the trip apparently promised to be a smooth one. Jaune's motion sickness was largely a thing of the past, mostly cured when his Aura had been unlocked. But he could still get woozy on longer trips. If the rest of the flight was as smooth as their takeoff, perhaps Jaune wouldn't have any trouble at all.

A gentle rapping of knuckles on her door made Yang flinch away from the window, making her realize that she'd spaced out while staring out over Vale. Yang opened the door and saw Kyo waiting for her.

"Checking to see if I've settled in?" asked Yang.

"Actually, I figured you might be done with settling and wanted to look around," said Kyo.

Yang smiled and nodded, reminded that, while this ship had been made by his people, this was Kyo's first time seeing it as well, much less being aboard it. Getting out, she paused as a yawn overtook her.

"I think we'll both need to go to bed early tonight," said Kyo with a chuckle.

Yang looked at him, seeing the dark shadows under his eyes and nodded. He definitely looked and smelled better after a good shower, but that didn't change the fact that he'd been awake for over a week. Frankly, Yang was amazed he hadn't keeled over on the spot and told him so.

Kyo laughed. "Well...I'm definitely not in the best shape at the moment, but this is just so exciting."

Yang couldn't help but giggle herself. _Boys get worked up over the silliest things,_ she thought.

The hallway of the passenger quarters ran down the length of the ship, along its centerline. Towards the rear was where it branched off, leading to the exits as well as the stairs down to the engineering sections. At the front, there was a spiral staircase that led up to the next deck.

Climbing the stairs, Yang found herself in a truly elegant, yet, again, understated setting. Turning around, she gasped, finding herself looking out under the bow of the airship as it flew above the ocean waves. The wall in front of her was windows that sloped upwards and outwards towards the tip of the ship's bow. The windows encompassed the entire section in front of her, as well as sweeping out to either side, allowing for a spectacular view as they soared through the skies of Remnant.

Turning back towards the rear of the ship, Yang found herself looking at a well-appointed common room that spanned the entire width of the vessel, running back along its length for maybe a third of the ship's total length. There were couches and thick-cushioned chairs set into depressions in the floor in semicircular arrangements, set so that the open side of each set of seats faced the windows on the side of the ship, so that passengers could look out as they socialized.

At the center of the room, running between the seats, was a long, rectangular table, set into another depression. The table was surrounded on all sides by cushioned seats, set up so that they resembled a single couch-like bench that enclosed the entire table, save for where it was interrupted at intervals by openings where sets of steps led down into the depression so that those thinking of leaving didn't have to climb over the backs of their own seats.

The room was lit from above, by the same soft lights that had illuminated the hallways and their passenger rooms, though arranged in patterns along the ceiling that were reminiscent of chandeliers. The relatively low level of the ceiling as the only thing that undermined the open feeling of the room. It was maybe only three feet above Yang's head. Otherwise, it felt almost more like a stately dining room and parlor than it did a space within an airship. The floors were covered by wood panels, stained a lighter shade than those that made up the walls of the deck below. Once again, despite the luxurious appointments, there was very little in the way of decoration or flair. The dining table itself was very plain-looking, albeit made of a rather high-quality of wood, maybe teak.

Once again, Yang was reminded of the luxury vessels that Weiss' father owned and used. She'd been on one a couple of times, back when she and her friends had needed to travel through Atlas, and Weiss still had enough of her father's goodwill to wrangle one of the Schnee Family vessels for their use. However, the SDC ships had been even more lavish in their design, Jacques Schnee loving to showcase his wealth through gold filagree on every feasible surface, and expensive works of art lining the walls that weren't occupied by windows.

"This is incredible," she said as she and Kyo wandered the length of the room. "I can't believe this is the first ship your Clan sent out."

"Well, it is meant to be used by the heads of state," said Kyo. "In the normal course of things, if the Four Elders or the Five Stars decide to travel abroad, this is the ship they would use. It is also the vessel that would be used to transport any foreign dignitaries who might be traveling with them."

Yang nodded. They reached the rear of the room, where three sets of doors waited along the wall. Opening the pair in the center, they found themselves in a miniature library, complete with books in a variety of languages, including some classics Yang knew from Vale.

"I'm sure they stocked it in anticipation of you and your friends," said Kyo, nodding to Yang. "I'm afraid that, as we'll be leaving the area covered by the CCT network, there will be very little for you to do with your scrolls. This will be one way to keep yourselves amused."

Yang nodded. "I know Blake will like this room."

The room next to the library on the left side revealed a well-equipped kitchen. Yang recognized all the appliances being used, though she wondered what their power source was if the ship didn't rely on Dust. There were already staff at work in the kitchen, preparing for dinner, so they didn't linger so as not to distract them.

They moved across to the next room, where they found what appeared to be a game room of sorts. There was another depressed seating area, facing a wall of windows. However, it was rectangular in its arrangement, with a table set into it so that the guests could seat themselves at opposing ends of the table. Looking at the wall, Yang saw a surprising variety of games, including, much to her amazement, a _Remnant the Game_ set like the kind she and her sister played with their friends and teammates.

At the rear of this room was another stairway leading up. Taking the stairway up, they found themselves in another hallway, this one running across the ship, rather than along its length. The hallway was much more spartan in its design, the walls and floors being gray metal, rather than wood and carpet. Doors ran along its length on the right side, while, at the far end, was another staircase that led both up and down.

On the left side was an open door. Yang and Kyo entered it and Yang gasped to see another broad room, this one also acting as a common area and parlor, this time with seats in arrangements that faced forward, allowing the seated to look out the wall of windows in front of them, which itself looked out over the ship's hull and along its length. Right now, she was greeted with a spectacular view of the clouds and the open sea ahead of the airship's bow.

"Over here," said Kyo, already going to a door that was set into the wall of windows. Opening it up let in a breeze that stirred Yang's hair, though she thought it should have been stronger, given the speed they were supposed to be traveling at.

Following Kyo, Yang found herself on the flat deck that ran the length of the front sections of the ship. The ship's overall arrangement made her think of a dagger, with the ship's forward sections looking like the blade from above, tapering to an appropriately sharp point at the tip. The bridge and the wings protruded out from the center like cross-guards, while the engines at the back were like as squared-off handle. It seemed an appropriate vessel for the mysterious Mibu Clan to Yang's mind.

The deck ran all the way down to the tip of the ship's front. Yang saw that all the others, with the exception of Neo, were already assembled on the deck. Ruby, Jaune, and Nora were looking out over the sides, Nora actually standing at the tip at the very front of the ship, leaning over the railing that ran around the deck's border. Ren stood behind her, keeping a wary eye on her as she leaned as far as she dared, which, Nora being Nora, was fairly far indeed. Penny, naturally, was lingering around in Ruby's vicinity, chatting animatedly with her. Jaune was looking over the edge with a face full of wonder and, for once, didn't look the slightest bit green around the gills.

Weiss and Blake stood closer to the center of the deck, talking quietly, while Saisei lingered nearby, not really saying or doing anything, but watching everyone with an expression of polite interest. When she saw Yang and Kyo, her expression brightened and she quickly walked up to them.

"Welcome," she said cheerfully. "Are you impressed?"

"It's amazing," said Yang. Beside her, Kyo nodded, his gesture actually making Saisei's smile widen even more.

"I hoped you'd like it," she said, glancing sidelong at Kyo. "We've spent a lot of time getting this ship ready for its maiden voyage...for all that it was to deliver some invitations and pick up a vagabond."

Kyo sighed, but his smile didn't fade.

"It's beautiful," said Yang. She frowned and looked around. There was an ever-present breeze washing over the deck, only natural, given that they were flying through the open air. However, it was nowhere near as strong as it should have been at this altitude and speed.

"I can see you have quite a few questions," said Saisei with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. "Schnee-san has been badgering whatever crew who are unfortunate enough to cross her path as to the power source and principles involved in its function."

"Yeah, Weiss _would_ do that," said Yang, remembering how determined Weiss had been to learn about this mysterious power source the Mibu relied on instead of Dust.

"I'll probably have to show her soon, otherwise she'll drive the poor dears to distress," said Saisei with a shake of her head.

"I'm kinda curious myself," said Yang, looking around. "I don't see any weapons at all. Aren't you worried about the Grimm?"

"If they attack, I'm here," said Saisei with a firm, confident smile. "However, that's unlikely, given the nature of our power source." She paused. "Perhaps now is as good a time as any to show it to you all. That will allow me to answer any questions you might have and would be a good way to use up the time until dinner's ready."

"Works for me," said Yang, before finding herself stifling a yawn again.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to take a nap before dinner perhaps?" asked Saisei, giving Yang a concerned look. "You aren't as worn out as Kyo, but it's been a while since you've had a good night's sleep."

"I can manage," said Yang. "If Kyo can do it, so can I. After all, he didn't sleep at all while he was looking after Neo."

Saisei glanced over at Kyo, who showed her a sleepy smile. "I suppose so," she said worriedly. "Well then, let's head below."

Saisei gathered the others and she took them to the staircase that ran downwards from that deck. Unlike the wooden staircases that had led Yang and Kyo up from the bottom, which had been made from dark wood, this staircase was plain metal. It led down through all the decks, with a small landing at each level. Their route took them down through the kitchens, then through the end of the passenger section. Descending past that, they found themselves in a section of the ship that truly looked the part. The walls were plain, gray metal. Ahead of them was a massive door that led out into the front sections of the ship.

"That's the hold," said Saisei. "Beyond that is our forward lift crystal, which keeps the vessel balanced."

"Lift crystal," said Weiss, frowning. Airships around Remnant made used of gravity-Dust to create lift. The way in which said Dust was used tended to vary, but the most reliable means was to use Dust in its powdered form for propulsion. However, it wasn't unheard of ships that used Dust crystals to create constant lift. However, Saisei, Kyo, and Penny had all been adamant that the Mibu did not use Dust.

On the wall opposite the door leading to the hold was another door, leading towards the ship's stern. It was this door that Saisei went into. Weiss expected some form of security lock on it, maybe a key-code to restrict access. However, much to her amazement, Saisei walked up and simply touched the door and it slid open.

"Is it unlocked?" asked Weiss. She hoped not. She didn't like the idea of such a vital area of the ship being so easy to access.

"No, it's keyed to my Aura and those of the crew," said Saisei.

"That should take some sophisticated electronics," noted Ren.

"It's actually a very simple system," said Saisei. "We don't have much in the way of electronics, though we do make use of electricity. The systems we have in place are...different. As it stands, our power source is very responsive to Aura, though not in a volatile manner."

Weiss frowned some more. Despite what Saisei said, this was sounding more and more like Dust by the minute.

Inside the room, Weiss' jaw dropped as she beheld the ship's power source. A massive, spherical crystal, at least three meters in diameter, hung suspended in what looked like a spherical metal cage, with bars made of steel, or some other metal. The crystal itself was a pale green color, with yellow highlights. Its surface was rough and ridged, with rippling patterns. The entire crystal was surrounded by a nimbus of pale-purple energy, from which arcs streamed off, reaching out to the bars of the cage. Looking around, they could see wires that connected the cage to other sections of the ship, running off, up and down the hull.

"This is our core crystal," said Saisei proudly.

"What is it?" asked Weiss, stunned. "It's not Dust."

"It's what we call an Etheric Core Crystal," said Saisei. "It was grown from natural silicates and specially formulated alchemical reagents and carefully crafted through the use of Aura."

"How does it work?" asked Weiss, unable to tear her eyes away, watching the arcs of energy tracing their way along the cage bars.

"It harnesses a new form of energy," said Saisei. "I say new, but we've known about it for nearly three-hundred years now. It's a naturally occurring field of energy that seems to be prevalent nearly everywhere on Remnant. We suspect that the power may actually be extraplanar in nature.

"The core crystal you see here absorbs Etheric Energy, which converts it into a unique form of energy, which the array around it then converts into electricity, which is then channeled to the ship's systems. This crystal is enough to supply power to everything on the ship. The electricity is also channeled to specially designed Lift Crystals, positioned throughout and connected to the hull. When electricity is channeled through those crystals, they generate a repulsion field that opposes the planet's gravitational pull, thus creating lift. Power is also channeled to the engines, which then generate a current that is caught by the wings of the ship, which provide us with the propulsion that moves the craft."

"You discovered this three-hundred years ago?" gasped Weiss. "Why are you only using it now?"

"Well...the process of figuring out how to harness Etheric Energy was somewhat labor intensive," said Saisei. "Since it was discovered, our scientists and alchemists have been studying it intensively to determine its feasibility, its nature, and what uses it could be put to. Because they were so very cautious, it took centuries for us to begin applying it. It doesn't help that critical components, like this Core Crystal, are very work-intensive to create as well. This one was painstakingly grown over the course of a century."

"A century!" Weiss' head was spinning. "How could you even begin to manage production sufficient for a nation when it takes that long to produce a single crucial component."

"Well, this was one of a batch of over a dozen," said Saisei. "And each successive batch has been getting larger." She scratched her cheek. "When you think about it, it shares some parallels with the crafting of wines and vinegars. It's a bit more appropriate to think of these crystals in terms of vintages and crafts than it is as industrial products."

"Does that mean that they get better as they age?" asked Ren.

"The lift crystals and other conversion crystals do wear out over time," said Saisei. "However, the Core Crystals only grow more effective and efficient as they age. The longer that is spent on their maturation, the superior their conversion gets."

Weiss stared at the crystal as though it were a cypher for her to solve. Yang stared at Weiss, wondering just how she was taking this revelation. Doubtless, Weiss was thinking through all the implications of this mysterious new technology. Already, it had been shown that it was capable of doing so much that her mind was boggling. Weiss was probably comparing it to Dust when it came to their effectiveness as power sources…and not necessarily liking that her family's chief product might come up short by comparison.

"Weapons," she said quickly, turning back to Saisei. "Can you make weapons with this power?"

Saisei frowned. "Theoretically, it is feasible. However, we have not done any research in that area."

Weiss opened her mouth to ask why, then looked from Saisei to Kyo and back again before blinking. She knew why the Mibu didn't bother with weapons development.

"We have developed defensive applications," said Saisei. "This vessel has a shield, though its overall durability has yet to be tested."

"Why not?" asked Ren. "Weren't you attacked by the Grimm at all on your way here?"

Saisei smiled again and shook her head. "We do not have to worry about the Grimm. And, no, I am not talking about Kyo. Follow me. I can show you the lift crystals later."

Saisei took them back to the main lounge and dining room. Taking them over to the windows, she pointed outside. "It's very hard to see, but if you focus, you can see our shield."

Yang and the others did as they were told and narrowed their eyes. She could see it, a faint bending of the light in front of her, like it was passing through a piece of almost perfectly transparent, but curved glass.

"We haven't tested its strength yet," said Saisei. "However, we've known for a while now that Etheric Energy has another interesting and useful quality. The Grimm detest it."

"What?" gasped Ruby, as the others all turned to gape at Saisei.

"You find them in nature all the time," said Saisei, staring out the window, "plants or animals that produce substances that act as a deterrent to the things that would consume them. To the Grimm, Etheric energy is that deterrent. For whatever reason, they abhor it and steer clear of any such field they encounter, even if people are there. The shield's durability doesn't matter. Its presence alone is enough. The Grimm want nothing to do with it."

Even Yang's jaw dropped at that bombshell. The threat of the Grimm was all-encompassing. Every Kingdom, ever settlement, practically every effort by humanity had to take the Grimm into mind. Settlements were limited by how much space they could occupy before their walls or perimeter defenses were spread too thin. Kingdoms relied as much on natural barriers as they did manmade ones. The Grimm's presence dictated details that affected every person on Remnant.

But this energy might change that. If the shield's strength was a non-issue, then they could presumably expand it to its limits or bolster the shield with multiple Etheric crystals, assuming their effects were cumulative. People wouldn't need barriers or walls. They could live freely in the space covered by the crystals without regard to its defensibility. If this technology proliferated, the landscape of Remnant would change dramatically.

"Of course," continued Saisei, "it's not a perfect system. Depending on how much power that is fed to it, the barrier itself does not harm the Grimm. They just don't like it. We've experimented with using such fields to protect our settlements throughout the continent. The fields deter the Grimm, but...their aggression can override their dislike if they are given the proper incentive."

"You mean like what Cinder did with Vale?" asked Ruby. "If someone stoked the negative feelings of the people, the Grimm would still come through the field."

Saisei nodded. "The field can be used defensively as an actual shield, but doing that limits the space it covers, and its power consumption climbs dramatically. To cover our settlements, such fields must be expanded until they would offer no more physical protection than a sheet of paper."

"But it's still worlds better than what we have now," said Blake.

Saisei nodded. She turned and beamed at them. "And there you have it. This is our secret, what we've been preparing to introduce to the world."

* * *

They had maybe another hour to chew over what they had just learned about the airship, and its peculiar power source, before dinnertime rolled around. They happily assembled around the table and sat down to eat as the ship's staff brought out the meals, providing them with a variety of dishes, all of which were delicious.

Kyo was particularly hungry, devouring everything that was set out in front of him. Glancing at Saisei, and seeing the satisfied look on her face as she watched Kyo eat, Yang got the sneaking suspicion that she had secretly arranged for the chefs to prepare Kyo's favorites for his first dinner aboard the ship. It made her happy to see how close the two were, for all that Saisei had been constantly batting Kyo around with her tails when she first arrived.

Despite their closeness, Yang didn't feel threatened by Saisei's presence. Saisei's affection for Kyo, belligerent as it was, seemed familial, rather than romantic. However, Yang did notice that Penny's eyes would jump to Kyo from time to time, a light blush painting her cheeks, something that did set Yang's nerves on edge.

However, her nerves could only take so much. Her stomach full, Yang found her eyelids drooping as the past several days of tension began to take their toll. Kyo was even worse off, practically dozing off against her shoulder. As the last of the dishes were taken away by the ship's staff, she decided that she and Kyo needed their sleep, and they carefully excused themselves from the table.

Walking with Kyo down to the passenger deck, Yang yawned and turned to Kyo when they reached her door. Wordlessly, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged herself to him. Kyo returned the gesture, wrapping his warms around her waist as Yang pressed her face against his neck.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Well...it was Saisei who saved Neo in the end," said Kyo.

"You're the one who kept her alive and safe until Saisei could," said Yang softly. "I can't thank you enough for that. Because of you, I didn't have go through losing another friend...or having a friend lose her arm."

"I'm glad I could help," said Kyo, pulling back far enough that he could meet her eyes. "I consider Neo a friend too."

Yang leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She kept her tongue in check now, simply content to feel his lips against hers. They held the kiss for a long moment, before finally pulling away. Yang sighed gratefully and Kyo leaned down to rest his forehead against hers.

"I'm glad I met you," she said.

"I am too," said Kyo. "I have to admit, I was in a bit of a rut before. But you and your friends have made things so much richer for me."

He lifted his head away from hers, then leaned in again, planting a light kiss on the very tip of her nose. "Go to bed," he said. "Our troubles are behind us for now. So let's just enjoy what lies ahead."

Yang nodded and they finally let go of each other. Alone in her room, she undressed and took a shower, gratefully allowing the hot water to soak her body. After that and brushing her teeth, she collapsed into bed with a grateful yawn, barely having the presence of mind to pull the covers up over herself before sleep claimed her.

* * *

 **Most of you probably guessed already, but the concept of Etheric Crystals was lifted from Jim Butcher's _The Aeronaut's Windlass_. After reading that story, I completely fell in love with the concept, though a lot of the particulars regarding the crystals, their creation, and their application are my own invention, as Mr. Butcher's new series needs a few more volumes to establish the nuances of what his concepts are capable of. In the meantime, I filled in the blanks on my own. There will be more to come, as the concept will have a pretty big role to play in the story, probably in ways you aren't expecting...at least, I hope you aren't.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27:**

When Yang awoke, it was nearly afternoon. She'd drawn the curtains across the window, so no light streamed in from outside to disturb her. Sitting up and stretching, Yang froze and blinked in surprise, turning to stare at her right arm. She'd forgotten to pull her Aura back in last night, before she went to bed. She'd done that before, and, while she got lucky some nights, others, her arm would dissipate and she would wake up feeling drained. However, she hadn't even thought about it last night, and it hadn't occurred to her this morning. Her arm had remained for the entire night. _I must be getting more accustomed to it,_ she thought.

Deciding not to dwell on it, Yang went through her morning routine, taking another shower, mostly because it felt wonderful. Then, cleaned and dressed, she stepped out of the room and made her way up to the next deck. This late in the morning, Yang reasoned that she'd probably missed breakfast. But she hoped she might be able to beg some snacks from the kitchen.

Coming up the stairs, Yang's eyes widened as she saw two people sitting at the dining table. "Neo!" she said, breaking out into a happy smile as she rushed forward.

Neo turned in her seat and beamed at Yang. Saisei was sitting next to Neo and, in front of her, was a plate of fruit and meat.

"Good morning," said Saisei brightly as Yang dropped down next to Neo and two of them exchanged a hug. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very," said Yang.

Saisei nodded and got out of her seat and headed over the kitchen. She opened the door, leaned in and exchanged some words with the staff on the other side. When she returned, Saisei settled back into her seat with a satisfied smile.

"I figured you would probably sleep later than the others," she said. "From the sound of things, you got some more rest than Kyo did during your ordeal, but not by much."

"I wouldn't say it was _my_ ordeal," said Yang, looking at Neo.

Neo smiled and covered Yang's hand with her own, giving it a light squeeze.

"You went to great lengths to support and sustain your friend, for the sake of her health," remarked Saisei. "I'd say it was an ordeal for you as well. In any case, I asked the kitchen staff to be ready for when you woke up. Your breakfast…or brunch rather…should be out shortly."

"What about Kyo?" asked Yang.

Saisei rolled her eyes upward thoughtfully. "Given his condition, I estimate that he'll wake up in the early afternoon at the earliest. At the latest, he might sleep through until tomorrow. It's been a while since I've seen him that worn down."

"Yeah, he stayed with Neo the whole time," said Yang. Neo nodded as well.

"That's the Kyo I know," said Saisei with a giggle. "There are times when I think he might've been happier as a healer, like me."

"I don't think so," said Yang, remembering Kyo's fight with Nigel and the sheer bliss on his face as the two danced back and forth across the ring, trading lethal attacks with ease and treating the life-or-death circumstances like a child's game.

She came back to the present to find Saisei inspecting her carefully. "Hmm…so…what is your interest in Kyo?" she asked. "You seem closer to him than the others."

Yang blushed and looked down at the table. "Well…we're going out."

Silence reigned. Finally Yang looked up again, looking past Neo at Saisei…who was staring at her as though she'd grown a second head.

"Are you serious?" asked Saisei.

"Yeah…pretty serious," said Yang.

Abruptly, Saisei broke down laughing, doubling over and pressing her face against the table as her mirth consumed her utterly.

Yang let it drag on for the better part of a minute. "Am I really that funny?" she asked.

"Sorry," said Saisei, raising her head back up and wiping her eyes. "It's not you. It's the idea of Kyo having a girlfriend that I can't quite get my head around. He's grown up, but he's still such a child in so many ways that it's hard for me to see him making that sort of commitment to anyone." She seemed to calm down and favored Yang with a serene smile. "He used to turn into a block of wood whenever a pretty girl tried to start a conversation with him. He's a true Kensei, an absolute artist with a sword. But when it comes to dealing with people, he was such a novice when he parted ways with the rest of us."

"He seemed to be getting along well with people pretty well, when I met him," said Yang. "He was the one who started talking to me."

"Really now?" said Saisei, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "I'm going to have to hear the details about this. My little Kyo has truly grown up, it seems."

"You talk like you're his mom," said Yang.

Neo nodded her agreement.

"His big sister, actually," said Saisei, looking away and smiling wistfully. "Oh how that boy has changed…" She sighed and shook her head before turning back to Yang. "You and I will have to have a talk later."

Yang felt a chill go down her spine. She got the sensation that Saisei's talk might have more in common with her father's initial approach to dealing with Kyo than anything else. Still, she wasn't exactly in a position to refuse. She was a guest on this ship after all. She nodded.

Saisei must have seen the trepidation on her face, as she broke out into giggles. "Oh, don't worry. I won't threaten you or anything. You seem like a good match for him."

"Thanks," said Yang.

* * *

The day proved to be rather uneventful. Yang's meal was as delicious as dinner had been, and she made sure to apologize to the kitchen staff for throwing off their schedule, which they accepted with smiles, assuring her it was fine.

Blake and Weiss, and Ren were reading in the library. Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Penny had set up the ship's copy of _Remnant the Game_ in the gaming room, and were enjoying themselves quite boisterously, so much so that Yang was amazed that they didn't disturb the three readers in the library. However, it seemed that the ship's soundproofing was just _that_ good. Yang figured she'd join them, but decided to first take a walk out to the observation deck and get some fresh air.

As she did, she saw Saisei guiding Neo on a tour of the ship, like she had everyone else the previous day. Yang had to hide a smile as she saw Neo's hand securely tucked into Saisei's, Neo's eyes on Saisei's nearly constantly until Saisei directed her attention at something in particular.

Going out on the observation deck, Yang took a deep breath and reveled in the feeling of the wind tossing her hair. She went out to the bow, looking out over the very tip of ship's front. Down below, she saw wind-tossed waves. Cottony clouds passed by above, below, and on the sides. The feeling that filled her was restful. Yang was grateful for the leisurely pace that Saisei had been setting. It gave them time to rest and relax after what had just happened. What awaited them in the Mibu lands was uncertain. But, for now at least, Yang felt safe and at ease.

After relaxing on the deck for a while, she went and joined her sister and friends in the game room, enjoying what entertainment the ship had to offer until dinner. Dinner itself was as delicious as it had been the previous night, and Yang was able to enjoy it much more thoroughly, now that she wasn't perched on the edge of exhaustion anymore. If there was anything that dampened her enjoyment of the evening, it was Kyo's absence, as he was apparently still resting. Even as she laughed and chatted with her friends, Yang silently hoped he could join them tomorrow.

* * *

Yang stifled a yawn as she pulled on her tank top and her shorts, getting ready for bed. It had been a quiet, easy day, but she was still tired. The novelty of their method of travel was exciting, and she figured she could lounge in one of those couches, looking out the windows for the better part of entire day if she was left to it.

Their scrolls had lost the CCT's signal sometime last night, which meant they were of little use, save for communicating locally in short-range mode. There were no video projectors, and the ship itself had no means of connecting to any network, so the amusements they found were of the more low-tech variety. Still, she couldn't think of a more comfortable place to spend some time out of contact with the world.

She was drawn out of her reverie, and flinched as someone knocked at her door. _I think I know who that is,_ she thought as she went to open it. The door slid open, revealing Saisei. Saisei was dressed in a simple pale-pink nightgown that ran all the way down to her ankles, with sleeves that covered her arms. There was an opening at the back for her tail, which swished lazily behind her.

"May I come in?" she asked.

"Uh...sure..." said Yang, stepping aside to allow Saisei entry. "It's your ship after all."

Saisei giggled. "It's not _my_ ship," she said as she walked in, the door closing behind her. "As a vessel of state, it technically belongs to the Four Elders, or, you could say, to the Mibu as a whole. Besides, for the duration of your stay, this is _your_ room and you are free to deny me entry if you wish."

Yang sat on her bed. Saisei sat down next to her, her presence not seeming threatening in the slightest, despite the fact that Yang knew that this small-looking girl could bat Kyo around like a rag-doll when she wanted. Everything about Saisei's manner seemed calculated to put her at ease. Even showing up in a nightgown, rather than her regular clothes, reinforced the informal and relaxed sense of this meeting, Saisei presenting herself in a vulnerable seeming state that allowed Yang to lower her guard a little.

"I think you know why I'm here," said Saisei in a soft tone.

"Because of Kyo," said Yang. "You're okay with us dating, aren't you?"

Saisei laughed musically. "I'm more than okay with it," she said. "It makes me happy, honestly." Her eyes narrowed and she scowled playfully at Yang. "But if you tell him I said that, I'll deny it."

Now it was Yang's turn to laugh.

"So," said Saisei, "will you tell me about how you met and got together? You can leave out the sordid details, but I really want to know how Kyo and someone like you ended up together."

Yang nodded and related the condensed version of the story of how she'd met Kyo, the time they'd spent together in Cherry Grove, the fight with Farran Smith, Ozpin inviting Kyo back to Beacon, their date in Vale, Kyo's fight with Nigel, and him teaching them how to better use their Auras.

Saisei listened silently, occasionally nodding at points that interested her and shaking her head at Kyo's behavior at other points. When Yang wrapped up, she let out a sigh. "Take your eyes off someone and oh how they change," she said wistfully. "So...you have the Crimson Eyes."

Yang nodded. "I guess...I mean...my eyes turn red when I get amped up. But I always thought it was because of my Semblance."

"Understandable," said Saisei. "Even amongst the Mibu, the Crimson Eyes are an...oddity. In the outside world, they must be completely unheard of."

"Are they really that strange?" asked Yang.

Saisei nodded. "Only those in the Line of Kyo, that is the current Crimson King and his son, Kyo, exhibit the Crimson Eyes perpetually. Amongst the rest of the Mibu, there are a rare few who exhibit them occasionally. But they are exceptionally rare. So far, no one in this generation has shown any sign of them."

"The Line of Kyo?" asked Yang, blinking in confusion.

"That is the name of the line of the Crimson King," said Saisei. "It goes back, unbroken, for countless millennia, to the very first Kyo."

"Wait! So Kyo is named after the first Kyo?" asked Yang, starting to get dizzy.

"As was his father and _his_ father before him," said Saisei. "Every child born into the line is named Kyo."

"That...sounds _really_ confusing," said Yang.

Saisei giggled. "It does, doesn't it. No one is sure how the trend started, but it started long, long ago. For simplicity's sake, once a new child is born into the line, the father changes his name from Kyo to Kyoichiro. So that makes it a little easier. Right now there are only two, so there's no need to worry about getting them mixed up."

"If you say so," said Yang. "It still seems really weird to me."

"Well...that's fitting," said Saisei, getting a distant look in her eyes.

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

Saisei pursed her lips. "Those born of the Line of Kyo are...different. It goes far beyond merely having Crimson Eyes. There is something...something else...that sets them apart, fundamentally, from the rest of the Mibu. I'm sure you've noticed Kyo's Aura."

Yang nodded.

"Like me or anyone training in the martial classes of the Mibu, he has been cultivating and strengthening his Aura since a young age. However, that does not even begin to explain the almost limitless power he can seem to have at times. When his full strength is unleashed, he can be...godlike..." Saisei's eyes fell. "Because of that, those born of the Line of Kyo are destined for hardship."

"Hardship?" asked Yang.

"The Crimson Eyes are viewed differently by different members of the Mibu," said Saisei. "Some consider them to be sacred. Others consider them to be demonic in nature. They can inspire fear, awe, loathing, and reverence in equal measure. However, there is one thing that all those emotions have in common."

"They set you apart," said Yang, getting the idea.

Saisei nodded. "Kyo has stood apart from the rest of the Mibu from the earliest days of his childhood. Because of that, his early years in the Mibu were very lonely." She folded her hands together and rested her elbows on her knees. "I first met him when we were both children. He was a very different person back then."

"Can you tell me?" asked Yang.

Saisei nodded. "I was born Mitarai Sasame. Our house is amongst the Mibu Clan's upperclass, and those of us born into it have a powerful affinity for the healing arts. At a very young age, I was blessed with the privilege of being schooled by our Chief Physician personally." Her eyes closed. "Of course, such privilege doesn't necessarily guarantee one respect or friendship from one's peers. Those who were supposed to be my fellow students scorned me out of jealousy, whilst my family drove me to succeed. So...I was well acquainted with what it felt like to be isolated from others. For a time, I completely lost my passion for my studies and I thought about abandoning them entirely, maybe even fleeing the Mibu altogether. That was when I first saw him..."

* * *

 _Sasame traveled along a winding path through the zen garden near her training hall. At the moment, she held no interest in its quiet, understated beauty. Rather, she was instead contemplating her own future. But she was distracted by a nearby commotion. Not far away, she heard the sound of wooden weapons clashing against one another, accompanied by angry shouts and curses. Her curiosity roused, Sasame turned to the source of the commotion._

 _When she arrived, shortly after the noise had tapered off, she froze in shock. Atop a grassy hill stood a single boy, who seemed just a little bit younger than her. Scattered around him, lying on the ground like broken toys, were at least fifteen other people. Every single one of them was older than the boy, some of them by a wide margin. They were all armed. Some had wooden swords like the boy's. But others had real blades. Sasame gasped, and the boy turned towards the sound._

 _When their eyes met, Sasame's breath deserted her. The boy's eyes were a brilliant, vivid, crimson color, blazing with a strange luminance. His presence seemed to make the very air turn to lead in her lungs. Fear raced through her, and her tail curled around in front of her so that she could hug it to herself, a nervous habit her parents often scolded her for, if she did it in public. The boy frightened her, yet, at the same time, she found she could not tear her eyes away from him._

 _"What do you want?" asked the boy curtly, his expression dark and angry._

 _"N-nothing," said Sasame. "I just came to see what was going on."_

 _"Oh," said the boy, his tone cold and icy. "These people..." He gestured to the prone figures scattered around him. "...tried to gang up on me. Something about 'taking me down a notch.' They're regretting that now."_

 _Sasame looked closer, not at the people lying all over the ground, but at the boy in front of her. For the first time, she noticed the livid bruise beneath his left eye, and the fact that his kimono, and the arm underneath it, had been cut, blood trickling down his left arm and running off the tip of his fingers. His kimono was spotted dirt and grime, and she saw bruises rising up his legs, before they disappeared beneath the hem of his kimono. Despite that, there was nothing in the boy's expression, none of the faint twitches and twinges that Sasame had been taught to look for, that indicated how much pain he must be in._

 _Looking at that boy, Sasame felt an itch in her fingers. For the first time, she felt a real desire to heal someone. This wasn't some test at the behest of her teacher, or a routine training shift in the hospital, where she had to listen to the sniping comments of her fellow students. This was a boy who had been hurt fighting off several attackers. She wanted to help him._

 _Not fully aware of it, she'd begun walking closer to the boy, who watched her with cautious eyes. She was nearly within arm's reach of him when she heard the rustle of grass and saw a flicker of motion off to her left._

 _With an angry roar, one of the fallen fighters rose up from the ground, picking up a sword, a real one, that had been lying by his hand. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, the blood covering one eye. He must have been listening to footsteps, planning to attack the boy when he got close. However, it was Sasame's footsteps he'd heard, and he was now lunging at her, swinging blindly._

 _The boy stepped in, as smooth as butter, stepping between Sasame and the man. He held up his sword to meet the incoming attack. The attacker's sword bit down into the boy's wooden one, but failed to cut all the way through. However, he threw the weight of his body behind the swing, bearing down with all his strength, driving the wooden sword and the boy's arm down, until the attacker's blade bit into the boy's shoulder._

 _A low grunt was the only sound the boy offered in response. Instead, he pulled back, breaking his sword in the process of wrenching it free from his attacker's blade. His bokken had lost almost half its length, thanks to that. As the boy pulled back, the attacker's sword sliced along his shoulder, trailing blood as he pulled free._

 _The boy's eyes blazed, and his Aura boiled around him. He held back his sword and, to her amazement, Sasame felt the air around her swirling around what remained of the wooden blade, extending out from where it had been broken off. The boy unleashed a single, powerful, two-handed swing, despite his wounded shoulder, slashing sideways. Though the wooden blade made no contact with the man in front of him, the boy's attack blasted him back and Sasame could see a tear open up in the man's kimono, matching the level of where the boy had swung his sword. The man flew backwards and slammed into the ground, rolling over several times, before coming to a stop, not moving again._

 _The boy stood still, sword still raised, watching his attacker for any further sign of activity. When none came, he lowered his blade and let out a long, low, breath...then toppled over backwards._

 _With a surprised squeak, Sasame caught the boy before he could fall all the way to the ground, sinking down with him, cradling his body as he ended up leaning against her. Raising her right hand, she activated her Aura, and began to carefully send it into the boy's body, just as she had been taught, using her Aura to stimulate his body's own regenerative abilities. Bruises faded. Cracked bones mended. Cuts, including the new one on the boy's shoulder, closed._

 _The boy looked down at his body, then turned his head to look at Sasame. "What are you doing?" he asked._

 _"Healing you," said Sasame simply. "You're hurt."_

 _The boy grunted and looked out over the prone forms of his attackers. "So are they."_

 _Sasame shrugged. "You looked like you needed more," she said. "After all, it's their own fault for attacking you, right?"_

 _The boy blinked, apparently not having an answer for that._

 _"Why did they attack you?" asked Sasame._

 _The boy narrowed his eyes. "You really have to ask?" he wondered._

 _Sasame shrugged again. "What's your name?" she asked._

 _"Kyo," said the boy._

 _Sasame tensed slightly, her flinch not going unnoticed by the boy she was supporting. She had heard that name before, spoken in whispered tones by her parents, though she had no idea what they had said about him, or what their feelings towards him were._

 _She had heard that name from her peers, when they were talking to each other. Unlike her parents, they didn't seem to particularly care that she overheard them. They had always spoken of Kyo like some kind of specter, a monster to be treated with caution, or avoided entirely. Looking at him now, she had a hard time fitting the image of the formerly-battered boy in her arms to the monstrous person whispered about by her parents and fellow students._

 _"Do they dislike your eyes that much?" asked Sasame._

 _Now it was Kyo's turn to shrug. "It depends," he said. "Some of them come after me because of my eyes. Some of them do it because they don't like that I get to study with Murasame-sama. Some of them think that I'm full of myself because Father is the Crimson King." He smirked. "But they're all hopeless. They can't take me even when there's so many of them, even when they have real swords. It's pathetic."_

 _"Well...I'd definitely say you're full of yourself," said Sasame. "But I don't think it has anything to do with your father."_

 _Now Kyo smiled back at her. "What's your name?" he asked._

 _"Sasame," said Sasame. She let out a small sigh. "I suppose we should be friends now."_

 _Her words took Kyo by surprise. "We just gave each other our names," he said. "That doesn't make us friends. Why would you want to be_ my _friend?"_

 _"Well duh," said Sasame as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Who else is going to patch you up, when you get yourself all battered and cut in these silly fights? It might as well be me. It'll certainly be good practice."_

 _She felt Kyo's shoulders quiver against her arm. It took her a second to realize he was laughing very quietly. "That's a weird reason to be friends with someone," he said._

 _"I don't care," Sasame replied..._

* * *

"And after that, he and I spent quite a lot of time together," said Saisei. "When I wasn't studying under Makoto-sama, I would hang out with Kyo. That certainly wasn't the last time some gang or another tried to jump him. Afterwards, I would always heal him, no matter how bad it was."

"But how did he go from being so...dark...to being so nice?" asked Yang.

"Well...he began to make other friends," said Saisei. "You see, among those groups of people who challenged him and lost, there were people who took their loss as a sign of their limitations. They went back to their teachers, trained harder, improved, and then came to challenge Kyo again, this time without allies. Kyo would beat them again, and they would go back and train some more. The cycle would continue, and soon, at least four of them were sticking around Kyo nearly as much as I was."

Her smile widened and she giggled again. "That turned out quite well for them," she said. "They were all studying under particular schools in the Mibu arts. As a result of their improvement, they left the rest of their peers in the dust, and rose in rank. Three of them are Goyosei now, just like me."

"And you made it in because you kept polishing your skills by healing Kyo after his fights," said Yang.

"Exactly," said Saisei with a laugh. Then her smile faltered. "But, at the time that I learned that I had been deemed worthy to join the Five Stars, Kyo came and told me he was leaving the Mibu."

"What?" gasped Yang. "Why?"

Saisei sighed. "It's been a sort of informal tradition for the Line of Kyo, going back to their very inception, the first Kyo. The Crimson Cross Knight goes out into the outside world to expand their horizons as much as possible, and test their strength." Saisei curled her tail around her front and hugged it to herself. "I couldn't believe my ears when he said where he was going."

"Why?" asked Yang.

Saisei shook her head. "You probably won't be happy to hear it, but you should probably know. The average member of the Mibu has a view of the outside world that is somewhat...skewed. The Taishiro make it a point to have as much knowledge of the outside world as possible, and the Crimson King went out to see it himself at some point in the past. But nearly everyone else in the Clan..." Saisei looked at Yang. "The outside world is painted as desolate wastelands, inhabited by barbarians who are forever fighting amongst themselves, savages who would kill someone like me on sight, because of me being a faunus. Parents threaten to send their children to the outside lands if they misbehave. It's rotten and corrupt, and no one in their right mind would ever go out there willingly."

Yang scowled fiercely.

"I told you you wouldn't like it," Saisei pointed out. "I begged Kyo not to go, but he said it was something he had to do." She tightened her hold on her tail. "When I realized I couldn't talk him out of going, I made a decision. I decided that I would go with him. Kyo still had a tendency to get pretty beat up in those fights he got himself into. I couldn't leave him on his own like that.

"So I went before the Crimson King himself and petitioned him for permission to leave with Kyo. I was shocked when the King revealed that both he and Makoto-sama had learned of my intentions beforehand. I was even more amazed when they both gave me their blessing to leave with Kyo. And so, I left with Kyo, and saw the outside world for the very first time."

"And what did you think?" asked Yang.

"It was so different from what I was used to," answered Saisei with a wry smile. "And yet...it was also similar. Outsiders had machines that could fly through the air. They had devices that allowed them to talk to each other, even across entire continents. They had entire libraries' worth of information right at their fingertips. They had so many forms of entertainment, so many different kinds of media.

"But...it also seemed to me that the people of the outside world were more fearful. Prejudice towards the faunus aside, people outside the Kingdoms always seemed perched on the razor's edge between prosperity and destruction. People were so much more fearful of the Grimm."

Yang stared at Saisei, almost feeling as though she was hearing something in another language. "You mean people aren't afraid of the Grimm in the Mibu?"

Saisei nodded. "Even amongst our settlements, we regard the Grimm more as pests and annoyances than a genuine threat, even before we started protecting our settlements with Etheric Energy fields. The Grimm are a phenomenon, like the weather. While you can't foresee everything, you can predict their actions to a certain extent."

"Well...they are now," said Yang.

Saisei nodded. "Perhaps we were just lucky. Salem appeared to be concentrating her efforts amongst the Four Kingdoms. Had she succeeded, she probably would have moved on to the Mibu next. Then, we would probably have learned to fear the Grimm like you outsiders do."

"I'm glad at least someone didn't have to go through that," said Yang.

"Thank you," said Saisei. "Aside from that, there were good people and bad people. Societies had their classes, and everyone had their own foibles. In that sense, it felt very much the same, even though it was all so very different. As it turned out, the outside world was not some terrible place. It was just...another place...a different one."

"So you and Kyo traveled around for a while," said Yang, wondering what was coming next.

Saisei nodded. "It was fun, going to different villages and hamlets, learning about the people who lived there and what they did. Kyo's eyes were distinct, even in the outside world. But they didn't carry the stigma that they did amongst the Mibu. It was easier for him to meet and talk to people. He liked to learn about all the different places he went. Then, after a couple of years of wandering, his strength reached the point that the Grimm began to avoid him. That was when the villages began to celebrate his arrival.

"We made other friends, like Hayate and Nigel. Those two traveled with us for a time. Kyo changed the most during that time. He began to smile much more often, until it looked more natural on his face than a frown. He laughed more easily. He became kinder and gentler. He was well on the way to becoming the Kyo that you know now. I thought those days would go on forever."

Saisei sighed happily and stared up at the ceiling. "But nothing does last forever, does it? After a few years of wandering, I had to return home and claim the mantle of Saisei of the Five. At that point, it was Kyo who suggested that we go our separate ways, to push ourselves and pursue our own interests. So I returned home to the Mibu, and joined the Five. After seeing the outside world, I decided to support Sora-sama when she began to push for an end to our isolation."

"Sora..." Yang remembered Kyo saying that one of the Elders had been pushing for that particular end and, even more importantly... "Is that Kyo's mother?"

Saisei beamed. "That she is," she said. "You'll meet her after we arrive. I think she'll like you quite a bit."

"Are you sure?" asked Yang. "She sounds like a very important and busy person?"

Saisei raised an eyebrow. "And you are her son's girlfriend. I'd be more surprised if she _didn't_ want to meet you."

Yang had to admit that Saisei had a point there. She blinked and her vision blurred. The next moment, she opened her mouth to yawn.

Saisei smiled. "I guess I've kept you up long enough," she said.

"Wait," said Yang. "There's one more thing?"

"What is it?" asked Saisei.

Yang held up her right arm, showing the Aura construct to Saisei, whose mouth drifted open slightly as she examined it. "I meant to ask, but kept getting side-tracked by other matters," she said. "So your right arm really is composed of manifested Aura."

Yang nodded. "Kyo helped me create it. He came up with the idea from something you'd told him about phantom limbs."

Saisei blinked. "Yes...Phantom limbs...I see." She began to lay her hands on Yang's arm, moving it gingerly. Yang allowed her, allowing Saisei to move the Aura construct as she wished.

Letting out a faint whistle, Saisei smiled approvingly. "I always thought he'd make a good healer," she said. "This is ingenious."

"I'm glad you like it," said Yang. "But Kyo told me about something else."

"What was it?" asked Saisei, raising her eyes to meet Yang's.

"He told me that you might be able to regenerate my arm," said Yang, "the one that got cut off."

Saisei gasped, her eyes widening. Then her expression hardening and darkening. Yang shrank back nervously, afraid that she'd said something wrong. However, Saisei's anger apparently wasn't directed at her. "Kyo..." she growled under her breath, "...I'll thrash him good for this."

"I'm sorry," said Yang. "If I said something wrong..."

Saisei whipped her head back around to look at Yang, now looking apologetic. "It's not you, it's Kyo," she said quickly before her frown returned and she looked down. "I'm going to pound him good for getting your hopes up."

Yang felt a chill pain in her chest. "You mean...you can't regrow my arm?" she asked.

Saisei swallowed. "I'm not sure what to say," she admitted. "It's a sensitive matter. I suppose I should be honest with you, but I really need for you not to get your hopes up."

"Can you or can't you?" asked Yang.

"We _can_...for a certain definition of the word," said Saisei with a sigh. "However, it's _not_ a process I would recommend."

"But what about Penny?" asked Yang. "You grew an entire body for her, didn't you?"

Saisei shook her head. "In some ways, growing an entire body is a much simpler process than replacing a lost limb on a body that already exists. I can regenerate my own limbs because I utilize the body modification arts of the Wood school. However, those arts extend to my body the way it is now. Anything that I might've lost before I mastered those arts would stay lost, because, from the perspective of the technique, my body is perceived as complete as it is."

Yang blinked in confusion.

Saisei sighed again. "Let me put it another way." She raised her hand and gently traced the point at which Yang's Aura arm extended from the stump of her original arm. "Can you put that away?"

Yang nodded and drew her Aura back into her body, the arm vanishing from sight. Now Saisei ran her finger over the stump itself, the feeling of contact making Yang shiver.

"You feel that, don't you?" asked Saisei as she continued to gently run her finger over the nub of flesh. "You have nerve endings there now. Your circulatory system as been rejoined. From a physiological perspective, this is now a complete limb. Therefore, in order to even begin the process, we would need to return your body to a state before the wound had healed...just after the arm itself had been cut off."

Yang felt the blood drain out of her face.

Saisei continued, obviously aware of Yang's discomfort, but apparently feeling that this was something she needed to hear. "Certain kinds of animals can regenerate limbs easily. However, that is mostly because their physical structures are extremely simple and easily replaced. They don't come even close to the level of complexity of something like the human arm and hand. The human body isn't suited to it in its natural state.

"We've been studying and researching and testing it as a means to treat people who have lost limbs to traumatic incidents. But what we have managed so far is neither easy nor safe. It is extremely painful and traumatic. Some of those who have undergone the procedure have died as a consequence. Those that didn't, survived only by the barest of margins."

"You mean you've tested it..." asked Yang, feeling sick, "...on people."

"Well, animal testing will only get us so far," said Saisei. "And we can only test it on volunteers, who are fully aware of the risk they are taking and willing to accept it. Naturally, this means that progress has been painfully slow." She met Yang's eyes with a deadly serious face. "So...yes. We do have a procedure that _may_ be able to regenerate your arm. However, it is far from perfect, and it is not fast. You will spend months, six to eight on average, in a state of extreme pain, as you feel your limb growing back, inch by inch. By the time the procedure is completed, the rest of your body will be a wreck from what you put it through, which means you will be looking at months more of physical therapy to recover from that. Of course, all of this is assuming that you don't die. And, even though you are a patient, you would also be a test subject, a test subject for a procedure that is far from being perfected. You will be gambling with your very life on the most uncertain of outcomes."

Saisei's eyes almost seemed to exert a gravitational pull on Yang's, keeping her from turning away. "Even so, knowing all of that. Do you still wish to go through with it?"

Saisei's hold on Yang's eyes released and Yang was able to look down. She reached over with her left hand and cupped her right stump. A shiver went down her spine at the thought of everything that Saisei had told her. There was no way she wanted to put herself through that kind of trauma, especially as it seemed it was more likely to kill her than actually work. But...at the same time...ever since Kyo had put the idea in her head, Yang had been clinging to it, almost desperately. This had been her chance, her chance to get back what Adam had taken from her, to be whole again. That chance was still there, but...it was far too remote to put any hope in.

A sniff escaped her nose and Yang's eyes began to well up. She barely felt Saisei snake and arm around her and pull her over so that the two of them were now laying on the bed, allowing Saisei to hold her. As she began to cry in earnest, Yang felt like a child being held by her mother, even though Saisei was so much smaller than her.

"I'm so sorry," whispered Saisei, before pressing her lips to the crown of Yang's head. "I wish we could...But I don't want you to suffer through that."

Yang sobbed into Saisei's collar as the smaller girl combed her fingers through Yang's hair. That dragged on for a while, almost half an hour. Slowly, Yang's sobs began to ebb.

"Do you want to be alone?" asked Saisei.

"No," said Yang quickly. "I mean...if it's okay...I just...I just want to get it out of my system. I don't want Kyo to see this."

Saisei blinked and drew back slightly in surprise. "Really?" she asked incredulously. "Not even after he hurt you like this?"

"He was trying to help," said Yang, shaking her head. "He really meant well. I know it hurts, but I don't want to blame him for this. I...I care about him too much to hold a grudge like that. Sometimes, he's just a little too kind for his own good."

Saisei giggled at that. "I can see that," she admitted. "Truth be told, what you and he have accomplished with your new arm actually intrigues me. It may be that you have discovered a means of restoring lost limps through Aura superior to anything mere regeneration or replacement could accomplish. I suppose Kyo has good ideas, from time to time. But I _will_ thrash him for putting you through this."

Yang actually giggled back, and nodded. "I know you will," she said.

"But you won't try to stop me?" asked Saisei.

"Well...I'd _rather_ you didn't," admitted Yang. "But, after he finds out, I think Kyo will want you to thrash him too. He'll want some kind of punishment for this, but I don't think it should be me, because he was trying to help. But you can do it because he didn't think to confirm the details with you about whether or not it could be done before telling me." She grinned. "I suppose that's the advantage to being a big sister over being a girlfriend."

Saisei laughed openly at that. "I suppose you're right," she said. She hugged Yang tightly. "And I have to say that I very much approve of the two of you. Please look after him as much as you can. That silly boy may be a master of the sword...but he's still very much a novice in almost everything else."

"I will," promised Yang. "And thank you for telling me the truth."

"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Saisei, letting go of Yang and climbing out of bed, while Yang sat back up again.

"I am," said Yang. She once again sent her Aura out through her stump to recreate her arm. "In all honesty, I was going to miss this when I grew my arm back. I actually think I like it better than my old arm. Better yet, this is something that Kyo helped me to create. So even if he was wrong about me being able to regenerate my arm, he still gave me more than I could ever ask for." _And,_ she reflected to herself, _it was a mistake to obsess over being whole again. Arm or no arm, I already am whole._

"You're a strong woman, Yang Xiao Long," said Saisei as she went to the door. "And I am glad to have met you."

* * *

 **So, the idea of Yang regrowing her arm turns out to be a dead-end. That happens sometimes. The logic behind it may be shaky, but I think it works. You might agree or disagree. But the one thing I think we can all agree on is that Yang having an Aura-arm that can turn into a dragon is a lot cooler...and that's what matters in the end.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

"I can't apologize enough for my stupidity!" said Kyo, pressing his face into the room's carpet. This was what Yang had woken up to, after going to sleep the previous night. Kyo was kneeling on the floor, bowed over, hands resting in front of him, face lowered into the carpet in a gesture of the deepest supplication.

Yang sighed, resisting the urge to giggle at the sight of Kyo groveling before her. She managed it mostly through the sheer sincerity she could hear in Kyo's voice. He was horrified at how he had unwittingly fostered her hopes for something that could not be...at least, something that could not be if she didn't want to suffer horribly and potentially die for it.

"Kyo," said Yang, forcing herself to adopt a serious tone. "It's okay. Honest. I know you meant well. I'm not happy that you didn't bother to check whether it was really possible. But, in all honesty, what were you supposed to do? It's not like you could call Saisei up on a scroll and ask her."

"I still should have known better," said Kyo, still not lifting his face from the floor. "It was extremely irresponsible of me."

"Yes it was," said Yang. "But enough is enough. What's done is done and, I'm guessing Saisei's already punished you for it."

"Yes," said Kyo, still not raising his head. "She was quite thorough."

"Kyo...look at me," said Yang.

"I...I'd rather not," said Kyo.

"You're that ashamed?" asked Yang. "Please. It's all right."

"I...I'd really rather not," repeated Kyo.

Yang's eyes narrowed. "Kyo...look at me...Now!"

Slowly, hesitantly, Kyo began to raise his head so that he was now looking at her in the face. Yang's eyes widened and her jaw hung slack as she looked at the face of her boyfriend. Then, a faint snort forced its way out of her nostrils. Her jaw snapped shut, but her cheeks bulged. "Kyo...you..."

Kyo's face was covered in pale and dark purple in a mottled pattern, one complete bruise from top to bottom. It almost looked painted on. The colors, combined with the mortified expression on his face made him look absolutely absurd.

"Your face..." said Yang, strangled laughs escaping between each word she spoke. "What...did Saisei...do to you?" Her stomach clenched and she wound up leaning forward.

"She took me to the observation deck and pummeled me quite thoroughly," said Kyo, looking away bashfully. "Then she healed me partly."

"P-partly...?" grunted Yang.

"My face was swollen up like a balloon earlier. But Saisei said I couldn't apologize properly like that. So she treated the swelling." Kyo sighed. "But she didn't remove the bruises entirely. She even used a trick to keep my Aura from healing them the rest of the way for several hours."

Yang couldn't help herself, she burst out into raucous guffaws, collapsing over backwards onto the bed. Rolling back and forth as she laughed so hard that tears came out of her eyes. Kyo was probably blushing furiously, but it wasn't visible through the color of his bruises.

"Y-you look ridiculous," said Yang, finally managing to sit back up and rubbing her eyes to clear away the tears of laughter.

The corners of Kyo's lips curled up in a small smile. "Well, at the very least I'm glad I could lift your spirits. I suppose that counts as some atonement."

"Yeah, it does," agreed Yang. "I was upset. But, you know what? I can get over it. You already gave me something amazing." She held up her right arm for him. "And you're worth a few bumps in the road."

"You are as well," said Kyo, his smile widening, meeting her eyes.

Yang leaned forward, intending to capture his lips with hers. But, to her surprise, Kyo leaned back. "Kyo?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," said Kyo, averting his eyes, his mortification returning. "It's just...my face feels really tender right now. I think that's the other punishment Saisei stuck me with. I'm stuck like this until her power wears off, or she takes pity on me and heals me the rest of the way."

That made Yang giggle again. "Well, let me get showered and we'll go find her. She's probably at breakfast with the others..." Yang's voice trailed off as she realized what that meant.

"I guess she wants everyone else to have a good laugh at this too," said Kyo.

"Maybe she does," said Yang with a sigh. "But, you'll have to face the music sooner or later. My friends aren't going to be happy you misled me either. But seeing you like this might help them get over it and not spend the rest of the trip glaring at you. Then we can get Saisei to finish healing you. I'm sure she's not a complete sadist."

"You'd be surprised," Kyo muttered under his breath.

* * *

"Ah CHOO!" Saisei's sneeze was surprisingly loud and powerful for someone so small. As it was, she nearly spilled her half-empty mug of tea, which sloshed from the motion.

Neo gave Saisei a questioning glance as the fox-faunus sat back upright, rubbing her nose. "Oh, it's nothing," she said to Neo. "I think some cheeky boy just didn't get a thorough enough beating this morning. Reducing his swelling was a mistake."

* * *

Kyo's debut at breakfast nearly had everyone howling with laughter. Of the group, only Blake and Ren managed to maintain their composure, and, even then, they were both hiding smiles and small chuckles. Afterwards, he found himself in for a scolding, by Ren and Weiss in particular, for misleading them with the mistaken promise of regenerating Yang's severed arm. However, it wasn't long before they put it behind them, at the continued insistence of Yang. Saisei even acquiesced to Yang's request, and finished healing Kyo, removing his bruises entirely.

From there, the remainder of the day passed uneventfully, the relaxing setting of the airship proving to be soothing as they drew closer and closer to Kyo and Saisei's homeland. They passed the time with games and books, and further tours of the airship so that Saisei could showcase its design.

They got to see the bridge, where the captain of the ship steered it, the controls manipulating the ship's two wings to control its direction. However, to control its altitude, he had to utilize a series of levers that actually signaled members of the crew stationed at each of the ship's three lift crystals. The signals informed the crew members to either increase or decrease the flow of power to each crystal, making the ship ascend or descend. By setting different lift values to different crystals, pitch and yaw could also be controlled.

It was an incredibly primitive setup, the kind that hadn't been used in the airships of the Four Kingdoms since well before the Great War. Saisei explained that they were still trying to work it out so that all the lift crystals could be fully controlled from the bridge, advancements that would hopefully be incorporated into later models.

As night fell, Saisei led them up onto the observation deck, where they were able to get their first look at the continent that the Mibu called home. In the fading light, they saw the looming landmass, though its features were hard to distinguish. However, they saw a cluster of lights, with Saisei informing them that they were now passing over a fishing village, one of the Mibu's settlements.

* * *

The next morning, Yang was awoken earlier than she would've liked, given how comfortable she was. From the light coming in through the curtains of the window, she guessed that the sun had only just risen. She would have preferred to sleep in a while longer. However, it seemed that whoever was on the other side of the door had other ideas.

Getting out of bed and grumbling under her breath, Yang went over and pressed the switch to open the door with her right hand, not even realizing that she'd left her Aura arm out when she'd gone to sleep last night again. The door slid open to reveal Kyo, already dressed and smiling brightly.

"What is it?" asked Yang, her tone slightly groggy.

"Good morning," said Kyo. "I'm sorry to wake you up earlier than you're used to, but we're almost there. Saisei said we should get everyone up, and have breakfast so that you're all ready to see our capital."

Yang blinked as Kyo's words registered in her mind. "Oh..." she said finally. "Give me just a few minutes to get dressed."

"Breakfast is in twenty," said Kyo.

Yang nodded and closed the door, taking a quick shower before getting dressed, sliding on her jacket and affixing Ember Celica to her left wrist. After that, she was out and down the hall at a brisk walk. Most everyone else was already there, sitting at the table when she arrived in the dining room. However, just a minute or so behind her, Weiss came barreling in at a run, a panicked look on her face.

"Am I late?" she asked.

"You made it just in time," said Yang. "But what took you so long? You're normally a stickler for being on time."

Weiss glared at Yang. "In case you didn't hear, we'll be arriving at the Mibu Capital today. We are coming as representatives of Vale and Beacon. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that we take the extra time and care required to make sure we look our best."

"In other words, you were almost late because you were busy primping," said Ruby in a wry, teasing tone.

Weiss' response was simply an imperious "Hmph!" before turning her nose up sharply, and refusing to answer Ruby's taunt in any other fashion.

"Please don't worry overly much about protocol," said Saisei as she took a dainty bite of her own breakfast. "The formal delegations that we invited won't be arriving for another week, assuming they accepted our invitations, of course. You, however, are all our guests. Think of it as going over to a friend's house."

"I think that's a bit of a stretch," commented Ren.

"So we can just have lots of fun," said Nora eagerly. "I can't wait!"

"Well...it should be a little less than an hour from now," said Saisei. "Let's just enjoy our meal. The captain will notify us when we're within sight of the city. They'll be bringing us in low so that you can see everything easily."

They dug in, enjoying their last meal on the airship. As Saisei promised, a little less than an hour later, the captain announced through a speaking tube connected to the bridge that the capital city was in sight. Saisei led them to the windows at the front of the parlor, where they were greeted with a spectacular vista as the capital city of the Mibu Clan came into view.

"Welcome to Onmyo," said Saisei.

RWBY and JNNR stared out the window, unsure of their thoughts as the city sprawled out beneath them. The buildings were low, rarely more than two stories, only a handful exceeding three in height. They were made predominately of wood, with sloped, angular roofs shingled in clay that extended well out beyond the walls of the buildings they covered. The walls of many of the buildings were left the natural colors of the wood that composed them. Others had the wood stained to lighten or darken its shade, while a few others were actually painted, some with muted shades of red or blue, others coated with plaster of a creamy white.

The city was laid out in an orderly grid patterns, with the lines of streets interrupted by frequent parks or gardens. Some of the wider streets intersected in large plazas where they could see the stalls and canopies of street markets. The streets were paved with white and gray stones, giving them a rough, uneven appearance that was visible, even from this far up. Off to the north, they could see, beyond the edge of the city itself, the lush green expanse of fields and orchards.

"Huh...well it's certainly different from what I expected," said Yang. The capital city of the Mibu Clan looked more like an extremely prosperous settlement, but one that was several times larger than any settlement outside the Kingdom cities proper. There were no towering skyscrapers, no asphalt-paved highways. People seemed to travel mainly on foot, though they could spot horse-drawn wagons and carriages, here and there.

"It's quite beautiful," said Weiss, "in a humble, understated sort of way."

Saisei giggled. "Thank you for saying so," she said. "We don't have much in the way of industry, and our major output is agricultural. I suppose you would probably find the design of our capital to be a little...dated."

The others nodded. As they watched, the scenery began to transition. The orderly, grid-like lines of the streets began to wind an meander, buildings becoming fewer and farther in between, the ground between them left open with the occasional trees here and there. These buildings were lower than the downtown section of the city they had passed over first. They were single-story compounds that sprawled out over wide areas, mansions with courtyards that contained gardens of their own, or even small ponds and pools.

"This must be the upperclass section of town," remarked Jaune.

"Pretty much," said Saisei. "This is where the older and more prestigious families live, including mine. However, this is also where most of our schools and training halls are found. Kyo and I spent most of our time in this district." She looked up and her smile widened. "And up ahead, you'll see the Onmyo Palace, home to the seat of our government, and of the Crimson King."

At her words, the eight visitors from Vale looked up, their eyes widening as they took in the sight of the Palace. From the hills and fields of the city rose a large, rounded mountain, with green forests growing up its sides and bare at the top.

The building in question was built into broad terraces carved into the sloping mountainside, a vast, much more complex, and much larger variant of the mansions they were currently flying over. At its base, five walls formed a barrier between the Palace and the rest of the capital. The walls of the Palace itself ranged from pristine white plaster, to dark-red painted wood, or glossy black lacquer. Here, it seemed that all the ostentatiousness and elaborate decoration that the Clan seemed to lack had been concentrated. Square-walled towers rose up from the palace, ending in sharply-pointed roofs, capped with gold. Hallways criss-crossed each other endlessly, with countless courtyards and gardens filling the spaces between them, lush with greenery or bursting with colorful flowers. Others offered tranquil settings with small pavilions.

At the highest level, the Palace terminated in a single, large rectangular building that rose well up from the mountainside. Its walls were pure, glossy black, and, at the center of the wall overlooking the city, a massive taijitu symbol was both carved and painted, the circle outlined with red and decorated with white starbursts that formed a ring around the symbol. Like much of the rest of the Mibu's architecture, the building was capped with an angular roof with clay shingles, though these had also been painted black. On the whole the building stood out from the rest of the palace like a monolith.

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home," said Kyo sarcastically.

"This is where you live?" asked Yang, staring at him incredulously.

"Not really," said Kyo. "Somewhere down there is a room, where I live. The rest of the Palace is technically home to my parents, a gaggle of administrators, and the Elders, when they can't be bothered to go back to their own homes."

"It's magnificent," said Weiss.

"It looks like something out of a fairy tale!" exclaimed Nora. "It's so cool!"

"You'll be given quarters in the Palace," said Saisei. "So you will be staying there as well."

"That's even better!" exclaimed Ruby, grinning widely, while Jaune chuckled from his position next to her.

Blake, however, was staring up at the mountain's peak. Narrowing her eyes, she caught white wisps of smoke wafting out over the top. She took a shocked step back, her eyes going wide. "That's a volcano!" she exclaimed.

"You built your center of government into the side of a volcano?" asked Ren, staring incredulously at Saisei and Kyo.

"It's worked quite well for the past several-thousand years," said Saisei. "In fact, the volcano is the capital's source of power. We utilize a geothermal energy system. Even though we've begun to implement more widespread use of Etheric Energy, it's likely that the mountain will serve as the main source of power for Onmyo for the foreseeable future."

"You mean it's never erupted?" asked Jaune, now eying the volcano's peak nervously.

"It's erupted several times," said Saisei. "However, we long ago figured out how to vent those eruptions so that they do not pose any threats to the capital."

"If you say so," said Ruby, shifting nervously.

"Don't worry," said Saisei. "It's perfectly safe." She pointed down. "And there's our destination."

Outside the walls that separated the Palace from the rest of the city, a broad, circular space had been cleared. A disk, apparently formed from stones that had been carved and fitted together with mortar, served as their landing pad. Around it was an ugly ring of dirt, the sign of construction that was not quite finished yet. From that landing zone, a path emerged, stretching out to merge with the road that led up to the five-layered wall and its large, studded metal gates. The path was dirt, apparently awaiting the same kind of paving that was used for the rest of the roads in the city.

"As you can see, our airport facilities are still under development," said Saisei. "This is just for the ships on official business with the government. The main airport is being built off to the south of the city."

The ship drifted down and settled onto the pad with nary a bump, its wings already folded in close to the body. Saisei grinned and stretched. "Welcome to our home," she said.

"Well, we might as well head in," said Kyo.

"The staff will see to your luggage," added Saisei. "It will be taken straight to your quarters, so don't worry."

They descended the ramp and emerged into a beautiful, early-summer day. Birds chirped overhead and the wind rustled through vegetation on all sides. However, aside from that, it was quiet. There was a sense of tranquility here that just wasn't available in the midst of bustling metropolises. There was no distant noise of automobiles, no thrum of airships overhead, no whine of bullhead hoverjets.

There also seemed to be a lack of people. In the distance, they could spot the occasional figure or group of figures going to and fro. But there was no one sharing their path with them. When they reached the main road, which led up to the Palace gates, they found more people, many of them wearing kimonos and a smattering of other Eastern style clothes, many of which were popular throughout Anima and Mistral.

These people looked at the group from Beacon with interest and curiosity. Their ears picked up hushed whisperings from the people, although, their overall opinion of the new arrivals was hard to discern, as they frequently hid their mouths and expressions behind wide sleeves as they leaned over to speak to one another.

As the large gate set into the first wall loomed ahead, Kyo picked up his pace slightly, pulling ahead of the group. Yang was stopped from matching his pace by Saisei, who gently held an arm in front of her as she continued to lead the rest of the group at a slower walk.

"You'll want to let him get out in front," she said. "Our friends have a rather...enthusiastic...way of saying hello."

"Huh?" Yang blinked as Kyo continued forward.

They reached the gate, which stood atop a set of low stairs that rose to meet it. At the foot of the stairs was another broad courtyard, this one covered with square tiles of white stone. With Saisei holding the rest of the group to a slower pace, Kyo walked out into the middle of the courtyard alone, a relaxed, easygoing smile on his face.

Then Yang heard it, a faint whistling noise that was gradually getting louder. It rose in both volume and pitch as Yang realized that it was coming from above. Looking up, her eyes widened as she saw a long, black object streaking down at Kyo from the sky.

She opened her mouth to shout a warning, but Kyo was already in motion, dancing to the side as the object struck the ground where he had been standing, a three-pronged blade sinking into into the tiles.

The object was a spear with a black shaft of some kind of lacquered wood or polished metal. The blade was a trident-like Jumonji-yari blade, with the side blades stretching perpendicularly from the central blade before bending out so that the tips lay parallel with the central blade, reaching about halfway along its length. The whole weapon hummed with a sense of power, a feeling that was very alive. It took Yang a moment to realize that the spear, like Kyo's sword, had its own Aura.

A figure dropped down from above, landing on the spear so that his sandaled feet balanced on the steel butt of the weapon. It was a young man, roughly Kyo's age, with a slight, lean build. He was dressed in a pale-yellow kimono that was devoid of any kind of decoration. His legs were covered by long, loose hakama, with the whole ensemble being tied together by the orange and black, striped sash around his waist. The man's hair a shaggy, orange mess, was held back out of his eyes by a red headband tied over his forehead, making it stand up in broom-like arrangement. His face was rather narrow in shape, giving it a lean, wolfish quality. His pale-blue eyes fixated on Kyo and he grinned widely.

"Yo!" said the young man in a boisterous tone. "You're finally back! You haven't been slacking off, have you?"

Kyo grinned eagerly. "I should be asking you that question, Keikoku. You let me hear that attack coming from a mile away. I thought you'd learned better."

The man named Keikoku barked out a harsh laugh. He lifted his left foot off the butt of the spear and hooked it under the shaft. With a flick of his ankles, he pulled the spear out of the ground, sending it into a spin that carried it into his outstretched left hand. As he fell to earth, he began to whirl the spear around his body, turning it into a blur of black and silver. The second his feet touched down, he shot forward at Kyo, passing the spear around his back so that he could launch an explosive thrust forward with his right hand.

Kyo pulled Tenro forth from its sheath, swinging it out to meet Keikoku's thrust head on. His blade struck the joint where the crossblade met the central blade, stopping Keikoku's thrust cold. Keikoku merely grinned and launched a rapid sequence of thrusts with the spear, making it seem to exist in multiple places at once. Kyo became a blur, slipping to the side of some attacks, using his blade to block others. The ferocity of Keikoku's attack seemed to drive him backwards as he gave ground while defending.

Kyo intercepted another thrust from Keikoku, once again catching the spear's blade at the meeting point between the main blade and the crossblade. However, instead of pulling the spear back, Keikoku twisted it in his grip turning it so that Kyo's sword was now caught between the main blade and the crossblade, trapping it in place. Their movement halted as they strained against each other, Kyo to pull his sword free, and Keikoku to keep it locked in place.

"You aren't going to manage anything more than a stalemate like this," Kyo chided Keikoku.

Keikoku said nothing. Instead, someone seemed to materialize directly behind Kyo. "If you've let yourself get stalemated, then you're the one who's lost," he said as he swept a sword at Kyo's neck, threatening to strike his head from his shoulders.

Yang gasped and started forward, only to be stopped by Saisei's tail, which interposed itself in front of her.

Not letting go of his sword, Kyo ducked down beneath the slash from behind. As he did, he pulled down his arm, pulling in the same direction that Keikoku was twisting his spear. As a result, he was able to quickly pull it down into a position where it was no longer pinched between two of the spear's blades. Keikoku twisted his weapon again, trying to keep Kyo's sword trapped, but Kyo had already pulled it free. Turning around, Kyo launched a sideways slash of his own at the person who'd attacked him from behind.

The man responded by raising one leg, catching Kyo's sword between the teeth of one of his geta sandals, the sound of metal against metal ringing out before the man was knocked back by the force of Kyo's swing. The man landed on his back, but rolled back onto his feet effortlessly, not seeming to mind the impact one bit. He remained crouched, low to the ground, his sword now resting over his shoulder as he smirked at Kyo.

"We've heard you've been doing nothing but partying it up in the outside world," he said. "We wanted to make sure you haven't gone soft."

This new man was at least a year or two older than Kyo. His skin was a dark, bronze color. He wore a dirty-brown kimono, decorated with white hems that sported black diamond designs. The sleeves extended all the way down over his hands when his arms were lowered, making it seem like it was too large for his frame, despite the broad set of his shoulders. His kimono was tucked into a pair of dark-blue shorts that allowed him to show off his powerful, muscular legs. The man's black hair was styled into a mass of dreadlocks that spilled over the top of his head. His eyes were a hazel color that blended well with the color of his skin.

The man's sword seemed to be a katana of standard length, certainly nowhere as long as Kyo's. However, instead of a standard katana's hilt, it instead sported a gold-colored guard with winglike designs that swept out from the blade's back and edge, making it seem more like the guard of a jian than a katana.

"Hello, Chinmei," said Kyo with a laugh. "I see your manners haven't improved one bit."

"You're gonna have to prove you're worth good manners," taunted Chinmei.

Kyo responded by stepping forward and bringing his sword down in an overhead slash that should have split Chinmei in two. However, Chinmei rolled onto his back, before planting his right hand into the ground and lifting his body up into a one-handed handstand. As he did, he kicked up with one foot, catching Kyo's descending blade on the metal sole of his geta and batting it away. At the same time, he twisted his wrist, allowing him to spin his body. This allowed him to swing out with his sword, slashing at ankle level, aiming for Kyo's legs.

Kyo jumped over the slash and up into the air. But another figure appeared behind and above him. The black-haired man, with his hair tied into a thin rat-tail behind his head, dressed in blue and white, swung a crystal halberd shaped vaguely like an oar at Kyo's head.

Kyo raised Tenro to catch the attack. However, in midair, with nothing to brace himself against, he was knocked away by the force of the blow and back to earth. Flipping around, Kyo landed on his feet and skidded to a stop as his third attacker landed between Keikoku and Chinmei.

"Shinrei," said Kyo, his grin only getting wider. "It seems none of you wanted to wait your turn."

"Who has time to wait?" asked Shinrei with a grin as he whipped his weapon through several spins.

The three of them closed in on Kyo from all sides, their weapons striking as Kyo defended and dodged. Their movements became like a strange, four-way dance as they constantly shifted and changed their positions, trying to keep Kyo in between the three of them, even as he tried to escape from their entrapment. Kyo's sword was a blur as he whirled it around his body, batting away strikes, at times even switching hands as he intercepted most of the blows aimed his way while dodging the others.

As the fight escalated, the group that had come with Kyo from Beacon looked on, jaws gaping. Only Saisei seemed unfazed by what was happening. Her giggle drew Yang's attention, prompting Yang to look down at the diminutive fox-faunus as she rested her hands on her hips, affecting an expression of bemused amusement at what was taking place.

"Honestly," she said, shaking her head slightly, "boys..."

Yang looked back up at Kyo and the three men who were attacking him. Looking more closely, she could see the almost blissful expression on Kyo's face as he traded blows with them, looking more like he was playing a game with old friends than fighting for his life. Unable to help herself, Yang's own lips curled up in a warm smile.

"Yeah," she agreed, "boys..."

"We'll have to stop them soon," said Saisei. "Taihaku will scold us if we do too much damage to the courtyard."

"Huh?" Yang blinked. However, her question was forgotten as she suddenly saw the flow of the battle shift dramatically.

Kyo had been on the defensive the whole time. All three of his opponents were exceptionally skilled. Not only were they apparently as fast and strong as him, but they were also skilled in acting in concert. Their constantly shifting pattern of attack kept Kyo from gaining any momentum of his own and capitalizing on any openings his defense opened up. Now he was trapped between the three of them, his sword out of position to parry as all three of them brought their own blades in towards him from differing angles, their movements meant to keep him from escaping.

"Kyo!" shouted Yang, her smile vanishing again.

Three blades met with a loud clang. All three of Kyo's attackers had struck. But instead of Kyo's body, their blades had met one another, Kyo vanishing from between them. They all froze for the briefest of seconds, blinking in surprise, wondering where their target had gone.

A shadow on the ground attracted their eyes upwards and they saw Kyo above them, at the crest of a leap that had carried him clear of their attacks. "I wonder which of us got soft!" he shouted as he descended like a diving falcon, bringing Tenro down in a mighty swing.

His sword struck with an earthshaking impact, throwing up chunks of white stone and the earth beneath it. The shockwave of his strike scattered his three attackers, knocking them back. Chinmei landed on his back again, rolling right back onto his feet, not even seeming to feel it. Both Keikoku and Shinrei recovered in midair to land on their feet, sinking into crouches as they landed, both of them looking a bit dizzied by the strike.

Kyo's shadow rose up amidst the dust raised by his attack. As it cleared, Yang could see his eyes shining, his Aura swirling. He was grinning wider than ever as his gaze swept over his opponents.

"Honestly, I leave for a few months, and this is the state you're in," he said, shaking his head. "The previous Goyosei must be clicking their tongues at this. I'd be so embarrassed if I were them."

"If you want embarrassment, try this on for size," said Chinmei. All three of them were sporting grins that matched Kyo's own, their Auras surging around them as their bodies tensed.

"Uh oh," said Saisei. "Here it comes."

"Here what comes?" asked Ren, blinking and shaking his head. He'd been barely able to follow the combat at all.

Their answer came when Chinmei raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. " _Mumyo Daion Ryu: Chiyugi!_ "

The ground beneath Kyo's feet abruptly buckled, seeming to collapse in on itself, forming a crater with Kyo at the center. Any debris that was still in the air around him abruptly accelerated back to earth at unnaturally high speed. They could see a faint distortion in the air, forming a dome over Kyo's position, enclosing him.

"What is that?" asked Yang.

"Chinmei is the Goyosei of Earth," explained Saisei. "He wields the power of Earth, which is to say gravity. His technique multiplies the gravity in a particular area by several times to immobilize or even crush his enemies."

Yang gasped and took half a step forward. This time though, she didn't even need Saisei's tail to stop her. She halted before she could begin to move forward in earnest when she saw Kyo still standing in the center of that increased gravity, seeming completely untroubled by it, his body not bowing in the slightest to the tremendous strain it must have been under.

However, it seemed his opponents weren't about to wait for him to try and get out of his current predicament. Keikoku pulled his spear back, and, to the amazement of the onlookers, sparks jumped out from the three-pronged blade, before said blade burst into dancing flames. Another, smaller flame ignited at the butt end of the spear. Across from him, Shinrei raised his halberd, which now trailed streams of water with each movement. From his position, Chinmei raised his own sword, which now seemed to trail pure darkness, as though cutting through the light in the air around it.

" _Shakuran Entei!_ " Keikoku thrust the spear at Kyo, unleashing a jet of flame that rushed over the ground at him, melting stone and burning the earth beneath it.

" _Mumyo Daion Ryu: Koku Hien Sen!_ " Chinmei swung his sword sideways in a backhanded stroke, unleashing a black, crescent-shaped wave that flew at Kyo.

" _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu: Suiha Nanahoryu!_ " Shinrei swung his halberd straight down. Water exploded from the blade in the form of seven azure dragons, winding through the air, practically forming a miniature waterspout as they lunged for Kyo, their fanged maws wide open.

"Kyo!" shouted Yang, looking on with horror as all three attacks converged on him, even as Kyo was held immobile by Chinmei's earlier attack. However, her fear faded when she saw the wide, absolutely manic grin on Kyo's face. His crimson eyes shined brighter than ever and his Aura seemed all-consuming.

Tenro let out a bell-like ring, blazing to life in Kyo's hand without seeming to need any prompting from Kyo himself. Instead, he raised his sword, not even seeming to notice the increased gravity around them, swinging it down in front of him as all three of his opponents' attacks converged on him.

" _Mizuchi!_ "

The air around Kyo seemed to explode outward, the white cloud seeming to swallow everything around him. Keikoku's flames were snuffed out. The wave of black energy from Chimei's attack seemed to solidify, then shatter like glass. The seven dragons of Shinrei's strike were sliced to pieces by invisible blades. The dome of Chinmei's _Chiyugi_ also broke open, cracking, then shattering like an eggshell. The wind exploded out, washing over all three of Kyo's opponents, who seemed to go limp as its warmth filled their bodies and souls.

When the shining, white wind that Kyo had summoned faded, he rested his sword over his shoulder, still grinning. "I suppose we were overdue for this," he said. "It's been far too long since the three of you heard the windsong."

As if on cue, blood filled the air, spraying out from countless lacerations that suddenly appeared across the bodies of all three of his opponents. They were no longer smiling. Instead, their faces were contorted with pain as they looked as though they were being cut by dozens of blades simultaneously, blood scattering around them and spreading in pools of red across the white tiles. Keikoku was the first to collapse, followed by Shinrei. Then Chinmei slumped down to his knees.

Standing between the three of them, Kyo threw back his head and laughed long and loud. It was a boisterous guffaw that Yang had never heard before. It actually sent shivers down her spine, as it was so different from how she was used to Kyo behaving. He seemed invigorated by the fight, clearly looking ready for more.

"I guess it's a good thing I came back," he crowed, lowering his face again, though his grin remained fixed in place. "You three clearly need to be reminded who's top dog. Even three-to-one and you still can't even scratch me."

Kekoku stirred, planting the butt end of his spear against the ground as he forced himself back up. He was covered in blood, but he still managed to stand. Despite the damage he'd just taken, he was grinning himself as he lifted up his spear and leveled it at Kyo, the blade once again sparking, then bursting into roaring flames.

Chinmei was next, rising up into a low crouch. Around him, loose stones and chunks of tile began to rise in the air, mingling with airborne dirt and swirling around him, obscuring his body slightly.

Then Shinrei rose up. Like the others, once he regained his feet, he seemed to ignore the blood streaming down his body, going into a one-legged stance, positioning his halberd behind him, blade angled down so that the shaft passed up and over his right shoulder.

"Well, I guess you haven't gotten soft," commented Keikoku with a chuckle.

"Forget soft, he broke through the three of us with just a _Mizuchi_ ," said Chinmei. "That smarts."

"Well, we can't exactly let an insult like that go unanswered," said Shinrei.

All four of them were grinning like maniacs, their Auras swirling around them like miniature storms. Their bodies tensed, muscles tightening, legs bending, hands clenching. The air was filled with a heavy, overpowering bloodlust. Yang and the others watching burst out into cold sweat, their nerves singing in anticipation of the fight to come.

Saisei let out a light sigh. "Oh honestly," she said with a disappointed shake of her head. She stepped forward and accelerated, seeming to vanish as she crossed the distance between herself and the four combatants. Appearing in front of Kyo with the same kind of incredible speed that he regularly used.

"All right! Enough!" shouted Saisei. Her tail rose up, lengthening, then dividing into four so that, when it came back down, she brought a tail straight down on the the head of each combatant with enough force to crack the stone tiles beneath their feet, even as their eyes and cheeks bulged with pain and surprise.

Four weapons clattered to the ground simultaneously as their owners covered their heads with pained grunts and grimaces.

"Just look at the four of you..." said Saisei, standing over them, her hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face as her tails retracted and merged. At the moment, with all four boys crouching around her, she looked much taller than her four and a half feet suggested. Indeed, she seemed to tower over the four boys as they cowered away from her. "...brawling like a bunch of rowdy drunks. The courtyard is wrecked as it is. You realize that I'm probably the one Taihaku will be scolding over this. And we have guests no less. Do the Goyosei have no more manners than a pack of monkeys?"

Yang couldn't help it. As she watched the fight completely drain out of the four young men, who were utterly cowed by Saisei as she continued to scold them, she burst into giggles. Ruby and Penny were only a second behind her, with Nora quickly following suit. Then Neo joined in. Jaune, and even Ren, began to chuckle. Finally, Blake and Weiss both let out small giggles of their own.

"I guess we know who runs things here," commented Jaune wryly.

Yang was laughing, but, at the same time, she also felt a warmth rising inside her at the sight of Kyo as he laughed nervously, doing his best to calm Saisei down before she used her tails on him again. There was an earnest smile on his face and his body seemed to have lost some sort of tension that she hadn't even noticed before. _I guess it must be good to be home,_ she thought.

* * *

 **Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived.**

 **Shinrei, of course, you've already met. Keikoku and Chinmei have no relation to their counterparts (and namesakes) from the SDK manga. Some of you might recognize Keikoku's weapon, as he is indeed wielding the Hokurakushimon. Despite that, he doesn't have a particularly big role in the story (aside from one particular fight scene in the future). Chinmei's fighting style is partly based on Mugen's, from _Samurai Champloo_ , with his metal-soled sandals.**

 **The idea is that the names of the Goyosei are legacy names, so a member of the Mibu Clan who enters the Goyosei gives up their birth name and takes the name appropriate to their position amongst the Goyosei. Once they leave, of course, they take their original name back, or take a new one entirely.**


	29. Chapter 29

**So, I posted this announcement in my other story, but I should probably do it here. Right now, I'm in Orlando, for a friend's wedding, until the 31st. Because of that, my schedule is going to be a bit unpredictable, so I might not have the freedom to continue regular updates until I get back home. I'll try, but I can't make any guarantees, so this is a warning that updates might stall for a couple days.**

* * *

 **Chapter 29:**

"There," said Saisei imperiously, clapping her hands together as though dusting them off as her tails merged again, "I've fixed you up. It'll take a little while for the healing to set in, so don't strain yourselves. Some of those wounds were deeper than they looked."

Kyo, Keikoku, Shinrei, and Chinmei all nodded attentively, reminding Yang of how she and the others looked whenever they did something to catch Glynda Goodwitch's ire. Saisei's voice carried that same sense of authority.

"Really," said Saisei with a huff. "The only reason you boys are able to get away with this is because of my healing arts. You'd better be grateful."

"We are eternally grateful to you, Saisei-sama," said the four of them, bowing their heads as though it were a perfectly rehearsed response, which it was.

Yang couldn't keep a wry smile from her face as she watched them. "Wow...they really are good friends."

"You'd never think they were trying to kill each other a moment ago," added Jaune.

"They weren't really trying to kill each other, were they?" asked Nora, staring at the group dubiously.

"They weren't going all out," said Ruby. "But...those were all potentially lethal attacks."

Weiss nodded. "If any of them let his guard down for even a second, he would've died."

"It's crazy that they can go at each other like that," said Ren.

All of them thought the same thing. _It's because Saisei can heal them afterwards...No wonder she's in charge._

"Good," said Saisei finally finished with her scolding. "Now that that's taken care of, you four can stop neglecting our guests."

"Yes, Saisei-sama," they all said in submissive unison, bowing their heads.

Kyo was the first to get up, going back to Yang. "Sorry about that," he said.

"It was fun to watch," said Yang. "So these are the friends that Saisei was telling me about?"

"That's right," said Kyo, turning and beckoning the other three young men forward. "On the left is Keikoku, then Shinrei, and then Chinmei. Keikoku is the Goyosei of Fire; Shinrei, Water; and Chinmei, Earth. Together with Saisei, these are four of the Five Shining Stars, the leaders of the Mibu Clan's military forces, and our Clan's chief protectors."

"Nice to meet you guys," said Keikoku, casually resting his spear over his shoulders and hanging his arms over the shaft.

"I'm sorry for making you all wait," said Shinrei.

"You must be some cool folks if you're friends with Kyo," said Chinmei, favoring them with a broad grin as he sheathed his sword on his back, so that the handle rose up over his right shoulder.

"Everyone, these are my friends from Beacon," explained Kyo, gesturing to Yang and the others. He began to introduce them, one by one, saving Yang for last. "...and this is Yang Xiao Long...we're dating now." His cheeks flushed pink.

The three young men of the Goyosei all stared at Kyo as though he'd grown a second head. "You have a girlfriend?" they asked in shocked unison.

"Damn! And she's a real looker too," added Chinmei, scratching the side of his head. "You couldn't talk to a pretty girl to save your life, Kyo. What've you been doing on the outside?"

"Totally," said Keikoku, nodding in agreement as he began to poke Kyo's arm. "You're hopeless with girls, Kyo. Did she just take pity on you?"

"Perhaps I'll show you how to be pitiable," said Kyo, a familiar, wrathful grin appearing on his face.

"Just you try it," said Keikoku, his fingers tightening around the shaft of his spear.

"Boys..." Saisei's voice was filled with the promise of pain as her Aura billowed around her like an angry storm cloud. "... _behave_."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Kyo and Keikoku in unison.

"It's nice to meet you," said Shinrei, ignoring Kyo and going straight to Yang, shaking her hand before looking at it. "Whoa! This is an Aura construct! Awesome!"

"Th-thanks," said Yang, surprised to be getting praise from someone so highly-ranked in the Mibu Clan.

"You can pester them with questions later," said Saisei, gently rapping the top of Shinrei's head with the tip of her tail. "Let's move on. The Taishiro are expecting us. So is the Crimson King.

"Right..." said Shinrei, rubbing the top of his head and glowering at Saisei when her back was turned.

"Let's go through the gates then," said Keikoku, stepping forward towards the metal gate that loomed ahead.

"What are these?" asked Ruby, staring up at the gate with awe.

"These are the Five Shining Gates," said Shinrei. "You could say that this our jurisdiction within Onmyo. There are five walls with five gates, with each of us taking responsibility for one as its guard."

"It's just a ceremonial thing really," said Chinmei, folding his arms behind his head and staring up at the wall. "'Cause our duties can take us all over the continent, we don't guard the gates constantly. Most of the time, they stand wide open so that people can come and go freely. But since we've got visitors from the outside, the Elders wanted to put on a show."

"What about security?" asked Weiss, staring at the gate incredulously. "If they're standing wide open all the time, what if someone dangerous tried to get in?"

"If someone's up to no good within the Palace, then best of luck to them," said Keikoku, resting his hand on the gate. It swung open at his touch without even needing him to push. "We just make sure the important sections are protected. If someone's stupid or confident enough to go after the King or Elders, then more power to him. It's not as though they need _our_ protection."

"Do assassination attempts happen all that often?" asked Jaune.

"Once or twice a month, on average," said Chinmei as they made their way through the courtyard between the first two walls. This one was filled with greenery, an entire forest packed into the space between the two stone constructs.

Saisei came up to the next gate, which opened at her touch. "The Crimson King and the Four Elders see to their own protection," she said. "If an enemy was too much for any of them, it only stands to reason that none of us would have a chance against him."

"Besides, the King especially enjoys it when someone tries to kill him," said Chinmei as he led them across a narrow stone bridge that stretched over what seemed like a bottomless chasm that opened up between the second and third walls. "It's the only time he gets to play around after all."

Ruby gently elbowed Yang's side. "Your boyfriend has the weirdest family," she stage-whispered to Yang.

Yang rolled her eyes, though her smile didn't falter as she wrapped her arms around Kyo's free arm. "Don't I know it," she said with a small laugh.

After passing through the third gate, they found themselves in another tiled courtyard. This one was decorated by fountains set to either side of the door, which was decorated with rising and descending dragons. Shinrei opened this gate, which opened up into yet another courtyard. Like the one in front of the first gate, this one was mostly empty. The fifth wall was considerably lower than the four before it, with the gate being made of dark-stained wood, set within the bottom floor of a five-story pagoda that was built into the middle of the fifth and final wall, set atop a series of steps leading from the floor of the courtyard.

"Here we are," said Saisei. "Beyond this gate lies the Palace."

"So...if this is the last gate, does this mean that the last of the Five Stars is here?" asked Ren, looking around.

Saisei nodded. "The last of the Five is our leader, Taihaku."

A faint rustle of footsteps came from within the pagoda. A girl roughly the same age as Yang and the others (minus Ruby) emerged, brushing aside one of the two curtains that hung over the corners of the doorway.

"The visitors are here," the girl observed.

She was tall, easily topping six feet. Her long, platinum-blonde hair was tied back in a tail from the center of her head, a style not dissimilar from Weiss'. Her cream-colored kimono hid a powerful build. At her hip, she wore a simple katana, with no adornments of any kind. Her presence filled the air around her, saturating it. She gazed out at them with calm, bright-green eyes. When her gaze settled on Kyo, her face lit up.

"Kyo!" she shouted eagerly, descending the steps. "You're back!"

Kyo gently extracted his arm from Yang's grip and stepped forward to greet her, only to grunt in surprise as the girl threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. "Hello, Chika. It's been a while."

"You should come back more often," said Chika, pushing her lower lip forward in an adorable pout. "I get lonely when you're not here."

Yang stifled the urge to growl, her hackles rising at this strange girl being so familiar with her boyfriend. Ruby heard a small growl to her side and noticed that Penny was doing much the same thing as Yang.

Saisei gave Yang a sheepish look. "Oops," she said softly. "I forgot to mention that Chika has had a huge crush on Kyo for a while now, though it's been mostly one-sided."

"Ironic really," said Shinrei with a chuckle. "Back before we were in the Five, she was the one who wanted to kill Kyo the most. She used to hate his guts."

"Is this your leader?" asked Weiss, looking to Saisei.

Saisei shook her head. "No. This is Chika. She's Taihaku's apprentice and designated successor. She will join the Goyosei after Taihaku retires."

"Don't let the fact that she's not a member fool you," said Keikoku. "She's just as strong as us, if not stronger. She's been called the "Sixth Star" because she's strong enough to take the post already."

"It's good to see you too," said Kyo, gently hugging Chika back, then letting her go quickly.

Chika leaned to the side so that she could look past Kyo at the visitors. "You brought so many people back with you," she noted.

"That's right," said Kyo.

Yang stepped up and took Kyo's arm again. "Hi," she said with all the forced cheer she could muster. "I'm Yang...Kyo's girlfriend."

Chika reeled back as though she'd been slapped across the face. "What?" She whipped her head around to look at Kyo. "Is this true?"

"W-well...yes," said Kyo, blushing and rubbing the back of his head. "We've been going out for a couple of months now."

Chika's eyes narrowed and her friendly demeanor all but evaporated as she fixed her eyes on Yang, who stared back with all her strength. Neither of them had the wherewithal to glare openly at the moment, not with Kyo being right there with them and so many other people around. But there was a definite tension in the air.

"Well...this is gonna be interesting," Chinmei said, leaning over to whisper to Jaune.

"You said it," said Jaune. "I really hope Yang doesn't pick a fight right now."

"Eh, it might be fun," said Keikoku, "like watching fireworks."

Meanwhile, Kyo was trapped between two very fiercely possessive girls, both of whom were glaring angrily at each other. Saisei, for once, looked to be at a complete loss as for what to do to defuse the situation.

"Welcome," rumbled a deep voice from within the pagoda, sounding like distant thunder.

All the tension in the air vanished in an instant. Chika stiffened as though she'd been jolted by electricity, before stepping back away from Kyo and Yang, adopting a composed, neutral expression of the utmost formality, lowering her head and closing her eyes as she stepped back, moving to flank the steps as a new figure emerged.

A towering mountain of a man, nearly seven feet in height, emerged from the building. He wore a simple pale-green kimono, similar in design to his apprentice, but worn much more loosely so that his powerfully muscular arms and equally well-muscled chest were on full display. His hair was white with age, flowing down to the level of his shoulders, while he also sported a beard that extended about six inches from his chin. The beard, flowed upward to meet his thick mustache, the two together framing his mouth. His skin was weathered and browned from exposure to the elements. Over his broad shoulders, he wore a simple, dark-purple shawl.

The man's presence, instead of feeling overpowering, felt quiet and tranquil. A sense of peace settled over the courtyard, the building tension between the two girls vying for Kyo's affection all but forgotten.

The man descended with slow, deliberate steps, walking leisurely until he reached Kyo

Kyo gently untangled his arm from Yang's and stepped forward. Then, to the amazement of all Kyo's friends from Beacon, he bowed low to the man. "Taihaku-sama...it is good to see you again."

Taihaku favored Kyo with a warm, relaxed smile. "Kyo," he rumbled, "I am glad to see you well. The outside world has been kind to you."

"That it has," said Kyo, raising his head and beaming up at Taihaku.

"Wow!" whispered Jaune. "I've never seen Kyo act so...respectfully."

"Taihaku has that effect," said Saisei. "He is the current leader of the Goyosei. His strength far exceeds ours. Thus, just as his apprentice is unofficially known as the Sixth Star, Taihaku's strength has earned him the unofficial title of the Fifth Elder, as his strength rivals that of the Taishiro."

"Does that mean he'll be promoted?" asked Weiss.

Saisei shook her head. "It's unlikely," she said. "The very reason he has waited so long to relinquish his position in the Goyosei is that he has no ambitions beyond it. Entering the Taishiro is not merely contingent on one's strength, but on one's commitment to governance. Taihaku has no interest in that."

"Oh," said Ruby.

"The Old Man's a warrior to the core," said Chinmei with a chuckle.

"You've grown stronger," said Taihaku, looking Kyo over carefully. He then swept his gaze over the rest of their party, his eyes seeming to take in everything about them, both inside and out at a single glance. Yang shivered as his gaze brushed over her. However, his smile widened. "And I see that you have been blessed with excellent friends. On behalf of our King and Elders, I bid you all welcome." Taihaku bowed low to them. After a second's hesitation, Yang and the others returned the gesture.

Taihaku led them up the steps to the final gate, which opened at his touch. "Please proceed," said Taihaku, gesturing to the hallway beyond. "The Elders and King await you."

"Alas, this is where I must part with you," said Saisei, giving them all one last warm smile. "Kyo knows the way from here." Then, much to everyone's surprise, she took Neo's hands and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "I'll see you later," she promised before letting go.

Kyo coughed politely and then gestured to the hallway. "This way," he said, leading the group onwards. Saisei and the other members of the Goyosei remained behind, watching for a while before Taihaku closed the door and cut them off from view.

"So...looks like you and Saisei are pretty close," said Yang, giving Neo a sly grin.

Neo merely smiled brightly and nodded.

"That's great!" said Nora jubilantly. "The two of you are the perfect size for each other."

"Nora!" admonished Ren as Neo glared at her.

"Actually..." said Kyo. "You haven't seen Saisei's true form yet so..." He froze in place as a deathly chill ran down his spine.

"What?" asked Yang.

"Never mind," said Kyo, looking shaken and nervous. "It's probably for the best if I keep my mouth shut."

Yang and the others were grateful that Kyo knew his way around the Palace. The vast complex had seemed maze-like from above. Walking through it, they now realized that its layout was positively labyrinthine. Corridors intersected one another at differing levels, often with no clear way to ascend or descend to one another. A seemingly straight path might require an irritating number of turns, ascents, and descents. They passed by beautiful courtyards and gardens, rooms full of art, as well as offices that were home to the Clan's various administrators.

"How on earth do you find your way through all this?" asked Ruby, her head spinning as she tried to keep track of all the twists and turns.

"Being born here helps," said Kyo. One of the reasons the Five are so lax about letting intruders through is because the structure of the Palace alone is enough to foil all but the most skilled infiltrators. It's a throwback to ancient times, where castles and palaces doubled as fortresses ,and their layouts were deliberately confusing, so as to make an invading force fight their way through a long path to make it to their objective."

They reached another intersection. At least, this time, it was of corridors that were laid out on the same level. Windows lined the walls on one of the corridors. Looking out one side, Nora let out a gasp. "Wow! You can see the whole city from here."

The others joined her at the window. It did indeed show a breathtaking view of the Palace they had already wandered through. Beyond it, they could see the wide open spaces and sprawling mansions of the upper-class district, and, beyond them, the sloped roofs that dominated the main part of the Clan's capital.

"It really is a beautiful place," observed Yang.

When Kyo didn't respond, she turned to look at him, wondering why he hadn't said anything. However, Kyo wasn't even looking at her or the view outside. Instead, her was staring back at the intersection they had just gone through. "Dougal-san?" he asked.

"Who?" said Yang, trying to see who he was talking to.

Then, the shadow cast by the corner wall on their side of the intersection deepened until it became pitch-black. A figure rose up from it, as though he were emerging from a pool of water. Before their eyes, the figure resolved into the figure of a man a little over five feet in height. His entire body was wrapped in what looked like black bandages, covering everything, even his face, save for his pale-gray eyes and his hair. Over the bandages on his legs, he wore a pair of loose hakama, but otherwise, was unclothed. His hair was smooth and pitch-black, reaching just down the top of his neck. From beneath it, extending from the top of his head, a pair of wolf ears rose up.

"Hello, Kyo," said the man, his voice soft and whispery, like the sound of silk rubbing against silk. "Sora will be happy to see you again."

"I'm looking forward to seeing O-Kaa-san too," said Kyo cheerfully. "Did you come to greet us?"

"I did," said Dougal, lowering his gaze. "However, I am also here on an errand. The head of the Taishiro requests the presence of you and your friends at the Water Pavilion immediately."

Kyo blinked. "Makoto-sama? Why would he summon us so soon?"

"I cannot say," said Dougal, lowering his head a little further. "I have merely been asked to convey the summons, not the reason behind it."

"I see..." said Kyo. "Well then...I guess we'll change our course a little. We'll see you later, Dougal-san."

The man in black nodded, and backed into the shadow from which he had emerged, his form turning black and sinking down into the darkness, vanishing from sight.

For a moment, they simply stared at the space where he had been. "Who was that?" asked Ruby, turning to Kyo.

"Ah...That's Dougal Conrad," said Kyo. "He serves as O-Kaa-san's-that's what I typically call my mother, by the way-Imperial Guard."

"Imperial Guard?" asked Ren.

Kyo nodded. "They are the direct servants of the Taishiro, agents who serve to carry out their will in whatever way the Elder deems necessary. Despite their name, they aren't so much for protection as they are for support and enforcement. In Dougal-san's case, he is the head of the Mibu-clan's couriers, who maintain communication between the Clan's settlements."

It was Weiss who pieced together the realization first. "Wait..." she said. "Dougal?"

Kyo nodded. "That's right. He's an outsider. Father met both him and O-Kaa-san during his time traveling the outside world, before ascending the throne. They were two members of my father's Shiseiten. Afterwards, when Father returned to the Mibu and took the Crimson Throne, O-Kaa-san joined the Taishiro, and Dougal chose to remain as her Imperial Guard."

Blake thought it over. _With loyalty like that, I wonder if there was more to the relationship between Dougal and Kyo's mother than just friendship or camaraderie,_ she mused silently. It must have been somewhat one-sided, if Kyo's mother had ended up marrying Kyo's father instead of Dougal. However, those were questions for another time.

Kyo led them through another few corridors when they emerged into another courtyard-like space. This one was impressively wide and, more impressively still, consisted entirely of a large lake, bordered on all sides with more hallways, some of which ran out over the edges of the water, held up by stilts. A walkway stretched out over the water, almost to the center of the lake. At its end was a fair-sized pavilion, easily large enough to hold at least twenty people.

Kyo led them out over the bridge to the pavilion. As he did, the others glanced over the sides, not able to see the bottom of the lake. Ruby was especially fascinated. However, then she saw a massive shape swim beneath the walkway, something larger than a fish in a lake this size had any right to be. She shuddered and pulled back, unnerved at the idea of hanging out in a floating pavilion with something like that swimming around beneath them.

Still, they made it out to the pavilion without incident. It was sparsely furnished, seemingly for casual gatherings. Cushions of various sizes were scattered about, generally around low tables that could be found at each corner of the pavilion, with another, larger table situated in the center. There seemed to be no one else here.

"I guess we got here early," said Yang.

"No. You're right on time," said a voice behind her.

Yang yelped and jumped, whirling around to face the source of the voice, almost activating Ember Celica on reflex. Luckily, she managed to check her reflexes to keep from doing so, and risk offending one of their hosts.

Behind the group, still standing on the bridge that connected the pavilion to the rest of the palace, was a tall, elegant woman. Her skin seemed almost ghostly pale, with just enough color to it to keep it from being completely eerie. It was hard to see the features of her body, as she wore kimonos in at least three layers, the outermost being a pale, sky-blue color. The second one, visible at the ends of her sleeves and the border of her collar, was cream, with the layer inside that being a pale, rosy-pink. The entire ensemble was held together with a dark-blue sash, through which a small fan had been thrust. Like Taihaku, she wore a shawl over her shoulders, this one decorated with feather patterns. Her face was round and full, her pale skin matching nicely with her almond-colored eyes. However, the most distinctive part of her appearance was the the headdress of colorful plumes that flowed down over the top and behind her head, reaching all the way to her waist, looking like chains of multicolored jewels. It would have looked gaudy on anyone else, but this woman made it look stately.

Kyo lowered his sword, setting it on the pavilion floor before standing upright. He then threw himself at the woman and seized her in a tight hug, which she returned with just as much enthusiasm, a radiant smile decorating her face.

"O-Kaa-san!" said Kyo excitedly. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."

Kyo's mother laughed and pulled out of the hug, only so that she could cup Kyo's face with the delicate-looking fingers of her elegant hands. "Of course I would be here," she said. "Did you think I would not show up to greet my own son?"

"Everyone," said Kyo, turning around to face his friends. "This is Sora, my mother."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," said Sora, bowing to them. "Thank you for looking after my son."

"I'd hardly call what we did looking after him," said Jaune wryly, though he and the others bowed back, doing their best to mimic what they hoped was the appropriate gesture.

"I was expecting to see you at the throne room," said Kyo, turning back to her. "Did Makoto-sama summon you here too?"

"Makoto did not summon me here," said Sora. "Nor did he summon you. I was the one who asked Dougal to fetch you."

Kyo froze. "But...Dougal-san said..."

"He said the head of the Taishiro had summoned you," said Sora, picking out a cushion at the central table and settling herself down on it. "And so she has."

Kyo stared uncomprehendingly at his mother for another minute before what she said fully registered to him. "Wait! You?"

"Me," said Sora, a trace of amusement in her voice.

Kyo's jaw dropped. "O-Kaa-san! When did you become head of the Taishiro? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It happened shortly after the last time you visited," explained Sora. "Makoto appointed me as the new head and stepped down."

"So he retired?" asked Kyo.

"Oh no," said Sora, pulling out her fan, and using it to waft a breeze across her face. "He's still a member of the Taishiro, he's simply devoting his full work and attention to his position as Chief Physician, and to training his pupils.

"As for why I didn't tell you...Earlier, I didn't want you to feel obligated to turn around and come back when you'd just left. And, when you were coming back, I asked Saisei not to tell you so that it could be a surprise." Her smile widened. "And, from the look on your face, it was worth it."

"Congratulations!" said Kyo, settling down on a cushion across the table from her.

"Thank you," said Sora. "Your father is still in class, so he will join us here when he finishes."

"Kyo's Dad is still in school?" asked Ruby. "But I thought he was the King."

"He is," said Sora with a small laugh, beckoning the others to sit. "He teaches children at the elementary level. It's probably his favorite activity."

It seemed extremely odd to the others. But then they remembered Kyo' explanation about the nebulous nature of his father's position. If the Crimson King was not heavily involved in the actual governing of the Mibu Clan, then it probably made sense that he had found something else to do with his time.

Yang settled down next to Kyo on his right, while Ruby seated herself on his opposite side, Jaune sitting next to her. Neo sat next to Yang. Ren and Nora seated themselves around corner of the table from Ruby and Jaune. Blake and Weiss took seats at the side around the corner from Yang and Neo. Penny shed her cape and hat and seated herself to Sora's left. Sora, almost unconsciously, lifted a hand and gently rubbed the top of Penny's head, making her giggle.

"So, please introduce your friends to me," said Sora. "Penny-chan, of course, I already know."

"Of course," said Kyo. "To my right are Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee."

"Pleased to meet you," said Blake, dipping her head slightly.

"Charmed," added Weiss.

"Next to them is Neo Capello," continued Kyo.

Neo beamed and nodded politely at Sora.

"On the other side are Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie," said Kyo, skipping Yang for the moment.

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance," said Ren, lowering his head to Sora.

"It's so cool to finally meet Kyo's mom!" gushed Nora. "I'm super excited!" Her enthusiasm made Sora giggle in amusement.

"And next to them are Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose," said Kyo.

"Hello," said Jaune with an awkward grin, while Ruby simply giggled at him as she waved across the table at Sora.

"And, finally," said Kyo, taking Yang's hand in his. "This is Yang Xiao Long...my girlfriend."

Sora's face lit up like the sun, and her radiant smile returned. "Oh! That's wonderful. My little boy is all grown up! I can't wait to talk more later."

"I'm looking forward to it too," said Yang, surprisingly feeling no unease at the prospect of a conversation with Kyo's mother. She didn't feel the slightest bit threatened by the woman in front of her, only comforted by her presence. It was almost like she was Yang's mother too.

"So now, Kyo, why don't you tell me all about what you've been up to since you've left," she said. "You can start by telling me how you met all these wonderful friends of yours."

"Of course," said Kyo.

He began to relate the story of how he met RWBY and, later, JNNR, with members from both teams supplying extra details or even taking up the narration as the story went on. Sora listened attentively, occasionally asking questions for the purposes of clarification.

"...and then we came here," said Kyo, at the conclusion of the tale.

"My, you've all certainly been through a lot," observed Sora, unfolding her fan in front of her mouth, "especially you, Xiao Long-dono."

"Well, I wouldn't say I've been through that much," said Yang.

"You might not think that way in the future," said Sora. "I can tell you now that, if that boy is anything like my husband, he will always be a magnet for trouble. You will not have a peaceful life if you stay with him."

That made Yang laugh. "Well...peaceful isn't exactly my thing." She grinned widely. "If it was, then I probably wouldn't have wanted to become a Huntress."

"Very true," said Sora. She glanced sidelong at Nora, noticing that the bubbly member of JNNR was staring at her rather intently. "Is something on your mind, Valkyrie-dono?"

"I was wondering where those feathers you're wearing came from," said Nora.

"Yeah," said Ruby, rubbing her head. "It's a really cool headdress."

"Headdress?" Sora looked confused. Her eyes rolled up, as though she were trying to stare up at the feathers on her head. "Oh...Kyo, you didn't tell them, did you?"

"Tell us what?" asked Yang, looking at Kyo, who looked slightly confused himself.

Blake was the first one to clue in. "Wait!" she said, her eyes going wide. "I don't think that's a headdress. I think those are _her_ feathers."

"Her feathers?" gasped Weiss, whipping her head around to stare in shock at Sora. "But that would mean..."

"Kyo's mom is a faunus," said Jaune.

"Yes," said Kyo, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Is that important?"

"Uh..." Everyone seemed at a loss for words.

Yang's mind went back to that afternoon when they'd stumbled upon a bunch of first-years tormenting Velvet. She had thought that Kyo's anger had been unusually intense at that time. Now she understood why.

Weiss was especially shocked. She was recalling what Kyo had told them during their seminar with Oobleck. He'd mentioned that, because the current Crimson King tended not to exercise much authority, the true ruling power of the Mibu Clan was the Taishiro.

 _And Kyo's mother is the head of the Taishiro,_ thought Weiss. _That means that the most powerful member, the effective ruler of the Mibu Clan...is a faunus._

"Ah...you all look so unnerved," said Sora, once again screening the lower part of her face with her fan, although her eyes, which looked over the edge of the fan, narrowed slightly. "I forgot how different things can be in the outside world."

"So it's true," whispered Blake, hugging her arms. "There's no prejudice here."

At that, Sora threw back her head and laughed. "Now that is a leap in logic. I'm sorry to disabuse your notions, dear. The Mibu Clan has plenty of prejudices. Kyo has experienced plenty of them himself."

Kyo nodded as Yang looked at him. Yang remembered what Saisei had told her on the flight over.

"It's nothing so miraculous as that," continued Sora. "It would be more accurate to say that, of all the prejudices the Mibu have, prejudice against the faunus _isn't_ one of them. I've never fully understood why that was." She lowered her fan. "Would my status be so inconceivable in the outside world?"

"Probably," said Ren. "Technically, only Atlas currently has laws in place against faunus holding higher offices and government positions. However, it is currently all but impossible that faunus would ever get elected or hired for such positions, even in nations that don't have those restrictions, except maybe Vacuo."

"I see," said Sora. Then, to their surprise, she smiled slightly. "That may work to our advantage then."

"What do you mean?" asked Blake.

"I assume this has something to do with the invitations that Saisei gave Professor Ozpin," said Ren.

"You would be correct in that, Ren-dono," said Sora. "The upcoming Water Festival is a major day of celebration for the Mibu Clan, one of our most important holidays. This year, I have invited dignitaries representing the Council and Academy of each of the four Kingdoms to attend."

"Why?" asked Ruby, leaning forward.

"Because...this is the year that our Clan's isolation ends, once and for all," said Sora. "No longer shall the Mibu hide in the shadows. Instead, we will step out and announce ourselves to the world. I suppose you could say that we intend to be recognized as the fifth Kingdom."

Seemingly unaware of the shocked expressions on the faces of his friends, Kyo merely smiled cheerfully. "So your side won out then, O-Kaa-san?"

"That we did," said Sora with a sigh, "albeit by a narrower margin than I would have liked. There are quite a few, particularly amongst the older families, who oppose the idea of ending our isolationism. However, the other Taishiro, and the Goyosei, have all given their support to my plan. Because of that, a majority of the general population approved of it, when it was put to a vote."

"So that's what this is all about," said Weiss. "But this could throw the world into total upheaval."

"It depends," said Sora. "But I would say that the world's position is more than precarious already. Despite having triumphed over your major enemy, tensions remain high between the four Kingdoms, particularly with regard to Atlas. And that's to say nothing about the state of affairs of the faunus. One wrong move, and you could descend into all-out war amongst yourselves."

"But what if coming out and declaring yourselves is that move?" asked Ren.

"It may seem callous of me, but that is a risk I am willing to take," said Sora. "Part of the reason things are in such a precarious state now is because of people clinging blindly to certain institutions, ideals, and assumptions. Those things have been challenged and shaken. But sometimes, that makes people cling to them all the more tightly. Sometimes a shock, a revelation that defies all conventional logic, is what is needed to finally get those people to let go."

"So you want to save the world, by revealing the Mibu Clan?" asked Weiss sarcastically.

"Hardly," said Sora, opening her fan with a snap. "If anything, I want to save the Mibu Clan by opening it up to the world."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked. "But you have everything you could want here," she pointed out. "Everything is so prosperous and peaceful. You have everything you could ever need. Why would you want anything more."

"Strange as it would seem, that is exactly the problem," said a new voice, coming from the direction of the walkway.

Everyone turned their heads towards the new arrival, seeing a man dressed in an elaborate, white kimono and hakama approaching them. His hair was black, like Kyo's, arranged in a simple bowl cut over his head. At his side, he wore a simple katana. However, the one thing that drew everyone's attention was the pair of thick glasses over his eyes, which caught the ambient light, making them gleam.

"Hello, O-Tou-san," said Kyo cheerfully getting up and approaching him.

"Well, I could hardly miss my own son's homecoming," said the man, giving Kyo a grin.

 _This guy's Kyo's dad?_ wondered Yang. _He looks like a total nerd._

"Dear," said Sora with a small giggle, "you're still wearing your glasses."

Kyo's father flinched. "Oh! I get so used to them I keep forgetting."

"Do you have vision problems?" asked Ruby.

"No," said Kyo's father. "My eyes work just fine. However, they tend to unsettle the children. So wearing these glasses gives me a silly, more approachable air. It makes it easier to teach." He lifted the glasses off his face, revealing a pair of gleaming crimson eyes, identical to Kyo's. As Kyo turned back to look at the gathering too, the sight of the two of them, standing side by side, two pairs of identical eyes looking out, made their relation unmistakable. These two truly were father and son.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner," said Kyo's father as he folded his glasses and stowed them in a pocket. "My name is Mibu Kyoichiro, though you've probably heard more people refer to me as the Crimson King."

* * *

 **So...strange as it seems, this is where we cut away from the main story and go back to the B-Story, with Ciel for a few chapters. It may seem like an unnecessary digression, but I promise that it will be important to the main plot later on. Anyway...**

 **So, if it wasn't already clear, the Mibu basically speak anime-fansub English, using some of the original Japanese (or, as they call it, the Old Tongue) vocabulary, as well as Japanese honorifics. I honestly enjoy using Japanese honorifics, as they can convey an impressive degree of nuance in describing the relationship between characters, all based on how they refer to one another. Granted, my application of them is probably not the most accurate of them, but that can always be explained by the evolving nature of their use in a culture far removed from current Japanese society (remember, this story operates on the premise that Remnant is a distant-future earth).**

 **That aside, I also wanted to coney the idea that Kyo has two modes of speech, depending on who he is talking to or about. When speaking with his outsider friends, he tends to the manner of speaking in the outside world, standard English, while using the Mibu's dialect (I think that's the proper term), when speaking to or about members of the Mibu. I hope it doesn't come across as too confusing.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30:**

 _Seven months ago:_

"That looks good on you," said Shinrei with a grin, as Ciel finally came out of the changing room.

Ciel blushed and angled her face down and away from him. She had changed into a simple white kimono and hakama, with the ankles tied closed. Ciel thought she didn't look like anything worth complimenting, but Shinrei's words made her cheeks burn all the same.

"Okay," said Shinrei, nodding at her. "I'll be honest. All the stuff that you went through before, getting across the water, getting down here, that was the easy part. Once we go in, you're gonna have to make your own way."

Ciel nodded.

Shinrei sighed. "It's about more than not asking for special treatment though. I figured you'd understand that. But, now that you're here and a part of this, we're gonna have to keep our distance from each other for a while."

Ciel nodded again. "I understand," she said. Even if she didn't ask for, or receive, any special treatment as a student, seeing her and Shinrei acting familiar with one another could easily lead people to that assumption, even if it wasn't true. She hoped that she could make it work, that she could act as though Shinrei was someone she had only met and traveled with, not someone who'd been there for her during one of her most vulnerable times, and shown exceptional care and concern for her wellbeing.

In the training hall, she would just have to see him as a Master, and one of her instructors. She would have to look at him purely as an object of respect and admiration, not someone whom she'd seen bickering with Saisei over breakfast, and lounging around during the afternoon.

She and Shinrei made their way across the grassy lawn that separated the changing rooms from the main hall of the dojo. A running track wrapped around the lawn, while, on the inside edge of one side of it was occupied by a series of sinks and water fountains.

As they crossed the lawn and ascended the steps that led to the training hall, Ciel's heartbeat increased dramatically, anxiety singing through her veins as she steeled herself to face what awaited her on the other side. After what she had been through at Atlas Academy, she hoped she could fit in, otherwise she had the feeling that she was in for a severe case of deja vu.

Shinrei rested a hand on her shoulder and gave it one last squeeze. "You ready?" he asked.

Taking a deep breath, Ciel let it out slowly, then looked at him and nodded.

Shinrei reached over and slid open the door, and gently ushered Ciel into the training hall.

Makoto was already there, sitting on his knees at one end of the hall. Sitting in the same position before him were at least two-dozen people. Some were Ciel's age. Some were younger, others older. They were a mix of male and female, human and faunus. They sat in three rows of eight. If this was anything like the martial arts dojos Ciel had seen in Atlas and other Kingdoms, then the higher-ranked students were sitting in the front row, while the beginners sat in the rear.

Shinrei took charge of her introduction. "Everyone, this is Ciel Soleil. She's immigrated from Atlas. Today, she's gonna be joining our school. I expect you all to treat her as a fellow student."

Ciel bowed slightly, doing as Shinrei and Saisei had taught her. "Hello," she said.

Makoto nodded towards her. "Since you are just beginning today, seat yourself on the side there and observe," he said.

Ciel nodded and moved to where he had pointed, and sat down on her knees, mimicking the posture of the other students to the best of her ability. Both Shinrei and Saisei had given her some coaching on how to sit, but her legs still went sore and numb if she sat like that for any length of time. Still, she would bear it.

As she did, Makoto started the training session, calling forth the students, starting with the youngest beginners. The others moved back out of the way to clear room on the floor and the students began going through the katas they had been taught thus far. Rather than halberds like Shinrei, they all instead wielded pairs of wooden short swords in tandem. As the older students went through the katas, Makoto had taken out a drum and was tapping out a rhythm on it. The students had to move in time with the rhythm Makoto drummed out. He would vary the tempo at odd intervals, forcing the students to adjust their pace constantly, to keep in time as they went through sequences of movements that looked more like the steps of an elaborate dance than they did fighting techniques.

After that, Makoto paired off students of equal skill levels to perform kumite, slow motion sparring. During this practice, they moved slowly, so as to master the flow of their Auras in conjunction with attack and defense.

After that, the students of higher levels were paired off, sometimes with opponents of differing ranks for real sparring. That was much more interesting and exciting to watch as these people were now moving at their full speed, attacking and defending for real, instead of the measured trade of moves that had been the kumite. However, even as they sparred, their wooden blades clacking against each other, Ciel noticed the tempo of their strikes, the thudding of their feet against the floor, even their exhalations, all carried those differing rhythms that Makoto had pounded out. Ciel stopped watching, and closed her eyes so that she could listen.

Off at the corner of the training hall, Shinrei watched her, and let a small grin onto his face. _Oh yeah, she's a quick study._

After that, the students wound down, going through a different set of exercises, their movements slowing. It was at that time that Shinrei came over to her.

"You still up for this?" he asked. His tone was more formal and distant. But Ciel had been expecting that. She nodded.

"Okay then. Let's get you started." Ciel stood up and followed Shinrei as he beckoned her over to an unoccupied portion of the hall. There, Ciel saw several sets of the same wooden weapons the students had been using resting on racks. The top row, however, was occupied by the real blades, hanging unsheathed on pegs, so that Ciel could see their unique shape.

The blades were two-pronged short swords. The leading prong was longer, with an artistically wavy ripple partway up the length of the blade. Behind it, the other prong of the blade swept up and around in a short crescent.

"These are the bokuyukusui blades," said Shinrei. "These are the primary weapons of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_. They're the ones that all students start out with, as they are designed to work with the most fundamental aspects of the style. Pick your practice weapons."

Ciel nodded and looked over the wooden blades that lined the wall before her. They were all well made and elegantly carved, polished to a light shine, with no visible scratches of scuffs. Ciel picked one up and examined it, seeing no signs of cracks or other weak points in the wood.

"Don't worry too much," said Shinrei. "It's not a test. Just pick a pair that feel good in your hands."

Ciel nodded and tested the blades, feeling their balance. For the most part, they felt identical. Not having practiced the style before, Ciel wasn't sure how they were supposed to feel, so she picked a pair that she could grip easily in her hands.

"Okay," said Shinrei with a small grin. "Let's get you started on the basics."

* * *

While the other students continued to perform katas or spar in front of Makoto, Shinrei walked Ciel through the basic techniques of the style, making her repeat each one over and over again, until he was satisfied that she had the movements down right, before teaching her the next one. The process was labor-intensive, and Ciel swung her blades until her arms got sore. She was thankful for her training at Atlas, because it allowed her to keep up with Shinrei's instructions. Her body was already in excellent physical condition for fighting.

At noon precisely, the morning session concluded, and the students were granted a period to eat lunch and rest before resuming training in the afternoon. Fortunately, food was provided, so Ciel didn't have to worry about bringing anything herself. After the break, training resumed. This was the kind of training that Ciel was familiar with, as they ran laps and did other basic physical exercises to build up their strength and stamina. In this, at least, she was able to keep up with the older, higher-level students easily.

By the time training wrapped up, the sun was setting in the sky. Before they could do anything else, there were chores: wiping down floors, sweeping the porch, and a variety of other tasks as they set about cleaning the training hall after the day, before they were allowed to leave to wash and change for dinner.

* * *

Like lunch, dinner was a communal affair, with the students taking turns on the task of cooking each meal. Food was eaten at a low table in the dining room, which was right next to their changing room and the residential section of the school. Just like the Academies were themselves boarding schools, this was a live-in training hall.

During dinner, the students conversed in between bites of food. Ciel sat nervously at one end of the table, sitting next to a slight girl with long, black hair, a few years younger than her, who was one of the beginner-level students.

"Hi," said the girl brightly as Ciel sat down next to her. "I'm Aya."

"Ciel," said Ciel, by way of greeting.

"I heard," said Aya with a giggle. "So...did you really come from the outside world?"

"You mean Atlas?" asked Ciel.

Aya nodded eagerly. "I've never met someone who's been outside before. Only a couple of people have ever actually left."

"Well, it's not allowed for most people," said a brown-haired boy from across the table. A pair of floppy, brown ears rising up from his short hair marked him as a faunus. "The outside world is dangerous."

"So?" asked Aya with a shrug. "I thought we were training to be warriors. Why should we be worried about danger?" She blinked and turned back to Ciel. "How dangerous is it?"

"It...depends," said Ciel with a slight shrug. "The wilderness is dangerous. The settlements can be dangerous. But it's usually safe in the Kingdoms."

"Ooh! What's it like in the Kingdoms?" asked Aya, leaning towards her.

"I hear they hunt faunus for sport," muttered the dog-eared boy.

Ciel shook her head. "They don't do that," she said. "But things are...harder...for faunus over there...in Atlas, at least."

The boy snorted derisively. "Doesn't surprise me. Outsiders are a bunch of barbarians."

"Yuuto-kun!" scolded Aya before turning to flash Ciel and apologetic look. "I'm sorry."

"Well, isn't that why you're here?" asked Yuuto, his blue eyes locking on Ciel. "I keep hearing that they're bringing more faunus over from outside, and that other people are coming here too. You're obviously here because you couldn't stand the way things were out there."

"That's...partly true," said Ciel. "But the Kingdoms can be complicated places. There's good and bad. The Kingdoms just went through a very difficult conflict."

"Yeah, I hear they go to war all the time," said Yuuto.

Aya glared at him.

Ciel sighed. "Well, I guess it was a war of sorts. But it wasn't between the Kingdoms. It was between people and...something else..."

"Something else?" Aya stared at her.

"I don't know all the details," said Ciel. "But one of my friends was heavily involved. She said that it had to do with the Grimm."

"Oh yeah?" asked Aya.

Ciel stared down at her bowl. "Somebody brought down our communications systems, and then tried to take down the Kingdoms, one by one, using the Grimm. Her name was Cinder. I don't know why she did it. My clearance level wasn't high enough."

Aya continued to pepper Ciel with questions about the outside world, while Yuuto continued to make snide remarks. They were finally hushed by one of the older trainees so that Ciel could finish her meal in place.

* * *

After dinner, Ciel helped with the dishes before an older student showed her to her room in the residential section of the school. Ciel's few possessions that she had obtained during her brief time amongst the Mibu were already there, along with her sleeping clothes and an unrolled futon. She set her new possessions, the pair of wooden blades that she'd taken from the training hall, on the rack that was set out to hold them. It was still fairly early in the evening, and many of the other students were still up and about, socializing and engaging in more recreational activities before the mandated bedtime. However, Ciel felt tired out enough that she decided to go to bed early. Ciel lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling for a while. Despite having so many people around her, she felt almost as alone as she had during her time as an outcast at Atlas Academy. Here, she wasn't a 'traitor.' However, she was an outsider. Aya's curiosity and Yuuto's dismissiveness had made it clear that that status set her apart from the other trainees.

Aya seemed nice enough, though her interest in Ciel appeared to be motivated mainly by curiosity about the world beyond the Mibu's continent. Yuuto's attitude suggested that he generally viewed outsiders and their world with contempt. Ciel didn't have enough experience with any of the others yet to get a feel for their opinions toward her. More than once, she had felt eyes on her when she had been practicing the basic techniques under Shinrei's supervision. Ciel wasn't sure of the feelings behind their scrutiny. Maybe the older students were simply sizing up the newcomer. However, she couldn't quite fight the twinge of nervousness she felt, sensing that at least some of those eyes had been scornful, even hateful.

Ciel sighed and let her eyes drift shut. She felt so lonely here. Shinrei and Makoto could only do so much to help her without causing friction with the other students. Ciel just wished that she knew a way to get them to accept her.

 _I can only keep trying,_ she thought silently.

* * *

The next day, Shinrei had Ciel practice the basic strikes again, before finally starting her on the most basic katas that utilized those techniques. While the other students continued to go through their more routine practices, Ciel practiced the two katas she'd been taught, non-stop, in the rear of the hall, under Shinrei's critical eye. Once again, Ciel occasionally felt harsh eyes on her, though some seemed simply more curious than hostile.

That day, she ate lunch with Aya sitting next to her and Yuuto sitting across from them again. "I'm sorry about last night," said Aya, dipping her head. "Chou-senpai says I was being rude by asking you so many questions. I've just never met an outsider before."

"It's okay," said Ciel. "I understand."

"In that case, it's only fair that I let you do the same thing," said Aya brightly, making Ciel blink at her cheerful statement. "You can ask me anything you want to know about the Mibu, and I'll answer it as best I can."

Ciel paused and thought for a moment, taking the opportunity to eat a few more bites. She had plenty of questions about the Mibu Clan that Saisei and Shinrei hadn't yet answered on their way down from the north. She supposed she should start with the basics.

She started by asking Aya about the particulars of the Mibu's honorifics. From what she understood, they were a holdover from one of the old tongues, in this case, the language of the society the Mibu seemed to have descended from, even though they mostly spoke the same language as the outsiders.

From there, Aya allowed Ciel to inquire about some of the particulars of Mibu society, social norms, clothing, and behaviors. Yuuto would occasionally scoff at something, presumably when Ciel ask about some question with an answer that he thought was completely obvious. However, this time at least, he kept his snide commentary to himself.

After their afternoon exercises, Ciel sat with Aya again at the evening meal, and they talked some more, this time settling on a more even exchange of information as they talked. Ciel shared stories about her experiences in Atlas, Vale, and Mistral. Aya told her about the various events that took place in the Mibu capital.

After dinner had been cleaned up, Aya invited Ciel to spend time with her and some of the other beginner-level students. They were all considerably younger than her. Aya couldn't have been older than thirteen. However, as a beginner herself, Ciel definitely felt as though she belonged with them more than the students her age at the moment. They showed her games and activities that were favored by the Mibu. They even had drinks and snacks that were made in the kitchen after dinner. Ciel had to admit that she enjoyed herself, feeling a little less like an outsider now.

She went to sleep feeling a little more at ease and with a sense of satisfaction.

* * *

For the next few weeks, Ciel's life took on a pattern. She trained in the mornings, exercised in the afternoons, and spent time with her fellow beginner-level students in the evenings. During this time, Shinrei worked through teaching her the basics of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , though the basics were all simple melee techniques, which made Ciel wonder when and how they would be learning how to master water.

After the second week, Ciel was judged to be skilled enough to sit with the back ranks of the beginner-level students, and practice katas along with them. She began to participate in kumites with them, actually relishing in the sense of purpose she felt as her skills improved.

Shinrei remained distant, which Ciel understood, though she missed talking to him and having him close by. Still, she remained resolved to do her best and advance with her own strength.

However, Ciel would still feel eyes on her from time to time, the eyes of people who were not happy to have her there. She couldn't be sure if they were upset because of her status as a former outsider, or if they had seen something about how close she had become to Shinrei. Either way, Ciel knew that it was only a matter of time before those people acted on their ill will. She just hoped she was ready when it came.

* * *

"Get up!"

Ciel jolted, sitting upright with a surprised yelp. Someone had thrown open the door to her room so that the door rattled against its frame as it was slid forcefully back. Ciel rubbed her eyes, trying to make out what was going on. It was still dark outside, which meant that it was before dawn. There was light streaming in from the hallway, but it only served to turn the person looming in her doorway into a silhouette.

"Wha...?" Ciel blinked furiously, trying to get her eyes to adjust.

"Geez, are you dense?" asked the girl standing at her door in an irritated tone that suggested that her patience was wearing thin. "Get out of bed, New Girl. Now's not the time to be lazing around."

"What's going on?" asked Ciel as she climbed out from her warm, soft bed. "Why are we getting up so early?"

Because of the shadow that covered her face, Ciel didn't see the other girl smile. "It's your turn for morning cleaning, Newbie. You need all the extra time you can get."

"But why?" asked Ciel. She had been on morning cleaning duty a few times already. They tended to take turns based on the ranks of students. She normally cleaned the floors and swept the porch with the other beginner-level students.

"Because it's _just_ you, this time," said the girl. "If you complain about it, you obviously don't belong here. So either get up and get moving, or go running back to your homeland, Outsider."

Ciel froze at the label. Now she realized what was going on. In the other institutions she had been to, she had seen the same thing over and over again. Hazing. Older students tormenting younger students, primarily for amusement, though many of them saw it as some sort of "rite of passage" that ensured that the younger students truly 'earned' their place at whatever school they were in. It seemed that her status as someone from outside the Mibu lands had attracted that sort of attention now. She'd figured it was only a matter of time.

 _I guess the Mibu aren't all that different in some ways,_ thought Ciel as she hurried to get dressed. The girl who'd so rudely awakened her had at least shown the grace to close the door again and wait outside while Ciel dressed, though Ciel suspected that she wouldn't hesitate to throw the door open if she thought Ciel was dragging her feet.

It seemed that the Mibu had more in common with outsiders than they thought, whether they'd like the comparison or not. Ciel realized that, if she was being hazed by the senior students here, then the rules governing such affairs were the same. They would make an effort to either drive her out or earn her place in their eyes. However, if Ciel went to Makoto or Shinrei about her treatment, she had no doubt that the repercussions would be just as severe as they were in institutions in the outside world. Even if the teachers tried to put a stop to it, the students would simply find new ways to torment the objects of their ire, and their hostility towards Ciel would only intensify.

Ciel opened the door to see the girl who'd awakened her waiting, leaning on the wall. She sported bright-red hair and brown eyes, her student kimono hiding her toned frame. She was the same age as Ciel, which meant she was a higher-level student, whose status commanded more respect and granted her more authority.

"Finally," said the girl with a huff. "If the hall isn't ready in time we're gonna make you wish you never came here. Come on."

"Miyu-san-?" Ciel knew the girl's name, though not much more than that.

"That's Miyu-senpai," said the girl sharply. "We're the same age, but don't make the mistake of assuming that you can address me like that."

"Y-yes, Senpai," said Ciel lowering her head.

She grabbed Ciel's wrist tightly, enough to make Ciel bite back a pained yelp, and dragged her out of the residential halls. Ciel was tugged across the lawn and into the training hall, where she saw several of the more senior students waiting for her, including the ones who were even older than her. Ciel swallowed nervously.

"About time you got here," said the girl who had apparently appointed herself the leader of the students. "Time isn't something you have a lot of, you know."

She was a tall with a willowy build, her hair a white cascade down her back, tied into a basic tail that kept it from scattering around. Her jade-green eyes narrowed as she gazed at Ciel with no small amount of hostility.

"Yumiko-senpai," said Ciel softly.

Yumiko gave Ciel a thin smile. "At least you have the sense to address your betters with respect. Now then, I'll make things clear. None of us are happy to have you here. You outsiders don't belong. You sully our school, Makoto-sama, and Shinrei-sama with your presence."

Ciel bit the inside of her lip, but held her tongue.

"Normally, we would have run you out already," continued Yumiko. "However, Shinrei-sama was the one who brought you in here, so it would reflect badly on him if you left. Therefore, we've decided on some conditions."

"Conditions?" asked Ciel, a chill going down her spine.

"One month," said Yumiko, holding up a single finger. "For one month, you will do all the morning chores...Every. Day. You get no help, no slack. If you can manage that for a month, we'll allow you to stay. If not...you get lost. I don't care if you stay in the Mibu lands, but you don't darken our doorways again."

Ciel chewed on the inside of her lip, pondering her options. The ultimatum that Yumiko had given her was a severe one. Cleaning the hall in the morning and getting it ready for the day's training was difficult enough when several of her fellow students were helping her. They had to get up earlier, and work up quite the sweat before breakfast was even ready. Doing it by herself meant she would have to get up all the earlier, and, if she faltered, maybe even miss meals. With her Huntress training, Ciel was fairly certain she could manage it...for a time...However, the extra work, combined with the lack of sleep, would catch up to her quickly, probably well before the month deadline was up. Even if she gave up socializing with the few friends she'd made so far, and went to bed early, she'd still wind up losing a lot of rest time to this.

What was more, Ciel could tell that, even if she succeeded, she wouldn't be safe. Yumiko was the kind of person who wouldn't be satisfied so easily. She'd find some excuse, any reason to move the goalposts in order to try, again and again, to force Ciel out. This would only be the beginning.

Acquiescing to this bullying was only going to result in her collapsing at some point, which was clearly the aim of Yumiko and the other senior students. If Ciel exhausted herself doing several people's-worth of work in the mornings, her training over the rest of the day would undoubtedly suffer for it. She wouldn't be able to keep up. As she fell further and further behind the other students, then perhaps Makoto and Shinrei would reconsider their decision to invite Ciel to join the school in the first place. That was their reasoning at least. Ciel was fairly certain that Makoto and Shinrei wouldn't fall for such an obvious ploy. However, they were limited in how they could help her. They could not make the other students accept Ciel's presence. She would have to earn their respect and acceptance herself.

 _Maybe I can't make them accept me either,_ thought Ciel. _But I can start on the respect part, at least._ if she submitted to this obvious effort to haze her into leaving, Ciel would lose a lot of self respect. And no one would respect her if she didn't respect herself first.

"I don't accept your conditions," she said firmly.

"What?" Yumiko's cheeks darkened and her eyes narrowed. Hushed whisperings sprang up from the older students behind her and at the edges of the hall.

"I'm not playing your games," said Ciel. "If you don't like me, fine. I can't make you. But I'm not simply going to dance to your tune in hopes of winning your approval, Yumiko-senpai. I'll make my own way, if I have to."

The mutterings of the other students rose in volume. Miyu, who was leaning against the wall next to the door she and Ciel had entered through, raised her eyebrows.

"Well now," said Yumiko, a smirk replacing her angered expression, "I guess we were mistaken about one thing. You have some spine, Outsider." She stepped forward from the rest of the group. "But you clearly don't understand your place yet."

Ciel took a step back, uncertain of what to do. Yumiko's hands went behind her, where she pulled out her sheathed wooden swords.

Ciel took another step back. She'd been in such a hurry that she hadn't brought her own weapons with her. They normally didn't when they were just cleaning the hall in the morning. She usually didn't take up her wooden swords until after breakfast.

"Now then," said Yumiko, "let's see just how warranted your attitude is, hmm?"

"So you prove your superiority by beating on an unarmed opponent?" asked Ciel, deciding to hold her ground. "Your standards must be pretty low if you think that shows me my place."

Yumiko stopped, mid-step, an even deeper blush appearing on her cheeks. One of the boys standing slightly behind her, and off to the side, actually stifled a chuckle. Even Miyu, the serious and collected girl that she was, raised a hand to hide her smile.

Ciel had the advantage now. Before she'd said anything, if Yumiko had pounded her into a pulp, the other students would have probably thought nothing of it, that she deserved it for her insolence even. However, now Ciel had made it plain that, if Yumiko did, it would be because she didn't want to face Ciel on even ground, which meant Yumiko would have to either back down and consider other approaches, or allow Ciel to take up weapons and fight.

Right now, Ciel was banking on Yumiko not backing down. Stepping back after making such escalating threats would only hurt her standing with the other students. Even if she regrouped and came back with other plans to haze Ciel, she'd still be the woman who'd backed down in front of a rank beginner's challenge. Ciel was willing to bet that Yumiko wouldn't allow that. She'd allow Ciel to take up swords, if not her own, then at least one of the other sets of practice weapons, and fight.

While Yumiko might have been amongst the highest-ranked students of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , Ciel had an advantage that Yumiko didn't. Ciel had been trained as a huntress. She might have been a beginner in this particular fighting style, but she had still been learning the fundamentals of combat since she was small. More importantly, Ciel was willing to bet that Yumiko didn't have _any_ experience fighting in the real world. Ciel hadn't been in the vanguard of the conflict against the enemy of the Four Kingdoms, but she had done her fair share of fighting against the Grimm and White Fang soldiers.

Yumiko might have been one of the most senior students of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , but Ciel had fought real enemies aiming to take her life. Compared to that, this actionized school drama was nothing. Ciel had built up her strength and reflexes through years of training. She'd seen some of Yumiko's sparring sessions, and, while they were impressive, Ciel was able to follow her movements. if she combined her experience and skill with the few techniques of the _Mumyo Saigyo_ that she'd learned so far, Ciel thought she might be able to eke out a win in a legitimate fight.

Of course, it wouldn't be easy. Yumiko might not have had real world experience, but she did have more training in a style that Ciel was still mostly unfamiliar with. The few techniques that Ciel had learned, and was still getting the hang of, would be ones that Yumiko had been practicing for years by now. Ciel figured that her best chance lay in the earliest phases of the match, when Yumiko would still be making assumptions about Ciel's ability. After that, she would be induced to take Ciel seriously as an opponent, and take the fullest advantage of her greater knowledge of the style.

 _But I have a chance,_ thought Ciel determinedly. _It's a start, at least._

Yumiko frowned and lowered her weapons to her sides. "Well now," she said. "We don't want people saying I didn't give you a fair chance. If you can beat me, I suppose I can allow you to stay."

Ciel frowned, hoping that Yumiko wouldn't make their fight into a wager. Even if she was confident in her own abilities, she wasn't certain of victory, and she knew exactly what terms Yumiko would set out if she did make the match into a wager. They were terms that Ciel would not be able to agree to.

"Miyu-kun," said Yumiko, turning to look at the red-haired girl, "be a dear and fetch the Outsider's blades for her."

"Wha-? Me?" asked Miyu, her eyes going wide.

"Yes, you," said Yumiko, now glaring at the younger student. "Did I stutter?"

"N-no, Senpai," said Miyu, lowering her eyes before rushing out.

"I understand you only just woke up," said Yumiko, turning back to Ciel. "So I will allow you to do a little bit of warming up, just so you have fewer excuses later."

Ciel nodded, turning and heading to the far end of the hall, letting out a small sigh of relief as she did so. She'd cleared the first few hurdles. She'd managed to draw her opponent into circumstances that gave her a better chance, and she'd avoided Yumiko making the fight into a wager. _Now I just have to win...or at least give a good enough accounting of myself that I can start to change peoples' opinion of me._

Ciel was starting to think she might have a better chance of that than she'd initially thought. Yumiko was clearly the one in charge here, but the other students did not present a united front supporting her. Rather, they were restrained by their knowledge of Yumiko's skill, and their own unwillingness to challenge her. If Ciel could prove that Yumiko wasn't invincible, some of the others might not feel so threatened by the idea of approaching her on a less adversarial level.

She went into a few stretches and basic warmup exercises as she limbered up her body, shedding the remnants of her lethargy and working up a light sheen of sweat as she brought her body up to fighting speed.

"You've got guts," said a boy her age, with short, brown hair as he handed her a towel, which Ciel accepted gratefully so that she could wipe her face off. "Not just anyone would have challenged Yumiko-senpai like that."

"Thank you," said Ciel after wiping her face off. She looked carefully at Yumiko, who was going through her own warmup exercises, while her cronies gathered around her. Other students were scattered throughout the hall, hanging out at the edges, not entirely willing to take sides.

"You really think you can take her?" asked the boy.

"Maybe," said Ciel, eying Yumiko carefully, "but not entirely."

The boy looked at her in surprise. "With how you were acting, I figured you were pretty sure you could beat her."

"I'm not entirely certain," said Ciel. "There are too many things I don't know."

She took another look at Yumiko. She looked to be about the same age as Shinrei, but Ciel remembered Shinrei moving and fighting at speeds that Yumiko didn't come close to. "How close is she to Shinrei...sama...in skill?" It took her a second to remember to refer to Shinrei properly. Even if she wasn't new to the honorifics being used by these people she had trouble referring to Shinrei so formally after spending so much time with him on the way down.

"Well, in terms of technique with her swords, she's getting there," said the boy. "Shinrei got ahead of everyone else because he started challenging this crazy strong kid. He'd lose every time, but he'd come back, train harder, then go out and challenge him again." He sighed and shook his head. "Otherwise, he'd probably still be in line with the rest of us. Yumiko-senpai only just started learning the water arts a couple months before you got here."

Ciel frowned thoughtfully. Shinrei wasn't all that much older than her, but he was so powerful already. She was amazed none of the other students were on his level, even though a few were the same age as him, and might have even been training for just as long. She had originally put it up to some kind of fantastic talent, but it seemed that Shinrei might have been accruing extra experience that the others hadn't.

Miyu arrived at a run, pounding into the dojo to skid to a stop in front of Ciel. She held up Ciel's swords with an irritable look.

"Thank you," said Ciel, taking them with a nod to Miyu. She nodded at the boy who'd given her the towel as well.

The boy gave her a small grin and squeezed her shoulder in a friendly gesture. "I'm Takeshi, by the way," he said. "Good luck.

Ciel nodded and turned to head back to the center of the training hall, fighting to keep her expression composed. She was afraid, if her control slipped, she might break into a smile. Even if she didn't win the fight with Yumiko, it seemed she might have gained some friends out of this after all. Even Miyu, prickly though she was, seemed more inclined to support Ciel over Yumiko. She might yet make some friends here.

"Ready for your humiliation?" asked Yumiko as she stepped out onto the floor, standing across from Ciel as all the other students moved out to line the walls and watch. From the doorway, Ciel could see several other people gathering, peaking around the threshold to watch. It looked as though all the commotion had woken up the younger students, and they had come to see the fight as well.

Ciel didn't respond to Yumiko's words, instead carefully working her blades through a few more warmup exercises, before taking her starting stance, feet set shoulder-width apart, her right foot forward, the blade on that side extended, while she held her left weapon back behind her, pointing upwards. It was the starting position for the basic katas she had been taught so far.

Yumiko took a more advanced stance, lifting one leg and tucking it slightly beneath her, she stood on her right foot alone, her right arm held up over her shoulder, the blade of her weapon pointing down behind her back. Her left arm she extended out slightly, positioning the blade in front of her. She favored Ciel with a cocky smile.

Ciel swallowed and held her ground, keeping her eyes locked with Yumiko's. Even with her experience, or perhaps because of it, Ciel knew that this was going to be an uphill battle. Still, she had made her choice, and she would have to accept the consequences.

"Here I come," said Yumiko, her smile vanishing as her body became a blur. She shot forward, covering the distance between them in an instant. Ciel lunged forward as well, her weapons rising to meet Yumiko's. Their blades met with a loud clack of wood against wood and they passed one another.

A grimace crossed Ciel's face as lances of pain shot up her arms. She'd made her first grave miscalculation. Her control of her Aura was rudimentary. She was still working with the slow speed of kumite practice with the other students, to get used to shifting her Aura around her body and adjust for attack and defense. At these speeds, even if her body and senses could keep up, her Aura couldn't.

As she turned to meet Yumiko's next attack, Ciel considered possible options, even as their blades met again, with another impact that made her wrist ache. She could shift her Aura into her blades and keep it there, so that she could handle the impact of Yumiko's attacks and parries. But that left her body's defenses lacking. If Yumiko landed a hit, which was more than likely, severe bruising, or even broken bones, might result. On the other hand, if Ciel focused on protecting her body, her own wrists would probably snap under the strain of these continued exchanges.

For the time being, Ciel settled on maintaining even coverage with her Tempering. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was the best she could manage right now. The pain from Yumiko's blows wasn't overwhelming.

With that decision out of the way, Ciel focused all her senses on the fight itself. Yumiko was faster and stronger than her, but Ciel's greater experience was paying off, as she was able to read Yumiko's moves in advance. Their blades clashed over and over again, the clack of wood on wood echoing through the otherwise silent hall as the two of them danced around each other for better position.

As Yumiko swung one blade down, Ciel caught it in the fork of her own blade and shifting it to the side. The unexpected defense caught Yumiko off-guard and Ciel lunged in, striking at Yumiko's midsection with her other blade. Yumiko barely managed to bring her other sword around in time, and only because she leapt back to gain some extra distance. Ciel's blade clacked and bounced off Yumiko's.

 _Darn it!_ thought Ciel. While landing that hit would not have decided the fight, it might have given her openings to land more, and, hopefully, secure her win. Now that Yumiko had had a close call, she'd probably be more on her guard, clued in to the fact that Ciel wasn't as weak as her beginner-level status suggested. She'd be much more careful, and, probably, a lot more ruthless too, aiming to end this fight before Ciel found another opening to exploit.

Yumiko landed back, her feet skidding on the polished wood floor of the training hall. Her eyes were wide, nostrils flaring with anger, and her teeth were openly bared. "Getting fancy, Outsider?" she growled.

Ciel said nothing, merely readopting her starting stance, and setting herself for Yumiko's next attack. She'd never been one for playing around and taunting the enemy during battle. She wanted to end this before things escalated too far, mostly because she was fairly certain she would be on the receiving end of whatever escalation occurred.

Yumiko growled angrily, her fingers tightening around the handles of her wooden blades, until the wood creaked from the strain.

"You're letting her get you off your rhythm," commented one of the other senior students from behind her, looking at Yumiko with something approaching disdain. "Get it together."

His words seemed to resonate with Yumiko, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. When she opened them, the look in those eyes made Ciel shiver.

"I suppose I didn't take you seriously enough," said Yumiko. "You're obviously more dangerous than I thought."

She stepped back and assumed the same one-legged stance she'd adopted at the start of the fight. "I won't make the same mistake again," she promised. "You've missed your chance."

Ciel felt a chill go down her spine, the feeling of Yumiko's Aura was bombarding Ciel's body with a sensation of being pierced by freezing needles all over. Yumiko's gaze was now cold and callous. If she had resolved to kill Ciel, Ciel imagined that Yumiko's face wouldn't change all that much.

Yumiko once again charged her, blurring across the floor and cross the distance between them in less than a second. Once again, Ciel met her head-on, their blades meeting with loud clacks and more stinging pains down Ciel's arms. They passed one another and turned almost in perfect unison.

Ciel saw Yumiko swinging her right blade around and up in a sweeping strike, aiming for Ciel's throat. _I can do this,_ thought Ciel, leaning her body to allow the strike to sweep past her, her eyes already looking for the signs of Yumiko's next move. She decided to evade where she could, as it would lessen the strain on her arms. _I can read her well enough to avoid her attacks. If I can just find the open-_

Her thoughts ground to a halt as she felt Yumiko's blade strike her upper arm, just below the shoulder. Ciel's Tempered Aura took the brunt of the attack, but Yumiko had channeled more of her Aura into the strike, resulting it in breaking through. Ciel let out a cry of pain as she dodged back, narrowly avoiding being knocked off her feet by the blow. If Yumiko had been wielding a real blade instead of a wooden practice weapon, Ciel would have had a serious wound on her arm.

As it was, it already felt sore, and it hurt to move, though Ciel could still move it with no serious loss of range or speed. But, more importantly... _What happened? I was sure I saw the path of her swing. Did I misread it?_

"Not so cocky now, are you?" asked Yumiko, still not smiling and still focusing on Ciel with that callous gaze. "Now I'm going to beat that smug attitude out of you and you'll understand that you have no place here, Outsider. Prepare yourself!"

* * *

 **I know this might seem an unnecessary digression. I agree that it might not be strictly necessary to the story, but the events and conclusions of this little B-story arc will become significant to the main story. That being said, I also liked the opportunity to present the Mibu in a more intimate context, namely how they view and engage with those they perceive as being outsiders to their culture. It gives me an additional chance to introduce a few other characters, who will be important to the main story, later.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31:**

Miyu and Takeshi both leaned against the wall, their eyes alert as they watched the start of the fight between Ciel and Yumiko. "She's good," said Miyu, noticing that Ciel was, somehow, able to keep up with Yumiko's movements.

"I think she told Aya-chan she was trained at a Huntsman Academy," said Takeshi. "Her Aura control is still rudimentary, but, in terms of physical ability, she's up there with us, maybe almost at the seniors' level."

Miyu grunted and narrowed her eyes, watching the exchange further. She noticed that Ciel had decided not to try and channel her Aura in conjunction with her movements, apparently recognizing the limit of her ability to do so, and had opted for the more even coverage of basic Tempering. "She's experienced," she said finally. "She's been in real fights before."

"That's what I thought," said Takeshi, nodding in agreement. "She might be able to actually win this."

" _Now_ you're being optimistic," said Miyu. "Yumiko-senpai's going to win."

"Care to bet on that?" asked Takeshi.

Miyu snorted slightly and lowered her head. "I don't take such easy bets."

"You just don't want to lose if it turns out you're wrong," said Takeshi.

"I'm not wrong," retorted Miyu. "Once Yumiko-senpai starts fighting seriously, that outsider's experience is going to turn into her biggest handicap."

It was at that moment that Ciel almost landed a blow on Yumiko, knocking her back and startling her. "Aw, dang it," said Takeshi, biting his thumbnail. "Almost had her."

"Now it's over," said Miyu with a soft sigh.

They watched as Ciel and Yumiko resumed the fight. They watched Ciel lean aside from Yumiko's slash and then...

"Crap!" exclaimed Takeshi as Yumiko's blade bit deep into Ciel's Aura and battered her arm.

"Told you," said Miyu with a sigh.

On the floor, Ciel's first impulse was to grab her sore and injured arm. But she knew that she couldn't lower her guard. Yumiko was fighting seriously now, and would allow no opening to go unpunished. Instead Ciel decided to go on the attack. She launched herself at Yumiko, attacking with both blades in a furious barrage. She did her best to utilize the basics of what she had been taught, but, for the most part, resorted to the fighting techniques she had learned in Combat School and at Atlas Academy.

Giving ground, Yumiko defended herself carefully. Though her face was a calm and composed as it had been while she was on the attack, she watched Ciel's moves carefully, batting away her strikes with swift movements of her own blades. Channeling a little extra Aura into one block, Yumiko knocked one of Ciel's attacks out wide, and immediately reversed their roles, going on the attack and swinging her other blade straight down at Ciel's shoulder.

Only the flicker of motion in her peripheral vision told Ciel that Yumiko's attack was coming. She shifted to the side, just in time for the wooden blade to whistle past her ear. However, Ciel then felt it impact against her midsection, once again knocking her back and sending her sliding across the floor. _What is she doing?_ Not only had Ciel thought she had avoided that attack, the hit had come from a completely different direction.

Yumiko closed in, both blades blurring as she went on the full attack.

Over at the wall, Takeshi winced and bit the inside of his lip. "Ouch! Now I get what you're saying. Yumiko-senpai's using the _Dancing Blade_ form."

Miyu nodded gravely. "Because she has that experience, she can read the path of Yumiko-senpai's attacks. But now that skill is working against her."

They watched as Yumiko's assault chiseled away at Ciel's Aura, Yumiko landing hit after hit. Every effort Ciel made to avoid or block the incoming attacks was futile. After several more blows, they winced as Yumiko landed a powerful strike, cracking right through Ciel's Aura, her blade slashing up the left side of Ciel's chest. Something snapped.

"Ugh!" grunted Takeshi. "That busted a rib at least."

"Cracked, I think," said Miyu.

In the center of the hall, Ciel fell to her knees.

Turning around, Yumiko held the edge of her wooden blade to Ciel's neck. "It's over," she proclaimed. "I win. Now that you understand how pathetic you are, get out, and never show your face here again."

"Now that's going way too far," said Takeshi, pushing off from the wall. However, Miyu's hand grabbed his arm in an iron grip.

"No," said Miyu.

"You can't be serious?" asked Takeshi. "Yumiko-senpai's way out of line here. That stunt with the morning chores was bad enough, but this..."

"It's not over," was all that Miyu said.

"Huh?"

On the floor, Yumiko's eyes narrowed into a glare as Ciel didn't budge from her spot, offering no kind of response. "Didn't you hear me? Get lost."

"No," said Ciel softly.

"What?" growled Yumiko.

Ciel slowly lifted her head and glared back at Yumiko. "I never agreed to leave if I lost. I'm not going to leave just because you beat me." She pushed off the floor, jumping away from Yumiko and standing back upright, though the grimace on her face betrayed the pain she was in. Whatever injury she'd received, it was debilitating, but not incapacitating. Her arms shook as she fought to lift her blades up. But she managed to adopt a starting stance.

The open display of defiance enraged Yumiko. In her anger, she gripped the handles of her blades tighter than ever, her Aura surging around her. "You disgusting interloper," she snarled. "Your kind don't belong here! Even after being shown how inferior you pathetic outsiders are, you still have the gall to look at me like that?"

Her Aura swirled down to pool around her right blade. It began to condense, then change, becoming something substantial, material. Droplets of water began to drip off the edge of the wooden blade, splattering on the floor.

"Hey! Hold on!" shouted somebody behind Yumiko.

"That's too much!" shouted another student.

But Yumiko was deaf to their words. With an angry yell, she swung her wooden blade at Ciel. At this distance, there was no chance of hitting her...with the blade itself. However, an azure dragon, formed from water, leapt forth from its edge, opening its mouth and letting out a roar that sounded like rushing river rapids. The dragon lunged at Ciel, who watched it come with wide-eyed shock. At the last second, she raised her swords, apparently aiming to cut it down before it sank its fangs into her flesh. But she was too late.

A shadow passed in front of Ciel. Makoto appeared, raising his left hand, he held it out casually in front of him. The dragon appeared to make no distinction, trying to close its jaws over Makoto's hand. However, instead, its form melted and flowed, and, in less than a second, was sucked into the palm of Makoto's hand.

"M-Makoto-sensei!" said Yumiko, her eyes wide with shock and fear.

Makoto's expression gave nothing away as he met Yumiko's eyes. "I do believe I forbade the use of the water arts inside the main hall," he said simply. "Did I ever rescind that order?"

"N-no, Sensei," said Yumiko, lowering her blades and bowing her head.

"Then, as punishment, _you_ will be responsible for the morning and afternoon cleaning today," said Makoto calmly.

Yumiko opened her mouth to argue, but then clearly thought better of it and lowered her head. "Yes, Sensei."

Nodding to her, Makoto turned around, sweeping his eyes across the other students. "Now...just what is going on here?"

An awkward silence greeted him. This kind of activity would get them _all_ in trouble, particularly as they had all been watching, which made them all accomplices on some level. It was doubtful that he would fail to learn the truth of the matter.

"It's...my fault," said Ciel, struggling to get her words out past the pain of her throbbing ribs. "I got...overly confident, and challenged...Yumiko-senpai to a sparring match."

Incredulous eyes stared at Ciel from every corner of the room.

 _She's seriously taking responsibility for this?_ wondered Takeshi in amazement.

 _She could pin this whole thing on the rest of us, because we dragged her out here, and she'd be right to do so,_ thought Miyu, her own face betraying her surprise.

Meanwhile, Ciel was reflecting that, while her phrasing was deceptive, what she said wasn't really untrue. After all, she had been the one to shift the course of events from simple hazing to a straight-out match, and she had assumed that her experience in real fights would give her enough of an edge to come out on top.

"I see," said Makoto, his face still unreadable. "In that case, I shall have to punish you as well. I will speak to you after dinner tonight. In the meantime...Shinrei."

"Yeah?" Shinrei appeared, seemingly from nowhere, landing in a crouch next to Makoto.

"Take Ciel-kun to the healers," said Makoto.

"Sure thing," said Shinrei going over to Ciel and carefully resting a hand on the shoulder of her uninjured arm. "Let's go," he said, his tone firm and cool.

Ciel bowed her head and allowed herself to be led from the training hall.

Now Makoto turned his gaze on the other students. "Since you are all up already, begin cleaning," he said. "We will begin today's training early."

Only a few of the younger students were foolish enough to groan, though they were quickly stifled by their seniors. The collective punishment seemed fitting, since they were all out and about. Because Ciel had taken the responsibility for what happened, the worst of Makoto's wrath had been lifted from their shoulders.

They got to work, many of them silently revising their previous opinions about Ciel.

* * *

"Well now...you certainly did a number on yourself," said Saisei as she cupped Ciel's right arm between her hands. "You're lucky you didn't fracture your wrists, taking those hits. As it is, they'd have been swollen up for the rest of the day if you hadn't come to see me."

"Thank you," said Ciel before wincing as her injured ribs protested.

"I'll get to those in a little bit," Saisei promised, having already moved to Ciel's left arm, healing every bruise along the way. "You are a unique experience. That much is for sure."

"Thank you...I think.." said Ciel, grunting, then sighing with relief as she felt Saisei's Aura wash over her ribs, creating a soothing, cooling sensation that made her pain ebb away.

"You're going to rest here for the remainder of the morning, then I prescribe that you take it easy for the rest of the day," said Saisei. She smiled and then raised a hand to stroke her fingers across Ciel's cheek. "How have you been holding up?"

"I've been managing," said Ciel.

"You're very strong," said Saisei with a smile. "There, all done."

"I have to report to Makoto-sensei for punishment after dinner," said Ciel.

"That's _after_ dinner," said Saisei. "The rest of your day is mine to oversee, and you need some rest. Trust me, you'll be too tired to move in a little bit."

Ciel wanted to protest, but she was already beginning to feel that lethargic sensation as her Aura, stimulated by Saisei's continued work on repairing her injuries.

Saisei left Ciel on the bed and went to the door of the room, where Shinrei had been watching the whole thing, his arms folded. "Looks like she's doing good," he said, stepping back and preparing to leave.

"And where do you think you're going?" admonished Saisei, resting her hands against her hips and glaring up at Shinrei.

"I've gotta get back," said Shinrei. "We need to-"

"What she needs is you," said Saisei in a stern tone, keeping her voice low to ensure Ciel didn't overheard them. "She's had to keep her guard up for weeks now, especially where you're concerned. From the sound of things, she's been doing well enough, making a few connections. But she's still very much alone over there. She needs someone who can truly comfort her."

She reached up, and, before Shinrei could react, she pulled his arms out of their folded position, holding his hands, palm up in hers, her thumbs gently tracing the skin over his palms. "And it seems to me that _you_ need a chance to let your guard down as well," she added, keeping herself between Shinrei and Ciel so that Ciel couldn't see the flicker of Saisei's Aura across the palms of Shinrei's hands, healing the cuts that had resulted from clenching his hands so hard that his fingernails broke through skin. Thanks to the _Suiseisho_ , Shinrei was able to crystalize the water in his blood to stop the bleeding, and keep from getting blood on Ciel's clothes when he'd touched her. But Saisei was able to remove the cuts, and all evidence that they had been there altogether.

"It looks like she's not the only one who's been keeping her guard up," added Saisei. "Stay with her. Do what you both need to. Doctor's orders. I'll make sure you're not disturbed."

Pushing Shinrei into the room, Saisei shut the door behind her and took her leave.

For a moment, Shinrei and Ciel stared at each other before the two of them both began to blush furiously. Hesitantly, Shinrei made his way to the bed and sat down next to Ciel. Reaching out with his hand, he placed it over both of hers, which were folded in her lap.

"Uh...well..." was all that Shinrei managed, giving Ciel an awkward grin. Ciel sent a shy smile back at him. Silence hung between them for an uncomfortable moment before Shinrei finally let out a breath. "Oh, I give up," he said.

Before Ciel could react, Shinrei wrapped his arms around both her shoulders and hugged her tightly to him. Ciel hesitated a fraction of a second longer before her own arms shot up and she returned the gesture, wrapping them around Shinrei's back and clinging tightly to him. They fell backwards onto the bed, still wrapped up in their embrace. Shinrei moved his arms down to wrap around Ciel's waist, gently pulling her on top of him, as he scooted around so that they were lying fully atop the bed, instead of across it with their legs hanging off the side.

Ciel pressed her face against Shinrei's collarbone. He felt something wet spread there, followed by the faintest sniffling sounds. Raising a hand, Shinrei began to rub the back of her head, trailing his fingers through her hair as Ciel continued to sob softly against him.

"Have I mentioned that I hate it when Saisei's right?" asked Shinrei.

That made Ciel giggle a little, her breath tickling the skin below his neck. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For what?" asked Shinrei.

"I...I've just caused trouble by being here," said Ciel. "And now, I'm here, and I just don't want you to let go."

"Hey, you've been doing great," said Shinrei. "I can't believe that you've held it together for so long. You're a lot better than you give yourself credit for." He smiled and tightened his hold on her. "Now get some sleep. We can talk some more when you wake up."

Ciel wasn't sure she wanted to go to sleep yet. But she could feel Saisei's healing doing its work as her eyelids grew heavier. It helped that she was with Shinrei. After feeling so isolated in this land of people who were all strangers to her, it felt wonderful and comforting to hold and be held by someone. Ciel allowed herself to relax in Shinrei's arms and drift off to sleep.

* * *

When Ciel awoke, she felt much better. Blinking her eyes, she shifted and still felt Shinrei's arms around her. One of his hands was still gently stroking through her hair, making her scalp tingle at the contact. His hand returned to her back as she stirred and lifted her head to look at him.

"Hey," said Shinrei, "you sleep well?"

"Yes," said Ciel. "Thank you for being there." She paused and looked at him. "Did you stay here the whole time."

"Pretty much," said Shinrei. "Not that I was tired, mind you, but after you went to sleep, I took a nap as well."

Ciel sighed and lowered her head, letting it rest against Shinrei's shoulder as his hand began to comb through her hair again.

"You really gave me a scare this morning though," he said.

"How much did you see?" asked Ciel.

"Most of it," said Shinrei. "It's hard to miss all the students in the school getting together in the main training hall, well before they should."

"Did Makoto-sensei know what was going on too?" asked Ciel.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "He was there before I was."

"But neither of you did anything," said Ciel.

"Would you have wanted us to?" asked Shinrei.

Ciel frowned, thinking it over. On one hand, they had been breaking the rules essentially, so it felt only natural that the teachers should step in and stop that sort of thing if they knew about it. However, doing so could easily be seen as an act of specifically protecting Ciel herself, which could lead the students to thinking that there was something special going on...and they'd be right.

"I guess not," she admitted.

"As you saw, Makoto-sama did step in the instant things went really bad," said Shinrei. "We both watched because, to a certain extent, it's important to let the students make their own mistakes. You got to experience your limitations, and get a chance to see where you're lacking with the students your own age. At the same time, the other students got to see that you aren't a pushover, who'll fold before their demands or go running to the teachers at the first sign of trouble."

He chuckled. "It took a lot of effort on my part to hold back though, especially after Yumiko-kun busted your ribs. But you didn't fold. You stood up to her, even then. I'm proud."

Ciel blushed. "Thanks."

"Because of that...and because you were willing to shoulder the blame for the fight itself...you made a lot of inroads and won some people over," said Shinrei. "You're making good progress."

"Well...it's actually not all that different from how things worked in Atlas," said Ciel.

Shinrei snorted. "I guess people are people, wherever you go. We Mibu aren't as special as we like to think."

"Maybe not," said Ciel. She narrowed her eyes. "So...you watched the fight?"

"Yeah...?" Shinrei raised a confused eyebrow.

"So...you saw how Yumiko-senpai beat me," added Ciel.

"Uh huh," said Shinrei, nodding sagely.

"How did she?"

Shinrei gave her a playful smile. "Not telling," he said in a cheeky tone.

"Wha-? Why?" asked Ciel.

"Because you aren't ready to learn about that yet," said Shinrei. "Besides, it's better if you work it out for yourself. Consider it your homework from yours truly."

"B-but..." Ciel shifted nervously, but Shinrei didn't let go of her.

"I understand what you're worried about," said Shinrei. "Yumiko-kun probably hasn't accepted you yet. After what happened this morning, she'll challenge you again at some point. Now that you've made this about your combat skills, she won't be satisfied until she can get you to acknowledge her superiority."

"I know she's better than me," said Ciel. "I just don't understand why she thinks that gives her the right to decide whether or not I stay."

"It doesn't," said Shinrei. "Conceit doesn't exactly play nice with logic. Yumiko-kun and many of the other students have pretty skewed views of outsiders and the outside world. You've seen and been through things none of them have, and many of them never will. None of our current students have even seen a Grimm up close, much less fought one."

Ciel's jaw dropped. There were people like that back in the Kingdoms, particularly in the main cities. However, her Huntress training had required her to demonstrate her abilities against the Grimm at every stage of her education. But even those people who had never encountered the Grimm themselves knew full well about the threat they faced and accepted the Grimm as a part of life on Remnant.

"They don't realize how different things can be, and how that doesn't necessarily make them better or worse...just...different." Shinrei shrugged. "If it's possible, I'd like for you to change their thoughts on the matter. But that's not something you can do overnight." Then he grinned. "But you've started."

"I did?" asked Ciel.

Shinrei nodded. "You're with the beginner-level students because your education in the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ has only just begun. However, unlike even our senior students, you have actual experience in combat. You've been training your entire life, just not in this particular style. Because of that, your physical abilities, your reflexes, and judgement are right up there with the students your age, or even older."

Ciel nodded.

"Of course," said Shinrei, "given the fact that you challenged Yumiko-kun to a match, I'm guessing you'd figured out that much already. You were hoping it would be enough to make up the difference between you and her."

"But I was wrong," said Ciel.

"Yes and no," said Shinrei. "Yumiko-kun won because she took advantage of your experience. That's where the trick lies, if you can call it a trick. What I need you to do is figure out what that is."

"O-okay," said Ciel hesitantly.

"Don't worry too much," said Shinrei. "There's only so much that Yumiko-kun and the others can do legitimately. If they push things too far, we'll step in."

Ciel nodded. With a sigh, she lowered her head to let it rest on Shinrei's shoulder again. Shinrei tightened his arms around her and, for a few minutes, there was nothing but the sound of their breathing between them.

"This is nice," said Shinrei finally.

Ciel nodded wordlessly.

"I wish we could do this more often," he said.

"I do too," she said. "I missed having something like this...someone to comfort me."

"I just wish we didn't have to hide it," said Shinrei. "But...until you've managed to establish yourself here, I suppose we can't let people know about us."

Ciel blinked and lifted her head to look at Shinrei. "But...is there an...'us?' Are we...?"

"Uh..." Shinrei shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe...maybe not," he said. "I mean...there can be...I'd like it...But if you don't want to..."

"I don't know," said Ciel. "This is nice and all, but...I don't know about a relationship."

"And it doesn't help that it's complicated because of the way things are for both of us," said Shinrei. After all, they were technically teacher and student, even if Makoto was the actual instructor in the _Mumyo Saigyo_. That was the reason Shinrei couldn't show her any special affection outside of settings like this, where they might be seen by one of her fellow students or someone who would tell her fellow students. Until she had truly gained the acceptance of her new peers, they had to keep their distance from each other, physically and emotionally, in public or potentially public scenarios.

"How about this," said Shinrei after a moment's thought. "Let's not worry about relationships or anything. If you need a special friend, even if it's just someone to give you a hug from time to time, I'll be there for you. We can worry about being something more, or not, later. You have enough on your plate as it is."

"That works for me," said Ciel.

Shinrei sighed and his smile grew a little bit sad. "And, even if you decide you don't want there to be an 'us,' I'll still be your friend, no matter what."

"Thank you," said Ciel, lowering her head against his shoulder again.

However leery she was of being in a relationship at this strange juncture in her life, Ciel couldn't deny that it was comfortable to have someone just hold her like this. Her face, resting against Shinrei's warm body, his arms around her, his heartbeat in her ear. It was enough that Ciel might have drifted off to sleep again, were it not for one small problem.

Her stomach suddenly let out a loud growl that could be heard from one end of the room to the other. With it came an almost painful twinge from the organ in question, as it irately reminded Ciel that she had missed breakfast, and had not eaten a single thing since last night. On top of that, she'd just gotten an intensive healing, which had consumed even more of her energy than usual.

In short, her digestive tract was very unhappy with her, and was demanding satisfaction.

Looking up, Ciel's cheeks blazed bright-red at the look on Shinrei's face as he stared back down at her. From the way his cheeks were puffed and how his eyes sparkled, it was clear he was on the verge of exploding into laughter, but was doing his very best to hold it in for the sake of her pride and dignity.

Ciel sighed. "Oh go ahead," she said.

Shinrei turned his head so that he could laugh into the pillow without making too much noise, though Ciel could hear him easily enough.

After he'd finished, Shinrei let go of her and carefully extricated himself from their embrace, getting out of bed, grinning all the while. "I guess I should get you something," he said. "I'll be back in a little bit."

Shinrei turned to open the door, only for it to slide open in front of him. Saisei was standing there, her hands free, but with three trays of food balanced on three separate tails.

"I figured you'd be waking up about now," she said with a grin. "And I figured that you'd be hungry too."

"Are you psychic?" asked Ciel with a little sarcasm before she caught herself.

Saisei winked at her. "No. But I do know my patients. Come now, it's lunch time."

* * *

After they had eaten, Shinrei had to leave on some errand or another, possibly to oversee afternoon training. Ciel lingered a little bit, sitting with Saisei, who had a little time in between patients or projects. It was helpful. Ciel found it easy to talk to Saisei, particularly with the confusing nature of her relationship with Shinrei.

"My advice would be not to worry about it," said Saisei with a smile, brushing her tail along the side of Ciel's face. The soft fur gave the gesture a soothing feeling. "Shinrei's too good a boy to force you into something you don't feel you're ready for. He'll mind his boundaries for as long as you want him to. If nothing comes of it, that's fine. But if something does..."

"Then things get complicated," said Ciel with a sigh.

"Only if you let them," said Saisei, continuing to gently pet the side of Ciel's face with her tail. "To be honest, I think Shinrei, possibly even Makoto-sama, may be worrying a bit too much about this or that implication with regards to Shinrei's...er...friendship with you. You should be free to act as you wish with regards to that. If people take exception with that, then dismiss them. If they take action because of that, then fight to the best of your ability. Become strong enough to be free with your feelings."

"Is it really that easy?" asked Ciel.

"Only if you value what you and Shinrei have more than you value the opinions of people who know nothing about it," said Saisei. "Naturally, there will be people who judge you for it. That would be true whether you were a student of his school or not. The best way to deal with it is to become strong enough that their opinions will not be a source of danger for you."

"So I have to get stronger first," said Ciel.

"I suppose," said Saisei with a sigh. She checked the clock on the wall. "I have to go," she said. "Duty calls."

"Okay," said Ciel.

"Like I told you before, you still need to rest, so no training or strenuous exercise until tomorrow morning." said Saisei. "There's a lovely park between here and the dojo. Why don't you wander there for a while. It can be quite good for the heart."

"...Okay," said Ciel, wondering if there was some hidden meaning in Saisei's advice. However, if there was anything more to be said, Saisei wasn't saying it. She left without another word.

* * *

The park was lovely. Paths meandered amongst grassy hills, occasionally winding by flowerbeds, decorated with colorful flowers, all in perfect bloom. Trees, large and small, stood singly or in small groves here and there, some offering shade, others actually being laden with fruit. The sight of an apple tree made her stomach growl again, despite the fact that she'd just eaten. However, Ciel didn't know if there were rules against picking the fruit of these trees for her own consumption. She supposed she'd have to ask the few fellow students she talked with first.

As it was, she decided to wander, breathing in the fresh air, filled with the heady aromas of vegetation and ripe fruit. The weather was perfect, slightly cloudy, but not overly hot. Ciel walked until her legs felt tired. Normally, she could have gone farther, but she supposed her healing was continuing to sap her energy. She decided to rest in the shade of a large maple that stood near the center of the park.

It was comfortable. The grass was soft. The tree's bark was hard and rough, but hardly seemed to cause her back any problems. There was no sap leaking out, so it wasn't sticky at all. The tree's smell filled her nostrils with every breath. Around her were the chirps of birds and the rustle of vegetation. Occasionally, she saw other people on their own meanderings in the distance, but she was left alone, though no one seemed to be going out of their way to avoid her.

Ciel lowered her eyes, simply letting the scenery enshroud her, relaxing and enjoying this rare quiet moment.

"Well...I wasn't expecting to see someone else here."

Ciel's eyes snapped open at the voice, and she looked for its source. A man stood just beside her, resting a hand against the bark of the tree as he looked down at her with a friendly smile. Ciel took in everything about his appearance, from the bowl-cut of his black hair, to his elaborate white kimono, and the thick, opaque-looking glasses over his eyes. Despite the sword he wore on his hip, he had a scholarly air to him that made it seem unlikely to her that he was any kind of warrior.

"I-I'm sorry," said Ciel, shifting to get up. "I don't want to impose. I'll go somewhere else."

"No! Please...sit," said the man waving his hand in a placating manner. "You've made yourself comfortable, and I have no particular claim to his spot. It would be extremely rude of me to drive you off." Instead, he sat himself down just around the trunk from her. "I come here to think in peace myself, from time to time. But sometimes it's nice to have someone to speak with."

"I...suppose," said Ciel. "Um...may I ask who you are?"

"Of course," said the man with a chuckle. "I'm just a local teacher of reading, writing, arithmetic, and history."

"And...your name?" asked Ciel.

"Hmm...why don't you just call me Sensei," said the man with a chuckle. "There's no merit in bothering over trivial details like my name."

Ciel thought that a person's name was hardly trivial. But if the man was making a point not to tell her, he must have had his reasons, and she didn't have the right to pry.

"Now then...may I return the gesture and ask who you are?" asked the man.

"My name is Ciel Soleil," said Ciel softly, feeling no reason to keep her name hidden from the man.

"I see," said the man. "You're an immigrant from the outside world, hmm?"

"Y-yes I am," said Ciel. She shouldn't have been surprised that he had seen that. Outsiders mostly had names of a different nature from the Mibu. They took most of their names from some ancient language that seemed mostly forgotten by the other lands, though she'd heard similar names amongst people from the outside, mostly from the areas in and around Mistral. More importantly, the Mibu had no particular inclination towards naming their people after colors.

"May I ask you a question?" said Ciel.

"Well, I am a teacher, so answering questions is very much among my duties," said the man in a wry tone.

Ciel nodded at that. "In the outside world, people are named after colors or things that suggest colors. Why don't the Mibu do that?"

"You know why the the people outside name their children after colors, right?" asked Sensei.

"Yes," said Ciel. "It was because of the Great War. It became about fighting for the right of individual and artistic expression. So, to never forget what was at stake, the people of the world began naming their children after colors, one of the primary components of art."

"True," said the man. "Now, why might you think that the Mibu are omitted from that sentiment?"

"Uh..." Ciel blinked and wondered.

"Let me take another approach," said Sensei. "When did you first hear about the Mibu Clan?"

"Not until right before I came here," admitted Ciel.

"That's understandable," said Sensei. "Now...do you think that would have been different if the Mibu had been participants in the Great War?"

"M-maybe," said Ciel. "So...you sat out the Great War?"

"We did," said Sensei. "What was at stake for you was _not_ at stake for us. Because we were not in danger of losing anything, we did not feel the need to remind ourselves of what can be lost. Someday, that might change. But that is the truth for now.

"And you had not heard about the Mibu Clan at all, before you came here, which shows that we were actually _kept_ from history. That was both the world's desire...and ours..."

"Why?" asked Ciel.

"Hmm..." said the man, scratching his chin. "You told me your name earlier, but that does not quite tell me who you are. Would you answer that question?"

"I'm..." Ciel blinked and lowered her eyes, staring at the ground. Who was she, really? A former trainee Huntress from Atlas? Was she a member of the Mibu Clan, now that she'd immigrated? She didn't feel like either of those things. She settled on the only answer she could give. "At present, I am a student of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ under Makoto-sensei."

"Makoto, hmmm?" mused Sensei. "I see. He has good eyes when it comes to picking out students."

Ciel nodded before freezing in place. She was still getting used to the system of honorifics employed by the Mibu, so it took her a moment to register that Sensei _hadn't_ used any honorific when referring to Makoto, one of the most important members of the clan. From what Aya had told her, that was either a very casual, or very intimate, form of address.

"You know him?" she asked.

"I should hope so," said Sensei with a chuckle. "After all, he is the Clan's Chief Physician. I would be remiss to forget the man who oversees the health of our people. If you are starting as a student at this age, that must be because you have seen what the style can do."

"Yes," said Ciel. "I came across the strait with Shinrei...sama...and he used it to fight off a group of Grimm that attacked us."

"And you were impressed?"

"Yes," said Ciel, nodding vigorously. "I've never seen anything like that."

"There are several such styles taught within the Mibu Clan," said Sensei. "Masters of those styles can freely wield earth, fire, water, wood, or metal...or the wind itself. Grandmasters of those styles can split the earth and shake the heavens. Their power is like the power of gods."

"But you _aren't_ gods," said Ciel.

"No," agreed Sensei. "But once, in the distant past, we believed ourselves to be. We allowed our hubris to overpower our reason, and believed that, as gods, we had the divine right to rule the world and mold it to our liking. As a consequence, the Mibu Clan nearly died out entirely."

Ciel gasped. She could hardly believe that such a powerful, prosperous people had once been poised upon the precipice of extinction.

"Pride has always been our most dangerous flaw," continued Sensei. "If the Mibu had moved to quell the Great War, or the faunus uprising that followed it, it would be a decisive intervention, one that probably would have saved a great many lives. But it might well have doomed us all to the fate our ancestors so narrowly escaped."

"Because they would start to think that they were gods again," said Ciel.

"Precisely," said Sensei. "The Mibu of the past survived by embracing the path of mankind, rather than the path of godhood. If we make those same mistakes..."

"So that's why you wanted to be isolated," said Ciel.

"We did," said Sensei. "But things have changed now."

"How so?" asked Ciel. She'd heard Shinrei and Saisei talking about this before.

"Isolation is another way that can lead us to the path of godhood," said Sensei. "We set ourselves apart, and it is only a matter of time before some begin to attribute that to the farcical notion of natural superiority. Before that happens, we must capitalize on the the peace that the world enjoys now, however tenuous it may be. We need to emerge, not as saviors or superiors, but as equals, who strive to both teach and learn."

Sensei paused, and Ciel imagined that he was blinking somewhat dazedly behind his thick glasses. "I'm sorry," he said sheepishly. "I get so worked up sometimes. You must be bored by this complicated talk."

"Not at all," said Ciel, shaking her head seriously. She was fascinated by this. Already, her mind was bubbling with all kinds of thoughts at the implications of this event. If the Mibu emerged out into the world, possibly positioning themselves as a new Kingdom, then the consequences, both good and ill would boggle the mind. It was incredibly relevant to her personal history, and her future as well.

Sensei chuckled. "You seem an apt student of the martial arts, particularly Makoto's. But you also have potential as a scholar as well."

"Ah well..." Ciel blushed and looked down.

"Think nothing of it," said Sensei, waving a hand. "You do have free time after training after all. If you're curious, there is a library nearby. Many of the older books and scrolls are in our Old Tongue, but most of them have been translated into the common speech."

"I see," said Ciel. "I'd like to read some more."

"Good," said Sensei, beaming. "There is nothing that pleases me more than someone with a thirst for knowledge. It is not bad for a student of the martial arts either. A healthy mind befits a healthy body."

Ciel giggled at the age-old wisdom she had heard before. Some things were universal it seemed.

"I see you are familiar with that adage," said Sensei with a laugh of his own. "We are not so different, Mibu and outsiders."

"That's true," agreed Ciel, her smile faltering. _In more ways than one..._

"May I pose another question?" requested Sensei.

"Of course," said Ciel.

"You have the look of someone with a conundrum to solve. Would you tell me about it?"

"I could..." said Ciel. Then she frowned. "But...I'm not sure I should talk about it."

"If it helps, consider me a friend in confidence," said Sensei. "Nothing you say to me will be heard by anyone else, if you do not wish it. There is also no one near enough to eavesdrop on us."

Ciel blinked and turned to look at him again, wondering how he knew that. But, then again, there was something about this bookish, slightly goofy-looking man that suggested he was far more capable than he seemed. However, even if what he said about no one being near was true, could she truly trust him to not tell anyone else?

"You promise?" she asked cautiously.

"I swear on my life," said Sensei gravely. "I will keep your confidence until the end of time, if you so wish."

"O-okay," said Ciel, still not entirely sure that this man could help her. Still, he seemed quite knowledgable. She decided to tell him.

So she told him about the hazing, about her fight with Yumiko, and her later conversation with Shinrei, though she omitted the part where she had slept in his arms and their talk about their relationship. There were some things she felt she needed to keep to herselfm unless absolutely necessary. Besides, it wasn't really relevant to her problem.

"I see," said Sensei, scratching his chin again. "That's a tricky problem. I can understand why you're confused."

"But I don't get why he won't tell me," said Ciel.

Sensei grinned. "Shinrei has an excellent sense as a teacher. He's a fitting heir to Makoto's position of Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_. If he left that problem for you to work out on your own, it must be because he believes you have the pieces necessary to fit together the puzzle."

"Huh?" Ciel canted her head.

"As a teacher, the greatest aspiration I can have is not that that my students truly learn all the little minutia I've taught them. Rather, it is the skills they acquire to solve problems for themselves, to arrive at their own answers after reasoning things out. That is the important aspect of being a teacher...which Shinrei and Makoto both understand well."

Ciel blinked. There it was again, that incredibly casual manner of address referring to two very important figures within the Mibu Clan. _Just who is he?_

"Still," said Sensei, "I believe that I can give you a hint."

"What?" asked Ciel, leaning forward hopefully.

"The _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ is the style of Water. That does not simply refer to its practitioners' ability to create and manipulate water, but is actually a philosophy at the style's core, which informs even its most basic movements." Sensei grinned. "Water's strength in regard to the Five Elements is its mutability. It is fluid, and will change its shape according to its container. Likewise, when adapted to the martial arts, it becomes a form that you will be able to change on the fly to suit the enemy you are fighting. When you think about it that way, an answer might just come to you, regarding your senpai's victory."

"...Okay," said Ciel.

"I think you have more than enough for now," said Sensei, getting to his feet and brushing off the grass sticking to his clothes. "I'm afraid I have to go. Some people are calling for me."

Ciel blinked and strained her ears, unable to hear anyone. Then, in the far distance, she heard a faint shout. "-sty...where are you?"

Ciel turned to ask just who was calling for him, but gasped instead. Sensei was gone. She had not heard or felt him move. He was simply not there anymore. Was it speed, skill, some supernatural ability, or a combination of those things? Had he even been real? Ciel looked down at the place where he'd been sitting, seeing the grass bent down by a person's weight, and determined that she _hadn't_ just hallucinated his presence. But she wasn't sure if that unnerved her more or less.

* * *

Ciel expected dinner to be an awkward affair, with people giving her a wide berth, now that she was in Yumiko's sights. Instead, it seemed that her actions had made more than a few friends amongst the students, even those of her age. Takeshi sat across from her, next to a scowling Yuuto, cheerfully talking his ear off about anything he would listen to. Aya had moved to her left, and Ciel was shocked to see the taciturn, prickly Miyu seat herself to her right. Miyu's behavior remained aloof, but her proximity appeared to at least be a sign of respect for Ciel, if not friendship.

After dinner was cleaned up, Ciel padded softly down the halls of the compound to find Makoto's chamber. She knocked timidly on the frame of the door.

"Enter," said Makoto from within.

Ciel slid the door open and stepped inside, closing it behind her. She sat down on her knees in front of Makoto, who was sitting in the same manner, his position on the floor slightly raised from the portion where Ciel sat.

"I shall begin by telling you that I saw and heard everything that took place," said Makoto. "There is very little that goes on here that I am not privy to, which includes the machinations of jealous, judgmental children."

Ciel nodded slightly.

"That said, you have claimed responsibility for the fight itself," said Makoto. "An un-supervised sparring session comes with penalties for the participants, and a more severe penalty for the instigator. Having heard that, I will ask you, do you still intend to claim responsibility for the match?"

Ciel opened her mouth, but Makoto forestalled her response with a raised hand.

"Before you speak, I will tell you that no one is listening to our conversation. Not even Shinrei has the skill to approach me without giving himself away. I will know if anyone tries to eavesdrop on us." He gave her a small smile. "That said, do you still intend to claim responsibility?"

"I do," said Ciel without hesitation. "I understand that it means punishment. However, I was, in a sense, the instigator. So I can't absolve myself of that responsibility."

"I see," said Makoto, nodding sagely. "Then I shall issue your punishment. Every week, on Saturday morning, you will participate in a sparring match against Yumiko-kun. If you are so confident in your skills that you can take on one of our most senior students, then you shall have to demonstrate it by fighting her until you can actually prove it. Naturally, the use of the water arts will be forbidden. You shall also be healed of any injuries afterwards. However, you will still be required to attend the afternoon exercises."

Ciel's heart thudded alarmingly in her chest. Though Saisei had healed the damage done by Yumiko's blows, the memory of that pain lingered. Now she was being forced to face off against the person who had inflicted that pain on a weekly basis, until she actually won.

On the surface, it seemed a cruel punishment, basically sentencing her to a beating once a week, followed by a struggle to keep up as her body, tired from healing, was forced to be exercised with those of the other students. Some people would have gone so far as to call that torture. However, Ciel could see Makoto's true intent.

By making them fight on a regular basis, it would reduce Yumiko's desire to torment Ciel in other ways, if she was given free license to beat Ciel once a week, which should keep her from resorting to other kinds of hazing. It also allowed Ciel to face off against her opponent multiple times, and learn the truth about her style.

Shinrei had given Ciel homework by telling her to work out how Yumiko had beaten her. Makoto was giving her more chances to learn, and, later, apply the answers she arrived at.

She bowed to Makoto. "Yes, Makoto-sensei."

Makoto smiled warmly at her. "You have great potential, Ciel-kun, and I do not disapprove of Shinrei's affection for you, so long as it does not become a distraction from your training. However, I also understand that you need to earn your own way, and gain the respect of your peers through your own actions. Though it may be hard, I ask that you endure."

"I will, Makoto-sensei," said Ciel, once again bowing to him. She paused, hesitating, wondering if she would tell him about the other conversation she'd had this day. She had told Sensei everything about her circumstances and Yumiko's attempt at hazing. Was the man truly trustworthy, and did Makoto even know who he was?

"Is there something else?" asked Makoto.

"There is," said Ciel. "I talked to someone else today, and I told him a great deal. He knows almost as much about my situation as you do."

Makoto raised an eyebrow, silently prompting her to explain. As she talked about her conversation with the strange teacher, under the tree, he began to smile slightly. When she finished, he was chuckling and shaking his head ruefully.

"Truly, he'll stick his nose into anyone's business," said Makoto with a substantial amount of amusement in his voice.

"Is he trustworthy?" asked Ciel.

"His word is as good as gold," said Makto, "better, in fact. He will undoubtedly keep faith with you. You needn't worry."

"Okay," said Ciel. "Who is he? Do you know him?"

"I know him quite well," said Makoto with a low chuckle. "However, I will refrain from answering your question. It's rare that he encounters someone who is not aware of his identity, so it's his favorite prank."

"Was he lying?" asked Ciel.

"Only by omission," said Makoto. "He is indeed a teacher of various academic subjects. However, there is far more than that."

Ciel blinked and ran through it in her head, as she began to piece together the evidence she had. He was a man of some importance, if he could refer to Makoto and Shinrei so casually. Either that, or he was someone extremely close to them. He'd demonstrated considerable knowledge of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , despite the fact that Ciel had never seen him around Makoto's school. She also suspected he was just as knowledgable about the other Mibu styles. Then there was the knowledge and conviction with which he had spoken of the Mibu's history, and what they needed to do for their future. Finally, there was his disappearing act, which required skill and ability far beyond any ordinary person, even considering the absurd things some of the Mibu were capable of.

Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped, hanging slack. Her cheeks began to heat up, and Ciel covered them with her hands almost reflexively.

In front of her, Makoto chuckled. "He'll be disappointed that he didn't get to see your face. You're quite clever. I don't believe I've ever seen someone piece together his identity so quickly."

"So...I was really talking to him," said Ciel. At Makoto's nod, her cheeks burned even more. _I was speaking to the ruler of the Mibu, the Crimson King!_

* * *

"You spent more time than usual on your meditations, Your Majesty," said the silver-haired man walking to Sensei's right.

"Come now, Murasame," said Sensei. "No need to be so formal. At the end of the day, my title is naught but a decoration, and I am nothing more than a man in complete submission to the will of his wife."

"That is true, Majesty," said Murasame. "But I still respect you too much to refer to you in any other manner."

Sensei sighed and reached up to remove his glasses, revealing a pair of gleaming Crimson Eyes. "It seems there's no swaying you. You're always stubborn like that."

"Of course I am," said Murasame with a chuckle. Then his eyes narrowed. "So...what occupied you for so long?"

"I just discovered another priceless treasure," said Mibu Kyoichiro, with a smile of his own. "Makoto has taken a true gem into his care, one that will shine brilliantly with just a little polish. I so look forward to her future."

"Good for you, Your Majesty," said Murasame, bowing his head. "Your wife awaits you with the latest plans for the Opening."

"Then, by all means, let us not keep her waiting," said Kyoichiro as he opened the door and entered a meeting room, where his wife, and one other person, were waiting.

"Makoto will probably be delayed, if he comes at all," said Kyoichiro, sitting down at the table. "So let us begin..."

* * *

 **Admittedly, the reveal of the Crimson King's identity would probably work better if I hadn't already done it in the main storyline, which is one reason I chose not to drag out the time it takes for Ciel to come to the realization of who he really is.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32:**

Ciel gasped in pain as her body slammed into the floor, the impact driving the breath from her lungs. She was sore, numerous bruises no doubt decorating her body beneath her kimono and hakama.

Standing over her, Yumiko fixed Ciel with a cold, dispassionate glare. Their match had gone even faster than the first one. Yumiko no longer allowed any overconfidence on her part, and dedicated her actions to beating down Ciel as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Once again, Ciel had found herself helpless to avoid or block Yumiko's attacks, which seemed to always hit their mark, no matter what Ciel did.

"The match is over," declared Makoto solemnly, from one side of the training hall, where he had been moderating. "Yumiko-kun is the winner."

Yumiko allowed herself a small, haughty smile, which she carefully hid from Makoto by angling her head.

If Makoto noticed Yumiko's tiny display of conceit, he gave no sign, instead fixing his gaze on Ciel as she rose to her knees and looked at him. He gave her a tiny nod. With a defeated sigh, Ciel forced herself to stand up and made her way to the corner of the training hall that Saisei had taken up specifically for this purpose.

"Well now, this brings back fond memories," said Saisei with a laugh, as she began the process of repairing the damage Yumiko had done.

Ciel looked at Saisei questioningly, but Saisei's response was merely a coy grin as she continued with the healing. Instead, she took the conversation on a different tact. "Your injuries aren't as severe this time. You're getting better at Flow, if you're able to reduce it to this extent."

"Thank you," said Ciel, though she didn't feel like she was improving after how decisively she had been defeated.

Saisei merely giggled and patted Ciel's shoulder, a sign that the healing was over. Ciel let out another defeated sigh and returned to the lesson. There would be no rest for her this time. Fortunately, nothing Yumiko had dealt her during this bout had been as bad as the broken ribs Ciel had received during their first match. However, she could already feel the tiredness infringing on the edge of her senses, dulling her strength and reaction time. By the time they finished with the afternoon exercises, Ciel was so tired she could barely move, though she still had to help the other students clean the hall at the end of the day.

When Makoto had announced Ciel's "punishment" earlier that week, many of the students were of the opinion that it was overly cruel and unwarranted. Naturally, Yumiko reveled in the chance to be given free rein to pound on Ciel once a week. Because of that, it seemed that Yumiko and those who supported her were sufficiently placated that they refrained from hazing Ciel in other fashions.

Other students, like Takeshi and Aya, were of the opinion that Makoto was being unnecessarily cruel, though they never ventured those opinions in front of Makoto himself. Ciel figured it was probably for the best that she didn't divulge the true reason Makoto had punished her in this fashion. As it was, she was content with the fact that she now had people in her corner, and that Yumiko's hazing was not taking on other forms.

At least, for all her faults, Yumiko didn't seem to be a sadist. Their brief bout had been brutal, but it was an efficient brutality, born of Yumiko's determination to defeat Ciel as quickly and completely as possible, attacking without letup, and never giving Ciel a chance to catch her breath or find her rhythm. Fortunately, Yumiko and her friends left Ciel alone for the rest of the day. Ciel was free to collapse into her bed and fall asleep, immediately after dinner.

Fortunately, the fact that the bouts were on Saturday had been another quiet mercy on Makoto's part. Sunday was their free day of the week, the day during which they were able to do what they pleased with their time, after they had finished the morning chores. Though Ciel still had to get up with the other students to clean the training hall, she was free to do what she wished with her time otherwise. She spent it as best she could, starting out by roaming through the park where she'd met "Sensei," then going to the library that he'd recommended to her. To her surprise, there was no shortage of interesting things to read, which occupied much of her time until dinner, after which she spent her time with the friends that she had made.

However, despite feeling rested and more at ease after Sunday, Ciel felt a niggle of irritation at herself. Her next bout with Yumiko would be in six days, and Ciel was no closer to figuring out how Yumiko's blows kept landing than before. There were plenty of other issues aside from that. Despite Saisei's compliments, her Flow was nowhere near good enough to keep up with her movements. Even if she could learn the secret behind Yumiko's trick, and was able to fight back, she could only do so much good when her own attacks and blocks left her arms feeling on the verge of snapping like twigs.

 _I need more practice,_ she thought as she closed her eyes Sunday night.

* * *

The next day went as most of the ones before had gone. Training was something Ciel could do in her sleep now...and she would swear that she sometimes did... However, her progress was nowhere near the level where she could hope to match Yumiko. Coming to a decision, Ciel decided to seek out the one person who could help her.

That was how she found herself outside Makoto's room yet again. She knocked lightly on the doorframe and Makoto invited her in as before. The feeling was eerily familiar to the one she had on the day that she'd reported for punishment.

"What is it?" asked Makoto as Ciel sat in front of him.

"I need more training," said Ciel simply. "I won't be able to match Yumiko-senpai with just regular training. There are too many things I need to improve on."

Makoto's eyes narrowed. "I will not give you extra lessons," he said.

Ciel winced. She'd expected that, but it still smarted to have Makoto confirm it.

"However," continued Makoto, "after dinner, your time is yours to do with as you please. So long as you clean up afterwards, you are even permitted to use the training hall to continue practicing, if you feel the need to."

Ciel nodded and bowed, having expected this to be Makoto's answer. He wouldn't give her special lessons for the purpose of enabling her to get ahead of the other students. However, if she wished to put in the extra effort and train on her own, he would allow it gladly.

"Thank you, Makoto-sensei," said Ciel, bowing to him.

Makoto smiled. "There is still some time before you need to go to bed. I believe you can start tonight, if you wish."

Ciel nodded and thanked him once more, before taking her leave.

* * *

The training hall seemed oddly desolate without the other students to fill it. Still, that emptiness seemed like a boon to Ciel, as she took a deep breath to center herself, and began to go through the katas she'd been taught so far. Her primary goal was to improve her Flow to the point that it could keep up with her movements. After she managed that, she could worry about finding out Yumiko's secret, if she didn't hit upon the method while she was training.

She moved slowly and deliberately, allowing her movements to match the rate of speed with which she shifted her Aura about her body. It still felt painfully slow to her, particularly compared to the higher rate of speed with which the older students, even the ones her own age, could move at. Still, nothing good would come of rushing. There were no shortcuts to getting better.

After at least two hours of training, Ciel cleaned the portion of the floor she had trained on, and returned to the dormitory, covered in sweat, but feeling pleased with herself after a good day's work.

* * *

The next morning, Aya and Takeshi were intensely curious about where Ciel had been, given that she hadn't spent the evening time after dinner with them. They were shocked when Ciel told them about her additional training.

"I know you're dedicated," said Takeshi, "but that's crazy. After everything we go through during the day, you want to do even _more_ work after dinner."

Ciel nodded. "It's the only way I can improve fast enough," she said. "I don't plan on losing to Yumiko-senpai forever."

"You've still got a ways to go," said Miyu crossly (Miyu always seemed cross in the mornings). "Putting in a couple extra hours every night isn't going to close that gap much faster."

"But every little bit helps," said Ciel. "I have to do what I can."

"Just don't push yourself too far," said Yuuto quietly, showing an odd degree of concern. "You need to rest sometime. You can't keep pushing yourself constantly forever."

Ciel found herself smiling. Yuuto was normally as surly and caustic as Miyu, but there were occasions when he showed a sweet side hidden beneath his snide exterior. After all, despite showing apparent annoyance at her presence, he still hung around, though Ciel sometimes wondered if that had more to do with Aya than her.

Still, it was with high spirits that Ciel continued her training that day and, in the evening, she once again returned to the training hall for additional practice. She did that for the entire week.

* * *

As Miyu had predicted, it ended up not helping her all that much. Yumiko beat her soundly on Saturday morning, and Ciel once again had to spend the afternoon exercising with the other students when she was already tired from another healing. She didn't do any additional training that night. She took Sunday off as well, minding Yuuto's warning about overextending herself. However, once Monday came, and training resumed, so too did Ciel's extra practice sessions in the evening.

* * *

"You're hopeless," said Miyu flatly, as she watched Ciel finish a kata, trying to manipulate the Flow of her Aura through her body as she did so.

Ciel yelped and spun to face Miyu. Ciel hadn't even realized that Miyu was there. "I-I'm sorry," she said nervously.

Miyu sighed irritably and stood up. "I can't stand this," she said. "Watching you fumble around like this makes me sick."

"I'm sorry," repeated Ciel, lowering her head, though a little anger bubbled up inside of her. Here she was, doing her best to improve herself. To hear Miyu dismiss it so crassly made her want to scream out in frustration.

"Don't apologize. Sit!" Miyu pointed to the very spot where she'd been standing a second earlier. "Watch."

Ciel blinked, wondering what Miyu was doing. But she did as she was told, her anger dying and being replaced by curiosity.

"You're not thinking about your Flow the right way," said Miyu, striding out into the center of the hall, and striking a starting stance of her own. "Watch how I do it."

She began going through the kata, her moves polished and smooth. Ciel watched in awe as Miyu's Aura swirled around her, flowing out into her blades for her strikes, and shifting back into her body afterwards.

"The _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ is the style of Water," said Miyu as she moved. "That doesn't just mean the Water Arts. It means that your Aura itself should reflect the qualities of water. It ebbs and flows, surges and pools. Your Aura has to _be_ like water, if you want to master the Flow."

Ciel narrowed her eyes and watched carefully, as Miyu's movements began to pick up speed.

"Your Aura should rage like the rapids," continued Miyu. "It should crash like the waves. And, when you stop..." She came to the end of the current kata and lowered her arms. "It should become as tranquil as the surface of a lake on a windless day."

She turned to face Ciel. "If you want to get better, that's what you have to do."

Ciel's eyes lit up and she stood up. "Thank you, Miyu-san!"

"Senpai!" snapped Miyu irritably. "A fumbler like you shouldn't talk to me like an equal yet. Get better first."

"Yes, Senpai," said Ciel eagerly, jumping out onto the floor and assuming the starting stance. She took a deep breath, and willed her Aura to calm and still. It pooled within her, the rippling vanishing as she centered herself.

Then Takeshi's voice reached her ears. "It helps if you imagine your body as a vessel for your Aura," he said, "like a cup or chalice. If you tip the cup or move it around, the water sloshes. Your Aura should do the same when you move. The only differences are that your Aura is the water and your body is the cup."

Ciel nodded. She began going through the movements of the kata, trying to make her Aura flow and surge as Miyu and Takeshi had described. It was only by a little at first, but Ciel felt as though she was moving better, and her Aura was responding more naturally to her movements.

As Ciel practiced, Takeshi took a seat next to Miyu, grinning impishly. "You're pretty nice when all's said and done."

Miyu actually blushed. She glared at Takeshi, then sharply turned her face away. "It's not as though I actually care," she said. "I was just getting sick of watching her waste time like that, not to mention that she's too stupid to ask for help."

"Maybe she had no reason to think we'd give it to her," said Takeshi, his expression softening.

Miyu whipped her head around to stare at him incredulously.

"I mean, you were the one who dragged her into the hall the morning this all started," said Takeshi. "And, despite us acting nice...well... _me_ acting nice anyway...around her, it's not as though we actually did anything to defend her from Yumiko-senpai or the others. When you look at it like that, does she really have any reason to expect help from us?"

Miyu's eyes widened and she forced herself to look away from Takeshi and stare down at the floor.

"But I want to help!" shouted Aya, jumping into the conversation, and the training hall, suddenly. "I want to help Ciel-san!"

Ciel, caught off-guard by Aya's sudden interjection, yelped and tripped, sprawling across the floor in an ungainly mess.

"Now look at what you've done," scolded Miyu. "Don't just jump in whenever you feel like it."

"I'm sorry," said Aya cutely before going to Ciel's side. "I didn't mean to distract you like that."

"It's okay," said Ciel with a smile, fighting down the urge to pat Aya's head.

"I'll train with you too," said Aya eagerly.

"Hey, that's a good idea," said Takeshi with a grin. "If you have a partner around your level, you can do kumite too. That'll help you master the Flow better."

"Are you sure?" asked Ciel. "You shouldn't give up your evenings for me."

"Hey, what are friends for?" asked Takeshi with a grin.

Hearing those words from him made Ciel want to cry...from happiness. She'd felt alone and isolated before now. Even though she sometimes thought of the people here as her friends, she'd still felt a certain distance from them, thanks to her status as an outsider. But now they were pitching in to help her, assisting her to the best of their abilities.

"Now, since we've agreed to do this, why don't we have our _other_ resident sourpuss join in," said Takeshi, leaning out to grab a hiding Yuuto by the collar and yanking him into the training hall.

"Hey!" protested Yuuto.

"Now don't be shy," said Takeshi with a laugh. "You want to help out too."

"I do not!" protested Yuuto fruitlessly as the others laughed.

Standing, hidden behind one of the walls, Shinrei listened in on the conversation, and grinned widely.

* * *

From there, Ciel's nights got more enjoyable. She wound up working hard. But she now had friends to help her, to comment on what she was doing wrong, to help her figure out what was right. It was the best of both worlds. She got to work at getting stronger, but she got to spend time with her friends too.

But it still seemed like an ultimately futile gesture. The next Saturday, Yumiko beat Ciel as decisively as ever. Fortunately, improving her Flow meant that she was better able to react when she was hit, and her injuries were not as severe as they were before. As a consequence, Ciel wasn't as tired out by the healing as she had been the previous two weeks, which allowed her to keep up with the other students more easily. She wasn't even too tired to spend time with her friends Saturday evening.

It seemed that her efforts were earning her further recognition from the other students as well. Many of them were less reserved, when it came to approaching her. A few of them started to give her pointers on how to improve. A few others even started joining in Ciel's evening practice sessions, often doing their own training while Ciel went through katas with Takeshi and Miyu, or practiced kumite with Aya or Yuuto. At least one of the students at Yumiko's level started giving her advice.

If there was one person who was not taking this well, it was Yumiko. That next Saturday, she was far more aggressive than usual, attacking furiously, yet with the same perplexing technique as always, managing to strike Ciel even _after_ she had read the attack and had dodged, blocked, or tried to counter. Yumiko became much more vicious, obviously aiming to injure, rather than simply defeat Ciel. That day, she fractured Ciel's wrist with one of her strikes. The resulting healing left Ciel struggling to keep up with the other students once again, and she all but passed out after dinner.

* * *

On Sunday, Ciel awoke refreshed, ready to spend another day relaxing before she started training again. However, she was also troubled by a conundrum. She knew for sure that her movements and reflexes were on par with Yumiko's. Even the Flow of her Aura was starting to improve, now that she was following Miyu's advice. She could follow Yumiko's every swing with her eyes. But Ciel still couldn't evade any of her strikes. _I see and dodge...but how does she keep hitting me?_ she wondered.

Rather than go to the library, Ciel decided to sit under the tree in the park, where she had met Sensei, and think about it. She could get as fast and as strong as she liked. But until she figured out how Yumiko's trick worked, she had no hope of winning.

Frowning pensively, Ciel hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top of them, trying to think it over. Her mind went back to what Sensei had told her, words that had been echoed by Miyu when advising her about Flow. _The_ Mumyo Saigyo Ryu _is the style of Water..._ She closed her eyes and thought back to her fights with Yumiko, trying to remember as much as she could. She was easily able to remember watching Yumiko's strikes. That was simple enough. But when she dodged, Yumiko still hit her. However, there was something off about those hits. _It felt as though they were coming from another direction._

But she also knew where Yumiko's other blade had been at those times. So it couldn't have been that Yumiko was sneaking in an extra attack with her other hand. Oftentimes, Ciel had read the path of Yumiko's swing and switched her gaze to Yumiko's other blade to try and read its attack, only to forget about it when she was hit by the one she'd thought she read. _So how do you hit someone with an attack that they've dodged?_

She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to work out how it was doable. Perhaps the strikes she was reacting to were feints, which threw her guard off so that Yumiko could hit her with the real attack. _No…that's not quite right. Her rhythm was wrong for a feint._ As Ciel thought about it, she remembered the tempo of Yumiko's movements. The strikes had hit perfectly in time with Yumiko's attack rhythm, which meant the trick wasn't the result of a feint or somehow layering a second attack onto the first one.

 _If that's not the case, how do you hit someone with an attack they've evaded?_ Ciel wondered. Then it occurred to her. _What if you changed the direction of the attack after they dodged?_

It all made sense. Sensei had spoken about how the _Mumyo Saigyo_ 's techniques were oriented around water's ability to change its form. Miyu had said something similar. And Ciel had the evidence of her own senses, remembering that every attack she'd taken had felt like it was coming from a different direction than she had originally seen Yumiko swing in. That must have been the secret behind Yumiko's trick. She allowed her opponent to read the attack, then changed the attack's direction, curving-No!- _flowing_ the attack into a different course, so that it still hit its target, or even maneuvered around a block or parry.

Thinking about it, it was so incredibly simple, yet there was no way it was that easy. Changing a strike's direction while still maintaining its force was no mean feat. Yumiko's arm-strength must have been tremendous to do that. Ciel shot to her feet, her eyes widening. _Maybe_ I _could do it,_ she thought. She knew the reasoning behind it. It probably wasn't something so easily mastered in a week, but she could start on it and, eventually, be able to use it against Yumiko.

Ciel rushed back to the school and grabbed her blades from her room, before entering the training hall. She moved out to the center of the floor. This time, instead of starting from her regular stance, she tried to mimic the one-legged stance Yumiko used whenever they fought. Ciel tried going through what she remembered seeing of Yumiko's katas. However, she also played out in her mind an imaginary opponent in front of her, an opponent that would try to defend against her attacks.

Swinging at this imaginary opponent, Ciel imagined her dodging. She then tried to alter the direction of her swing. It seemed impossible. Her arm wouldn't let her change direction without slowing her strike down. But that was all wrong. Ciel tried again, this time trying to think of how to go about it. Not thinking about it, she changed the angle of her blade as she was trying to change the direction of her strike.

"Ah!" Ciel was certain she felt something in her arm snap. The blade flew off to one side of the room, clattering against the wooden floor as she sank to her knees, cradling her arm. However, even as she wrestled with the pain, her mind was working furiously. When she had changed the angle of the blade, she'd actually been able to change the direction of the swing drastically. She just didn't have any control of it yet. If she managed to fine-tune this, and combine it with her Flow...

"Nope," said a calm voice as someone knelt next to her and took her injured arm in cool hands. Ciel looked up and stifled a gasp as she found herself looking into Shinrei's dark-blue eyes.

"Sh-Shinrei...sama," said Ciel.

"You're nowhere near ready to try that," said Shinrei. "You're lucky to get away with just a snapped tendon. We'll go to Saisei and get it looked at."

Ciel couldn't help herself. Suddenly being this close to Shinrei and him appearing unexpectedly and touching her so gently...her cheeks practically burst into flame as she struggled to wrestle her emotions back under control, which the pain in her arm was not helping with.

"Geez...you know how to make a guy worry," said Shinrei with a sigh. Moving around, he took her uninjured arm and helped her to stand up. He then went over and collected her dropped blade before taking her arm again. "Let's go."

"I...I'm sorry," said Ciel lowering her head.

Shinrei paused and turned to gently brush a finger over his cheek. "I just had to fall for a difficult one." He sighed.

"F-fall..." said Ciel, her eyes widening and her blush intensifying.

Shinrei froze, his eyes going wide for a brief moment, as he realized what he'd just let slip. Then he slumped in resignation. "I guess it's out in the open now," he said. "But that's how I feel. We can talk about it after we get you treated. Let's go." He began to gently tow Ciel out of the training hall.

It seemed that Shinrei's awareness wasn't completely perfect. In his concern for Ciel, and his desperation to stop her from doing something more reckless than she already had, he'd ended up overlooking a smaller person, standing just behind one of the doors leading out into the exercise yard.

Aya let out a gasp, her hands flying to her mouth and her face going bright-red. She looked around briefly before rushing off back to the residential section of the school.

* * *

One brief healing later and Ciel's arm felt much better. She was feeling a bit lethargic, but not enough to drop off to sleep, which was good. Saisei had left her and Shinrei alone again, and she stared at him, both their faces impressive shades of red.

"Um...uh..." Ciel struggled to find the words to describe her feelings. She knew that Shinrei liked her, that he was even interested in her romantically. But to realize that his feelings for her were so deep...despite the short period of time they'd known each other.

"Y-yeah," said Shinrei, scratching the back of his head, averting his eyes as well. "I...well...I really shot my mouth off back there."

"Wh-when did you...?" Ciel looked up at him in confusion.

"W-well...uh...when I..." Shinrei sighed. "We're not gonna get anywhere at this rate. Let's table the discussion for now, and focus on the primary reason why you're here for a moment. I promise I won't dodge the topic. I think we both just need some time to calm down a little."

Ciel nodded more eagerly than she thought she would. She didn't think she liked the idea all that much, but the furious beating of her heart was muddling her thoughts. She needed something else to focus on.

"So..." said Shinrei, looking up at her, his blush having faded, but not disappearing completely, "...you figured it out."

"So it's true?" said Ciel, her eyes wide. "Yumiko-senpai can change the direction of her attack mid-swing?"

"Yep," said Shinrei. "Pretty simple when you think about it, huh?"

Ciel looked down bashfully.

"Hey," consoled Shinrei, "don't get down. It's simple, but it goes against the logic of swordsmanship in general. Changing the direction of your attack so drastically can lead to some serious problems, as you found out the hard way."

Ciel nodded.

"While it's simple in principle, there are several factors that go into pulling it off successfully," said Shinrei. "It's a combination of arm-strength, mastering the Flow of your Aura, and making your movements themselves flow in such a way that it lessens the strain on your arm. Of all the students currently studying the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , Yumiko's the only one who's become proficient in it so far. There are a couple of others that are getting close, but they're not quite there yet. Your friends, Miyu and Takeshi, can't do it, though they know about it."

"What is it?" asked Yumiko.

"It's called the Dancing Blade Form," said Shinrei. "It's the third-hardest technique to master after the Water Arts themselves."

He held out his hands. Water congealed out of his Aura, flowing outwards, then merging and solidifying becoming a pair of the live version of the weapons Ciel and the other students practiced with. The crescent-shaped, rippling short swords had a transparent, crystalline quality that made the light dance and fragment as it passed through them.

"With the strength of you gain from training, you make use of the Bokuyukusui blade's light-weight and broad shape to make it dance through the air, turning your attacks to catch your opponent when he thinks he's already avoided them." Shinrei began going through a constricted version of the kata Ciel had been trying to imitate, his motions limited by the small size of the room.

"That's why Yumiko-kun kept dominating you so efficiently," explained Shinrei. "Your reflexes and combat instincts are top notch for sure, but that only makes you more vulnerable to the Dancing Blade. You read the linear path of your opponent's blade, but immediately fall victim to the curving strike. The more you read, the more you're swept up into that intoxicating dance."

"So that's how it was," said Ciel softly. Now she felt better about her repeated defeats. She'd been falling for the same trick the whole time, but at least it hadn't been because her senses had been failing her, or her combat instincts weren't nearly as good as she'd thought they were. "But..."

"Yep," said Shinrei, letting his weapons dissolve back into water before making it flow back up into his Aura. "Knowing about it doesn't mean you can defeat it. Reflexes are automatic, conditioned responses, how you manage to up your speed to the point you can fight, and respond effectively in the dynamic circumstances of battle. Even though you know about Yumiko-kun's trick now, that doesn't make it any easier. If you try to catch yourself when you dodge the linear strike, your reflexes will work against, you and then Yumiko-kun won't even _need_ to bend her blows to catch you off-guard."

Ciel nodded.

Shinrei grinned and scratched the side of his head. "So...even though it's cruel of me to do this, I'm giving you a new assignment. You have to figure out how to counter Yumiko-kun's form on your own."

Ciel actually felt an involuntary giggle rise in her throat. "I figured you'd say that," she said.

"Pretty easy to see coming, huh?" said Shinrei sheepishly.

Ciel nodded.

An awkward silence fell over them, neither of them knowing quite where to go from here. Their gazes drifted apart once more. They had resolved the issue of Ciel's "homework," and she'd been given her new assignment. But there was still one important topic hovering in the air between them. Despite now having time to get calmed down, neither of them knew how to begin.

"So...when..." began Ciel, "...when did you start feeling...that...way towards me?"

"Uh...well...geez..." Shinrei rubbed his hand through his hair, messing it up quite effectively. "That's really hard to place. I'm not exactly sure. I mean...I took a liking to you the moment Hayate brought you into the shelter. Forgive me if I sound patronizing, but it felt really good to be able to make you feel better after everything you'd been through."

Ciel nodded, understanding so far.

"But then I fought off those Grimm, and I saw your eyes," said Shinrei with a small laugh. "The other refugees were just happy that they were saved, or impressed with my skills. But you were fascinated. You were trying to work it all out in your head. I also realized that you'd noticed the rhythm of my attacks. That actually impressed me a little bit.

"After that, I spent so much time near you, looking after you with Saisei, that I began to get attached. It was still pretty patronizing back then, more infatuation than love I'd say. Then Makoto-sama made his offer to you, and I was so excited that he'd seen the same things that I had in you." Shinrei chuckled ruefully. His smile faltered slightly. "When you were so hesitant at first, I figured you might pick something else. I knew I'd have to accept it and the fact that I'd probably only ever see you on the rarest of occasions, by the slightest of chances. But I would have let you go so that you could do what you wanted."

Ciel sniffled slightly, feeling a tear roll down her cheek as she saw Shinrei's pensive expression, realizing that he'd cared enough about her to let her go her own way, if she so desired.

"But then you came back that evening, and accepted Makoto-sama's offer," said Shinrei, his smile returning. "I saw a fire in your eyes then. That moment...I guess you could say...that's where I fell for you." He turned his eyes up to meet hers once again. But now there was a warmth in them that made Ciel quiver from head to toe. "Right then and there, all I wanted to do was see how far you could go, just what you could do, how amazing a person you could become."

Ciel backed up slightly, squeaked, then sat down on the bed, shivering as she tried to process all this information. She could practically feel Shinrei's sincerity in his gaze. It made her body feel like it was on fire, a building, quivering warmth that made her indescribably happy...and yet...

Underneath all that warmth, there was a sharp chill of fear. Ciel had not been the most social of individuals back at Atlas Academy. Penny was the only person she had ever counted as a real friend, and that had taken the course of their struggle against Cinder and her master for them to truly cement their friendship. Ciel had certainly never been interested in matters of romance and dating. There just hadn't been room in her schedule for it. Love was too erratic, too incongruent to fit into an itinerary or day-plan...of course, so had friendship, until Penny and her friends had shown Ciel that schedules and timestamps need not be the center of her existence.

This...this was just too much to take, all at once. With everything that was already going on in her life, being suddenly confronted by the sheer depth of Shinrei's feelings for her was overwhelming her. She felt almost like she had when she had first stepped off the boat and onto the Mibu lands, like the world had been ripped out from under her, and she was now cast adrift. However; unlike before, where the feeling had been akin to an empty void, devoid of direction as she found herself lost and without a purpose; Ciel now instead felt as though she was in the midst of a furious storm tossing her every which-way.

There were so many things on her plate now. She needed to figure out how to beat Yumiko's Dancing Blades, while continuing to earn the trust and respect of the other students. That didn't sound like a lot, but it encompassed nearly the entirety of her life by this point. She would have to go back to them now and still pretend that she only saw Shinrei as another teacher, and not as someone who loved her. She would have to look at him, and not let her cheeks burst into a furious blush every time. She would have to check her heart, and her expression, every time their eyes met. There was just too much...

The storm raged and Ciel desperately needed something...someone...to cling to. The one person who usually was there...wasn't... Blinking, Ciel drew herself back out of her thoughts and looked up at Shinrei again. He was still there, standing exactly where he had been before, having not moved a step. Normally, when they were in a private setting like this, he would've already moved to hug her, to try and comfort her. Except that...

 _Oh...I see,_ Ciel realized. Shinrei knew perfectly well that an intimate gesture, even something as simple and ordinary as a hug, could take on different connotations in a situation like this, which might do more harm than good. So he instead maintained his position, not even pressuring her with his gaze as he waited for her to decide what she was comfortable with. "Shinrei...?"

"Yeah," he said, looking up at her.

"Can you...hold me...I just need someone to hold onto right now," said Ciel.

Shinrei smiled and let out a small breath and nodded. He sat down on the bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up against his chest as Ciel returned the gesture, clinging to him with a sigh as her tension began to let itself out. Against his skin, hidden from sight, Ciel now allowed herself a tiny smile. Whatever her real feelings were, at least she knew she liked being held by him.

Releasing her with one hand, Shinrei brought that hand up and began to gently comb it through Ciel's hair. She flinched slightly at the unexpected contact and Shinrei's hand immediately darted away, like a bird startled from its perch. "It's okay," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. After that, Shinrei's hand returned and began to comb through her hair once more.

Ciel allowed herself to relax in his hold, basking in the warmth of Shinrei's arms. With each stroke of his fingers across her scalp, she felt a little bit of her worry and tension drain away. In her ear, she heard the calm, constant tempo of his heartbeat, gently thudding away. She just let it all melt a way and took a blissful moment to not think about anything. After several minutes, she finally felt truly at ease enough to try and grapple with the issue in front of her.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I don't know for sure how I feel about you." She pulled her face away from Shinrei so she could meet his eyes. She expected him to be crestfallen, but he was merely listening intently, so she pressed on. "I know I like you. But...love...I've never...done that before..."

"Neither have I," admitted Shinrei with a sheepish grin. "I didn't expect us to simply magically know where we stood with each other. I just wanted to be honest with you, now that the secret's out between us. I'd meant to keep it in until you were more settled and comfortable, because I knew it would really knock you for a loop, with all that you're already going through. But I can't exactly take back what I let slip out."

"And..." prodded Ciel, "...now that it's in the open?"

Shinrei swallowed, looking genuinely nervous. "I wanted to ask if you would consider...giving...us...a try."

Ciel swallowed as well. He now asked the question she'd been dreading ever since the concept had come up after her first major healing session from one of Yumiko's beatings. Her inner, more reasonable self cried out loudly against it, arguing that there was absolutely no way they could make this work, not with the way things were now. It would affect everything about how they interacted with one another during lessons. Once the other students found out...Ciel couldn't imagine the hell her life would become, if they came to believe that she was training with them solely because of her relationship with Shinrei.

But another part of her was telling her differently. Ciel remembered how seeing Shinrei smile at her always seemed to make her heart beat faster, the comforting warmth of his arms when he held her, the sound of his voice in her ear, his fingers in her hair. There were times where she had even gone so far as to entertain the fantasy of what it might feel like to feel his lips against hers.

 _"Become strong enough to be free with your feelings."_

Saisei's words from before came back to Ciel. Now she realized what Saisei was talking about. Saisei hadn't been talking about Ciel's physical strength or martial skill. She'd been talking about her spiritual strength. Being with Shinrei felt right to her. The things that were holding her back were her own doubts and anxieties. What she had to do was stand tall and acknowledge her feelings, ready to face the consequences, for good or for ill. She could do it if he was with her.

Finally, Ciel closed her eyes and took a deep breath to settle the last of her worries. When she opened them, she gazed straight into Shinrei's eyes. "Y-"

Shinrei cut her off abruptly, pulling her in and pressing his lips hard against hers. Her hands, against his chest, bunched up his blue vest between her fingers as the kiss sent a feeling like electricity surging through their bodies, leaving a tingling sensation when they finally parted.

"Th-that was going to be a yes, right?" asked Shinrei anxiously. "I heard a y-sound and before I could even think, I-"

"Shinrei..."

At Ciel's stern tone, he snapped his mouth shut and gulped, seeing Ciel lower her eyelids, her mouth not frowning...but not quite smiling either.

"Uh...that was a yes?" asked Shinrei again in a much quieter tone.

Ciel's eyes narrowed a little more.

A look of utter mortification began to fall over Shinrei's face and he began to try and fast think up ways to apologize for his brazen act.

Then Ciel's smile reappeared with a small giggle. "Yes," she said.

Shinrei let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, before it dawned on him what had just happened. "Wait! You just teased me!"

"Yes I did," said Ciel with another lilting laugh.

Shinrei found himself laughing too. "Thank goodness." Then, without warning or preamble, he stood up, taking Ciel up with him, startling a yelp from her as he held her by her waist and whirled her around him through the air before setting her back down. As he did, Ciel's hands came to rest on his shoulders.

"So...can we do the kiss again?" asked Shinrei with a grin.

Ciel smiled widely. "Yes." With that, he dived in to kiss her once again. At least he let her finish her answer this time.

* * *

"So...what do we do now?"

Ciel's question was greeted by a momentary silence. They were seated on the bed once more, leaning against each other, her head tucked comfortingly into the crook of Shinrei's neck. After several more minutes spent kissing and holding one another, the initial euphoria had finally worn off, and they were faced with the very serious question that she had just posed.

Shinrei sighed. "Well...let's take things one step at a time. We'll be as normal as we can when you're training. I'll talk it over with Makoto-sama ,and see what he thinks we should do. Do you think you can keep your composure around me in the training hall?"

Ciel thought about it and nodded. "Yes, I think I can." In fact, she now realized that it would be much easier, now that she had accepted his feelings and returned them. She felt happier, for sure, but also much more settled and secure...comfortable with it. If she had put it off by not answering him, or even turned him down, she would have been a blushing, stuttering mess the next time she saw him.

"That's good," said Shinrei. "Other than that...we'll take it slow. I'll think of some way to take you out on a date here and there. I really do want to show you around more of this place sometime."

"Okay," said Ciel, smiling a bit more widely as she let her eyes drift closed.

"Could I ask a favor of you, though?" said Shinrei, making her open them again.

She pulled her head away from his neck so that she could look him in the eyes properly. "What?"

"When we're alone like this...could you..." Shinrei ducked his head shyly, a blush coloring his cheeks. "...could you call me Kaito?"

"Kaito?" Ciel blinked, wondering why he would ask that, then remembering what he'd told her once on the boat ride over.

"It's my birth name, the name I had before I became Shinrei of the Five," explained Shinrei. "But Kaito is what you might call my real name. One day, when I retire from the Five, that'll be my name again. It would be really nice to hear it from you."

Ciel opened her mouth to accept, but stopped herself. She lowered her face frowning. "I shouldn't...not yet."

Shinrei was crestfallen. "Why not?"

"Because, if I get used to calling you by your old name in private, I'll have to stop myself from doing it in public," said Ciel. "It would be too easy for me to slip. For now...let's not take that risk."

Shinrei didn't look completely happy with her decision, but he seemed able to accept it. "Okay," he said finally.

Ciel smiled again and raised her hand to brush her fingers over his cheek. "I promise to call you by that name someday," she said. "I will."

Shinrei covered her hand with his own and gave it a squeeze. "I'll hold you to that," he said. His other hand moved up to the back of her head and he guided her lips in for another kiss.

* * *

 **I don't really have a lot to say in this chapter. After the next chapter, we return to the main storyline.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33:**

After spending some more time with Shinrei, the two of them finally parted for the time being, and Ciel decided to spend some more time under the tree in the park, where she'd begun her day. For now, she sat there, not really thinking of anything. She had plenty of conundrums to consider, from how to counter Yumiko's Dancing Blades to how she and Shinrei would handle their relationship with regards to the more public portions of their lives. But, for now, all she wanted to do was sit there and rest both her mind and her body, after what had been a tumultuous day.

"I'm glad to see you've become so fond of this place," said a familiar voice from above and behind her.

At this point, Ciel was too mentally and physically worn to be startled as she looked up and saw "Sensei" standing there, smiling down at her. "Hello, Sensei."

"So...have your difficulties lessened any?" he asked as he settled onto the grass just around the tree from her.

"Not really," said Ciel. "Some have...but I have new ones."

"Such is life," said Sensei with a quiet chuckle. "Overcoming one obstacle merely means that a new one awaits ahead. Oftentimes it is more difficult than the one before it."

Ciel nodded. Those had been her thoughts exactly. She had figured out the secret behind Yumiko's technique. Now she was faced with the task of figuring out a way to beat it. She and Shinrei had cleared their feelings and were closer than ever before. Now she was burdened with the prospect of working that into the rest of her life.

"So...are you here to puzzle out your troubles, or did you come for a moment of quiet?" pressed Sensei.

"I...I wanted to think things over, but I needed some quiet first," said Ciel, "just to gather my thoughts."

"I see..." said Sensei with a nod. "I apologize if I interrupted that."

"No, it's fine," said Ciel. "It wouldn't be right for me to tell the Crimson King that he can't sit here."

"Sensei" actually coughed in surprise, then shook his head and laughed lightly. "I wasn't expecting you to figure it out so quickly. You have quite an adept mind."

"Makoto-sensei gave me a few hints," said Ciel.

"He would," said the King in a dour tone. "He loves spoiling my fun."

Ciel couldn't help but giggle. The Crimson King, this supposedly exalted person, sounded more like a child cheated out of a sweet than a ruler. But she supposed that was part of his charm.

"I'm glad that learning my identity hasn't caused you to become all formal," said the King. "You should see some people when they find out. One moment we're having a nice conversation, the next they're all bowing and scraping and apologizing for their rudeness."

"A lot has already happened today," said Ciel, leaning her head back against the tree. "I'm a little too worn out by it to get all worked up. Also, I figured that you'd like me to. That's why you introduced yourself as Sensei, right?"

"Quite correct," said the King. "You can continue to address me as Sensei if you'd like. I'm sure that it's probably more comfortable for you."

"Okay," said Ciel, liking the prospect. "But why do you go as Sensei?"

"Well, because I _am_ a teacher, most of the time," said Sensei with a chuckle. "Believe it or not, this is not really a secret within the clan. This isn't actually a disguise."

"It isn't?" asked Ciel, turning her head to look at him.

Sensei chuckled. "I wear the glasses because my eyes unsettle the children a little. So they help me seem more friendly and approachable."

Reaching up, Sensei pulled the glasses from his face and Ciel gasped as she saw his eyes for the first time. They were a vivid, luminous, crimson color, their very gaze seeming to convey a sense of absolute power. He was just showing them to her, but Ciel felt their pressure. She could understand why children might have trouble dealing with him, and why he'd wear glasses. She was also beset by something else...familiarity. She was sure she'd seen those eyes before, or eyes like them rather, but she couldn't say where.

The Crimson King put his glasses on, becoming Sensei once more. "And now you understand," he said.

They both turned their heads away from each other so that they could resume leaning up against the tree. "So...what troubles beset you now?" he asked.

"Well...I figured out how Yumiko-senpai was beating me," said Ciel warily. "But now I have to figure out how to beat her. But it's not easy. She can bend her strikes to catch me, even when I dodge or block."

"Even in a situation like that, there are still numerous ways to ensure that she does not hit you," said Sensei. "For one thing, being mindful of your opponent's range allows you to enter or leave it. If she can't even reach you, it doesn't matter whether she bends her strikes or not."

Ciel nodded. "But that would just stalemate things," she said.

"Indeed," said Sensei with a nod. "There's another approach. The Dancing Blades requires its opponent to see it in order for the form to work. It is because you are reacting to what you see that you fall for the curving strike."

"So...?" prodded Ciel.

"The attacks work by coming from your blindspots. But if you close your eyes, then _everything_ is a blindspot. If everything is a blindspot, then you no longer _have_ any blind spots. You will be able to conquer your reflexes, and dodge by reading the intent of your opponent's blades."

Ciel frowned. "I'm not good enough to blind-fight. I can read intent a little, but not that well. I'd be just making things even easier for her."

"I thought as much," said Sensei. "In that case, the only option available might well be an option that is unique to you."

"What is that?" asked Ciel.

"I have no idea," replied Sensei, making Ciel grunt in frustration. "You yourself are going to have to provide the answer to that."

"So you're just going to make me do the same thing as Shinrei," muttered Ciel.

"I suppose," said Sensei with a chuckle. "But Shinrei asked that you do it yourself because he believes it to be within your capacity, Makoto as well. They both believe that you have, within yourself, the means to defeat your opponent, even if she wields a skill you cannot. You must examine yourself, and the things that you have, and determine what it is that will allow you to win."

"Okay..." said Ciel dubiously.

"That's probably all the assistance I should give you for the time being," said Sensei, getting up once again. "But I hope we can talk again soon, perhaps about less dour things."

"Wait!" said Ciel, lifting a hand to forestall him before he could leave. "Is there anyone else with eyes like yours?"

"My eyes?" asked Sensei. "Well, they're a trait found primarily within my family. Aside from me, my son is the only other one who currently has them in the same manner I do. You've probably heard of him. He's made quite a stir frolicking about in the outside world. His name is Kyo."

Ciel blinked. "Yes...I have heard of him." Her face fell as she remembered how she had come to know his name. "He was unjustly blamed for killing a very important friend of mine."

"An important friend of yours?" The King turned to look at her. "Who was it?"

"Her name was Penny Polendina," said Ciel. "She was on the run from Atlas, but they caught up with her. They must have blamed destroying her on Kyo."

"And if they blamed him for it, how do you know it is truth?" asked the King. "Not to disparage my own son, but he has killed quite a few in his time."

"I know it was Atlas because of how the report was written," said Ciel. "Penny was on the run from them."

"How do you know that?" asked the King.

"Because _I_ was the one who helped her escape," said Ciel. "That's part of why I ended up here."

"Oh?" said the King, raising an eyebrow. "Someday, I would like to hear your story. Perhaps the next time we talk."

"Okay," said Ciel, lowering her head towards him.

The King, or Sensei, nodded toward her once more, then vanished from her sight, not even stirring a blade of grass with his passage. Ciel found herself breathless at his skill. She supposed that was why he held such an exalted position. With a sigh, she brushed the grass off her hakama, and began making her way back to the school.

As she did, she tried to remember where it was she had seen those Crimson Eyes before. She had never met Demon Eyes Kyo, obviously, though she had seen pictures of him. But that wasn't what stirred in her memories. She was certain that the one who had them was someone she knew personally.

Then it hit her, the blonde girl, one of Penny's friends. _Yang Xiao Long! That's it!_ Now Ciel remembered where she had seen those eyes before. On a couple of occasions, she had gotten the chance to see Yang unleash her semblance and remembered seeing Yang's eyes go from their pale, lilac color, to the same shining crimson as the King's.

 _But what does it mean?_

* * *

Something felt off as Ciel's feet gently thudded against the wooden floorboards of the hallway. She hadn't found any signs of her friends. They weren't in any of the common rooms. She'd spotted other students, and even narrowly avoided a brush with Yumiko. However, she had yet to see even a single member of her own small circle of friends. Frowning, Ciel decided to go to her room.

As she slid open the door several sets of hands reached out of the darkness and yanked her inside, while someone else slid the door shut behind her. For a second, Ciel found herself in complete darkness before someone finally had the wherewithal to get the lights. She now found herself seated between her four friends. Miyu and Takeshi sat across the corners of the room from each other, with Aya and Yuuto taking the other two. Ciel was now sitting right in the space between the four of them, feeling more and more nervous with each passing second as their eyes bored into her.

Takeshi leaned up against the door and pressed his ear against it. "The coast is clear," he said.

"Wha-what's going on?" asked Ciel.

"Just that Aya heard something interesting, earlier today," said Miyu, with a glance at Aya. Miyu's own expression was as neutral and composed as always, so it was all but impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Ciel felt a sharp chill go down her spine. _Heard something...They can't mean..._

Aya's face broke into a furious blush and she bowed her head to Ciel. "I-I heard you and Shin-Shinrei-sama talking in the training hall!"

"Heard us...?" Ciel gasped. "You mean...?" The chill running down her spine spread to the rest of her body and she began to shake. The color of her normally dark skin lightened by several shades.

"Sh-Shinrei-sama said he loves you, didn't he?" asked Aya, still blushing furiously.

 _Oh no! No! No! No no nonononononono!_ Ciel's entire body began to quake as panic rocked her. She and Shinrei had been overheard. Their secret was out. Her own friends knew now. There was no tell what they would do, now that they realized that she and Shinrei were together. Their friendship was over. They would turn on her in just a second. She could already hear their venomous barbs stinging her ears. She hugged her knees to her chest, the world around her going dark.

Then she felt something strange, something she hadn't been expecting. It was a pair of arms around her shoulders. They felt warm and strong, comforting her, soothing away her fear and the sound of her own heartbeat roaring in her ears, allowing her to hear the whisper of Miyu's voice.

"It's okay," said Miyu softly. "It's all right. You're safe. We're not mad. Just relax and take it easy."

Slowly and gently, Miyu used her arms and voice to calm Ciel out of her panic, rubbing her arms and rocking her back and forth.

"That was one hell of a panic-attack," observed Takeshi, folding his arms. "Of course, it might've gone better if someone had expressed a little more tact." He raised an eyebrow at Aya, who blushed and bowed her head.

"What's she freaking out about anyway?" asked Yuuto. "So Shinrei-sama wants to be her boyfriend? Big deal."

Takeshi coughed out a laugh. "The fact that you can even ask that question makes you more mature than about half the people outside this room," he said. "I can understand why Ciel-kun and Shinrei-sama would want to keep a relationship under wraps."

"What? They'd think he's giving her special treatment or something?" asked Yuuto skeptically. "Where on earth are they gonna find examples of that?"

"Oh they'll cherry pick whatever they think supports their views," said Takeshi. "That's the way people are."

"That's enough," said Miyu as she continued to hug and rub Ciel. "She's coming around now."

Ciel blinked and lifted her head, feeling dazed and confused. "I'm sorry," she said. "Wha-what did I hear? You all know about Shinrei-sama and me?"

"Just the four of us," said Takeshi, before planting a firm hand on the top of Aya's head and pressing down enough to make her squirm. "Though if we didn't keep someone in check, the entire school'd would know already."

"Sorry," squeaked Aya.

"You'd better be," said Miyu, glaring at her. "If you were going to talk to anyone about it, it should have been Ciel-kun."

"Y-you're not mad?" asked Ciel, looking across their faces.

"I'm annoyed that you're making such a big deal about it," said Yuuto with a groan.

Takeshi smiled at her. "We're not mad," he said.

Ciel turned to look at Miyu, who nodded her agreement with Takeshi's statement. Aya also nodded.

"If anything, we're happy, if that's what makes you happy," continued Takeshi. "Shinrei-sama has to deal with a lot because of his position on the Goyosei. It sorta...puts him up on a pedestal of sorts. Because of that, everyone idolizes him. But the idea of someone being in a relationship with him...well...most people don't view themselves as being in his league. The ones brave enough to try are brought down by the ones who don't approve before they get a chance. It's hard for him."

"They want to protect him," said Miyu, still keeping an arm around Ciel's shoulders, "but by doing so, they actually cause him more pain, and distance him from the people he wants to be close to."

"So, if you can make Shinrei-sama happy, I'm all for it," said Takeshi, the others nodding their agreement with him.

"Thank you," said Ciel with a little sniffle. She'd never imagined that it would be this easy, that she would have friends who were willing to accept her and the fact that she was in a relationship with Shinrei. A knot of tension loosened in her heart and Ciel let out a small sigh of relief.

"Not that it's actually gonna be easy for you two," said Miyu, finally releasing Ciel. "Quite a few of the eldest students, especially Yumiko-senpai, are members of the 'he's too good' camp. If they learn about this, Yumiko-senpai will come after you even harder."

"Yeah...it'll undo quite a bit of progress for sure," said Takeshi. "There are plenty of them who will gladly believe that she's getting special treatment because of her relationship."

"Isn't she getting plenty of 'special treatment' already?" asked Yuuto caustically. "I don't think being assigned to be pounded by the top student once a week is your average punishment."

"True enough," agreed Takeshi with a chuckle. "So, from now on, we're gonna talk about something else...anything else." He threw a pointed look at Aya. "Got it?"

"Yes," said Aya quickly, nodding vigorously.

"Good," said Miyu. "Let's enjoy the rest of our evening and not worry about it then."

Ciel looked around, her eyes going from one of her friends to another. With a small sigh, she relaxed, almost glad now that Aya had overheard her and Shinrei in the training hall. With this, the final wall between her and her friends had fallen. She was now free, in a sense, to completely be herself with them. That thought gave her even more peace of mind than anything else.

* * *

"So Shinrei-sama wants you to figure out how to beat the Dancing Blades?" asked Miyu as she and Ciel went through their katas during their evening practice session.

Ciel spared Miyu a nod before going into the next move of the kata without breaking her rhythm. Her Flow was improving even more. Already, her Aura was almost matching Miyu's, though Ciel still only knew the most basic of katas that she had been taught so far.

"That's tricky," said Takeshi from where he and the other two sat at the side of the training hall. "I mean...we've known about the Dancing Blades all along, but even I can't figure out how to get around it. I'd be just as stumped as you were if _I_ had to fight Yumiko-senpai."

For the time being, it was just the five of them. Other students occasionally came and went on different days. That was fine. Ciel appreciated the more intimate atmosphere that came with it being just a few of them practicing together.

"The problem is that Yumiko-senpai's at the top of the class for a reason," said Yuuto. "No one else has beaten her. Otherwise, we could ask for some of the other seniors for hints."

Ciel frowned, before letting out a breath and clearing her head. Thinking and grinding the gears in her brain wasn't something she should be doing when she was in the middle of a kata. Right now, all her focus should be on her form and her Flow. She had to lose herself into the rhythm of the exercise, allowing her body to feel the beats of individual steps and attacks as she went through them.

 _Dancing Blades is appropriate,_ she thought idly. In fact, nearly every aspect of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ felt dancelike. Each kata had a rhythm of its own, which was elaborated on by the person practicing it. That rhythm helped her to keep time with the Flow in her body, and ensure that she executed each movement perfectly.

What was more, she remembered hearing those rhythms when practicing with her fellow students. Each one had their own distinct rhythm. There was Aya's lively, energetic tempo, which contrasted nicely with the more mellow beat of Yuuto's rhythm. Takeshi's rhythm liked to take a skip every few steps before picking up as though nothing had happened, while Miyu's was as precise and unfailing as a metronome.

 _Rhythm..._ thought Ciel, the thought actually making her forget about her kata briefly as she lowered her blades and stared at the floor.

"What is it?" asked Miyu, stopping her own practice as she stared at Ciel in confusion.

"I was just thinking that, maybe rhythm is the key," said Ciel.

"Rhythm?" Aya tilted her head.

Unfortunately, Ciel didn't get the chance to elaborate. One of the sliding doors to the exercise yard slid open with enough force to nearly knock it off its wooden track as Yumiko came striding through, her Aura swirling around her like a thunderstorm. In her hands, she gripped her practice blades, but her knuckles were pure-white from the pressure she was exerting. A boiling rage filled her eyes, a rage that she directed purely at Ciel.

"You!" shouted Yumiko, leveling a blade at Ciel. "You scum-sucking outsider! Just how much are you going to make a mockery of us?"

"What?" asked Ciel, staring at Yumiko in confusion.

"Don't play coy with me, you witch!" snarled Yumiko. "I knew we couldn't trust your intentions. There's only one reason an outsider like you would come to our school, you grasping, conniving, witch!"

Ciel blinked. "What?"

"You've come here for Shinrei-sama!" shrieked Yumiko, the blade in her outstretched hand trembling. "I knew that you had some kind of intentions towards him, always clinging to him, stealing his valuable time, going off alone with him...And now I hear you've seduced him completely!"

Ciel fought to keep herself under control. She'd dared to hope that the revelation of her and Shinrei's relationship had been kept between her and her own small group of friends. But it seemed that someone had been overheard, somewhere, and word had now made it to Yumiko's ear.

"I don't know what you mean about seducing Shinrei-sama," said Ciel softly. "He was the one who asked me. I haven't gained any special favors from it, and I still need to train. If that's all you came to say..."

"You sully him with your filthy hands," snarled Yumiko. "Get out of this school...right now!"

"No," said Ciel firmly.

"You..." Yumiko bared her teeth, stepping forward. Her Aura congealed around her blade, becoming water, that began to drip from the edge like condensation. However, she came to a stop as Takeshi and Miyu placed themselves between her and Ciel. Aya and Yuuto stood behind the older students, Aya clinging to Ciel's arm.

A few of the students Yumiko's age broke away from her group and circled around, actually coming up behind Ciel slightly in a show of silent support.

"Don't take things too far, Yumiko-senpai," said Takeshi quietly.

"You actually support this outsider filth?" demanded Yumiko, staring incredulously at the students assembled around Ciel.

"We support her right to be here," said Miyu, "and her right to succeed or fail on her own merits."

"If Shinrei-sama loves her, then that's his choice," added Aya from where she still clung to Ciel.

"So...that's it then..." Yumiko lowered her weapon and her Aura subsided. However, her eyes never left Ciel's. "Fine. You've earned a reprieve, scum. But the next bout between us will be your last."

She turned and strode out, parting the few remaining students who hadn't gathered around Ciel. Ciel closed her eyes and slowly let out the breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding.

"Well...that's about the worse case scenario," said Takeshi as most of the other students began to disperse, though a few were remaining in the hall.

"What did she mean about the next bout?" asked Yuuto suspiciously.

"Well...if I were to hazard a guess," said Takeshi, stretching his arms up, "I would say it's her way of declaring that she intends to use the next bout to kill Ciel-kun."

Miyu whirled around to look incredulously at Takeshi. "With Makoto-sensei watching? Even if she succeeded, she'd be expelled...she'd be imprisoned. That's murder! Yumiko-senpai would lose everything!"

"She'd think it was worth it," said one of the older students, Yumiko's age, a boy with gray hair as he joined their group. "Shinrei-sama is everything to Yumiko-san."

"What do you mean?" asked Ciel.

"It was a long time ago," said the young man. "Only those of us in her year remember it really. Shinrei-sama was a beginner-level student, like us, at the time."

"Yumiko-san had lost her family and was living on the streets," added another of the older students, a brown-haired girl with gray, raccoon ears. "Shinrei-sama happened across her during a visit to town and brought her back here. Makoto-sensei took her into the school, and she's been here ever since." She shook her head. "Because of that, Shinrei-sama is very important to Yuimiko-san."

"She loves Shinrei-sama?" asked Ciel.

"You could say that," said the young man. "It's more like she idolizes him. Shinrei-sama was always nice to her, and treated her well, even after he became one of the Goyosei. But he never showed a romantic interest in her. I think she just feels that it's her obligation to protect him."

He and the girl shrugged. "Either way, she's serious about this," said the girl. "Be careful."

"I will," said Ciel, bowing to her seniors. "Thank you."

They left, going over to the other end of the training hall and starting their own session. Ciel watched them for a moment, a warm feeling rising in her chest.

"You've won some more people to your corner," said Takeshi with a chuckle, "though I wouldn't call them friends quite yet."

"I was expecting more people to support Yumiko-senpai, I guess," said Ciel.

"Most of them don't want to cross Shinrei-sama if he does care about you," said Miyu.

"Messing with a guy's girlfriend is a good way to land yourself on his blacklist," said Takeshi with a snort.

"Whatever," said Yuuto. "Let's focus. You still have to fight Yumiko-senpai on Saturday. And now, it's more serious than ever."

The others nodded, Ciel along with them. However, she also felt that, this time, things would be different. She had an idea. She just hoped she could make it work.

* * *

That week, Ciel focused harder than ever. During the daily training, she tried to take her breaks whenever Yumiko was working on her own katas. Ciel would sit nearby, not watching, but listening, with her eyes closed as she listened to the beats of Yumiko's motion. She tried to absorb Yumiko's rhythm. Then, during her nightly practice, Ciel would envision it, watching Yumiko go through her patterns of attack, defense, and retreat, trying to read those movements ahead and respond. She would've liked to try out her idea with Miyu or Takeshi, but wanted to keep the entirety of her focus on Yumiko's rhythm. Ciel couldn't afford to lose her focus...not now, when her very life might ride on the outcome.

Saturday came all too soon for Ciel's liking.

* * *

"Ciel-kun...Yumiko-kun...present yourselves," said Makoto, his voice calm and composed.

Ciel swallowed hard, trying to fight down her nerves as she readied herself for her fight. She was conscious of Takeshi giving her a pat on the back, while Miyu gently gripped her shoulder and squeezed it tightly before letting go. Aya took her hand and clung to it for a second, while Yuuto gave her the smallest of nods.

Ciel knelt across the floor from Yumiko, their eyes meeting. Immediately, Ciel felt a chill go down her spine. On the surface, Yumiko's gaze was as cool and dispassionate as ever. However, underneath it, Ciel could see a gleam, a gleam of pure hatred, and Yumiko's desire to strike her down, beat her to the floor, then continue beating her, until Ciel could no longer get back up. This was murderous intent. Yumiko meant to _kill_ her.

But Ciel didn't mean to let her. Her blades lay on the floor to either side of her, ready for her to pick them up. However, for now, Ciel contented herself with clenching her fingers, bunching the fabric of her hakama as she gathered her resolve. This wasn't the first time she had faced an opponent who wanted her dead. However, none of them had displayed the same intense focus and icy resolve that Yumiko did. This wasn't the wild, unfocused hatred of a White Fang soldier, but the narrowed, honed lethality of a true martial artist. Yumiko might not have killed before, but Ciel got the distinct impression that that one small fact would not be much of a hinderance to her.

"Are you prepared?" asked Makoto, looking first to Yumiko.

"Yes, Sensei," said Yumiko coolly.

Makoto turned his gaze to Ciel.

"Yes, Sensei," replied Ciel. Neither she nor Yumiko had looked away from each other when Makoto spoke. Such was their focus.

"Take up your blades," said Makoto.

They did so.

"Stand."

They rose up onto their feet, automatically moving to their starting stances. Silence hung in the air between them as everyone in the training hall watched, holding their breaths. It seemed to drag on interminably, though, in reality, it only lasted a scant handful of seconds. Ciel gripped her blades and took a deep breath, before letting it out slowly, centering herself and allowing her body and mind to relax.

"Begin."

They both blurred into motion. Ciel allowed her Aura to Flow down into her feet to lend her extra speed, gathering beneath her soles, reducing friction so that she almost seemed to slide across the floor at her opponent. Yumiko had accelerated as well, the two of them becoming blurs, seeming all the faster to each other as they were heading at each other. They met in the center of the floor between them, their wooden blades clacking harshly against one another before they came apart again, moving, circling, searching for an opening.

As always, Yumiko went on the attack first, sweeping her blade around in an obvious strike aimed at Ciel's shoulder. Ciel shifted, knowing that, if she dodged, Yumiko would simply bend the strike regardless. Instead of trying to duck under the line of the swing, Ciel fell back, allowing it to cross through the space in front of her. No amount of curving the strike on Yumiko's part could magically extend her reach.

As Yumiko's swing passed, Ciel darted in, trying to strike before she could follow up, only to take a hit in the other shoulder as Yumiko's swing reversed direction and came at her from the other way.

Ciel grunted and relaxed her body, allowing herself to be knocked away by the force of the blow, which both served to mitigate its damage and give her some extra space to work with.

She'd miscalculated. She'd tried to read Yumiko's rhythm, but had attacked before Yumiko's own attack had finished. Here Yumiko came again. Ciel could feel the distinct three-beat pattern of Yumiko's strikes. However, even if Ciel could feel Yumiko's rhythm, she needed to act on it. It wasn't sufficient to disrupt it. She had to match Yumiko's rhythm, then add her own motion to the song in order to hit when her opponent's guard was down.

In the meantime, Yumiko continued to pound into her. Ciel kept her guard up, focusing her Aura on defense, taking the hits as she tried to solve the conundrum. It was only a matter of time before Yumiko broke through and then she would be attacking in deadly earnest. Yumiko was channeling a dangerous amount of Aura through those wooden blades, focusing it into the edge of each strike so that it almost felt like a real, steel blade as it bit into Ciel's Aura.

On the edges of the spar, Miyu clenched her hand into a fist.

"Not good," hissed Takeshi.

"She's even worse than ever," muttered Yuuto. "Is she trying to get herself killed?"

Aya swallowed and nervously clung to the edges of Miyu's kimono sleeve, biting the inside of her lip.

Meanwhile, Makoto watched the fight intently, not so much as blinking as he focused all of his attention on the match before him.

Ciel felt her Aura reaching the breaking point. It was now or never. Just another few blows and she would be defenseless and Yumiko would pound her body into a pulp. Here she came, blades working in another deadly, dancing attack. This would be her last chance to try and counter, to turn the fight around.

A faint hiss escaped from between Ciel's lips.

Yumiko's blade swept at Ciel, only to find empty air where she had been standing.

For the briefest of instants, Yumiko was completely baffled. She'd suddenly lost track of her opponent. Then she felt Ciel's presence at her back. _When did she...? How?_ Before Yumiko could react, she staggered forward as Ciel's first blow landed between her shoulder blades.

A collective gasp escaped the assembled students as Ciel scored her first hit against Yumiko since their sparring sessions had started.

Makoto's eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth turned up in the smallest of smiles.

Yumiko spun around, aiming to reclaim the initiative, but now Ciel was on the attack, launching several swift strikes with her wooden swords. They were nothing special. Yumiko was easily able to block or dodge them, but she fell back all the same, trying to get enough of an opening to turn things around.

As Ciel's latest round of attacks ended, Yumiko saw her chance and raised her blade to begin her next strike. However, she was caught off-guard when Ciel suddenly struck, another hiss escaping her lips just as Yumiko raised her blade. Ciel's blade came up and under Yumiko's guard, hammering her ribs, making Yumiko gasp in pain.

Now Yumiko was the one falling back before Ciel's flurry of attacks. With a growl, Yumiko allowed herself to bear the brunt of the next two strikes full-on, bulling forward and swinging across her chest with both blades. However, Ciel had vanished again, reappearing behind her to land three more hits to Yumiko's back and hips.

The other students watched in shock at this completely unexpected turn of affairs. Now Yumiko was the one on the defensive, at a complete loss as Ciel exploited openings where there shouldn't have been any, and dodged through tiny gaps in Yumiko's awareness to escape her senses entirely. Yumiko was growing more and more frustrated, her swings getting wild and uncoordinated. Her dispassionate demeanor had evaporated and she was now fighting with bared teeth, shouting with each strike she made. But now, none of them were landing, while each attack Ciel made hit its mark without fail.

"That's...the Rhythm Arts," said Miyu, her eyes wide.

"What?" asked Aya.

"It's the highest physical art of the _Mumyo Saigyo_ ," said Takeshi. "Read your opponent's rhythm to determine their patterns of attack and defense. Then you know what they're going to do before they even do it."

Miyu nodded. "Those hissing sounds Ciel-kun's making...she's vocalizing the timing of Yumiko-senpai's moves. Yumiko-senpai can't even touch her right now."

Takeshi laughed and shook his head. "She wasn't ready to learn the Dancing Blades form, so she went ahead and taught herself something even more difficult to overcome it. Now I get why Makoto-sensei brought her here."

"He's not the only one who's glad she came," said Miyu, elbowing Takeshi gently to get his attention before using a jerk of her head to gesture towards a corner of the hall, where Shinrei watched the proceedings, not even trying to keep the exultant grin off his face.

Meanwhile, Yumiko was at the complete end of her rope. _I can't land a single hit and I can't avoid any of hers...how can this be?_ She staggered as she caught one of Ciel's blades to the temple. _This outsider should have left a long time ago. Why can't I drive her away? How could Shinrei-sama fall for someone like...this...?_

With an angry scream, Yumiko raised both her blades over her head and lunged at full speed at Ciel.

"She's throwing the match?" asked Aya, her eyes wide.

But Miyu and Takeshi both looked horrified. "She's going for a suicide attack," said Miyu.

"She'll take the next hits Ciel-kun lands to try and trap her blades in the process and then hit Ciel-kun with everything she has," added Takeshi.

However, Ciel once again vanished from in front of Yumiko, disappearing in the brief fraction of a second Yumiko's arms had crossed in front of her face and blocked her field of vision. Looking down, Yumiko saw Ciel practically right up against her chest. Ciel's blades struck with tremendous force, slamming into, and then through, Yumiko's Aura. Yumiko felt her ribs crack under the force of Ciel's blows, the strength going completely out of her arms. Then Ciel was behind her and Yumiko took another strike, this one right at the base of her skull.

The room went sideways for Yumiko, and she suddenly found herself on the floor, her cheek pressed up against the cool wood, her head throbbing, and her limbs refusing to obey her mind's commands.

"Stop," said Makoto, even though the command was unnecessary. "Ciel-kun is the winner."

The stunned silence only laster for a couple of seconds. Then the room echoed with cheers as the other students swarmed around a sweaty and dazed Ciel, who was just as amazed as they were that she'd won. She barely even noticed as they gathered around her, slapping her shoulders and arms. She was hardly aware of it when Miyu and Aya both hugged her tightly, while Takeshi laughed in the background. Even Yuuto seemed unable to keep a small smile from his face as he watched the other students bombard Ciel with accolades.

Yumiko lay, sprawled out on the floor, all but ignored by the students who had once stood with her against this interloper. She grimaced, tears streaming out of her eyes as her fingers curled against the polished wood of the floor. A soft sob escaped her, making her cracked or broken ribs ache sharply. But Yumiko didn't care.

 _I lost..._ She'd lost to the outsider, to someone who had been studying the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ for only a few months. She'd been completely helpless. After beating Ciel down so many times, Yumiko had been prepared to do it once more, this time going the extra mile to ensure that Ciel didn't get up again. She didn't care that it would have meant the end of her time in Makoto's school. She didn't care that Shinrei might not have forgiven her for the rest of her life. His anger would have been worth it if she could protect him.

A foot, covered with a white, tabi-sock, like the kind all the students wore, landed at the edge of her vision. Straining with what little strength she had left, Yumiko forced her head to turn, following the foot to its ankle, then up the leg, where it rejoined her body. She found herself staring up into a familiar, yet unreadable face.

"Shinrei...sama...?"

Shinrei looked down at her, then let out a small sigh. "You're a mess," he said, a smile appearing on his face, the same smile he always used to wear when speaking to her. "I'm gonna have to take you to get those injuries looked at.

"I...but I..."

"Shh," said Shinrei, holding a finger to her lips. "You need to save your strength. Come on..."

Moving exceedingly gently, he took Yumiko up in his arms, holding her close to him. Despite his best efforts, Yumiko's ribs protested even the tiniest of movements, sending sharp jolts of pain through her chest. He treated her with such tender gentleness that she dared to imagine that, maybe, the rumors about his love for Ciel had been nothing more than rumors. But then, as she looked up at Shinrei's face, she could see he wasn't looking at her at the moment. Rather, his eyes were on Ciel, the warmest, most caring smile Yumiko had ever seen on his face.

Her breath hitched sharply, setting off her ribs again and making her cringe. At that moment, Yumiko couldn't have cared less about the pain. She had just heard the last nails hammering into the coffin of her defeat. She closed her eyes, scrunching them shut, tears streaming out of them as he began to carry her to the corner of the hall where Saisei waited to treat the injured.

Ciel watched as Shinrei carried Yumiko over to Saisei, who immediately began healing her. With the damage she had inflicted, Ciel didn't expect Yumiko to join them for the rest of the day. She briefly wondered if she had taken things too far.

"Don't worry about it," said Takeshi. "You were thorough about it for sure, but you weren't aiming to specifically hurt her."

"No," said Ciel. "I just wanted to take her down as quickly as I could, before I made a mistake."

"That would have been hard," said Takeshi with a chuckle. "You had her number at the end there."

Makoto clapped his hands together once, the sharp sound cutting through the students voices, instilling silence instantly. The crowd of students parted before him as he strode gracefully through their midst, almost like a stately vessel on a voyage. He came to a stop before Ciel, who lowered her head before him.

"It seems," said Makoto in his normal calm, level voice, "that your punishment is no longer needed, Ciel-kun."

"If that is what you decide, Makoto-sensei," said Ciel.

Makoto smiled. "I don't believe you need to undergo this any longer," he said. "I am very proud of you, Ciel-kun."

Ciel's heart threatened to leap out of her chest. Those had been the first words of praise that Makoto had ever openly offered her. She knew that she would treasure them for the rest of her life.

"That was very well done," continued Makoto. "However, that method worked, this time, and only because your opponent was Yumiko-kun. This win is yours because of the experience your previous defeats garnered. If you wish to truly master those arts, you must continue to train diligently."

"I will, Makoto-sensei," said Ciel, keeping her head bowed.

Reaching out, Makoto rested a gentle hand on her shoulder before nodding one last time. "Let us resume," he said to the rest of the students. "Form your lines."

"Yes, Sensei," shouted the students in unison and they quickly began to line up again, Ciel joining them. She practiced with them for the rest of the day, though she found herself wincing from some of the bruises she had taken over the course of the fight. However, none of them felt serious enough to see Saisei about and, by the time the afternoon exercise period rolled around, her Aura had taken care of them. As she practiced with her fellow students, Ciel was able to hold her head high, her heart feeling truly at ease. She had made her place here, an outsider no longer.

* * *

That evening, after dinner, Ciel had to escape outside for a breath of fresh air. Her friends were still jubilant over her victory, congratulating her all throughout the meal, leaving Ciel with little opportunity to actually eat until Yuuto had, in his somewhat snide manner, commented on it, convincing them to leave her alone long enough to actually enjoy her meal. Afterwards, Ciel simply wanted a little quiet, so she found herself wandering the compound. She came out into the exercise yard, her feet carrying her across the grass to the other side, where she sat onto the porch that led into the main training hall.

"Hey," said Shinrei, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

Ciel smiled at him. She had been looking for some peace and quiet, but having Shinrei here was even better in some ways. He sat next to her and, to Ciel's surprise, wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her up against him.

"Shouldn't we be careful?" she asked.

"Well...it's an open secret now, I guess," said Shinrei with a shrug, "if it could even be called a secret at all by this point. It looks like everybody knows. I was holding back earlier. When you won, I wanted to kiss you right there and then."

"But you didn't," said Ciel in a playful tone, turning her face up towards his.

"Nope," agreed Shinrei. "So I'm going to give you the spoils of your victory now. He lowered his face down to hers, their lips pressing together. Ciel's arms rose up to twine themselves around his neck, while Shinrei's arm descended to her waist. He pulled out of the kiss, and Ciel had enough time to blink before he tugged, lifting her up with a startled squeak so that he could pull her onto his lap, wrapping both his arms around her now and kissing her with even more vigor.

When they pulled apart, they were both left breathless. Shinrei looked into her eyes, his dark-blue orbs seeming to draw her in like the ocean's depths. "I love you," he said softly.

Ciel's heart felt fit to burst as a joy-filled smile spread across her face. "I love you too..." she said, "...Kaito."

Shinrei had been about to pull her into another kiss, but he froze in place, gaping at her in shock. "What?" he said.

"Kaito," said Ciel, the name feeling much more comfortable rolling off her tongue than "Shinrei" ever had. "You wanted me to call you that, so I will now. I don't think I have to worry about slips of the tongue from now on."

Shinrei grinned radiantly and pulled Ciel in for an even more intense kiss, the two of them forgetting themselves entirely, losing themselves in each other as the moon looked on overhead, and Ciel's friends watched silently from the other side of the yard, before Miyu and Takeshi quietly shepherded Ciel's youngest friends away.

* * *

"You're still doing this?" asked Miyu, raising an incredulous eyebrow as Ciel limbered up for her evening practice session. "You don't have to fight Yumiko-senpai anymore. Why are you still here?"

"Because I want to improve," said Ciel, stretching. "And it feels weird to stop after doing this for so long."

"She's not wrong," said Takeshi with a laugh. "Besides, extra practice helps us to get better too. So we might as well."

Miyu sighed, but nodded. She too had gotten used to the evening sessions. Stopping now would make her feel like she was betraying her own potential.

"Shall we get started, Miyu-senpai?" asked Ciel.

"You don't have to call me that," said Miyu, making Ciel blink in surprise.

"Miyu...san...?" she asked.

"That's...fine," said Miyu after a moment's hesitation.

"Aww, now we're all one big group of friends," said Takeshi with a laugh throwing arms around both their shoulders. "Come on, let's not waste anymore time."

They were about to start when the door to the training hall slid open forcefully, rattling in its frame. The group looked up to see Yumiko enter the hall, alone this time. She fixed Ciel with a stern gaze and a frown, a look that was not quite a glare. Silence fell over the hall as Yumiko walked straight up to Ciel. Only the fact that Yumiko's hands were empty kept anyone from getting in her way as she stopped just inches away from Ciel, looking down slightly to look Ciel straight in the eyes.

Ciel, for her part, kept her expression as neutral as possible, meeting Yumiko's gaze unflinchingly, refusing to look away, or blink, if she could avoid it.

"There's no disputing it," said Yumiko flatly, "I lost. You won. I have no choice but to accept you here now."

Ciel said and did nothing, merely waiting patiently for Yumiko to continue.

"But..." said Yumiko sharply, stepping back so that she could point imperiously at Ciel. "...I won't give up on Shinrei-sama so easily. You may have his heart now, but I won't hold back."

"That's fine," said Ciel, a small smile actually appearing on her face as she realized that Yumiko had essentially declared herself Ciel's romantic rival.

"I won't let you best me again," promised Yumiko. "I will train myself so that the same trick won't work on me twice."

"We'll see, Yumiko-senpai," said Ciel. "I won't slow down either."

"I expected that," said Yumiko, lowering her finger and her eyes. "Nothing less from my rival."

Her words caused Ciel to giggle softly.

"I'm serious!" shouted Yumiko.

"I know," said Ciel. "You're my rival too."

"That's all I had to say," said Yumiko awkwardly. She turned to head for the door.

"Yumiko-senpai?"

At the sound of Ciel's voice, Yumiko stopped at the threshold. She turned and looked back at the girl she had disparaged and scorned, and even intended to _kill_ recently. There was no longer any feeling of hatred that welled up inside the girl, only a sense of respect for a truly worthy adversary.

"Would you like to train with us?" asked Ciel, now that she had Yumiko's attention again. "You wouldn't want me to get too far ahead, after all."

Yumiko turned back to the door that led outside, trying to hide the small smile that had appeared on her face. "No...I wouldn't," she admitted, before reaching up and pulling the door shut and turning back to the group. "Well then...let's quite dilly dallying and get to work."

Ciel smiled wider than ever as she and the others assumed their stances and began to run through their katas. Though the hour was late, the training hall was filled with the sounds of life and movement as the students resumed their training.

* * *

A short distance away, Makoto smiled fondly as he watched the shadows of his students go through the motions of their katas, within the training hall. He lifted a shallow cup to his lips and sipped slowly on the liquor within, resting an elbow against the railing as he lounged.

"You seem in good spirits tonight," observed a man entering the small sitting area and taking a bench next to Makoto.

The man's head was covered by curling, silvery hair that gleamed under the lights. His eyes were pale-blue, like chips of ice, which contrasted nicely with the peach complexion of his skin. His face was soft and round, elegant, with an almost feminine quality to it. He was dressed in a white kimono and hakama, while, over his shoulders, he wore a dark-blue shawl over his shoulders, each of its ends decorated with a pentagram embroidered with silver thread.

"Would you like to take a seat, Murasame?" asked Makoto, raising the bottle he had set his cup next to. "There's plenty for both of us." There was even a second cup set out, almost as though he expected the company.

"Gladly," said Murasame, smiling pleasantly as he took a seat and accepted a cup from Makoto. They both drank. "So...what has you in such a good mood tonight?"

Makoto turned and smiled as he watched the shadows of his students dance inside the training hall. "I was just looking into the future."

Murasame chuckled and took another sip from his cup. "It must have been a good future you saw."

"A bright one indeed," said Makoto with another small smile. "Our children, both born and adopted, are growing up well. We can leave the future in their hands."

"To that bright future then," said Murasame, lifting his cup in a toast.

"Of course," agreed Makoto, lifting his cup to match his friends. The two drank and spent the rest of the evening listening and watching as the students worked.

* * *

 **After this chapter, we now return you to the main storyline. This is the last big flashback arc in the story. So everything beyond this will be continuing from the present day, onward.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34:**

 _Present day:_

Yang supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that Kyo's father had the same eyes as him. However, as the man himself sat across the table from them and looked at her and the others with the same, shining eyes that Kyo sported, she couldn't quite keep a shiver from running down her spine.

"It's wonderful to meet you all," said Kyoichiro as he sat next to his wife, so that Penny was sandwiched between them. Just as Sora had moments earlier, Kyoichiro lifted a hand and used it to affectionately ruffle Penny's hair, making her giggle again. "I'm surprised, but not unpleasantly so, to see my son bring home so many friends.

"We're glad to be here," said Ruby eagerly.

"We'll make arrangements to have you shown around," said Kyoichiro. "I'm sure you'd like to see the city outside the Palace. There's only so much to see here."

"But this place is so...vast..." said Weiss, looking around in awe. It dwarfed her own family's mansion by a significant margin. "You must be very proud of it."

"Truth be told, it's a little bit much," said Kyoichiro with a rueful expression as he shrugged. "In the past, previous generations made it a point to add to the Palace's design continuously. Many such additions were superfluous, and their design and placement were often...haphazard and nonsensical...As a consequence, there are plenty of places here that look just like other places here. It makes it very easy to get lost."

"Not to mention the obscene amount of space it takes up," added Sora with a sigh, which she artfully hid behind her fan. "We have been petitioning to downsize, but the way some of the old timers get worked up about 'historical importance...'"

"One would think that this was a premier tourist destination the way the oldsters harp on," said Kyoichiro with a small laugh. "No, to be honest, there isn't all that much to see here that you haven't already seen. The only other places of interest in the Palace are the offices and workshops of the Taishiro. If you get to see those, it will be at their discretion."

"So why are we here?" asked Jaune. "I keep hearing about this festival that's so important."

"Ah yes, that would be the Water Festival," said Kyoichiro with a fond smile. "It's one of the Clan's most important holidays. In a sense, you could say that it is a celebration of the universal bond among us. It is called the Water Festival because the current Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ puts on a performance to be watched by all within the Clan. This year, we have invited select outsiders to view it as well."

"So that's what those invitations Saisei delivered were," said Ren.

"Correct," said Kyoichiro. "It is our hope that we can use the festivities as an opportunity to introduce ourselves to the wider world. Putting our best foot forward is important after all."

"But enough about that," said Sora, clapping her hands lightly. At the sound of her hands, they heard soft footsteps on the walkway leading out to the pavilion. Yang turned and saw a small cadre of servants bringing trays of tea and snacks.

"Since you've come with our son, I'm very interested in hearing about all your adventures," said Sora as the servants set the items on the table. "Please, make yourselves comfortable, and tell us all about yourselves."

* * *

Before they knew it, an hour flew by. They told Kyo's parents the story of how Kyo had met RWBY and ended up coming back to Beacon with them. They also talked about how Kyo had been teaching them about their Auras, and even the story of their encounter with the Nuckelavee.

"Oh, you poor dear," said Sora, turning to Neo, "that must have been quite the ordeal."

Neo nodded gravely, but then broke out into a smile and gestured at Kyo.

"She's right," said Jaune. "Kyo worked hard. He spent over a week straight using his Aura to keep the virus from spreading."

"I expect nothing less from my son," said Sora proudly as Kyo blushed slightly under her praise. "I'm also glad that Saisei was able to treat you promptly. I sent her with the ship because she was Kyo's old companion. But it seems quite fortunate that you happened to be in need of a healer."

"We're glad that she was there too," said Yang. "It certainly made it a lot easier to enjoy the flight over."

Ruby tried her hardest, but her mouth dropped and she let out a yawn, which she covered as quickly as she could. Sora, seeing it, chuckled softly. "Oh my...perhaps we've kept you a bit too long. A lot has happened today, so it's understandable if you're tired. We've arranged for you to have quarters in the same wing of the Palace as Kyo. He'll be just down the hall from you."

"That's good," said Yang, who'd been fighting back yawns herself.

"I'm sure that we'll get the chance to talk with you more," said Sora. "In the meantime, Kyo, take your friends to their rooms. We've already made arrangements for their luggage. It should be waiting for you there. He can show you around some more tomorrow."

Kyoichiro turned his Crimson Eyes on Penny. "By the way, Penny-chan, Murasame has said that he's kept your room for you, if you want to use it."

Penny's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly. "Thank you," she said.

"You're not coming with us?" asked Ruby.

Penny's smile faltered slightly, but she quickly rushed over to take Ruby's hands. "I promise I'll see you tomorrow," she said. "But I'm staying with Murasame-sama. I'll have to take you to meet him later. He's like Father, but he's also a real weapons nut, like you."

Kyo laughed loud. "Yes, that describes Murasame-sama to a T. I'm sure you'll get along with him quite well, Ruby."

"Sounds like fun," said Ruby.

"Is there a place where I could learn more about your Clan's history?" asked Blake.

"I can have someone show you to the archives tomorrow," said Sora.

"Thank you," said Blake.

Yang moved to get up, but halted when she felt Kyo's hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place. Instead, Kyo nodded to the others. "Please wait for us at the end of the walkway. Yang and I will be along momentarily."

Though they were somewhat reluctant, they still left, leaving Kyo and Yang alone with Kyo's mother and father.

"Kyo, I hope you're not about to tell us that you and Ms. Xiao Long have been getting intimate already," said Sora, pulling out her fan again and flicking it open to cover a smile.

Yang blushed furiously.

"That's not it," said Kyo, his own cheeks coloring as well. "I wanted to tell you something else. Yang has the Crimson Eyes."

Sora's fan closed with a loud snap that echoed through the pavilion, the sound making Yang jump. Kyoichiro's own eyes narrowed. "Is that so?" he asked.

Kyo nodded. "She can manifest them occasionally. I've seen them for myself. Her mother has those eyes as well."

"I see," said Kyoichiro. "To think that you would meet someone with the Crimson Eyes in the outside world. It's quite remarkable."

Kyo nodded. "Which is why I would ask you to tell us, or at least Yang, about the Crimson Eyes, what they really are. Why are they so important?"

"You would be satisfied if I just told your friend?" asked Kyoichiro, raising an eyebrow.

"Well...if you still believe me to not be ready to know, I can accept that," said Kyo with an awkward laugh as he scratched his cheek. However, his expression sobered as he continued. "But, for Yang, this is very important knowledge, particularly since her mother has been seeking it as well. If Yang has it, then it might be possible to arrange circumstances so that her mother comes to her."

"I'm assuming you pointed her mother in our direction," said Kyoichiro. "Yet there has been no outsider making any inquiries about the Crimson Eyes."

"She is most mistrustful," said Kyo. "She seems to think you might lie to her about the eyes."

"Well...not telling this woman the whole truth might be on the table," said Kyoichiro, "considering what little you have said of her behavior. If she does not trust, then it is just as likely that _she_ is not one to be trusted either. The secret of the Crimson Eyes is one that cannot be spoken lightly."

"It's that important?" asked Yang.

"It's that dangerous," said Kyoichiro. "The secret of the Crimson Eyes is connected to the deepest and darkest secrets of the Mibu Clan itself, the most shameful era of our history. That is why I must weigh carefully whether or not I share these secrets with the two of you. I cannot come to a decision on that matter yet, Kyo. I hope that you will understand if I chose not to tell you at this time."

"I understand, O-Tou-san," said Kyo, bowing his head. "But, even if you chose not to tell me, I believe you should at least share what you can with Yang."

"We shall see," said Kyoichiro with a frown. He quickly broke out into a smile. "But, for now, do not worry about such things. Go and rest. We can speak more tomorrow."

"Very well," said Kyo, getting to his feet, Yang getting up along with him. "Good night, O-Tou-san, O-Kaa-san."

"Welcome home, Kyo," said Sora with a warm smile for her son.

Kyo turned to lead Yang to the walkway. However, he was stopped by his father's voice.

"Kyo?" asked Kyoichiro.

"Yes?" asked Kyo, looking over his shoulder at his father.

"Have you been listening to Tenro?" asked Kyoichiro.

Kyo glanced down at the sheathed sword he held in his free hand. "As best I can."

"Be sure to listen well," said Kyoichiro. "If you do that, you may not even need to press me for answers."

Kyo nodded and took Yang's arm, leading her to the walkway and down its length.

"What did _that_ mean?" asked Yang.

"Tenro is a very old and powerful blade," said Kyo, tightening his grip on the sword's sheath. "In its own way, it is also very much alive. It has a mind and spirit all its own. A major part of mastering it is learning to open your heart and mind and listen to the sword's voice. When you do that, you can use your power in conjunction with the sword's. However...I'm not sure what my father meant by that. Tenro is just a sword, when all is said and done. If it had any knowledge to share, I'd think it would be knowledge about sword things. Why would it have knowledge about the Crimson Eyes?"

"Who knows," said Yang. "Maybe it's one of those things your dad is using to test your worthiness or whatever."

"Maybe," said Kyo, his expression faltering slightly. "But I feel that there's more to it than that."

* * *

"So...you finally got your wish, Ozpin," said Ironwood, reviewing the document that Ozpin had sent to his scroll. "The Mibu have decided that they no longer need to keep to themselves."

"I will admit that I was looking forward to this," said Ozpin, his hologram flickering on Ironwood's desk. "Although, I did not imagine that this would come so abruptly or that they would be the ones to make the first move."

"I suppose you've shared this with the other Councils and Academies," said Ironwood.

"I have," replied Ozpin. "Vacuo, Shade, Mistral, and Haven have all expressed interest in this event, and are deciding on delegations. They will include a member of the Council, the Headmaster or Headmistress of each Academy, and a team to represent the student population of each Academy."

"And who have you decided to bring?" asked Ironwood.

"As of now, both Team Ruby and Team Juniper are already present in the Mibu lands," said Ozpin. "I see no reason not to claim them as our representatives."

"That they went in ahead of you has no bearing on that, I'm sure," groused Ironwood.

"They are there on invitation from Kyo. I have simply decided to refrain from bringing any more of my students to make sure it does not appear that I am attempting to surround myself with them." Ozpin chuckled.

"So what are the plans then?" asked Ironwood.

"For the time being, we have decided to assemble on Vytal on the designated day of departure. From there, we plan to travel to the Mibu lands by airship," said Ozpin.

"That makes sense," said Ironwood. "Of course, Atlas will be happy to provide security for the delegates, to ensure their safety while dealing with this potentially dangerous group of people."

"Please do not go overboard on displays of military might, James," requested Ozpin. "We should be dealing with the Mibu as equals. I am certain that any attempt to intimidate them through force of arms will go badly."

"I will do what I deem necessary," said Ironwood firmly. "I have no intention of leaving a delegation of the most important people in the world unguarded in the territory of a backwards people who foolishly believe that they are worthy to engage with the Four Kingdoms as equals."

Over the link, Ironwood saw Ozpin sigh and adjust his spectacles. "I hope you reconsider your position when the time comes, James. If you try to cow the Mibu through a display of strength, it will backfire on you horribly."

"We shall see," said Ironwood, cutting the link.

Now that he was alone with his own thoughts, he turned to look out the window of his office, which overlooked the Atlas Academy campus. His mind drifted to the Mibu, who seemed to think that they had the right to meddle in his nation's affairs. He wasn't a fool. He knew where the mysterious Lightning Lord had to be taking those faunus he broke out of the internment camps. They had searched far and wide across the continent, and even the neighboring island of Vytal, but had found none of the faunus. It was clear that the only place they could have gone would be to the Mibu lands.

If the Mibu Clan thought they could strip Atlas of its power by stealing away its citizens, Ironwood intended to make sure that the Mibu realized that they were sorely mistaken.

* * *

"Here we are," said Kyo, leading the group around a corner, showing them a hallway lined with sliding doors. As seemed to be the norm for Mibu decor, there was very little in the way of decoration. The lighting was soft, seeming to be absorbed almost completely by the dark-stained wood. At intervals, small bonsai trees rested on pedestals, while the occasional wall niche was decorated, either with an austere ink painting or a flower arrangement. Truth be told, Yang liked it. It gave the entire hallway a cozy, homey feel.

"If you check, you should find your luggage in your rooms," said Kyo. "I'm not sure who has what room through, so you'll probably have to sort that out for yourselves."

"It can't be too hard," said Yang, sliding open one door, revealing a substantial stack of suitcases piled in the center of the room. "Hey, I found Weiss' already."

"How'd you guess?" asked Ruby with a giggle, as Weiss strode into her room with a huff.

From there, it wasn't difficult to identify their individual rooms. The staff had done a good job sorting their luggage. They had apparently even realized that Ruby and Jaune would be sharing a room, as would Ren and Nora.

"That leaves my room...right here," said Yang sliding open a door and seeing a small set of black and yellow suitcases sitting on the floor.

"I sense Saisei's hand in this," said Kyo with a chuckle. "Your room is right next to mine."

"Really?" asked Yang as she stepped out of her room.

Kyo nodded and went to the door next to her room and slid it open. Looking in, Yang saw a surprisingly plain room. There was a desk and chair in one corner, set so that the chair could look out through the window set into the wall. One wall of the room was dominated by a bookshelf packed with volumes. Aside from that, it was very plain in design. It was no larger than any of the other rooms in the hall, which seemed odd, considering who Kyo's parents were. Yang got the impression that Kyo actually spent very little time in here.

She yawned heavily. "Well, I guess we'll call it a night."

"I suppose so," said Kyo. "I promise to show you all around tomorrow. We'll have plenty of time to explore."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Yang, looking at Kyo with half-lidded eyes and a sultry smile. "Maybe we can find time to do something here, just the two of us."

"I should be able to arrange that," said Kyo with a laugh. "I'll be honest though, I'll probably have to ask my friends here for help. I'm not sure where in Onmyo would be good for a date."

"I'm sure you'll come up with something," said Yang, before leaning in and kissing Kyo on the lips. "Good night."

"Good night," said Kyo, blushing lightly.

Yang retired into her room and flopped down on her bed, folding her arms so that she was resting her head on them and staring up at the ceiling. _This won't be bad at all,_ she thought.

* * *

The next morning, it was not any kind of alarm that awoke Yang. Rather than her ears, she was awoken by the combination of her nose and her stomach. A warm, nutty aroma, mixed with mingled spices, was drifting through the tiny spaces between her door and the floor and ceiling, tickling her nostrils and inciting her stomach to wake her up with an almighty growl.

With a low groan, Yang sat up and stretched, realizing that she had forgotten to draw her right arm's Aura back in again. _I guess I've gotten so used to having it that I can leave it out all the time,_ she thought wryly. If she was waking up with it in the morning consistently, then she supposed she had nothing to worry about.

Getting up, Yang quickly got dressed and slid the door open. From the neighboring rooms, she could hear the sounds of her friends stirring. She guessed that their appetites were being just as insistent as hers was.

After that, Yang followed her nose, which led her down the hallway. The hallway led out into another courtyard, this one decorated by low flowerbeds blooming in a variety of colors. It actually reminded Yang of flower gardens she'd seen back home in Patch or Vale. They gave her a nostalgic feeling.

Small, gravel paths cut through the garden, leading to a small pavilion in the center. Within the pavilion was a conventional table and chairs, possibly a concession to outsider preferences. There was plenty of seating for everyone. As she had expected, Kyo was already awake, seated at the table, with his sheathed sword leaning against his chair. She noted that, despite the bowls laden with fresh, steaming hot food, sitting in front of him, Kyo had yet to put anything on his plate. To Yang's surprise, he was reading what looked like a newspaper.

"Waiting for us?" she asked as she slid into the seat next to him, planting a quick kiss on his cheek as she did so.

Kyo smiled and returned the gesture. "I figured it was only polite," he said. "I didn't think you'd be long. You didn't have much to eat yesterday, so I thought the smell of food would bring you out promptly enough."

"I can't argue with that," said Yang with a laugh. She glanced at the paper in Kyo's hands. "I didn't realize you even had newspapers."

"We've had printing and moveable type for a few centuries now," said Kyo, his voice amused. "Although, I'll admit that our system of distribution is no match for yours."

"Do you have any way to communicate over distances?" asked Yang.

"We have buried telegraph wires extending out to our nearest settlements," said Kyo. "But they can be irritating to maintain, since the Grimm are always digging them up. Aside from that, we are reliant on couriers. They are skilled enough not to fall victim to the Grimm, but it means that getting information to and from our outlying settlements can be quite the lengthy chore."

Yang nodded. Already, the others were beginning to file in. A sleepy-eyed Ruby was being held up by Jaune as he helped her into a seat, while Weiss slumped down next to them. Blake seemed unconcerned, looking perfectly awake already as she took the seat next to Weiss. Across from them, a tired-looking Ren sat next to Nora, who looked far too eager and alert for this hour of the morning. Neo seemed fine, beaming brightly as she took her seat next to them.

Now that they were all there, they gladly helped themselves to the food, which was quite good. The porridge was rich and flavorful, complemented by just the right amount of honey and spice, as well as being mixed with a variety of dried fruit and nuts. There was also plenty of fresh fruit on offer, the various berries looking so bright and beautiful, Yang was surprised that they weren't shining.

"Well, we are quite proud of our agricultural products," said Kyo when she pointed it out to him.

"These must have been genetically modified," said Weiss as she inspected a spoonful of blueberries.

"They were indeed," said Kyo.

Weiss dropped the berries onto her plate and gaped at Kyo. "You're capable of genetic manipulation with _your_ technology level?"

"In fact, it's one of our most venerable and respected arts," said Kyo. "The Mibu Clan has a long history of utilizing genetic manipulation."

"I'm guessing you use Aura somehow," said Blake.

"That would be correct," said Kyo. "You've seen Saisei's healing skills. There are scientists who are able to utilize their Aura on an even more minute level than she can. They can read and manipulate the genomes of nearly any living thing. As a result, we've bred crops that are hardier, require less space and water, are naturally resistant to pests, have higher yields, and are of superior nutritional quality."

"That actually sounds...kinda dangerous," said Jaune, eying the fruit on his plate dubiously.

Kyo nodded. "There are a great many risks, of course. Each new breed is very carefully tested and examined before being grown on a wider scale. Actually, the number that have been approved is quite small, compared to the number that were determined unfit for production over the years. Our people are very meticulous in their work on that front."

"So this is safe, right?" asked Weiss, looking at her food again.

"As safe as can be," said Kyo.

Ruby shrugged and dug back into her bowl, which consisted of almost as much strawberries as it did porridge.

"Ah well, what's life without risk?" asked Jaune as he joined her in eating.

"Are you interested in learning more?" asked Kyo, looking at Weiss.

"I admit, I am curious," said Weiss. "But there are quite a few things that I've wanted to look into since we got here."

"Like what?" asked Yang.

"Like that fight with your friends the other day," said Weiss. "They created fire, water, and even gravity, all without the assistance of Dust. I'd never thought that could be remotely possible, unless the person involved had a unique Semblance. Am I to believe that they did that with their Auras alone?"

"They did," said Kyo. "What you saw before were all examples of Manifestation, essentially a Semblance that has been nurtured into a specific form through careful training and development. What you saw was the result of their hard work and dedication to their craft, and the learning of skills that have been passed down from generations before."

Weiss frowned darkly and looked down into her food, her appetite seemingly diminished.

"Does that upset you?" asked Kyo.

"I just..." Weiss stared at her food. "I just never thought something like that would be possible without Dust. And here you and your friends are, pulling those tricks out like they're nothing."

"Weiss?" asked Ren, looking up at her. "Is this about your company?"

"No!" said Weiss sharply before lowering her eyes again. "Yes...I...I don't know." She sighed.

"I would like to point out that those three were all members of the Goyosei," said Kyo. "It takes a great deal of training and dedication to reach the point that they have. Developing a Manifestation of that level is not something one simply does on a whim. Also, relying wholly on Aura has its own limitations."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

Kyo gave her a friendly smile. "Keep in mind that the chief advantage of your Dust is that the only Aura you need expend is what you need to activate it and shape its effect. How much Aura you spend is determined largely by that second factor. However, the scale of the effect is determined by the amount of Dust you use. Therefore, it is possible to use sufficient Dust to produce great results with only a limited investment of Aura. Dust is easier to employ because, if you have the right equipment, it can be effectively used by fighters at virtually any skill-level with only the bare minimum of training.

"By comparison, Manifestation is drawn entirely from your Aura. It means a lifetime of training to bolster your Aura to the level where you can sustain those effects in combat. It means the careful refining of skills over the course of years to achieve phenomena like what you saw yesterday, whereas something similar can be achieved by a relative amateur with the right kind and amount of Dust.

"Both approaches have their limitations and advantages. Even if our methods of Aura-control were to spread, it is unlikely, if not outright improbable that Dust will cease to be of relevance. I do not think you have to fear that your company will be faced with destruction anytime soon."

Weiss blinked at Kyo, then smiled slightly. "Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," said Kyo cheerfully before digging back into his food.

"Never mind that!" said Nora eagerly. "What are we gonna do today?"

"Hmmm..." Kyo scratched the side of his head as he chewed a mouthful of porridge. After swallowing it, he continued to mull over Nora's question. "Perhaps I should take you out of the Palace and show you around the nearby area. There's quite a bit to see around here. I could also show you some of the more interesting areas of the Palace if you wanted."

"Would it be all right if we wandered on our own?" asked Blake.

Kyo blinked at her, then turned his head up to think about it. "Honestly, I don't believe there should be any problems with that. The staff would turn you away from any sections of the Palace or city you shouldn't be in. If you heed their instructions, it should be fine." He frowned. "My only concern is that, if you are looking for a specific place, it could be tricky to find. If you aren't wandering near one of those restricted areas, the rest of the Palace can be...sparsely populated...It's very easy to get lost and wander for quite a while without running into someone who can give you directions."

"I'll take my chances," said Blake.

"Is there anything in particular you were looking for?" asked Kyo.

"I am interested in seeing your Clan's archives," said Blake. "But I'm in no rush to see it. I'd just like to wander on my own for a while."

"If you're sure, then you're welcome to go ahead," said Kyo. He paused and scratched his chin. "If you get too lost, you can take to the roof. There aren't that many people who would object. Just try not to break too many shingles."

Blake nodded.

"Do you know where Penny is staying?" asked Ruby unexpectedly.

"As a matter of fact, I do," said Kyo. "Murasame-sama has a workshop and quarters in the Palace that he uses more often than his home in the noble district. If you are looking for Penny, then she's likely over there. Though I don't think you'll actually need to look for her."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"Well, Penny is probably on her way here," said Kyo. "I'm sure she'll be happy to introduce you to Murasame-sama. I think you'll actually find him to be quite the interesting fellow."

"Ooh! You said it's okay to wander!" said Nora eagerly, raising a hand and waving it.

"That's correct," said Kyo.

"Then Ren and I are gonna go exploring," declared Nora grabbing Ren's arm.

"I'll do my best to keep her out of trouble," said Ren in a resigned tone, although there was a small smile on his face as he spoke.

"Then, in that case, I think I will accompany Blake," said Weiss, turning to her friend, "if that's all right with you."

"I'm fine with it," said Blake, nodding to Weiss.

Neo tapped her chin for a moment, then pointed to Ren and Nora, indicating she wanted to go along with them.

Kyo blinked and stared at them for a second. "Well...it seems all of you have your own plans," he said in an amusedly resigned tone.

Yang grinned and hooked her arm around Kyo's. "Which means that it'll be just you and me, Big Boy," she said playfully.

"I look forward to it," Kyo jested back.

They ate the remainder of their meal, chatting amiably to pass the time. Just as they were finishing, a shadow crossed the courtyard and Penny arrived in a cartwheeling leap that took her from a nearby roof to the ground outside the pavilion in a second. She landed in a crouch, her face momentarily hidden behind the brim of her broad, bamboo hat. Then she stood up and grinned.

"Salutations, friends," she said, kicking her feet up playfully.

"Penny!" shouted Ruby, getting to her feet. She rushed out and the two of them engaged in an enthusiastic hug.

"Good to see you," said Jaune, joining them. "Would you like to come with us today?"

Penny looked up at Jaune and beamed. "I would love to," she said. "In fact, I came to invite you to visit Murasame-sama. He's quite eager to meet you all." She turned to Kyo. "He wants to see you too."

Kyo smiled back at Penny, not noticing the faint blush that dusted her cheeks as he did, though Yang _did_ notice. "Of course," he said. "I would be happy to see Murasame-sama again." He turned and held a hand out to Yang, which she took.

"You know him?" asked Yang as she got out of her seat to join them.

"Murasame-sama was the one who taught me the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ ," said Kyo.

"What about your father?" asked Yang.

"He was busy," said Kyo. "Besides, it's tradition for the Crimson Cross Knight to study under the Mibu's Blademaster. Murasame-sama is the best teacher that I could hope for."

"What is the Blademaster?" asked Jaune as they waved goodbye to their other friends, and began following Penny through the maze of halls and corridors that made up the Palace's structure.

"Besides being one of the few people outside the royal line permitted to learn the _Mumyo Jinpu_ , he is also our Clan's chief swordsmith," said Kyo. "All the blades used by the current Taishiro, and many of the Goyosei's weapons, were forged by him personally. He is also charged with the keeping and preservation of the artifact swords passed down from the previous generations of the Mibu."

"You mean like your sword?" asked Yang.

"And Penny's," said Kyo, gesturing to Penny who giggled and fingered the handle of her sword, "and Nigel's. Hayate has one of the artifact blades as well. You remember Keikoku from yesterday?"

"Yeah," said Yang. "He had that crazy-looking spear."

Kyo nodded. "That spear is one of the artifact blades as well. In fact, it too is one of the swordsmith Muramasa's masterpieces."

"How many are there?" asked Ruby eagerly.

"Muramasa forged many fine blades in his time," said Kyo. "But there were four in particular that represent the pinnacle of his work. Tenro is one. Keikoku's spear, the Hokurakushimon, is another. My friend, Hayate, carries the third. The fourth is here in the Palace. However, because it is particularly dangerous, it is sealed away presently."

"Dangerous, how?" asked Ruby her eyes sparkling in interest.

Kyo frowned. "Muramasa's swords have been called Demon Blades or God Blades depending on who is speaking of them. They are renowned for being more...eager...than most swords for blood and battle. An unfit wielder can be overtaken by the blade, and driven onto a path of endless bloodshed if they are not careful."

Yang looked at Kyo's sword and gulped nervously.

Kyo grinned at her. "You needn't worry. Tenro and I are on very good terms, and he respects me enough not to try and overtake me. Shibien, on the other hand...Shibien is _very_ bloodthirsty, even by the standards of Muramasa's work. Throughout our history, very few people have been able to truly wield him."

"That doesn't sound good," said Jaune.

"It's all right," said Kyo with a smile. "Shibien is locked away, and guarded very carefully. If some fool were to attempt to steal it, well...the sword itself would do a better job making the thief realize his error than any punishment we could come up with."

Kyo's description made Yang gulp. However, she quickly mastered her fear and brought it under control. If Kyo was right, they probably wouldn't lay eyes on this very dangerous sword. She wasn't even sure why she was so bothered by it in the first place. Perhaps it was the thought that all these blades had their own Aura, their own lives. She wondered what it was like to be alive, but locked into a body of forged steel, unable to move, save for when you were wielded by someone else. Was a sword's perception of life anything like a person's?

Yang decided to set those questions aside for the time being. Perhaps she could ask this Murasame person when they met him.

* * *

 **So a short chapter this time, continuing on from where we left off.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35:**

Kyo and Penny led them through the maze that was the Palace's layout. As they walked, Yang saw more courtyards than she thought had any right to exist in a single compound. She was beginning to understand the King and Sora's desire to downsize the Palace, if only to make the layout more manageable and easier to learn. Surely there weren't enough people to make use of all this space.

After what Yang estimated to be half an hour of walking, the hallway they were walking down came to an abrupt end. At its end, Yang saw a set of stairs leading to the ground and to a path that led towards the side of the mountain the Palace was built on. She, Ruby, and Jaune followed as Kyo and Penny led them along the path, which wound through trees and meandered over a couple of streams. Finally, the forest parted, and they found themselves in a grassy clearing.

The Onmyo Palace had been exceptionally quiet already, but this clearing had an even more powerful sense of quiet to it than the Palace did. In contrast to the Palace, which was silent by dint of its emptiness, this clearing was filled with a sense of...tranquility...of a peace that made Yang want to take a deep breath and lay out on the grass to watch the clouds pass by overhead.

On one side of the clearing, opposite where they arrived, there was a low, wide, wooden house, its floor raised up, elevated on wooden supports so that the entire building was suspended at least a yard off the ground. Its walls were light wood, contrasting with the gray shingles. However, behind it was another section of the house, this one built from plaster and stone, stretching back until it met the side of the mountain. Near where it met the stone of the mountain, a small chimney stretched up, faint wisps of gray smoke curling out of it. Yang got the impression that the building actually continued, extending into the rock of the mountain itself.

"This is the home and workshop of Murasame-sama," said Kyo cheerfully. "It's a very nice place, isn't it?"

"Very homey," said Jaune approvingly.

"Is that a forge at the back?" asked Ruby eagerly.

"It is," said Kyo. "Perhaps he will show it to you."

"That'd be awesome!" said Ruby, bouncing in place.

As they reached the stairs that led up to the house's porch, Penny practically bounced up them before knocking on the door rapidly. Pulling back, she removed her hat and set it aside, resting it up against where the porch met the wall.

They heard faint laughter from within the house before the door slid open and they were treated to the sight of the most ordinary-looking person they had yet seen amongst the Mibu. His head was decorated with curling, silver hair and he looked them over with a pair of lively-looking pale-blue eyes. His nose was somewhat angled, giving him a more distinguished look, but it was offset by the overall roundness of his face, gave him an air of amiable friendliness. He was dressed in a plain white kimono and a pair of loose hakama, though their color was marred by the occasional patch of sooty gray, and even a couple of spots of black decorating the ends of his sleeves. Over his shoulders, he wore a dark-blue shawl, each end of which was decorated by a pentagram embroidered with silver thread. His skin was so smooth and clear, that Yang imagined that he was of an age with her father. However, there was a sense to his presence that suggested someone _much_ older.

"Back so soon, Penny?" asked the man as he held his arms open to her, which Penny accepted gladly as she bounded in to hug the man, who returned the gesture fondly. "And here I thought you would spend the day playing with your friends," he said as he released her.

"Well, you said you'd like to meet them, so I brought them back with me," said Penny brightly, "Kyo too."

The man, whom Yang, Ruby, and Jaune presumed to be Murasame laughed and rubbed Penny's head fondly. "And I told you it was nothing urgent. You certainly don't waste any time."

"Nope," said Penny cheerfully.

The man turned his attention to Kyo. "Welcome back, Kyo. You've gotten taller since the last time I saw you."

"Thank you for saying so, Murasame-sama," said Kyo bowing his head slightly to the man. "It's good to be back." He turned slightly so as to gesture to his friends. "Murasame-sama, these are Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc, friends of mine."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Jaune, bowing slightly.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, also giving the man a small bow. "Penny's told me a lot about you."

"Yes, Penny has spoken a great deal about you as well," said Murasame with a chuckle, "so much so that I almost feel as though I know you already." He turned his eyes on Yang.

"And this is Yang Xiao Long," said Kyo, "Ruby's sister and...my...girlfriend..." He averted his eyes, still seeming embarrassed by the term.

Murasame laughed out loud. "Well well...you're more like your father every day." He met Yang's eyes. "He found Sora in the outside world too, you know."

"That has been mentioned before," Yang observed wryly, a laugh of her own threatening to bubble up from her throat.

"Well please do come in," said Murasame, stepping back into the house so that they could come through the door. "Make yourselves at home. I'll prepare some tea for you."

Entering into the house, they found themselves in a sitting room, the floors made from woven reed mats. They were surprisingly comfortable to sit on.

A few minutes later, Murasame returned with a tray that held a pot of tea and cups, which he quickly served his guests. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Rose-dono," said Murasame as he placed a cup before Ruby.

"It's my pleasure too," said Ruby, accepting the cup with a smile and a nod before she sipped from it. She hummed with pleasure and downed the whole thing in a few seconds. "That's really good tea."

"I'm glad you like it," said Murasame with a laugh as he quickly refilled her cup. "I put a dash of honey in it. That's the way Penny likes it."

Penny, who had set aside her hat and cloak, blushed and stared down into her own cup while Ruby giggled.

Murasame turned his eyes to Kyo. "And so you return. I can see that you have been taking good care of Tenro."

"Of course," said Kyo pleasantly. "I also ran into Nigel while I was out. He and Hakuya are doing well."

Murasame sighed. "It eases my heart to hear that."

"You really do care about your swords, don't you?" asked Jaune.

"The ones I forge are children to me," said Murasame fondly. "The artifacts of the Clan, swords like Kyo's or Nigel's or Penny's, are dear friends, whom I'm loathe to trust to those whom I do not...trust..." Murasame looked Ruby and Jaune over once more, his eyes narrowing as he saw their own weapons, which they had set on the floor next to them when they sat down. "I must say that I find your weapons to be quite interesting."

"Did you want to look more closely?" offered Jaune, picking up Crocea Mors and holding it up to Murasame, who carefully took the sheathed sword in both hands.

"Well now, this is intriguing," observed Murasame, carefully drawing the arming sword from its sheath, examining the blue and gold designs along the hilt and blade. "Am I correct in assuming that this blade has been in your family for some time?"

"That's right," said Jaune.

"Hmmm..." Murasame tilted the sword and used his fingers to trace some of the gold inlays. "It's received some recent additions. The gold inlays were added a little over a year ago, by my measure."

"That's...right," said Jaune, his expression falling. Ruby and Yang frowned along with him.

Murasame rested two fingers against the flat of the blade and closed his eyes. Bowing his head, he nearly touched his forehead to the sword. Yang and the others wondered briefly what he was doing. Yang threw a questioning look at Kyo.

"You'll see," was all that Kyo said, an enigmatic smile on his face.

Abruptly, there was a sharp pinging noise, almost as though the sword had been rapped with something made of metal. A spark of light flared up from where Murasame's fingers rested against the blade. Then, all at once, the blade burst into blazing, brilliant life, light shedding from its edges in waves as Murasame opened his eyes, lifted his head and hefted the blade up. The light was accompanied by a ring, a crystal-clear note, like the sound of someone running their finger along the rim of a crystal goblet. It was nowhere near as deep or resonant as the sound that Tenro emitted at times, but it was a perfectly clear and achingly beautiful sound.

Jaune looked at the sword and heard its ring with his ears. Unbidden, his eyes spilled over with tears and his heart felt as though it were about to burst in his chest. The sound and light struck something within him as he felt as though he were in the presence of someone familiar, someone he dearly cherished, but had not seen in a long time...

...After all...she was dead.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune's voice was hoarse as he struggled against the urge to cry. Beside him, Ruby clung tightly to his arm, her own eyes beginning to overflow as well. Beside Kyo, Yang was rubbing her eyes vigorously, trying to wipe away the tears that threatened to spring up. Even Penny was beginning to get emotional as they all felt as though they were in the presence of their lost friend.

Finally, Murasame lowered his fingers from the sword's blade. The light faded and the sound trailed off into silence. "I see," he said softly. "No wonder this sword has such a potent presence."

"Is that really Pyrrha's spirit?" asked Jaune as he stared at his sword.

"Yes and no," said Murasame. "This blade's Aura, its life, has been shaped by the one who forged it, but also by the hands that have held and wielded it over the years. However, a portion of your friend's soul was indeed added to it when you amalgamated it with parts of her weapons and possessions. That portion of her soul has melded with the blade's Aura. That portion of her soul carries her love and care for you, and she has been watching over you."

"Of course she has," said Jaune as he took the sword back from Murasame. "She's _always_ been watching over me."

"How did you do that?" asked Ruby.

"I merely communed with the sword's Aura," said Murasame. "Believe it or not, you could learn to do that as well, Arc-dono. If you do, you will unlock your blade's true power, and I believe you will be truly impressed by the results."

"How do I do it?" asked Jaune.

"It is simple, yet not easy, as Kyo can attest," said Murasame, gesturing to Kyo, who nodded. "You must quiet your senses, empty your mind, and open your heart. Listen to your sword's voice. I think that, when you do, it will have a great deal to say to you."

"Yeah, I guess it will," said Jaune with a rueful smile as he slid the sword back into its sheath.

"And now...your weapon," said Murasame, turning to Ruby.

"Uh...you may want to be careful with it," said Ruby. "It's bigger than it looks."

Murasame took the weapon in its hands carefully examining the folded object. "Indeed," he said. Without unfolding Crescent Rose, he carefully turned it over in his hands. "My...you are a lively child."

Ruby blinked, surprised to hear Crescent Rose referred to in such a manner.

"If you don't mind, may I take her outside?" asked Murasame. "I get the feeling that that is the safest place to open her up."

"That's fine," said Ruby.

They got up and followed Murasame as he walked out the house and down into the clearing. Once there, he found the trigger that unfolded Crescent Rose. The scythe's curved blade folded out and the shaft extended, Murasame holding it as though he had been the one to forge it. Holding Crescent Rose by its shaft in one hand, he turned it, his eyes tracing the curved line of the blade.

"She's a beautiful child," he said finally. "Truly, I've never seen her like. It's strange. Most outsider weapons I've examined seem so...lifeless...but this one..."

Murasame turned the weapon so that he could bring a hand up to the base of Crescent Rose's blade. Once again, he rested his free hand against the flat of the blade and bowed his head slightly. There was another ring, a sharp, clear chime, and a spark of light, crimson edged with silver, danced off from where his hand touched the blade. The outline of the entire weapon glowed red briefly, then faded.

"Wow!" said Ruby. "But it wasn't very bright."

"That is because she is still very young," said Murasame, handing the blade back. "The fact that this weapon has so many moving parts is also a factor that affects the formation of her Aura."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

Murasame smiled as Ruby folded Crescent Rose once more. "I imagine that you have had to replace parts on multiple occasions when they wear out."

Ruby nodded. "Of course," she said.

"That means that every time you replace a piece of your weapon, you are also making small alterations to it as a whole. Such alterations disrupt the process of the weapon's Aura development. It's a testament to your care and love for her that she has such a strong, definitive Aura, despite having so many parts replaced."

Ruby smiled and hugged Crescent Rose to her chest.

"So the Aura of Kyo's weapon is so strong because it's so old?" asked Yang.

"Yes and no," said Murasame, gesturing to Kyo. Kyo handed over Tenro. "Tenro...much like Muramasa's other masterpieces, is distinct. Muramasa did something that no Mibu Blademaster has been able to effectively emulate. He was able to create genuine life in his blades in the process of forging them. Much of Tenro's power is native to him from the day he left Muramasa's anvil. I sometimes believe that Tenro in particular may have once had a different form...that is a soul is actually reincarnated from someone else."

"Who?" asked Yang.

"I honestly don't know," said Murasame, drawing Tenro forth. He held it the same way that he'd held Crocea Mors before. The sword rang out, its sound palpable so that Murasame's audience felt it in their bones. Light blazed forth from the blade, which shined like a star, becoming blinding. After a few seconds, the light and the sound faded. "I believe that Kyo's father may know the answer to that question, for he wielded Tenro before Kyo did, and came to commune deeply with the blade, although its true identity is a secret that even he would not divulge."

Murasame handed the blade back to Kyo.

"What about my weapon?" asked Yang, sliding Ember Celica from her wrist. She flicked the switch, unfolding it from its bracelet form and out to its full-size gauntlet-mode.

Murasame took her gauntlet in his hands and turned it over, examining it carefully. "It certainly is an unusual design," he said. "However...I don't sense much life from it. It seems to me that you are not all that attached to it."

Yang's face fell as she took the gauntlet back.

"I'm sorry," said Murasame.

"No! You're right," said Yang, holding up her right hand. "I...I've never been as attached to it as Ruby is to her weapons. I always thought that weapons were just tools, really."

"Sadly, a common sentiment," said Murasame. "This, however, is very interesting." He took Yang's right hand in his, and pulled her Aura-formed arm out so that it was out straight. "This is forged from your Aura itself, correct?"

"That's right," said Yang. "Kyo helped me work out how to make it."

Murasame turned an amused smile on Kyo, before turning back to Yang's arm. "Its form is malleable to a certain extent. Have you experimented with transforming it."

"A little..." said Yang, flashing back to the fight with the Nuckelavee. She remembered her arm transforming into a dragon's head when she had launched that final attack.

"If you are interested, I may be able to make something to complement this," said Murasame. "It will be different from your original weapon, but the design will be somewhat similar."

"Really?" asked Yang, her eyes lighting up.

"Indeed," said Murasame. "It would be a unique challenge for me. Can you withdraw your Aura for a moment?"

Yang nodded and pulled her Aura back into her body, the first time she had done that in a while, leaving her with just her stump.

"May I?" asked Murasame, reaching a tentative hand out towards her stump.

"Sure," said Yang, relaxing as Murasame gently took what remained of her flesh and blood arm in his hands, gently running his fingers over the nub of flesh that covered the severed bone.

"Yes..." murmured Murasame as he examined her stump, "...it would have to be worn here. I've experimented with weapons that change form, but this...this will be quite challenging."

"What do you need to do?" asked Yang.

"I'll have to consider design types, and work out wow the whole thing will fit together," said Murasame. "Then, of course, it will take some time to forge."

"That would be awesome!" said Yang. "Thank you." The prospect of having a new weapon to go with her right arm was exciting. Even though the arm formed from pure Aura was capable of amazing things, as well as being so sensitive and responsive that, at times, she forgot that it was an arm made just from Aura, she did still feel somewhat...naked without _any_ kind of weapon for her right arm. She'd longed for something she could use to compliment Ember Celica.

"Would you like to see my workshop?" asked Murasame, addressing the question to all of them.

"Yes please!" said Ruby eagerly, her silver eyes shining with enthusiasm.

Murasame laughed and led them back into the house. From there, he took them through a door that led through what was apparently his living quarters. There were two bedrooms. From the look of one, which was decorated with flowers and even stuffed animals, one was specifically furnished for Penny, a fact that made Yang, Ruby, and Jaune smile. It seemed that Penny was truly at home here.

Beyond the bedrooms was a door made from steel, set into a wall of polished stone. Murasame turned the knob and it swung open on hinges, something that set it apart from the sliding doors that the Mibu generally seemed to favor. Murasame ushered them inside and closed the door behind him. He flipped a small switch in the wall beside the door and several overhead lamps flickered on.

Ruby gasped, her eyes going wide. A sharp squeal escaped from her lips as she held up her clenched hands, looking up and down each of the walls of the room, which seemed to stretch almost endlessly into the heart of the mountain. Yang stifled a laugh, able to see what had Ruby looking like a toddler in a candy store.

The overhead lights were reflected off the blades of countless weapons, which were mounted upon racks, lining the wall. There were swords of every conceivable shape and size. They were primarily variations on the katana blades that seemed to be favored by the Mibu, but Yang also saw the straight-edged blades of jian-style swords, or even broadswords and arming swords like Jaune's. They were stored next to curved backswords, scimitars, talwars, and a myriad number of other blades. Some swords could hardly be called swords at all, their blades turning, sometimes even splitting or branching.

They shared space with spears, halberds, and other polearms of myriad descriptions. There were long-handled, broad-bladed axes. Short, yet keenly sharp daggers, dirks, and short swords of every variety hung between them.

It was a weapon enthusiast's wet dream, and Ruby definitely looked as though she were on the verge of climax as her eyes swept over the assembled weapons as fast as she could move them, too excited to settle on where to start. "Oh wow!" she finally managed to moan out ecstatically. "They're all so beautiful."

Even as she stifled her chuckles at Ruby's sheer...enthusiasm...Yang couldn't help but agree. All of these blades _were_ beautiful. She could see that in the quality of the steel, which shone like polished silver, often with blue highlights, although others appeared to have been tempered to produce a myriad number of other colors from the light that bounced off their surfaces. Some were finished like mirrors, while others looked almost as though they had been carved and sanded from steel-colored wood, the grain flowing and curling in elegant patterns along the length of the blades. Each of these weapons was a peerless masterpiece, and, while they were about as low-tech as weapons got, Yang got the distinct impression that any of them would have been worth a fortune to a Huntsman or Huntress fortunate enough to have the opportunity to purchase one.

"You made all of these?" gasped Ruby.

"Indeed," said Murasame. "You may examine them more closely if you like, touch them even, so long as you are careful. They are all my children, but I trust you."

Ruby darted over to a wall in a flurry of petals, carefully lifting a curved no-dachi style sword that looked nearly identical to Kyo's blade off its rack so that she could examine it. She sighted down its length, checking the alignment of the edge, before moving to examine the woodgrain patterns of the hamon that flowed elegantly along the blade's edge.

"This really is incredible," said Jaune. "You could make a fortune selling these."

"I would not be able to take money for them," said Murasame. "If I encounter someone whom I can trust with one of these blades, I would gladly give it to that person for no charge. All I require is the assurance that anyone who wields one of my blades will care for it as though it were their own child and wield it to the absolute best of their ability."

He gestured for them to follow him as he set off down between the rows upon rows of weapons. Only Ruby lagged behind, jumping eagerly from one weapon to another as she sought to examine each one that caught her eye as closely as she could. Penny hovered near her, beaming happily at Ruby's enthusiasm.

In the meantime, Murasame led Kyo, Yang, and Jaune down the length of the room, where the walls of mortared stones opened up into a cavern-like room that had clearly been carved from the stone of the mountain itself. With each step they had taken, the temperature had risen. Now that they stood in this wider, more open room, the air was downright sweltering and their ears were beset by a constant, low, rumbling noise.

This room was clearly Murasame's forge. A massive, block-like anvil dominated its center, resting between a glowing furnace on one side and a tub of water on the other. The furnace was already heated, the air around it rippling as orange light spilled out from within.

"What do you use for fuel?" asked Jaune as he wiped sweat from his brow.

"The fire of the mountain itself," said Murasame proudly.

"So this is where the magic happens, huh?" said Yang, looking around, taking in the room. One wall was dominated by a smelter, while other walls were occupied by shelves stacked with ingots of iron and other metals. There was a worktable where she could see the makings of another sword, one that was presumably in the process of being made.

"I don't know if I would call it magic," said Murasame. "Though I strive, I have yet to reach the level of Muramasa. At most, I could possibly call myself equal to Julian, his teacher."

"That sounds like a pretty good claim," said Jaune.

"Perhaps," agreed Murasame with a nod. "But Muramasa remains unsurpassed. Countless generations of Mibu Blademasters have passed, yet none have been able to produce anything that equals his four masterpieces."

"So you'll make something for me here?" asked Yang.

"I will," said Muramasa. "But I have to design it first. I suspect you are not one for swords."

"That's right," said Yang.

"Then I will have to be a bit more...creative," said Murasame. "In the meantime, I simply wanted to show you where I work."

"This is totally awesome!" squealed Ruby, bursting into the room with Penny in tow, her eyes almost literally shining as she took everything in. "Oh wow! Can I watch you work? Please!"

Murasame laughed. "It seems Penny was right about you. I will gladly allow you to observe, when I start working. Shall we return to the house for now?"

"I'm all for that," said Jaune, wiping away more sweat. "It's like an oven in here."

Murasame chuckled. "Sadly, the one disadvantage to having a forge that is fueled by magma is that you can't turn it off so easily." He quickly led them out of the room, much to Jaune's relief.

A few minutes later, they were seated back in Murasame's living room, sipping tea and enjoying a few snacks. As they did, Murasame chatted amiably with them about a variety of topics. Ruby in particular was happy to notice how happy Penny seemed around Murasame and how affectionately he treated her. Knowing what Penny had been through, it lifted Ruby's heart to see her friend so well looked after.

Finally, they finished their tea. Penny set down her cup and smiled at Murasame. "Thank you for meeting my friends," she said.

Murasame smiled back at her. "It's a pleasure to get to know them. I'm glad that you were able to bring them over."

"So Penny stays here with you?" asked Ruby, remembering the bedroom they had seen on their way into the forges.

"She does," said Murasame. "After her Aura was transferred into her current body, I accepted the responsibility of being the one to help guide her into understanding her new condition. To be honest, I've been most happy to have her."

Penny giggled and leaned against him, which prompted the man to gently stroke her hair. "I was married once," continued Murasame. "Sadly, my wife passed away before we could have a child of our own. In many ways, Penny is very much the kind of person I imagine that our daughter might have been."

Penny blushed furiously at that, and turned to bury her face into Murasame's shoulder, while Ruby and Yang cooed at the sentiment.

"That said, I'm glad that you could be here with her," said Murasame. "I was hoping to make a request of Penny."

Penny pulled away from his shoulder and stared quizzically at him. "What is it?"

Murasame reached up and gently cupped a cheek with her hand. "You have brought so much joy into my life since I met you," he explained. "In many ways, I already see you as my daughter. Knowing that, I wish to ask if you would be willing to become my daughter officially."

Penny's eyes widened and tears gathered at their corners. "Y-you mean y-you w-want to adopt me?"

"If you are willing, yes," said Murasame, gently tracing his thumb across her cheek. "Penny Polendina...would you be willing to enter my house as my daughter."

"I...I...I don't know what do say," said Penny tears now trickling down her cheeks. "I feel so happy..." Her eyes flickered to her friends.

"Say yes," said Ruby eagerly, leaning forward.

Penny nodded and sniffled before meeting Murasame's gaze once more. "Yes," she said. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Then I will make all the necessary arrangements," said Murasame, lowering his hand. "Welcome home, Penny."

Penny sniffled and then threw herself at her new father, who caught her, the two of them locking in an embrace as Penny pressed her face against his shoulder again. Murasame gently kissed the crown of her head and began to gently rock her.

"Wow...Congratulations," said Ruby, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sure you'll be happy together," added Jaune, brushing off tears of his own.

"Oh, thank you," said Penny turning towards her friends, though not relinquishing her hold on her new father. "I'm so glad that you're here for this."

"So am I," said Ruby.

"Now this calls for a celebration," said Kyo eagerly.

"He's right," agreed Yang. "We should totally get everyone else together and let them know. Then we can throw a party for you two."

"Admittedly, this is something that I feel very much like celebrating," said Murasame. "That is, if you would like that, Penny."

"Oh, yes please!" said Penny eagerly before clinging tightly to her new father again.

* * *

"Do...you...think...we're...at the top yet?" gasped Weiss, as she and Blake continued to climb the staircase they'd found.

"It...can't be... _much_ farther," panted Blake. It wasn't just a matter of the stairs themselves. With the height they were gaining, the altitude must have been absurd. By her own assessment, they had to already be over ten-thousand feet up.

In retrospect, simply wandering aimlessly might not have been the best idea. It was only a matter of an hour or so before they realized that they were hopelessly lost. Just as Kyo had warned them, it had been easy to lose their way in the myriad number of corridors and hallways that wound around each other, sprawling across the mountainside.

Blake supposed she should have asked directions to the archives, but it seemed too late for that now. Then they had encountered this set of stairs, which led them up...and up...and up some more. At the very least, she hoped that wherever they emerged from gave them a commanding view of the sprawling Palace complex.

Finally, they emerged out into the sunlight, gasping for breath.

"What is this?" asked Weiss, looking around.

They were in a square enclosure of some sort. Walls, coated in white plaster and with cedar shingles on top, rose up on all sides. It appeared that the only entrance or exit for the place was the stairs that they had climbed up. Unfortunately, the walls kept them from seeing the rest of the Palace.

The enclosure itself seemed to be a zen garden. Massive boulders were scattered about a field of pure-white gravel that had been raked into circling and spiraling lines. It was beautiful, in a quiet, tranquil sort of way.

"I'm amazed anybody comes up here," said Blake, observing the garden. She looked up, noting that the sun seemed so close and the air was very thin. She wondered just how high up they were.

"Not many do," said a voice behind them.

They yelped and spun about to see a familiar figure, a man wrapped in black bandages, with a pair of wolf ears growing out of his head. He leaned against the wall beside the entrance to the stairs, his arms folded as he casually observed them.

"Dougal...wasn't it?" asked Blake, tilting her head.

"Correct," answered Dougal. "This is the Palace's aerial garden. Up here, we are at nearly eleven-thousand feet in elevation. Normally, only the Crimson King or the Taishiro come up here, generally to meditate in solitude and quiet."

"I'm sorry if we've intruded," said Weiss.

"You aren't intruding." There was a quiet sense of amusement in Dougal's voice. "This area is not restricted. It's simply that few others can be bothered to make the climb."

"I can understand that," said Blake, still feeling winded from all the stairs.

"Is there something you wanted from us?" asked Weiss, eying Dougal suspiciously.

"Not at all," said Dougal. "Sora-sama was informed of your desire to wander, and she dispatched me to act as a guide of sorts. I can direct you to any particular destination you seek. Of course, you are free to go where you wish. I will merely be on hand to guide you, when you are ready to return, if that is the case."

"Thank you very much," said Weiss, while Blake nodded.

"Actually...could you show us the way to the archives?" asked Blake. "I've been wanting to read more about this place and these people."

"Gladly," said Dougal, bowing his head.

"Actually...I think I'll stay here, if you don't mind," said Weiss, looking out over the garden.

"Are you sure?" asked Blake, surprised by her friend's decision.

"Well, we did go through the trouble of climbing all these stairs and..." Weiss looked down. "So much has been happening lately that I feel like I could use some time to think." She smiled as she took in the zen garden. "This feels like a good place for it. You go on ahead."

"Are you sure?" asked Blake, looking to Dougal.

"I will check in on her occasionally to see if she needs anything," he promised. "I can find anyone in the Palace with ease."

That made Blake shiver a little, to think that he could be watching or following them at any time. However, she supposed it was helpful, if only because he would ensure that they never stayed lost if they got lost. "I'll see you in a little while then," she said to Weiss.

Weiss nodded and made her way to one of the low benches that lined the wall.

Dougal turned and walked down the stairs, Blake falling into step next to him. "May I ask a question?" she inquired.

"You may," said Dougal in his soft, whispery voice.

"Do you actually travel _through_ shadows?" she asked.

"I do," he said. "In a sense, you could say that I shift into a world that exists alongside the one you see and move through it freely. The nature of the shadow world is always in flux, so points that are farther apart on this side can be much nearer than the other side at times. I learn to read the shifts and chart the shortest path."

"And it conceals you," said Blake.

"That it does," said Dougal. "There is much more I can do with the Shadow Arts. They were first created by a skilled shinobi named Kotaro of Fuuma, in the ancient days. Their secrets were passed down through the ages, and I was privileged enough to learn them."

"Is there a chance that I could learn them?" asked Blake.

Dougal looked at her. "You wish to learn the Shadow Arts?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Blake. "But there is something about them that interests me." She sighed. "There's somebody that I have to fight. However, no matter how hard I've tried, he's far stronger than me. I just don't feel that my regular skills, and the things I've learned at Beacon, are enough."

She could somehow perceive that Dougal was frowning under the bandages that covered his face. However, she got the impression that his frown wasn't the result of disapproval. "I see," he said. "You think that learning the Shadow Arts could give you the decisive edge you need to defeat him. Why is defeating him so important?."

"Because it's my responsibility," said Blake. "He used to be my friend...and lover..." She looked down at her feet as they descended the stairs. "We were fighting for the sake of our fellow faunus, trying to make a better world for them. But...it became too much for me. There was too much violence, too much bloodshed. He grew harder, darker, colder...and I just couldn't stay with him anymore, so I ran away.

"Later, I tried to stop him, but he was too much for me. He even cut off Yang's arm. After that, I...I ran away again for a while. My friends and I all came back together to try and stop him and his allies again. But I was never able to bring him down.

"He's still out there, somewhere. He's still plotting and killing, and I need to stop him...somehow."

"I see," said Dougal. "Perchance, would the one you speak of be Adam Taurus, the leader of the White Fang?"

Blake whirled around to stare at him with wide eyes. "How do you know about him?"

"He and the White Fang came here not three months ago," said Dougal. "They attempted to rally faunus to their cause, though the faunus here are content with the way things are, particularly when a faunus is the effective leader of the Clan. When he realized he could not sway them to fight against the rest of us, he took matters into his own hands, and tried to kill the Crimson King."

Blake gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth. Adam had been here, and he'd attempted to kill Kyo's father. It was horrifying to think about, even though he had clearly failed, given that Blake and the others had met Kyo's father just yesterday. But it sent shivers down her spine to think that Adam had been here.

"His was one of the more amusing attempts," continued Dougal. "He was quite formidable, just as you described, though he was unable to so much as draw the King's blood. The King still defeated him easily enough. However, strangely enough, we were unable to apprehend him after his defeat. It seems that he had help in escaping our reach. We have been unable to locate him since."

"Do you know who was helping him?" asked Blake. "Last I knew, he was working with a woman named Cinder Fall. They were both serving an entity who called herself Salem. But they abandoned her in the end."

"I could not say," said Dougal. "The woman you call Cinder is known to us, albeit by a different name. But your former friend seems to have other allies as well."

"Wonderful," Blake muttered under her breath.

"If you wish, I would be willing to instruct you in the Shadow Arts," said Dougal. "It looks to me as though you might have an affinity for them."

"Thank you," said Blake. They walked on in silence for a while longer, before she decided to pose the other question that had hovered in the back of her mind ever since she had first seen this man. "Why are you here?" she asked. "Why do you serve the Mibu? You're an outsider, aren't you?"

"I consider myself an outsider no longer," said Dougal. "But, in truth, my loyalty is not to the Mibu, but to Sora-sama."

Blake hesitated before posing her next question. "Do you love her?"

"I do," said Dougal softly. "And she loves me as well. Sadly, we do not share the same kind of love. She is aware of my feelings, but her affection for me is strictly familial. Still, I will do whatever I can to serve by her side."

"Why?" asked Blake. "It must hurt to see her married to someone else to give birth to another man's child."

"It hurts only a little, because of the lingering traces of my selfishness," said Dougal. "In truth, seeing Sora-sama happy and content, with her husband and son, makes me happy. I have always believed that that is what it means to be in love, to care for another's feelings above all else. If being with Mibu Kyoichiro is what makes Sora-sama happy, then I will protect them and their love with all my strength and will."

"Aren't you ever lonely?" she asked.

"Never," said Dougal. "I am blessed with many dear friends and I have never felt lacking."

"You and Sora are both from the outside, aren't you?" asked Blake. At Dougal's nod, she posed her next question. "How did you end up here?"

"Sora-sama and I grew up in the same village," said Dougal, his eyes drifting upwards as they walked. "We'd been friends since childhood. However, during this time, the Faunus Rights Revolution was also going on. Our village consisted almost entirely of faunus, so there was no conflict from our perspective. To us, the Revolution was something happening in a far off place that was of little importance to us."

"However, our neighbors, in a village a short distance away from us, did not share that sentiment. They were a human village, and had even sent soldiers to the battle against the revolutionaries. We had thought we were on favorable terms with them, but it seems we were mistaken. It seemed some of the people who had left that village to volunteer as soldiers had been killed in the conflict. In their grief, they turned to the nearest convenient targets."

"Which happened to be your village," said Blake softly.

Dougal nodded. "We were caught completely off-guard when they attacked. They blasted and burned everything they could." He closed his eyes. "It was pandemonium. There were smoke and flames everywhere. People that Sora-sama and I had known since our earliest days dropped dead before our eyes. Some were consumed by flames, others encased in ice. I led us through the chaos, trying to find a way out. Then...at one point, we were cornered, among the last survivors of our village, as the humans closed in on us, ready to snuff out our lives simply for the crime of being born faunus."

Blake shuddered at the idea.

Dougal pressed on. "Only later did we find it odd that the Grimm never showed up, despite all the panic, the fear, and the anger. Not so much as a single Beowolf appeared during the whole affair. We would only understand later, of course. In the meantime, our attackers were abruptly cut down in an instant.

"He moved among them, untouchable. Where he passed, death followed. Our attackers were hacked to pieces so swiftly that it seemed more like a passing wind than a swordsman. In just a matter of minutes, our village fell silent. Only Sora-sama and I, along with a scant handful of other survivors, remained.

"That was when we got our first good look at our savior. The details have faded a little, but I will always remember his eyes. They were a magnificent crimson color. The first time I saw them, I was utterly unable to look away. He helped us and the other survivors to evacuate, escorted us across half the continent to reach the territories that had been taken by the faunus during the revolution, where we could find safety.

"During that time, he and Sora-sama spoke often. They became close friends. I was fascinated by his strength. When the humans had attacked our village, I had been frustrated by my helplessness. The only thing I had been able to do was take Sora-sama's hand and run. After he got our people to safety, both Sora-sama and I begged to go with him. To our amazement, he accepted. He took us on the road with him, and he taught us how to unlock and master our Auras. He even brought us back to the Mibu lands, where I learned the Shadow Arts and Sora-sama studied swordsmanship."

He turned to Blake, a faint trace of amusement in his voice. "You recall Nigel's sword, don't you?"

"Yes," said Blake. "It was called Hakuya, wasn't it?"

Though she couldn't see his mouth, she could still, somehow, feel Dougal's smile. "Yes," he said. "Sora-sama was the one to carry Hakuya before. Murasame-sama eventually forged a sword specially for her. But, before that, she wielded Hakuya. Her mastery with it made her untouchable on the battlefield. She grew to become Kyo's equal-"

"Kyo?" asked Blake, a bit confused.

"You know him as Kyoichiro now," said Dougal. "That is the name he took when he ascended the throne and his son was born. But, before that, he was known to us as Kyo."

"Oh..." said Blake. She remembered Yang mentioning something like that. That was a confusing system of names if she had ever heard of one.

"In any case, we traveled with him and even found some new friends," continued Dougal. "Our Kyo decided not to involve himself in the Revolution, but he did continue to travel to villages and settlements like ours, where the faunus were threatened by humans, even if they themselves did not participate in the conflict. Over time, Sora-sama fell in love with Kyo and decided to return to the Mibu with him. I chose to go with them. When Sora-sama advanced to become one of the Taishiro, I remained with her as her Imperial Guard."

"So that's how it is," said Blake.

Dougal chuckled softly. "I can still remember when your Kyo was born. I helped to raise him. I cared for and fed him, and even changed his diapers, whenever his parents were busy."

Blake smiled. She could imagine it. Even though he couldn't be with her the way he wanted, Dougal had still dedicated himself to upholding his beloved's happiness, even to the extent of caring for her child, even if it wasn't with him. Then something occurred to her. "Was there any concern over the fact that the Crimson King was marrying a faunus?"

"None," said Dougal, "which surprised even me at the time. Kyo, Kyoichiro rather, had never shown any reservations about being in a relationship with Sora-sama. In fact, no one within the Mibu raised so much as an eyebrow at the whole thing."

"But what would have happened if Kyo...our Kyo that is...was born a faunus?" asked Blake.

Dougal looked at her, his eyes unreadable. "That was not a possibility," he said.

"What?" gasped Blake. That flew against the very idea of everything she knew about human/faunus relationships. If a human and a faunus had a child, there was every chance the the child would be one or the other.

"There is something unusual about the Line of Kyo, the royal line," said Dougal. "No matter how many generations pass, no matter who the member of that line takes as a spouse, the child will always be a human with Crimson Eyes. Their bloodline cannot be diluted, or mingled. No one seems to know how that works, but it does."

"That's...impossible," said Blake.

"Do not underestimate the Line of Kyo," said Dougal softly. "They are not bound by many of the laws of the world, whether it pertains to genetics or something else. However, they seem to be beholden to their own laws and their own idiosyncrasies, issues distinct to them."

"Do you know about them?" asked Blake.

Dougal shook his head. "I do not," he admitted. "However, Sora-sama does. She is privy to all her husband's secrets. You might ask her, but I doubt she will answer your questions to your satisfaction."

Blake frowned. The more she learned about the Mibu, the stranger they seemed. She just hoped that her exploration of the archives would yield something that might clear the confusion.

* * *

 **So, yeah, while I didn't import Crocea Mors' capability to transform into a two-hander, I did bring in the part about it being melded with pierces of Pyrrha's possession. This chapter was written a little bit after the first episode of Volume 4 premiered. This will be important later.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36:**

With Dougal serving as a guide, Blake arrived at the archives in no time. It was a massive room, its design reminding her of the library back at Beacon. It was a long, low room, with a single aisle running down its center. Shelves were lined up in rows, each one stocked with books. However, further back, many of the shelves took on a honeycomb structure, with their cavities occupied by scrolls, actual paper scrolls, rather than typical bound books.

"The shelves closest to the entrance here all house works in the Common," said Dougal. "Most of them are copies of the volumes further back, many of which are in the Old Tongue that was once the main language of the Mibu. The scrolls are all in that language."

"Are all the Mibu bilingual?" asked Blake.

"Many of them are," said Dougal. "But usage of the Old Tongue is fading and is mostly practiced by scholars. There are several ongoing translation projects to convert our oldest works into Common, but it is a slow process, mainly because the translators' greatest concern is the accuracy of the language."

"I see," said Blake. She turned and bowed slightly to Dougal. "Thank you for guiding me here. I think I'd like to browse on my own for a while."

"Feel free," said Dougal, bowing back. "If you have need for me, simply call my name. Otherwise, I will come to fetch you when it is time for dinner."

Blake nodded. She watched as Dougal sank down into his own shadow and vanished. For a moment, she pondered being able to do that herself. If Dougal was really willing to teach her, Blake figured that she should take advantage of the opportunity. However, right now, the books around her were calling her name. Turning to look at them, Blake smiled and cracked her knuckles, wondering just where to begin.

* * *

Weiss had to admit, the setting of the zen garden was soothing. Sitting back on the bench, she lounged in the shade of the wall, letting her eyes drift out of focus as she took in the silent stones and meticulously tended lines in the gravel. Everything felt more peaceful. Even the thinness of the air actually seemed to relax her as she took deep, slow breaths.

In spite of her reservations about coming, Weiss was glad that she had come to the Mibu lands with her friends. Ironically, being out of scroll contact with the rest of the world was a liberating sensation. Here, she wasn't bombarded with news regarding her father's company. She didn't have to think about how its profits and stock prices were falling with the news of each work camp that was liberated. She didn't have worry about balancing her concern over the company's future with her relief that there were fewer faunus for her father to abuse.

Idly, her thoughts turned to the one who was supposedly single-handedly undermining the SDC. The news reports referred to him as the Lightning Lord, primarily because he seemed to be able to wield lightning with an almost supernatural proficiency. There was speculation that he didn't even use Dust for the feats that he accomplished. Weiss wondered if that meant he was using some form of Manifestation, like the arts the other Mibu seemed to practice. If that was the case, did that mean the Lightning Lord had a connection to the Mibu? Weiss wished she could meet him, if only to learn more about this mysterious person.

On the other hand, she got the distinct impression that he would take exception to her because she was a Schnee. She could understand if he did. There were times when she felt like she should take exception to herself. After Beacon had fallen, and her father had brought her back to Atlas, Weiss had been in an almost ideal position. She could have used the opportunity to secure her power base back home and within the company, to begin acquiring the means to gain the authority she needed to affect real change. Instead, she had fled at the first possible opportunity, leaving the faunus who worked for the company laboring under the yoke of her father's greed. While they suffered, she returned to her idillic life as a student of Beacon, training to be a Huntress alongside her friends.

Weiss had promised herself that she would come back and take over the company, once she had finished her schooling and had become an accomplished Huntress. With several notable achievements to her name, she would have the confidence to wrestle power from her father and do what was necessary to save both her family's company and the people who worked for it. And yet, with each month that passed, Weiss saw that becoming harder and harder to do. Her father's methods had grown more extreme, now bordering on slave labor, supplied by internment camps created by a suspicious and paranoid General Ironwood. With each camp that was destroyed or liberated, the company's profits plummeted, and her father flirted with losing everything more and more. By the time Weiss was finished at Beacon, would there be an SDC for her to take over?

On the other hand, she silently cheered every time she heard about another camp being liberated. She wished that mysterious Lightning Lord well, and admired him for being able to do what she couldn't. There was a part of her that didn't care that her family's legacy suffered each time he did so. All that mattered was that this person was helping the faunus her father was abusing. At times like that, Weiss wondered if it would be all right to allow the SDC to fall, to let the company slide into ruin, so that something better could take its place. With it gone, she would no longer be bound with the responsibilities of her status as a Schnee. She could be free.

 _But what would I do if I were free?_ she wondered. There were plenty of easy answers to that question. She would still be a Huntress. She could easily spend the rest of her life doing a Huntress' work, fighting alongside her friends, beating back the Grimm, saving the world. But Weiss wondered if living such a life would leave her feeling somewhat empty. She had never truly faced a future where her status as the Schnee heir did _not_ factor into it somewhere.

Weiss sighed and let her eyes drift closed.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there. Seconds bled into minutes, which bled into hours. The peaceful setting practically lulled her into a relaxed doze as her worries slowly drained away, leaving her with...nothing...Surprisingly, the sense of emptiness was soothing. Here, in this empty setting, Weiss was free to shed the trappings of her name, her responsibilities, her future, which simply left her as...Weiss... It was a nice feeling.

Then she heard the faint creak of someone slowly ascending the stairs to the garden. Weiss opened her eyes and looked, without moving her head, at the entrance, wondering who was coming up here. Given what Dougal had said, she expected it to be someone of importance, perhaps one of the Four Elders. Either that or one of her friends had come up here to find her.

Sora's feathers caught the sunlight as she emerged from the door, highlighting the colorful plumes that grew forth from her head in place of her hair. She spotted Weiss almost immediately and smiled warmly at her. "I see you're making good use of your time," she said, not a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

"I'm sorry," said Weiss. "If you want to be alone..."

"No!" said Sora quickly. "Please, remain seated. Don't get up. I would be loathe to disturb you when you've made yourself so comfortable. May I sit with you?"

"Of course," said Weiss. _It's your garden after all,_ she thought to herself. She scooted over to allow room for Sora to settle onto the bench next to her.

"This is a fine place to relax and unburden oneself," said Sora as she leaned back against the wall, gazing out over the stones and gravel.

"Do you come here often?" asked Weiss.

"Several times a week at least," said Sora. "It's amazing how much clearer you can think after you've spent some time _not_ thinking at all. Of all the places in the Palace, this is perhaps my favorite."

Weiss nodded. "I can understand that. It certainly is peaceful here."

"That it is," agreed Sora.

They sat in silence for a moment. Weiss forced down the urge to fidget. Kyo's mother or not, this was also the head of the Four Elders, by admission of nearly everyone she encountered, the most powerful member of the Mibu Clan. As the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss had been somewhat accustomed to rubbing shoulders with the great and powerful. She had spoken with Council members, performed charity concerts for the creme-de-la-creme of society. She had spoken with numerous suitors introduced by her father, many of whom were tycoons of business in their own right. Yet there was something very different about this woman who sat next to her now, something that set her apart from all the others.

If Weiss were to put her finger on it, it would be the nature of power. The people she was used to be dealing with wore their power, whether it was financial clout or political authority, like so many accessories. They flaunted their power like rings, necklaces, and earrings studded with expensive gems and pearls. To those people, their power was simply another way to demonstrate their superiority, to lord it over those beneath them.

Sora did not wear her power. Rather, she exuded it from every pore of her body. She carried herself with a natural ease that suggested any order or request she made would be carried out immediately, not because of her position, but because of the respect others held for her. If Weiss were to put a name to this mysterious quality, she would have called it "majesty." Sora had the disposition of a true ruler, which Weiss supposed only made it natural that she was, in essence, the ruler of the Mibu Clan.

"May I ask you something?" inquired Weiss.

Sora smiled indulgently at her. "Of course."

"Why did you join the Four Elders?" asked Weiss. "You were an outsider, weren't you?"

"I was," said Sora. "It's a bit of a long story..." She began to relate the story of how she and Dougal had met Kyoichiro, back then just Kyo, and how Sora had come to fall in love with him.

"We were at a bit of an impasse when the time came," said Sora. "We had called an end to our travels, so that Kyo could return and ascend to the Crimson Throne. I chose to return with him. We hadn't spent much time amongst the Mibu during the early years of our romance. What little experience I had with them had been quite positive. They didn't even seem to notice that I was a faunus. I have to admit, I built up something of an idealized version of what I thought the Mibu were in my head."

"Was coming to live with them a disappointment?" asked Weiss.

"It was," acknowledged Sora, "if only because I ran up against the same mistake so many other people make when they place another culture on a pedestal, based on limited experience...namely that, wherever you go, people will _always_ be people. The Mibu might not bear any prejudice against faunus, but they can also be arrogant and proud. Too often, they are dismissive of outsiders and the outside world, believing them to be backwards and barbaric."

"Sometimes I can't really bring myself to disagree with that view," said Weiss, thinking about the many problems that the people of the four Kingdoms struggled with, particularly her homeland of Atlas.

Sora patted her shoulder sympathetically. "Neither can I. However, the Mibu were not without their faults either. When Kyoichiro and I married, I saw plenty of that."

"Yet you stayed," said Weiss.

Sora giggled. "Of course I did," she said. "Just as loving someone means coming to accept, and even embrace, their faults, so too does that apply to loving a people or a place. I came to see the Mibu as my people, faults and all. I decided, if I was to live among them, I would do my part to try and make them better."

"By opening them to the outside world?" asked Weiss.

Sora nodded. "In order to accomplish that, I needed power; not merely martial strength, but the power to make others listen to what I had to say and see things from my view. Merely being the wife of the Crimson King was insufficient. That position comes with no authority whatsoever, and, as you've already heard and seen, my husband chooses not to accept any authority that he might have."

"Why?" asked Weiss. "It sounds as though he could wield great authority here."

"He could," agreed Sora. "But he is leery of it. He believes that the Mibu should not be governed by him simply because he was born into the Line of Kyo. Rather, he thought it best that the Mibu be ruled by those who have earned their positions of power and leadership."

"The Elders," said Weiss softly.

"Correct," said Sora. "Therefore, if I truly wanted to better the lives of the Mibu and change them, I would have to earn my place amongst the Taishiro. Makoto, then head of the Four, did not make it easy for me."

"I'd thought it would have been easy for you to become one of them," said Weiss. "You're the King's wife, after all."

Sora giggled. "It was just the opposite. When he learned of my ambition, my husband went to Makoto, and asked him to throw every obstacle he could think of in my path, to ensure that I would have to struggle with all my might and dedication of enter the Taishiro."

"Why?" gasped Weiss. "Didn't he want you to succeed?"

"It was _because_ he wanted me to succeed that he did that," said Sora. "As you said, I was wife to the Crimson King. Even if my beloved chose not to exercise the authority he potentially holds, his word still has great pull with the Taishiro, and they listen to his input and respect his opinions. If he had wanted, he probably could have elevated me to their ranks with but a word. The Elders would only accept me as one of them, only if they were satisfied with my fitness, but the process could have been expedited quite easily.

"But, of course, to those not privy to the Taishiro's thoughts or deliberations, it would seem as though I reached my station _solely_ because of my husband. My decisions and opinions would be regarded with derision and scorn. The other Taishiro would lose their standing and respect ,because they had bowed to blatant nepotism. With those things dragging me down, there would be little good that I could do.

"So, instead Makoto worked me to the bone, forced me to carry out endlessly mundane tasks, and tested my will and dedication in ways that I hardly imagined were possible. And the people saw me work. They saw my dedication. They saw the effort that I put in to earn my place so that, when Makoto finally allowed me to join the Taishiro, no one thought to suggest I hadn't earned it."

"But then you became the head," said Weiss.

Sora giggled. "That was Makoto's doing," she said. "It surprised me when he stepped down and handed the position to me so abruptly. He said that I had impressed him with my dedication and that he did not merely see me as someone with the potential to be one of the Taishiro, but someone with the potential to _lead_ them and the whole of the Mibu Clan. His confidence was my greatest boon. Thanks to that, my arguments held all that much more sway."

"So you were able to convince them to reach out to the outside world," said Weiss.

Sora nodded. "It wasn't hard to convince the other members of the Taishiro and, after them, the Goyosei. It helps that Saisei accompanied Kyo, your Kyo that is, to the outside world and saw it for herself, so she became one of the most vocal proponents of the Opening. Even now though, there are voices of dissent amongst the Mibu. Still, things are going ahead the way that I hoped."

Weiss smiled and turned her eyes back to the garden. "I'm glad for you," she said. "At least you know what you want to do."

"What's this now?" asked Sora, turning to Weiss. "Are you uncertain about your future, Schnee-dono?"

"Very," said Weiss with a sigh. "Since you Elders seem so well-informed, I assume that you know what comes attached with my name."

"We know about the Schnee Dust Company, yes," said Sora.

"My father..." Weiss cut off her own words with a huff. "...My father took the company in a direction that has made us so many enemies. He cares about profit and power to the extent of ignoring everything else. He practically enslaves the faunus who work for us, and uses his clout to keep the Atlesian government from working to make things better for them. It was because of that that the White Fang started getting so violent. Now both they and my father are escalating matters. By the time I inherit the company, there may be nothing left. I don't know if I can fix all the damage that Father has done."

A warm arm draped itself over her shoulders and Weiss felt Sora pull her into her side in a gentle embrace. "Some things can't be fixed," said Sora. "The ultimate truth of this world is that all things are transient, impermanent. If you do not believe that you can save your family's company when you take it over, then perhaps the only thing you can do is let it fail. Sometimes, things must simply be allowed to end."

"But..." Weiss felt faint at the thought...abandon the SDC, let it fall to ruin, allow her family's legacy to end...

The slender fingers of Sora's hand squeezed Weiss shoulder in a gentle, motherly gesture. "Save it if you can," she said. "But...if it seems doomed to fail, do not let it drag you down with it. Let it go and live your _own_ life. Create your _own_ legacy."

"I'll...try..." was all that Weiss could say.

Sora got up and stood over her, resting both her hands on Weiss' shoulders. Leaning down, Sora gently kissed Weiss forehead. "You are a brave and strong girl, with wonderful friends. Even if you lose everything else, so long as you have those things, you can live a richer life than most people could imagine."

Weiss found herself smiling. The warmth of Sora's affection was far more than Weiss had ever experienced from her own mother, a woman who seemed to have married more out of convenience than anything else, who spent her days drinking herself into a stupor in order to deal with the stress of being married to a man like her father, a woman who left her children to the hands of servants and scarcely even looked at them unless they vexed her in some fashion. Being raised by a woman like this, Weiss could see how Kyo had become so kind.

Taking her hands, Sora gently tugged Weiss to her feet. "Come," she said. "Let's head down. You should return to your friends. It's nearly time for dinner in any case."

Weiss' stomach chose that moment to announce its emptiness with a low growl that made her blush furiously. Weiss realized that she had skipped lunch, sitting up here in the garden. Now her body was expressing its dissatisfaction with her neglect. She suspected she wasn't the only one and that her other friends had probably foregone the midday meal as well in their eagerness to explore.

They made their way to the door and the steps leading down. As they did, Sora's shadow suddenly stretched, moving against the light in an unnatural manner. It slid up the wall before resolving into pure, inky blackness, out of which stepped the familiar form of Dougal.

"Yes?" asked Sora, not even flinching at her Guard's sudden arrival, though Weiss had taken several surprised steps back.

"It seems that your son and his friends are planning a special celebration," said Dougal. "They are eager for you and the King to attend. I am passing along invitations to the other Taishiro now."

"Oh...what's the occasion?" asked Sora, raising an eyebrow.

"Murasame-sama has decided to officially adopt Penny Polendina," said Dougal. "And she accepted."

Weiss gasped at the news. She remembered that Penny's father in Atlas had been killed by Ironwood. Now she was apparently being adopted by a member of the Mibu. From the sound of things, the former android was happy about the arrangement. At least, Weiss hoped she was.

Sora's lips stretched in a loving smile. "Oh! So he finally asked her, hmm." She giggled. "That's wonderful! I've been hoping to hear that for a while now. Schnee-dono and I shall be along shortly."

Dougal bowed his head. "Very well then. I shall inform the others." He sank into his own shadow and vanished.

Weiss blinked at his sudden departure. "Well...that's good news, I guess."

"The best news," said Sora. "Murasame has been so much more lively since Penny started living with him. I've been hoping for this development for some time now."

"Well, if it makes Penny happy, I suppose I can't complain," said Weiss. "Not that I really have any idea of how things are between them."

"Our convictions become stronger when we have people precious to us," said Sora. "I could not dedicate myself to the Mibu if I did not have my husband and son. I believe Murasame will be similarly inspired." She paused in thought. "Now...Kyoichiro and Murasame will be there, of course. I suspect Makoto will be along as well. Now...Haruka, on the other hand..."

"Haruka?" asked Weiss.

"Ah...she's another of the Taishiro," said Sora. "She's the Mibu Clan's Chief Alchemist and Engineer. She was the designer of the ship that brought you here, and she oversees the creation of the Etheric crystals." Sora sighed. "Unfortunately, she's also the least social of us. She rarely comes out of her workshop, and usually only if her presence is absolutely necessary. She probably won't put on an appearance today, but I'll remain optimistic."

 _So this Haruka person is the one who makes the crystals,_ thought Weiss, her eyes narrowing. _I should meet her if I can._

* * *

The first indicator of how long Blake had been reading in this archive was when her stomach growled loudly. She looked up, looking around frantically, her cheeks coloring red as she wondered who might have heard her. She saw a few other people in the archives, but they were quite a ways away, and none of them had looked up from their own books.

Blake was amazed at how enraptured she had been by what she had read. The Mibu Clan's history was fascinating. She'd read about Atlas and Vale's attempt to subjugate them, only for the attackers to be crushed effortlessly. She went further back, looking for records of the time Ozpin had been with the Clan to see if they mentioned him at all, though she had yet to find anything.

Blake's cat ears, still hidden beneath their bow, twitched as she heard the creak of floorboards behind her. Someone was approaching. However, even more than the sound, Blake felt the tremendous presence of the person behind her. The Aura was like a blanket, wrapping around her body. What was more, it was familiar, an Aura she had felt before...back at the gates.

Turning around, Blake fixed her eyes on Chika as she approached. She was still wearing her simple kimono and hakama with her sword at her side. She had a large volume tucked under one arm.

"I'm surprised to find one of our visitors here," said Chika. "I figured you to be more interested in playing tourist."

"I don't know what your expectations were, but I have my own way of 'playing tourist,'" said Blake, her hackles rising at the measure of contempt she heard in Chika's voice.

"So I see," said Chika, dropping the volume she carried on Blake's table with a low thud. "Are you interested in our history then?"

"I'm interested in the history of a group that has managed to create a peaceful coexistence between humans and faunus amongst themselves," said Blake. "It's an ideal that has yet to be realized in the outside world. I was trying to find where the source of that common ground comes from."

Chika shrugged. "I have no idea why that may be the case. I just assumed that outsiders were too backwards to accept anything that doesn't fit into their tiny world-views."

Blake's eyes narrowed and she suppressed the urge to growl. "You're hardly one to talk when it comes to tiny world-views."

If Chika was irritated by Blake's comment, she didn't show it. Instead, she took a seat and opened the book she'd brought. Blake's irritation faded, replaced by interest as she saw the rows of characters that covered the pages of the book. "Is that the Old Tongue?" she asked.

"That's right," said Chika, not looking up from her reading. "This is one of the older histories. It hasn't been translated yet."

Blake stared at the characters, trying to observe patterns in them. She saw a few repeats here and there. But, other than that, the characters were largely distinct from one another. However, that suggested that the system of writing was logographic, rather than phonetic. "I suppose I can see why the Mibu adopted Common, rather than staying focused on an old tongue."

Chika smirked. "Well...I think we're a bit poorer for it, especially if we lose our command of the old tongue." Her smirk faded. "But I can see the appeal. Literacy in the old tongue requires one memorize several-hundred at least. To be considered a scholar, you have to memorize upwards of a thousand."

Even though she considered herself quite the literate individual, even Blake was daunted by the idea of having to learn so many characters to present distinct words and ideas, though it at least sounded doable. "Are you looking for something specific?" she asked, deciding to change the subject a little.

"You could say that," said Chika without looking up. She flipped through a few more pages. "Aha!"

"Found what you're looking for?" asked Blake.

"Sort of," said Chika. "Quiet..." She read the page, her mouth forming words in the Old Tongue that Blake could make out, but not actually comprehend. Blake realized that Chika was translating the words on the page into Common to help her better understand it.

"What does it say?" she asked after it seemed that Chika had finished.

 _"Experimentation on the artificial bodies is now forbidden by law. The law is largely superfluous, as all such experimentation was halted when Akari-sama officially terminated the Mibu Reconstruction Project. Its purpose having been served, there was no protest to the project's termination or the law's passage,"_ Chika recited.

Blake frowned. "What were you looking for in that?" There was a term in there that had stood out to her ears, but she wanted confirmation from Chika herself.

Chika looked up. "I've spent days hunting for information about this. But little hints and offhand mentions are all I've been able to come up with."

"The Mibu Reconstruction Project?" asked Blake, raising her eyebrow.

"Yes," said Chika. "Very few of the histories I've read have offered much information as to what the project was about. For the most part, all I've heard about it is that it was terminated. Almost none of the texts have any information to offer on the nature of the project itself."

"Why are you so interested in it?" asked Blake, leaning forward.

Chika leaned in towards Blake, apparently to increase the privacy of the conversation. "The Mibu today are powerful. But the histories suggest that our power used to be much greater, that we were capable of feats that led people to call us gods. Our physicians and healers are capable of incredible things now. But, supposedly, in the past, they were capable of even more."

"Even more...?" said Blake dubiously.

"According to the earliest histories of the Mibu, the post of Chief Physician did not exist," said Chika. "That was created much later on. Instead, the histories referred to the person who held that relative position as having the post of High Necromancer."

"Necromancer..." Blake's eyes widened. "You can't be suggesting..."

"Long ago, the Mibu Clan was capable of doing more than just healing mundane ills," said Chika. "They once had the cure for the greatest ailment of all...mortality. They possessed the keys to the art of raising the dead...or even creating life itself."

A sharp chill worked its way down Blake's spine. If the Mibu had once been capable of such feats, she could easily see them viewing themselves as gods. However, the idea of an existence of such a power was enough to give her a sickening feeling. Was that the kind of power that anyone should be permitted to possess?

Still, if such a power did exist, Blake could understand the temptation. After all that she and her friends had lost in their conflict with Salem, she could see the appeal of the power to raise the dead. _What if we could bring back Pyrrha?_ Blake hadn't been as close to Pyrrha as some of the other members of RWBY had been, and certainly not as close as Jaune, Nora, and Ren had been. She wondered how they would react to this information. _I probably shouldn't tell them for the time being,_ she thought. The power to revive the dead was probably too good to be true in any case. Such rumors were probably an exaggeration of the Mibu's capabilities, born from the imagination of people like Chika, who clearly believed the Mibu to be so far above the other peoples of the world that she would prefer to consider herself a god by relation.

Blake's thoughts turned to Chika's other comment, about the Mibu being able to create life. That seemed even more unlikely…except… _Penny!_ Beneath their bow, Blake's ears twitched nervously. It was strange that she and the others had hardly even thought about it, but the fact that the Mibu had been able to create an organic body for Penny to inhabit, a body that perfectly resembled her original android form, suggested great power in that arena. If that was the case, then maybe Chika's suspicions weren't so far off the mark after all…although growing an organic body for an already-existing soul to inhabit was probably far less unlikely than creating a living being with a soul of its own.

Chika continued, unaware of Blake's thoughts. "My theory is that the Mibu Reconstruction Project was an effort to reclaim our lost power. The problem is that I can't find more than an offhand mention of it in our histories. The further back I go, the more muddled things become. I can't find any information about the Clan's history back past a certain era."

"So...you want to find out what this Mibu Reconstruction Project is and...what?" asked Blake.

"I want to complete it, if I can," said Chika, looking up. "Imagine what we could do for the world if we had the full measure of our power, the suffering we could alleviate, the tragedies we could rectify. We could do so much good for the world."

Silently to herself, Blake admitted that the thought was appealing. However, a more cynical portion of her, the dominant portion in fact, also warned her what that kind of power might do to the person that held it. True, the Mibu could do a great deal of good for the world if they had truly godlike power...But was good all that they _would_ do?

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the thump of Chika slamming the book shut. "It doesn't matter. This was another dead end in any case."

Blake frowned. The scholar within her had already come up with a few avenues of approach to look for more information, just as it had when Yang was researching the issue of Ozpin's actual age. "If you're just looking through histories, there's only so much you're going to find."

"What do you mean?" asked Chika. "It's clear that all pertinent information about the project has been scrubbed out."

"The mentions are minimal in the histories because the project was terminated, right?" asked Blake. "That doesn't necessarily mean it was censored out. It means that scholars in later years thought that information about the project was no longer relevant to their histories, so they don't bother to mention it."

"So it hasn't been censored then," said Chika.

Blake nodded. "Someone once told me that the best way to ensure that someone will look for something is to forbid people to investigate it, or take direct action to conceal it. Knowledge about the Mibu Reconstruction Project wasn't forcibly erased, because that would leave evidence that there was something previous generations wanted to hide. So, instead, they treated it as something barely even worth mentioning. That's why you can only find a few hints to it in the histories."

"So where should I look then?" asked Chika, her eyes narrowing.

"Well...you can start by looking up records of someone who was directly involved," said Blake. "That passage you read mentioned that the project was terminated by someone named Akari."

"Akari-sama was once a member of the Taishiro in ancient times, the first born outsider to reach such an exalted position," said Chika. "Her real name was Mitarai Tokichiro, and she was the founder of the Mitarai House. You would know her best as the ancestor of Mitarai Sasame...Saisei."

"So she's Saisei's ancestor," said Blake. "Then we should go to her. Saisei's family might have records of this ancestor of theirs. When someone founds a family like that, that family is more likely to have information about that person than a general archive like this one."

Chika blinked in surprise. "That...makes a lot of sense actually." She actually smiled approvingly at Blake, though Blake didn't like the gesture. There was something condescending about it. "I must admit that, for an outsider, you have quite the sharp mind. Perhaps you could help me with this."

Blake wasn't sure she wanted to help someone with such an irritating attitude. But she had to admit that her own curiosity was being stirred by this information. She wanted to know more about this Mibu Reconstruction Project. Part of her was genuinely worried that, if the project was what Chika said it was, then it would be for the best if she knew ahead of time, so that she could warn people about what Chika was up to...if anyone within the Mibu believed her. She remembered that Chika was an unofficial member of the Goyosei, someone who commanded a great deal of respect. The word of a visiting outsider like Blake, stacked up against a person in such a distinguished position, would probably not be worth much. But still...

"I suppose I could," said Blake. At the very least, it was better to know and be able to work out a plan ahead of time, than let someone like Chika find the knowledge on her own and do God knows what with it (perhaps literally on the God part).

Suddenly, Chika stiffened, her hand going to cover the tome on the table, as though she were trying to hide it from view. Blake wondered what was going on with the change in her demeanor, but then felt a familiar presence at her back. "Dougal?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

Once again, though his mouth was hidden, Blake could still feel Dougal's smile and see it in his eyes as his met hers. Blake relaxed a little. Dougal's approval was far less condescending than Chika's had been. Dougal seemed to approve in the manner of a teacher who saw a student living up to their potential.

"Hello," said Dougal. "You've been at this for a quite a while." His gaze drifted across the table to Chika. "I was not expecting you to have company like this."

"Hello, Dougal-san," said Chika, her tone a bit stiff.

"I've come to inform you that tonight's dinner is going to be a celebration," said Dougal. "Murasame-sama is officially adopting your friend, Penny."

Blake gasped slightly. "That's wonderful," she said. "At least...I hope it's good news. I don't know anything about this Murasame person."

"Are you joking?" snapped Chika, slamming her palm down on her book. "Murasame-sama is one of the most distinguished and respected members of the Mibu Clan. To be adopted as his daughter is an incredible honor, the likes of which no outsider has ever received."

"Your knowledge of the Clan's history is somewhat spotty," chided Dougal. "There have been such adoptions in the past. More to the point, it is considered very good news. Murasame-sama and Penny grew to be very close to one another over the course of her recovery. It would seem that she is very happy with this development."

"I'm glad," said Blake. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Dougal's gaze went back to Chika. "Of course, you are invited as well. All of the Goyosei are receiving invitations."

"Well...I suppose I could attend," said Chika, getting to her feet and picking up her book. "I need to speak to Saisei in any case. I assume she will be there too. I'd best go freshen up."

Blake and Dougal watched her go, Blake rolling her eyes silently at Chika's behavior. If she wanted to keep people from guessing she was up to something, she couldn't have done a worse job of it. She looked back down at her own book. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since breakfast.

"I will be happy to guide you back to your quarters," said Dougal. "That wing of the Palace is where the celebration will be in any case. You may bring your book with you, if you wish."

Blake looked down at her book and nodded. "I'd like that," she said. She picked up the book and tucked it under her arm, heading for the door, with Dougal falling into step beside her.

Silently she wondered if she should ask Dougal about what she and Chika had been talking about. Chika's behavior suggested she wanted her investigation to be kept on the down-low. But she hadn't explicitly said so. Besides, if Chika was entering dangerous waters, and potentially pulling Blake in with her, Blake wanted to have some form of warning ahead of time. Bringing Chika's actions to the attention of the higher ups of the Mibu Clan might give her some security.

"Do you know anything about the Mibu Reconstruction Project?" asked Blake.

"The term is not familiar to me," said Dougal. "But I am not a scholar of the Mibu Clan's ancient history. Sora-sama is much more learned in that area, so you might pose the question to her."

Blake nodded. She briefly wondered if she should. If she was getting involved in something dangerous, she wanted to know. However, Chika struck her as someone who might carry a grudge if Blake undermined her work. Perhaps it wasn't right for her to interfere. This seemed like something extremely important to Chika as a member of the Mibu Clan. As an outsider, Blake didn't have much right to meddle in it.

 _On the other hand,_ she thought, _Chika made it sound like, if she found what she was looking for, it wouldn't remain a Mibu-only matter. If the Mibu were to obtain the kind of power she was suggesting, then it's only a matter of time before they turn their eyes to using it on the outside world...for good or for ill._

"I have another question," she said, deciding to set the matter aside until she could find someone else to talk to.

"Yes?"

"Do the Imperial Guards rank higher than the Goyosei?" asked Blake. She recalled that Chika's address of Dougal had been relatively informal, from what little she knew of the Mibu Clan's system of honorifics.

"That is...difficult to answer," said Dougal. "The Imperial Guards are in direct service to the Taishiro. Technically, our ranking is somewhat outside the regular hierarchy of the Clan. The Goyosei do not answer to us, nor do we answer to them. On the other hand, because we are the ones who convey the will of the Taishiro, we do, in a sense, act with their authority as their agents."

"I see," said Blake.

"I should warn you about Chika though," said Dougal.

"What about her?" asked Blake.

"There are reasons why she has not yet been elevated to the Goyosei, despite her strength. Taihaku is more than ready to retire at this point, and pass the name onto her. However, he has refrained from doing so for longer than most expected."

"Why?" asked Blake.

"I am sure that you've probably noticed that Chika is somewhat...arrogant," said Dougal. "Despite her strength and skill, there is a certain immaturity to her that suggests she is not yet ready to take on the mantle of Taihaku."

"Yeah...I can see that," said Blake softly.

"Immaturity like that can be dangerous," said Dougal, "especially when it is combined with her level of skill. She may be prone to...rash...courses of action."

"I wonder if her current research is one such course," said Blake.

"Possibly," said Dougal. "I do not know what she is looking for. At this point, you may know better than I do. It is my hope that you can use your best judgment. You may not be Chika's equal in terms of martial skill, but I suspect you are considerably more mature than her."

That observation made Blake smile. She supposed it was partially due to Dougal's status as a former outsider that he could make a more objective judgment of her and Chika's respective levels of maturity than someone born and raised in the Mibu Clan. However, it also meant that he was putting a dangerous level of responsibility on Blake's shoulders. And she was just visiting.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Blake.

She felt, rather than saw, Dougal's smile once more. "I'm grateful," he said. "But, for the time being, let us put such sober matters aside. Tonight is a night of celebration."

"I'll try," said Blake. _Though I might take the opportunity to talk to Sora, about this, if I get the chance._

* * *

 **All told, this wound up being a more reflective chapter. In some ways, Weiss was one of the more difficult characters to write in this fic, particularly because her uncertainty of direction is a direct symptom of my own uncertainty as to where to take her character. Blake's subplot, on the other hand, goes some very interesting places. This is one of the more direct connections to the _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ series, so anyone who's read the manga can probably guess where this is going, though, again, knowledge of SDK is not strictly necessary here.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37:**

Yang had to admit, she thought the Mibu Clan's idea of a party was a little bit dull. Maybe it was because this was meant to be a more casual affair to celebrate Murasame's adoption of Penny, but she felt like the situation could have benefited from a little more spice and excitement.

The pavilion where they'd had breakfast was decked out with flowers to match those in the courtyard outside it. The table had been set up with a large buffet, holding a variety of foods for the partygoers to choose from. Otherwise, they wandered around the pavilion, courtyard, and the surrounding walkways, socializing casually.

 _Well, at least they have a good selection of liquor,_ thought Yang, swallowing down a nice mouthful of some local beer brew. The Mibu made good beer, at least. If what Kyo had said at breakfast was true, then the barley this beer came from had probably been genetically modified too.

Taking a quick look around, Yang made sure that Ruby was keeping to the non-alcoholic drinks. Maybe this was as good a time as any for Ruby to let her hair down, but Yang knew that their father would probably never let her hear the end of it, if she allowed Ruby to drink.

"Enjoying yourself?" asked Kyo as he came to stand next to her, holding a shallow cup filled with what Yang presumed was sake.

"Kinda," said Yang. "But you folks need to work on letting your hair down. This party could do with some music and a dance floor."

"Well, I suppose it counts more as a dinner party than anything else," said Kyo. "The important thing is that Penny and Murasame-sama are enjoying themselves."

Looking for her former-android friend, Yang smiled as she spotted Penny, standing alongside her new father, laughing happily as they chatted with Keikoku. Apparently, all of the Taishiro and the Goyosei had been invited. Over in another corner, Yang could see Saisei sitting with Neo, which didn't surprise her at all. Chinmei was chatting with Ren and Nora, apparently listening with amusement to some wild story that Nora was spinning. She even saw Taihaku, speaking quietly with a pale-blue-haired man, whom she assumed to be one of the Taishiro she hadn't met yet.

"That is Makoto-sama," said Kyo, following her gaze. "He's the Chief Physician of the Mibu, and the teacher of Saisei and Shinrei."

"Oh," said Yang. Reminded of the other member of the Goyosei, she cast her gaze around and spotted him talking with Ruby and Jaune. To Yang's surprise, there was a girl standing beside him, a dark-skinned girl with black hair and teal eyes...who looked more than a little familiar to Yang, despite being dressed in a kimono. "Is that...?" She began to walk towards them.

Ruby saw Yang coming and waved enthusiastically at her. "Hey, Yang!" she shouted. "Look! It's Ciel."

"I can see that," said Yang, coming to stand by her sister. She was shocked to see Penny's old teammate here, dressed in Mibu clothes and, if her posture and the way she leaned up against Shinrei's side was any indication, was more than just friends with the young water-user. "What on earth are you doing here?"

Ciel's smile faltered slightly. "It's a long story."

"She got in a lot of hot water back in Atlas for trying to help Penny escape," said Ruby, "so she ended up coming here."

Yang stifled a gasp, a shock of horror running through her. Even after hearing what had happened to Penny back then, they had never thought to follow up on her teammate. Ciel had been more of a liaison between them, Penny, and Ironwood, but they had counted her as a friend and ally. Yet, after Penny's "death," they hadn't bothered to check on her. Part of that was because they had been misled by Ironwood into believing that Penny's death had been Kyo's doing. But Yang felt more than a little guilty all the same.

"It's all right," said Ciel, divining Yang's thoughts from the uneasy look on her face. "I know you had a lot going on at the time. I'm just glad things turned out all right."

"You must be glad to see that Penny's alive," said Yang.

Ciel nodded. "I couldn't believe my eyes, the first time I saw her. I thought she was a ghost."

"So what are you doing now..." asked Yang, raising an eyebrow in Shinrei's direction, "...besides dating this hunky fellow?"

Shinrei and Ciel both blushed furiously. "Well..." said Ciel, "...I'm now a student of Makoto-sensei. I'm learning the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_."

"That's your style, right?" asked Yang turning to Shinrei.

"That's right," said Shinrei with a grin. "She's a natural at it. She's only been learning it for a few months, but she's already trounced one of our best students in a sparring match."

"After losing to her half a dozen times before that," said Ciel, blushing intensely as she elbowed Shinrei in the side. Her eyes widened as she suddenly noticed Yang's arm. "That's new. Is that your Aura?"

"Yeah," said Yang. "My prosthetic got wrecked in a fight. But Kyo helped me figure out how to make this."

"It's amazing," said Ciel. She sighed. "Coming here has really been an eye-opener for how much we've been missing out on. Imagine what we could do if we learned to use our Auras like this back in Combat School."

"Yeah, I've been doing that a lot," said Yang.

"Well, with any luck, that'll be changing soon," said Shinrei.

"Right," said Jaune, "this whole Opening thing." He frowned. "I'm not entirely sure about this."

"Well...it's not like it's our place to say," said Ruby. "If the Mibu want to stop isolating themselves, they should be able to."

"Yeah...It's just kinda the way they're going about it that bugs me though," said Jaune. "It sounds a lot like you people are picking a fight."

Shinrei closed his eyes and scratched the back of his head. "In a sense, I guess you could say we are."

"Come again?" gasped Yang.

"Well...keep in mind where we stand in comparison to the Kingdoms," said Shinrei. "We don't yet compare to any of them in terms of technological capability. We don't even really have the means to communicate efficiently within our own borders, much less talk with foreign bodies. It's funny that the Mibu seem to think that outsiders are backwards, but to them, we're probably the backwards ones. So, in order to make an impression that sticks..."

"You need to demonstrate the power that you have that the other Kingdoms don't," said Yang. "Is that it?"

"Pretty much," said Shinrei. "The way that things are set up, Atlas in particular is gonna be pretty opposed to our emergence. It works to our advantage that Ironwood's so obsessed with military dominance, since we can use that against them to...advertise our strength...I guess."

"So you're baiting them," said Jaune.

"Pretty much," said Shinrei with a shrug. "Sora-sama said we need to handle things carefully with them. As it is, so long as Ironwood thinks it's all about military power, it'll be to our advantage. If Atlas realizes the real leverage they hold over us, things'll get real sticky real fast."

"Wait! What's Atlas' real leverage over you?" asked Yang, blinking.

"They have the one thing we need the most if the Opening is going to work," said Shinrei gravely.

Yang exchanged confused glances with Ruby and Jaune, wondering just what Shinrei was talking about.

"The CCT."

Yang and Ruby nearly jumped at the sound of Weiss' voice, having not even heard her come up behind them. Jaune wasn't nearly as startled, but even he looked surprised to hear her answer.

"What?" said Ruby.

"The CCT," said Weiss. "That's Atlas' real leverage in this situation. They're the Kingdom in charge of the construction of the CCT towers that link the four Kingdoms together and enable all communications between Kingdoms and settlements. That's what you're trying to keep Ironwood from realizing." She looked at Shinrei with narrowed eyes.

"Exactly," said Shinrei with a resigned nod. "Right now, that's the most important thing we're looking to gain from the outside world, the technology that would allow us to communicate with other Kingdoms and even communicate efficiently across our own continent. We don't really need much in the way of other kinds of technology, but we definitely need the CCT."

"And if Ironwood realizes that that's your real objective, he would have the total advantage," said Jaune frowning. "He could use it way more effectively than any threat of military force. Without the capacity to communicate with the other Kingdoms, your isolationism might as well still be in place."

"That's it in a nutshell," said Shinrei. "It's gonna be a high-wire act for sure. We need to antagonize Atlas, but keep them focused on the idea of subduing us through military dominance, while we build support with the other three Kingdoms that we can then use to force Atlas into supplying us with what we need."

"That's...really sneaky," said Yang.

Shinrei gave her a rueful smile. "That's Sora-sama's way of thinking for you. Right, Kyo?"

Yang turned to look at Kyo, who had been largely silent over the course of the conversation. "More or less," he said with a chuckle. "Mother can be quite the schemer when she wants to be."

Yang frowned. Given what they'd experienced in their brief meeting with Kyo's mother, it was hard to imagine Sora being so...manipulative. However, she supposed that one didn't rise to such a position of political prominence without having some capacity for scheming. Her father always used to say that even the good politicians were schemers, that they had to be if they wanted to succeed. It seemed that was true of the Mibu as well.

Yang glanced over, looking for Sora, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw that Sora was talking to Blake.

* * *

"I wanted to ask you something," said Blake as she approached Sora.

"How can I help you, Belladonna-dono?" inquired Sora, pulling out her fan and flicking it open, using it to screen the lower half of her face.

"I was wondering if you knew about something called the Mibu Reconstruction Project?" said Blake softly.

Sora's eyes narrowed and, from the look in them, Blake got the impression she was now frowning behind her fan. "Just where did you hear that term?"

"I..." Blake hesitated, unsure if she should out Chika as the source of her question. She thought about it momentarily before deciding it was for the best. Chika was up to something and Blake wasn't sure whether or not Sora would approve of it. Given her attitude, Blake didn't consider Chika a friend...nor entirely trustworthy for that matter. "I met Chika in the archives. She has been researching it apparently."

"I see..." said Sora softly. "I wonder what drew Chika's interest to that topic."

"Do you know what it is?" asked Blake.

"I do," said Sora. "I know because of my husband, not because of my position as one of the Taishiro."

Blake shivered. That meant that, whatever it was, the Mibu Reconstruction Projected constituted a secret too important to be known, even amongst the highest ranks of the Mibu Clan, a secret known only by the Crimson King and those close to him.

"The Mibu Reconstruction Project is not some terrible thing in and of itself," said Sora softly. "I imagine that Chika has her own ideas as to what it is. But I doubt they are wholly accurate. The main issue is that learning about the project will ultimately lead the inquirer to the deepest secrets of the Mibu Clan itself."

"It's that important?" asked Blake.

"Yes and no," said Sora. "The Mibu Reconstruction Project was terminated, but you could also say that it was actually completed, as the project's primary goals were met. Because of that, the previous generations of Mibu, particularly the previous generations of the royal line, allowed the project to fade into obscurity."

"So...it's not a big deal?" said Blake.

"Not in and of itself," said Sora. "The problem is what the project reveals about the Mibu Clan and its origins. Some who have sought this knowledge were subjected to a crisis of identity that drove them into madness. It is the kind of knowledge that can be extremely dangerous, if the person seeking it lacks the strength of will to accept and understand its meaning."

"What should we do then?" asked Blake. "Chika made a lot of claims about the nature of the project. I don't think she will be easily dissuaded from looking into it."

Sora nodded. She folded her fan, a smile returning to her face as she tucked it into her sash. "Trying to dissuade her would only harden her resolve to learn about it. At this point, there will be no stopping her. So instead, I would ask that you do me a favor."

"What?" asked Blake.

"If you are willing, would you help Chika with her research? There is a path of information to follow that will lead you and her to the knowledge that she seeks." Sora sighed. "At this point, the only thing we can do is allow her to follow this path to its end, and hope that she will be able to accept the revelations that come as a consequence."

"And what will you do then?" asked Blake.

"That depends on how Chika reacts to what she learns," said Sora. "I assume you already have an idea of where to look."

Blake nodded. "The project was terminated by Saisei's ancestor. So I figured that the next thing to investigate would be any records that her family has about this ancestor and her doings."

Sora nodded. "Very good. You would have made an excellent scholar."

Black chuckled dryly. "I had a teacher who explained that learning history is essential to being an effective Huntress."

Sora giggled. "He sounds like a fine teacher. I should like to meet him someday."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," said Blake. She frowned and hesitated a little. "Are you sure it's all right to trust an outsider like me with this? This sounds like something very dangerous to know, if hardly anyone within the Mibu Clan knows it."

Sora's eyes drifted over to another section of the courtyard, where Chika was sitting, watching the proceedings with a neutral gaze. "I do trust you," said Sora. "You may be an outsider, but you are also one of my son's friends. I choose to believe that your heart will know what to do when you are confronted with the secrets of our Clan. I will know when you are getting close to the answer."

"And what will you do?" asked Blake.

"I may ask you to take Xiao Long-dono along, or I may bring her myself," said Sora. "Believe it or not, this information you are researching and the knowledge about the truth of the Crimson Eyes are very closely linked. So, if you do indeed uncover it, then Xiao Long-dono is also one of the people who should know about it."

Blake stared in surprise at Sora. It had never occurred to her that the knowledge that she sought would be critical to Yang's questions as well. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Sora nodded. "It's for the best."

"What about Kyo then?" asked Blake.

"Kyo needs to learn this truth from another source," said Sora. "When he is ready, all will be revealed to him. It will then be his decision where to go from there."

"That sounds...dangerous," said Blake.

"It is," agreed Sora. "It is _very_ dangerous. The future of the Mibu, indeed, the future of the world hinges on how Kyo handles the truth, when he learns it. That is why great care is being taken as to when and _how_ he learns it."

Blake chewed on her lip, not sure that she liked this approach. Part of her felt that, if they knew something and it was so important, then they should just out and tell Kyo and be done with it. She didn't like the idea of deliberately keeping a friend in the dark. Still, Sora was Kyo's mother. So perhaps she knew best.

"Please trust me on this," said Sora. "The truth that Kyo must learn is one that my husband once wrestled with. It was a difficult time for him and it will be a difficult time for my son as well." Her eyes zeroed in on Yang, and Sora smiled. "But...I think Kyo may have what...or rather, _who_...he needs to learn this truth and remain himself."

"If you're sure," said Blake. "I suppose I don't really have a choice."

Sora's slender fingers came to rest on Blake's shoulder. "You always have a choice," she said. "I am not omniscient. If you judge it better that Kyo learn the truth from you, then that will be your decision. You might be right. I can only advise you based upon my own experience and knowledge."

Blake couldn't help but smile, moved by this woman's trust in her. "I...I'll try to do what I think is best," said Blake. "I hope it works out."

* * *

Yang had to admit that she was enjoying herself. Granted, this party wasn't exactly the kind of party that would normally be her scene, but she was having fun all the same, not in the least because she was getting the chance to meet some new and very interesting people. After talking with Shinrei and Ciel, Kyo had brought her over to meet Makoto of the Taishiro. Yang was eager to meet the man who was Saisei's mentor and superior, particularly since Saisei was with him when Kyo brought her over.

It shocked her to learn about the medical advances that the Mibu had undertaken over the course of their history. Even the topic of the possible regeneration of her arm had come up, though Yang now knew better than to think it was a wise idea. Makoto was happy to explain the details of the procedure to her. It had been interesting to listen to, though Yang wasn't any more inclined to try it after hearing more about it.

As she listened to Saisei and Makoto, Yang noticed that Kyo was apparently distracted from the conversation. "Kyo?" she asked. "What is it?"

"Sorry," said Kyo, turning back to them. "We have some new arrivals."

"Yes, I noticed them too," said Makoto with a chuckle.

Saisei blinked and closed her eyes. Yang felt her Aura expand, reaching out in flickering streams that reminded her of the movement of Saisei's tails. Likewise, Yang Extended her right arm, also trying to find out who Kyo was talking about. She and Saisei found them at approximately the same time. Two people were coming down the hallway that ran between the rooms that had been given to Yang and her friends. Just from the brush of their Auras against hers, Yang could tell that they were powerful, possibly on par with Kyo himself. More importantly, one of the Auras felt surprisingly familiar.

"Is that...Nigel?" said Yang, pulling her arm back.

"It is!" said Saisei excitedly, grinning as she too retracted her Aura. "And Hayate too! How exciting!"

"Ah! The gang's all here," said Kyo cheerfully.

Makoto chuckled, seeing their eagerness. "Go," he said. "Don't let an old man like myself keep you from greeting your dear friends."

"Come on!" said Kyo, catching Yang's arm and pulling her along with him as he and Saisei both rushed out of the courtyard and down the hall. Yang couldn't keep from giggling at his almost childlike eagerness.

Yang was feeling a bit of excitement herself. Nigel aside, she was eager to meet the last member of Kyo's group of friends who had once traveled alongside him. Hayate had been mentioned multiple times, but Yang had heard practically nothing else about him, aside from his name.

Her eyes widened as she saw the boy in question come into view. Hayate, if this was indeed him, was a lot shorter than she had been expecting. In fact, Yang estimated that he couldn't have been older than sixteen, roughly around the same age that Ruby had been when she had come to Beacon, maybe a little older. More importantly, that meant that Hayate had been _much_ younger when he had been actually traveling with Kyo. _How could someone that young be so strong?_ she wondered.

Her eyes took in Hayate's silver hair and gold-colored eyes, noting in particular the slit-shaped pupils that clearly marked him as a faunus. She also noticed the sword that he wore, hanging from his sash at the small of his back, with the handle projecting out to his right, the same way that Penny wore her sword, though Hayate's was much more slender, with its width not changing until it reached the tip.

As she observed this new arrival, Yang noticed something that also amused her. Hayate was pulling a cord, which was resting over his shoulder as he trudged along. Behind him, sliding along on the floor, with a childishly sullen expression, was none other than Nigel, bound tightly in the cord to keep him from escaping, his arms restrained so that they couldn't reach his sword, which was all but invisible, wrapped up in the cord's coils.

"Do I want to know?" said Yang, doing her best to stifle a laugh.

"I bumped into Nigel on my way down from Atlas," said Hayate in a cool tone, as though this were a perfectly normal event. "He said that he was going to Onmyo. Of course, the instant I take my eyes off him, he starts wandering off in a random direction, so I just tied him up and brought him down myself."

"I knew where I was going," said Nigel petulantly.

" _Sure you did,_ " said Kyo, Hayate, and Saisei in perfect unison, the sarcasm in their tones matching one another perfectly.

Their response was more than Yang could take and she broke down into helpless giggles at their completely deadpan tones.

Kyo glanced at her sidelong and smiled crookedly. "Nigel has a terrible sense of direction. But he's also amazingly stubborn when he decides that he knows where he's going. It can be...difficult...to wrangle him into going the right direction."

Like Yang, Saisei had been beset by mirth. After a few more seconds, she mastered it and straightened up, resting her fists against her hips as she beamed at Hayate and Nigel. "Well...now it seems that we're all back together."

"I've been looking forward to a reunion," said Hayate.

"When do we get to fight each other?" asked Nigel, somewhat predictably.

"Later," said Saisei.

"We have to plan our trip first," said Kyo. "And I have a new friend for you two to meet."

"Is this her?" asked Hayate, gesturing at Yang, who flinched at the sudden attention on her.

"Not exactly," said Kyo. "Yang is actually my girlfriend, though I want you to meet her too. I was actually talking about a new member of our group."

"Oh, so you found a fourth," said Hayate, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right," said Kyo. "Her name is Penny and she'll be joining us when we go to Atlas together."

"Finally paying Ironwood a visit, huh?" said Hayate, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right," said Kyo.

"Good," said Hayate. Then his eyes narrowed as he looked at Yang. "Now what's this about you having a girlfriend?"

Yang blushed at the sudden inquiry as Kyo answered. "It's exactly what it sounds like. Yang and I are dating now."

"And they are so cute together," gushed Saisei, making both Yang and Kyo blush.

Hayate's eyes brushed over Yang before his gaze homed in on her right arm. "That was your Aura I felt with Saisei's, when she was looking for me."

"That's right," said Yang.

Hayate raised an eyebrow. "Interesting..."

Nigel, still bound in cords, looked over his shoulder, also observing Yang's arm. "Didn't I cut that off?" he asked.

"No," retorted Yang shortly. "You cut off the prosthetic I was using for the arm I lost over a year ago."

"Oh..." said Nigel. "What's that then?"

"It's an arm forged from pure Aura," said Saisei. "Kyo helped her to create it. It's quite amazing, in all honesty. Even Makoto-sama was impressed."

Hayate tilted his head slightly. "I thought your Extension felt like you were running fingers over me. That makes sense now."

"Sorry," said Yang. It hadn't occurred to her that, if she was using her arm as the focus of her Extension, that she was essentially using her hand to grope people over distances. She'd have to be careful where and how she touched others in the future when she did that.

"It's fine," said Hayate. "We use the advantages we're given. That's a novel way to utilize your Aura for sure. I didn't feel violated."

"Okay," said Yang, feeling a little bit relieved. She had to admit that she liked Hayate. He seemed nice and polite.

"Yang?"

Ruby's voice made Yang look over her shoulder and she saw Ruby, Jaune, and the rest of her friends approaching. She supposed her sudden exit with Kyo and Saisei had caught their attention.

"Hey, Ruby," said Yang with a wave. "We're just greeting some new arrivals."

Ruby looked past Yang at Hayate and Nigel. "Oh!" she said, before recovering her composure. "Hello," she said, smiling and waving.

"Hello," Hayate said back, tugging on the cord that held Nigel. The sight of the black-clad boy, bound hand and foot made Yang's friends burst into laughter.

"You can let me out now," said Nigel irritably.

"Only if you promise to stay put," said Hayate tersely. "Honestly, I'm amazed you even know how to travel in a straight line."

"It's not that bad," said Nigel.

"I beg to differ," said Saisei. "You somehow wandered all the way to Solitas in time for Hayate to drag you back down here. Considering the distances involved, that shouldn't even be physically possible to do by foot. But it's a perfectly normal occurrence for you."

"Huh?" Yang, looking to Kyo for an explanation.

"Basically, Nigel has a gift for getting lost that can even defy the laws of physics," said Kyo.

"Whatever, I'm here now," said Nigel. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You'd better not," said Hayate with a sigh, his right hand descending to the handle of this sword. He unsheathed it. Then his arm blurred, the flash of light being the only other indication that he'd moved it at all before he slid it back into its sheath. The cords binding Nigel fell away and Nigel stood up, brushing himself up.

"Well, it's good to have everyone together again," said Kyo, clapping his hands. Turning around, he addressed the group from Beacon. "Everyone, this is Hayate. Hayate, these are my friends that I made at Beacon."

"Pleased to meet you," said Hayate, bowing slightly to them.

Kyo began to introduce them to Hayate, one by one. When he got to Weiss, Hayate's eyes narrowed and Weiss felt a chill run down her spine at the expression on his face. However, the feeling passed so quickly that Weiss wasn't sure she'd felt it at all.

* * *

After introductions had been made, Kyo and Saisei steered everyone back to the party, where Kyo took Nigel and Hayate over to meet Penny. However, Weiss noticed that Hayate often glanced in her direction, something that made her somewhat uneasy. She decided to excuse herself from the others, and found a quiet corner of the courtyard to sit, getting the feeling that the boy had something to say to her specifically. She already had her suspicions as to what they would be talking about. Finding a bench, Weiss settled down onto it and waited, her hands fidgeting nervously with the fabric of her skirt.

About ten minutes later, Hayate came to her. "So," he said softly, "you're Schnee's daughter, huh?"

"Yes," said Weiss. "I'm guessing you're the one the news has been calling the Lightning Lord."

Hayate rolled his eyes. "I almost wish I could do interviews, so I could talk them out of that corny title...not that it would likely do much good. Alliteration is catchy like that."

"Very true," said Weiss, allowing herself a tiny smile.

"You know," said Hayate, "if you figured out who I was already, I was kinda expecting more hostility, considering that I've spent the past few months of my life wrecking your dad's company."

"My feelings on the matter are...mixed," said Weiss, her smile taking on a wry quality. "I'm not necessarily happy that the company might be ruined, but...I can't accept the direction my father has taken things." Her fingers clinched, bunching up the fabric of her skirt. "But, instead of accepting responsibility and actually working within the company to try and change things, I made excuses and ran away to Beacon...twice now. Instead, I've saddled you with the burden of cleaning up my father's mess, because I don't have the spine to stand up to him myself."

Hayate blinked and then settled onto the bench next to Weiss. "That wasn't what I was expecting to hear," he said.

"What were you expecting to hear?" asked Weiss.

"I'm not sure," said Hayate. "I figured you'd be more angry about me ruining your company."

"I...I don't have any right to get angry over that," said Weiss. "There was a time where my entire life was oriented around someday taking over after my father. I had grand ambitions about what I would do. I would help the faunus my father was exploiting. I would improve the company's image. I would foster peace. But...after Beacon fell, Father brought me back to Atlas and I realized just how powerless I was to change anything. I was only another tool to him, someone he could use to improve his company's standing. I wanted to fight him, but...I just...couldn't."

She lifted her eyes up to look at Hayate. "So, after I heard about what you were doing on the news, I started praying that you could do it, that you could force my father to change. At the very least, I was glad you were able to help the people I couldn't. Thank you."

"So what will you do now?" asked Hayate.

"I don't know," said Weiss. "I've been thinking a lot about that. Part of me still wants to try and go back to the SDC and change things. But it might be too late for that now. The damage has been done. I...I just need to think things over more."

"Okay," said Hayate.

They sat in silence for a moment before Weiss broke it again. "What happened...to the faunus you rescued?"

"I brought them to the Mibu," said Hayate. "We set up an arrangement. Kaito and Sasame were the ones who were the biggest help. I would liberate the camps, then bring the refugees up to the northwest peninsula, where Kaito would take them across the strait. Then the Mibu would help them make new homes and lives for themselves."

"So...they're all right?" asked Weiss.

"They're doing as well as they can, now that their lives are back in their own hands," said Hayate. "I haven't had the chance to follow up on them, but they aren't prisoners, forced to work in Dust mines and quarries day in and day out. I'd like to hope that they're settling in well, but I also know that it can be hard for outsiders to integrate with the Mibu at times. Kaito tells me that the Elders are using their agents to keep tabs on things to make sure they're going well."

"By the way, who is Kaito?" asked Weiss. "Is that Shinrei?"

"That's right," said Hayate. "Kaito was his name before he joined the Goyosei. It's too much of a bother for me to refer to him by a different name so I just keep calling him that. It's the same with Sasame."

"Saisei, right?" said Weiss.

"Yep," said Hayate.

Silence fell over them for a little while. Weiss was at a loss about what to say...so she opted not to say anything. If anything, the silence was comforting. Hayate clearly didn't expect her to say anything to fill in the silence. He was clearly as comfortable with not talking as she was. Instead, they both sat and listened to the sounds of the party as it continued on into the night, though it seemed that things were beginning to wind down.

Finally, Weiss sighed and shifted her weight, getting ready to stand up. "I should go," she said. "I've stayed up late enough as it is."

Before she could rise to her feet, she was surprised to feel a warm hand over her own. Hayate exerted no pressure, but the mere touch was enough to hold Weiss in place. "If you want to talk some more, I'll be staying through the Water Festival," said Hayate.

Surprising even herself, Weiss smiled. "I'd like that," she said.

Hayate raised his hand, allowing Weiss to stand up. She set off down the path through the courtyard, heading to her room. As she did, she cradled the hand Hayate had touched, amazed to feel her heart beating faster. Considering who he was and what he had done, Weiss couldn't help but be confused about the warm feeling she'd gotten from Hayate's touch.

Meanwhile, Hayate remained sitting on the bench. Lifting the hand he'd used to touch Weiss, he held it up in front of his face, turning it over and eyeing it curiously, as though he were examining it.

"What's this now?" asked Saisei as she came up behind Hayate. "Does our little Hayate have a crush?"

"I don't know," said Hayate. "I just met her. She wasn't anything like I thought she would be." He smiled a little. "I certainly can't say I dislike her."

Saisei let out a small sigh as she settled onto the bench next to him. "You could make this a bit more fun for me," she protested. "Let me tease you a little."

"Nah," said Hayate. "It's more fun to hear you grumble when you can't get a rise out of me."

"Piffle..." muttered Saisei under her breath. "What do you think of her?"

"She reminds me of myself a bit, back when you and Kyo first found me," said Hayate. "I was so broken, I didn't even have the capacity to hate the people who'd taken everything from me. I was completely lost and had no idea where to go or what to do. You and Kyo were the ones who actually gave me a direction."

Saisei smiled fondly and reached over to gently ruffle Hayate's hair. "Well, Weiss-san certainly does seem a bit lost herself," she said. "But she isn't in as bad a shape as you were."

"No," said Hayate. "But I can still identify with it."

"You want to help her find a direction?" asked Saisei.

"If I can," said Hayate, lifting up one leg and hugging it to his chest so that his knee rested in front of his face. "She does look very nice when she smiles," he said softly, almost to himself.

"Then you should endeavor to make her smile as much as you can," said Saisei with a giggle.

Hayate said nothing in response to that. But, hidden behind his knee, his lips curled up in a smile of his own.

* * *

As the night wore on, the party gradually ran down, with the guests departing individually or in small groups. Yang decided to stay until the very end, watching as the others departed. She'd helped herself to more than a little of the liquor on offer, as she didn't see much else to do. Meeting and chatting with so many different people had been fun, but she preferred her parties to be a little more...lively.

"Do you think you've had enough?" asked Kyo as he took a seat on the bench next to her.

"I'm just getting sssstarted," slurred Yang, taking another gulp from her glass. "You Mibu sssssure know your booze."

"I think you've had enough," said Kyo, gently prying the glass from her fingers. "I get the feeling you're going to be miserable in the morning."

"Ehh...worth it," said Yang, giving Kyo a drunken grin.

"We'll see if you still feel that way when you wake up," said Kyo, carefully helping Yang to her feet and keeping her steady, helping her to totter her way back to her room.

"You know," said Yang, her tone and volume undulating with each word, "you don't have to go back to your room tonight. The party doesn't have to end for ussss." She placed a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

"I think you may be drunker than I thought," said Kyo, blushing and smiling, even as he used a sleeve to wipe the excess saliva that Yang's kiss had left.

"Aww...don't be a wet blanket," groaned Yang, timing her words with a stumble that nearly knocked Kyo off his feet. He had to turn and wrap both his arms around Yang to steady her. The movement brought them face-to-face, barely inches apart. As he looked into her eyes, Kyo could see excitement in them, dancing like flames. "Stay," said Yang, her voice a sultry whisper.

"Well...I can manage that," said Kyo as he finally got her though the door and into her room. From there, he helped her to remove some of her clothes, though undressing her completely was out of the question. Yang wasn't in any state where she could manage to get into her pajamas, so Kyo settled for removing her jacket, shoes and socks before tucking her into bed, pulling the blanket up over her.

"Kyo?" asked Yang, her eyelids drooping.

"I'm here," said Kyo, gently brushing his fingers across her cheek. "Go to sleep."

Yang sighed softly and allowed her eyes to close. Kyo smiled and brushed his hand over her forehead, gently feeling her bangs before he settled back against the wall and closed his eyes.

* * *

As Kyo had predicted, when morning came, Yang was miserable. When she awoke, her eyelids felt dry and sticky. Even the tiniest of movements filled her with a sense of nausea as she turned her head to survey her surroundings. Any light that reached her would have sent stabbing pain into her head through her eyes and the tiniest sounds made her ears ache.

Fortunately, she awoke to both dark and quiet. The windows were shuttered and closed tightly, keeping light from getting in, while she heard practically nothing, both inside and out of the room, save for the soft breathing of the man sitting against the wall.

Yang wanted to say something, but her mouth felt dry and fuzzy. The aftertaste of all the alcohol she'd imbibed the previous night had degraded into a foul aroma that hovered in her mouth and nose, making her feel even worse than she already did.

Her vision was blurry, but the one thing she saw clearly was a pair of slightly luminous, crimson eyes looking at her. Their color was warm and Yang actually found herself feeling soothed by Kyo's gaze. Her body relaxed a little as she felt Kyo's hand gently brush over her forehead.

"Good morning," said Kyo, his voice barely a whisper, which was just as well, as it was about all that Yang could handle at the moment.

"K-Kyo..." said Yang. A second later, she realized that trying to talk had been a mistake as the slightest undulation of her throat made something start to rise up through it. Yang tried to swallow it down, but the effort made it only worse.

She was barely conscious of Kyo taking the blanket off and helping her to sit up before half walking, half carrying her to the bathroom. They barely made it and Kyo barely managed to clear Yang's hair out of the way with one hand while he steadied her with his other before Yang retched, vomiting into the toilet. Yang threw up again and again, completely emptying her stomach of almost everything she had eaten the previous night, and then some, continuing until there was nothing, but she continued to be beset by dry heaves. In the meantime, Kyo continued to hold her hair out of the way while he rubbed her back and made soothing noises.

It took some work on her part, but Yang managed to pull herself together enough to stand up on her own, shooing Kyo out of the bathroom and her room so that she could shower and change, then brush her teeth to wash the stench of vomit from her mouth. After cleaning herself up, Yang felt marginally better, enough that she was able to hobble out of her room and towards the breakfast table. Kyo was waiting for her there, smiling as he offered her juice and water to help offset her dehydration. After several cups of both, Yang felt good enough that she was able to eat again, after which she wolfed down a breakfast of sausage and eggs. By the time she was finished, Yang was finally beginning to realize how quiet everything was. The courtyard and pavilion were deserted, except for her and Kyo and she hadn't seen or heard anyone around her room either.

"What time is it?" she asked, finally noticing that the angle of the sun seemed a bit wrong for the morning.

"Almost noon," said Kyo cheerfully.

"Oh..." said Yang, sighing slightly. "Well...I think you get to say 'I told you so.'"

"I don't think I need to," said Kyo. "I'd just rather help you feel better."

Yang smiled and leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder. "I feel better already," she said, her smile widening as Kyo wrapped an arm around her and began to gently stroke her hair. "Where's everyone else?"

"Off exploring," said Kyo. "Saisei came and offered to take them out to see the city." He paused. "Though I think Blake may have gone somewhere else. She mentioned something about a research project."

Yang rolled her eyes at that particular piece of information about Blake. _Leave it to the bookworm,_ she thought in amusement. "So what should we do, today?"

"Well...if you don't mind, I thought it might be a good opportunity for us to go on a date," said Kyo. "I have a few ideas now on places we can go."

"That sounds perfect," said Yang, unable to keep herself from grinning.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38:**

"These are our family records," said Saisei, as she gestured to the large room. "Only the ones produced in the last few years are in Common. All the rest are in the Old Tongue."

"That won't be a problem," said Chika in a strangely formal tone. She bowed politely for Saisei. "Thank you for allowing us to look through this. It means a great deal to me."

Blake nodded, remembering the forcedly neutral expression on Saisei's face when she had asked her parents' permission to allow Blake and Chika to review the Mitarai Family archives. Saisei's parents had seemed nice enough, though Blake got the distinct impression that they were so friendly because they took great pride in the fact that their daughter had become one of the Goyosei. She'd heard of parents like that, parents who pushed their children to excel, not because they cared about their children realizing their potential, but because of the possible boons that came from being the parents of someone successful. It reminded Blake a bit of how Weiss sometimes considered her relationship with her father at times.

Saisei gave Blake a curious look. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" she asked. "Not that I'm one to criticize a person's hobbies, but this hardly seems like something you'd want to do, especially so soon after arriving."

"It's all right," said Blake. "Besides, I told Chika that I would help her with this."

"If you say so," said Saisei, looking between Blake and Chika. It was clear that she considered them a very odd pair. Granted, Blake didn't think that Saisei was wrong in that respect.

Resigning herself to accepting Blake's answer, Saisei sighed and shook her head. "Very well then. I don't want to keep the others waiting, so I'll leave you two to it. Just make sure you're careful if you start examining the oldest records. Our preservation techniques are very good. But they have their limits."

"We will be very careful," promised Chika.

"When I can be bothered to talk to my parents again, I'll need to badger them about getting these things transcribed," she muttered on her way out.

Blake watched Saisei until the door closed behind her, silently hoping that Saisei's relationship with her family wasn't that bad. However, Chika seemed unconcerned.

"Come on," said Chika, already moving towards the back of the archive, where the oldest records were being stored.

"Do you know what you're looking for?" asked Blake.

"Akari was the founder of the Mitarai Family within the Mibu Clan," said Saisei. "It's only natural that any information about her or any records that she herself left would be the family's earliest records. We will have to be careful though. Those manuscripts are thousands of years old."

"How have they lasted this long?" asked Blake.

"Like Saisei said, our preservation techniques are very good," said Chika. "Also, the records are occasionally transcribed so that the information can be kept, even after the old manuscripts have wasted away. The oldest ones in this archive are probably no more than ten-thousand years at most."

Blake raised an eyebrow. For ink on paper, keeping something preserved for that long was an incredible feat. "What do you know about Akari?" she asked.

"Back then, Akari was originally an outsider," said Chika, already checking the labels of a shelf of scrolls. "She was born into a class of people known as Shamans."

"Shamans?" asked Blake.

"People outside the Mibu Clan who exhibited unusual or supernatural powers," said Chika. "Because understanding of Aura, including its myriad capabilities was not even in its infancy back then, the emergence of such people outside the Mibu was extremely unusual. The Mibu Clan collected Shamans for study and research."

"That's awful," said Blake.

"It's better treatment than what Shamans received in the outside world," said Chika curtly. "They were routinely discriminated against, treated as monsters, accused of being possessed by or working with demons, when they weren't being outright exploited. The Mibu protected them and worked to help them learn to understand and utilize their powers. It was because of her time spent with the Mibu that Akari was able to hone her healing arts to such an incredible extent, arts that have only been further enhanced and refined as they were passed down through successive generations of her family."

"All right..." said Blake, frowning, still not liking the implication that Shamans had largely been used as experimental subjects.

"Here!" said Chika, pulling a scroll of the shelf. She handled it carefully, almost as though she expected it to crumble to dust in her hands. Blake could understand. The parchment looked yellow and brittle around the edges. In fact, she could see nicks and cracks where some of it had indeed been broken away. Hopefully that damage was confined to the edges, and the actual writing was unmarred.

Taking the scroll to a table, Chika began to carefully unroll it, moving slowly and delicately. Blake looked over her shoulder, staring at the characters that covered the parchment, arranged in vertical rows. It was completely incomprehensible to her. Looking at Chika's face, Blake could see Chika muttering softly, apparently working through translating the language into something more easily understood.

Finally, Chika began to recite her translation. _"As it turned out, the solution to the Mibu Clan's plight was found in the most unlikely of places. Ruru, the child that the Former Crimson King kept by his side at almost all times, hosted the antibodies that were exactly what we needed. From only a small sample of her blood, we were able to develop a serum that successfully alleviated the Death Disease._

 _"I find myself somewhat relieved that Hishigi is dead now. He would be disgusted to learn that the sacrifices of the Mibu Reconstruction Project were in vain, and that the solution lay so close. However, the fruits of his labor did provide the foundation that I used to develop the serum from Ruru's blood, so it can't be said that the project was entirely useless. But it still saddens me that so many sacrifices were made to no end._

 _"Now that the Mibu Reconstruction Project's primary aim has been accomplished, I have officially listed the project as terminated. I did not want to label it as complete, as the project ultimately did not live up to Hishigi's ambitions. It's just as well. No one would be served by the creation of new gods. There is no place for gods in the new Mibu Clan."_

Examining Chika's expression, Blake could see that she did not seem happy about this. She could understand why. "It sounds as though the project wasn't something so great after all," she said. "What is this Death Disease?"

"I don't know," admitted Chika. "It's hard to imagine a disease that the Mibu would have difficulty curing. But this was hundreds of millennia ago, so their skills might not have been as advanced."

 _I'm not so sure about that,_ thought Blake. Diseases generally came in all kinds, with all manner of symptoms and severities. To label a disease the "Death Disease" came off as absurdly redundant to her. There had been countless fatal ailments throughout the course of human history, stretching back past their oldest histories and memories. There were plenty such diseases in this day and age, some of which were considered incurable. Either the ancient Mibu had an absurdly melodramatic sense of aesthetics...or the Death Disease was something far worse than your average virus.

Still, that was a question for another time, at least as far as Chika was concerned. She was already reading ahead, looking for any more information about the Mibu Reconstruction Project. Blake could see her lips muttering as she worked on reading the characters and translating their meaning. After several more minutes of reading, her face lit up.

"Ah ha!"

"What did you find?" asked Blake.

"It's right here," said Chika, grinning triumphantly, a look that seemed almost frighteningly manic on her face. _"By all rights, I should destroy the remnants of Hishigi's research. However, I do not have the heart to erase the memory of what he and so many countless others have sacrificed. Therefore, I have entrusted the records to Shihodo. She has promised to guard them, along with the graves of the experimental subjects. Perhaps this sentiment on my part will bear something terrible in the future, but I hope that any who review the records appreciate the depths of the Mibu's loss."_

Silence lingered after Chika's voice trailed off. Blake held her tongue, but felt even more trepidation stirring within her. The more she heard about the Mibu Reconstruction Project, the less she liked the sound of it and the less she thought it had anything to do with what Chika apparently believed the project was for.

"She gave the records to Shihodo," said Chika softly. "Now I understand."

"What do you mean?" asked Blake. "Who is Shihodo?"

"She was one of the original Taishiro of the Mibu Clan," said Chika. "According to what I remember, I believe that she guarded the underground labyrinth that ran beneath the Palace."

"So the records of the project are underground," said Blake.

"Most likely," said Chika. "The problem is that the underground sections are mostly sealed off. I'll need to search for a way down." She smiled at Blake, her expression seeming more than a little disturbing. "We've almost done it," she said triumphantly. "I'll let you know when I discover a way down."

"Does that mean we're done here?" asked Blake.

"For now," said Chika. "I need look through the Palace blueprints to find probable entrances to the underground sections. That could take me a few days." She fixed Blake with a look. "You should go back to your friends, it'll keep people from getting too suspicious of us."

"All right," said Blake, not bothering to hide her frown. Chika's insistence was largely unnecessary and completely pointless. Sora and, presumably, her husband already knew about what Chika was doing, but Blake decided not to tell her. She got the feeling that, if Chika knew she was being allowed to do this, she would come to the conclusion that she was being deceived. Blake just hoped that disaster did not loom at whatever lay at the end of this strange, foreboding trail.

* * *

"I didn't realize you'd brought that along," said Kyo as he and Yang walked side by side.

"Well, after you went through the trouble of dressing me in it once, I wasn't about to let it go to waste," said Yang as she relished in the delighted look on Kyo's face at the sight of her in the kimono he'd gotten for her in Cherry Grove. Yang had to admit that she had taken a strong liking to the lovely garment, though she hadn't yet found an occasion to wear it, save for now.

"So where are you taking me?" asked Yang. "Or is it supposed to be a surprise?"

"Well, I figured I'd show you some of the places I frequent around Onmyo," said Kyo. "We might bump into our friends while we're out and about, as they're places that Saisei goes to as well."

"Maybe," said Yang. "But I'm sure we'll have fun either way." She wrapped her arms around Kyo, noting that Kyo was still carrying his sword in his other hand. Not that she minded. After all, she was wearing Ember Celica on her left arm. Thinking about her weapon reminded Yang about the previous day, and she wondered if Murasame was making any progress on designing the new weapon for her right arm. She even wondered what it would be, given that it would be a weapon to arm an arm that Yang could make appear and disappear at will, and even transform to a certain extent. The weapon's form would have to be flexible to compensate for all those things. If Murasame created weapons with mechashift capabilities, she'd figure that it wouldn't be too hard for him to come up with a solution. But she doubted that Murasame did that kind of work.

"Something on your mind?" asked Kyo as they made their way down the Palace corridors, the layout looking familiar to Yang. She realized that this must have been the way they came when they first came into the Palace.

"I was just thinking about what Murasame told me yesterday," said Yang, "about making a new weapon for me."

"Ah...excited to see what he comes up with?" asked Kyo.

"More like I wonder how he's even gonna pull it off," said Yang. "From the sound of things, transforming weapons isn't something you folks actually do."

"It's true," agreed Kyo. "However, I believe that Murasame-sama is more than up to the challenge. He has a remarkable knowledge when it comes to the design and creation of weapons. He's even studied the methods of forging and designing used in the outside world."

"So he knows how to make transforming weapons, like mine or Ruby's?" asked yang.

Kyo nodded. "However, as he told you, such weapons can be difficult to make in such a manner that they are compatible with the Mibu philosophies of combat. Because they are often composed of disparate parts that are assembled, with some being replaced over time as they wear out, it is difficult to invest them with Aura so that they develop their own souls."

"So that's why Jaune's sword had such a strong response, but Ruby's scythe didn't," said Yang.

"Partly," said Kyo. "A weapon without a great number of moving parts, like a basic sword, is much easier to maintain over the course of time. Because of that and because it can then be passed down from parent to child, its Aura is able to develop by drawing upon the Auras of those who have wielded it."

"I guess that makes sense," said Yang, looking up as they exited the Palace hallways. The first wall of the Five Gates loomed ahead. Yang noticed that the gates were already open, just as they had said on the day of their arrival. She looked around as Kyo led her through them. She saw no sign of the Goyosei who were supposed to be guarding each gate, but she remembered that they did say that that was a largely ceremonial role.

Before long, they were outside the Palace and wandering through rolling, green hills populated with parks and gardens. Yang's head moved around as though on a swivel as she fought to take everything in. She saw sprawling mansions, places that looked like schools, or even training halls for martial artists. Remembering what she had seen from above on the day of their arrival, Yang remembered that this was supposed to be the upperclass district of Onmyo, where the city's more affluent and important residents lived.

At the moment, Kyo was leading them through this area without even pausing. As they crested a hill, Yang gasped as she looked down over the rows and rows of buildings and streets that made up the city proper. Even from here, she could see countless people moving around the streets, going from building to building. Though there were no cars on the streets, no airships flying overhead, there was an air of energy here that completely eclipsed the quiet emptiness of the district that they'd just passed through.

She and Kyo strode down, the paved footpath they'd been following widening and straightening as it became a proper city street, albeit only one that was really fit for foot-traffic, and the occasional cart or carriage.

Yang continued to hold Kyo's arm, looking around as he led her along the street. As she did, she began to notice something. They were getting quite a bit of attention...not all of it positive. At first, Yang thought it was her, given that she was an outsider. Even though she was wearing a kimono, her appearance was fairly distinct, compared to most of the people she saw along the street. However, she began to realize that their eyes weren't on her, but on Kyo.

As they passed, people's heads would turn their way, almost as though drawn by some unseen force. Looking around, Yang saw a few expressions of awe and sincere respect. On others, she saw thinly veiled suspicion, and even some hostility. People would see Kyo, watch as he passed, then turn to mutter to one another with low voices. Yang frowned, unable to hear what was being said, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all. She remembered her talk with Saisei aboard the airship. Saisei had said that Kyo's status and Crimson Eyes set him apart. But now she got to see it for herself.

For his part, Kyo didn't even seem to notice it, simply smiling cheerfully as he strolled past. Yang knew that he was far too alert and aware of his surroundings to fail to notice all the eyes tracking him and the mutterings that followed in his wake. Yet he acted as though they were nothing more than background noise.

 _I guess he must be used to that sort of thing by now,_ she thought sadly.

"Is something wrong?" asked Kyo, noticing the dip in her mood.

"You really shouldn't have to ask," said Yang, letting her eyes drift around to the people they passed. "Are you really okay with this?"

"I used to resent it a great deal," admitted Kyo. "I hadn't done anything, yet people always treated me as though I were some kind of monstrous thing. Some of them even went so far as to try and attack me when I was alone or isolated. I ended up with quite the surly attitude because of it."

"But you're okay with it now?" asked Yang.

"I've learned to not let it bother me," said Kyo. "I can't control how other people see me, whether they fear me or not. The only person I can truly control is myself. So I resolved to be myself in all things, however people might react to it." His smile widened slightly. "Besides, I've made friends of my own, people who I respect and who respect me." He turned to her. "And I have you now. So what do I care if people, whose opinions don't matter to me, mutter and glare?"

Yang smiled back and leaned her head against his shoulder. Like Kyo, she decided not to let the mutterings and strange looks bother her. Instead, she decided to absorb herself with the scenery around her and the boy beside her.

"So, where are we heading?" asked Yang.

"There are a few artisans that I like to visit whenever I'm home," said Kyo. "They make some truly spectacular products."

"I'll bet," said Yang, wondering just what kind of things Kyo liked to buy. he didn't seem the sort of boy to go for jewelry or accessories. However, she knew that he did have a some very particular interests. _I'll bet it's food-related,_ she thought wryly.

Her smile became a grin as Kyo led her around a corner and she saw the sign for the shop they were entering, its name printed in both Common and the characters of the Old Tongue: _Fine Oils and Vinegars_.

A bell rang as Kyo opened the door and led Yang inside. Looking around, Yang was amazed to see tanks and barrels lined up in rows throughout the shop. They were decorated with labels that showed their contents. Looking at them, Yang saw a variety of infused oils, most of them olive oil based, though she saw a few specialty oils here and there, like coffee oil or cumin oil.

Her eyes were drawn to the wall, where she saw barrels containing vinegars of all makes and types. Many were made from various wines or liquors, others from fruit. Others had been infused with fruit flavors of varying types.

"Wow," said Yang. "So this is the kind of thing you like to shop for."

"Welcome," said an older woman coming out from the back of the store. She was dressed in a pale-green kimono. Her hair was a dark-grown color, with streaks of gray visible within it. Her skin was taut on her face, and Yang could see a few wrinkles here and there. Otherwise, she looked quite well for someone her age. Her green eyes had a particularly youthful sparkle to them. A bushy raccoon tail swished in her wake as she walked.

When she saw Kyo, her eyes widened. "Ah! Kyo-kun! You're back."

"Hello, Takako-san," said Kyo pleasantly.

"And you've brought a friend," said the woman, her eyes going to Yang before her smile became much more sly. "Or much more than a friend, perhaps."

"You could say that," said Kyo with a laugh. "This is my girlfriend, Yang Xiao Long. Yang, this is Takako, the owner of this shop."

"It's nice to meet you," said Yang.

"Likewise," said Takako, bowing politely. "A friend of Kyo-kun's is always welcome here."

Yang blinked in surprise. Compared to the awkward, sometimes hostile, stares Kyo had gotten in the street, this woman was exceptionally friendly, and Yang couldn't get any sense of artifice behind her friendly behavior. She seemed to genuinely like Kyo. _Then again, if that's the case, that's probably one of the reasons Kyo likes this place so much._

"I have some new oils you might like," said Takako, going to one of the large tanks. "One of my suppliers is successfully cultivating white truffles."

"Ooh! That sounds wonderful!" said Kyo eagerly, following Takako to the tank. Yang followed, watching with interest as Takako poured a small amount of light-colored oil into a pair of small paper cups, which she then handed to each of them.

Yang sniffed her sample carefully, surprised to find a rich, savory scent rising from it. Sipping the oil made her stifle a gasp. Calling it delicious was an understatement. She'd heard about truffles, but had never actually tried them for herself. In the rest of the world, the only way to obtain truffles was to harvest them in the wild, usually with the assistance of specially trained pigs or dogs to sniff them out. Such efforts were endlessly complicated by the presence of the Grimm, which made truffles affordable only to the richest people. Weiss apparently loved them. But ever since her father had cut her pursestrings, she hadn't the opportunity or the means to afford them. Just tasting the rich flavor of this infused oil made Yang understand why some people were willing to brave the Grimm to harvest such an elusive item.

"It's amazing," she said.

"I'm glad you like it," said Takako, with a merry twinkle in her eye. "I actually came up with this idea for Sora-sama. She's quite partial to truffles."

"You know Kyo's mom?" asked Yang.

"She's one of my best customers," said Takako with a laugh. "That's how I came to know Kyo-kun so well. He always used to accompany his mother when she shopped here."

 _Maybe that's why she's so easygoing around him,_ thought Yang. Having known Kyo since childhood, she'd probably gotten to know him as someone more than a pair of Crimson Eyes.

With Takako as their guide, they got to sample several different oils and vinegars, all of them positively delicious. Yang had been dubious at first, but now she had to admit that she really enjoyed the experience. There were more than a few she was tempted to buy to take home with her, if only to see if she could convince Jaune to use them in his cooking.

She especially loved the different balsamic vinegars she got to taste. She'd never imagined that something as simple as vinegar could have such a rich, complex flavor, perfectly balancing sweetness with acidity, and even a faint hint of bitterness. She listened with rapt attention as Takako described the labor-intensive, years-long process involved in making the vinegar, where it was transferred from one barrel to another, over the course of a process that could last anywhere from twelve years to a hundred.

They ended up not buying anything, not that Yang could, seeing as she didn't have any of the Mibu's currency. However, Takako generously gave her a gift basket, with small bottles of some of the various oils and vinegars she had tried and really liked. Kyo had made an order on behalf of his mother to have a good-sized volume of the truffle oil shipped up to the Palace.

"I hope to see you again," said Takako, smiling warmly as she bowed them out the door.

"I'd love to come back," said Yang, smiling back.

Kyo went out first, but Takako stopped Yang with a gentle hand on her arm. She met Yang's eyes with a concerned expression. "Though I don't want to pressure you, I hope that you'll look after Kyo-kun. In all the times he's visited, I've never seen him so happy."

"I'll do my best," promised Yang.

Takako smiled again and released her arm. "Goodbye for now, and enjoy the rest of your day."

"Thank you," said Yang, bowing back to her and taking her leave. She joined Kyo in the street and allowed him to lead on.

"So, where to now?" asked Yang.

"Well...there's a lovely little cafe..." said Kyo as he proceeded to lead her down the street.

* * *

"It's been a long time," said Ozpin wistfully as he looked up at the white, marble walls of the Conference Center. The building was palatial in design, with tall, arched windows and beautifully-sculpted balconies, soaring buttresses, and even pointed towers in the corners, all made from pristine, white marble. Within the walls, one could find courtyards and gardens. There were paintings on the walls and galleries of sculptures, filled with the works of celebrated artists, honoring the end of the war that had tried to destroy everything they had worked for.

For what was essentially a glorified meeting hall, it seemed a bit much. However, the participants in the conference had spent weeks in this space. It had quarters enough to host all the dignitaries and their respective staffs in luxurious comfort, complete with the facilities necessary to support them. Beyond the building itself lay more gardens and magnificently maintained lawns, all enclosed within a perimeter wall, armed with the most advanced defensive systems currently available. Thus, this place was both a meeting hall _and_ a fortress against the Grimm.

Such was the Vytal Conference Center, where Ozpin and two others had once hosted and moderated the talks that brought about an end to the Great War. The Conference Center was more than just a monument to that moment though. Every year, delegates from each of the Four Kingdoms assembled to renew and modify the treaties, to broker and adapt trade agreements, and to moderate disputes. A few decades after the Great War, representatives from the Four Kingdoms had met with the leaders of the faunus forces fighting in the Revolution to reach new agreements that would improve the lot of faunus the world over. It had been another historic moment, though many faunus today would argue that not all of those agreements had been fully honored.

And now, here they were again. Only, this time, the center would not be hosting the conference. Instead, it was serving as a convenient gathering point for the dignitaries from the Four Kingdoms and their respective Academies, before they made the journey into the Mibu lands.

Ozpin, somewhat to his regret, had not set foot in the halls of the Conference Center, not since the days he had helped to moderate the talks that led to the Treaty of Vytal. He considered it almost a pity that he was only visiting this time.

Glynda checked her scroll. "Councilwoman Nilam, from Vacuo, should be arriving within the hour, along with Professor Pastoria. Councilman Radcliff is already here, along with Professor Ozma."

"So we're waiting on James then," said Ozpin with a sigh.

"As a military man, I'm sure that General Ironwood will be punctual, down to the minute," said Glynda with a frown. "The real question is _who_ he will be bringing along with him. The headmasters are bringing student delegations from their academies. Pastoria is bringing Team Indigo along with him, while Ozma has brought Team Sun. I'm a bit worried that James' delegation will be...more substantial."

"I highly doubt that he will be bringing any actual students with him," said Ozpin. "He'll probably bring along a staff of Atlesian Specialists. Hopefully Ms. Schnee is among them."

"What about Qrow?" asked Glynda.

"He sent me a message that he's already gone on ahead," said Ozpin. "I hope he doesn't stir things up too much."

"That's like hoping that rain won't be wet," muttered Glynda with a sigh.

The air filled with a low rumbling sound, and several shadows fell over the Conference Center. Looking up, Glynda and Ozpin both frowned darkly as they saw the familiar shapes of Atlesian warships passing overhead.

"It looks like James is here," said Glynda dourly. "And he's done exactly what I feared he would."

"I doubt we'll be able to talk him down," said Ozpin. "Our only hope is that the Mibu can handle this kind of display."

"From what Saisei mentioned, I suspect that this is the kind of reaction they were hoping for," said Glynda. "I think they might have bitten off more than they can chew."

To her surprise, Ozpin smiled slightly. "I wouldn't worry about that."

* * *

Blake caught up to her friends and Saisei outside a pottery store. Dougal had conveniently appeared, after she left the home of Saisei's family, to guide her to her friends. Apparently, Ren had taken a real interest after seeing the works on offer and had even been invited to watch the potters as they worked. Nora, being Nora, had lost interest fairly quickly. However, she amazed nearly everyone with her willingness to rein in her impulsiveness, when it meant letting Ren indulge in his interests. Weiss, on the other hand, was happy to examine the wares for sale, apparently examining them with a discerning eye as she compared them to the works that her own family had on display at their mansion. Like Nora, Ruby and Jaune were a little more restless. Neo just seemed happy to be out and about, looking curiously at various products, but otherwise sticking close to Saisei.

Upon arrival and exchanging greetings with her friends, Blake examined the various jars and vases for herself. They did an excellent job of showcasing the Mibu aesthetic. They were made from fired clay, often painted in subtle colors. However, the shop also had a selection of raku wares, ranging from the traditional, understated designs, to others with much more intense, and even metallic, colors. It was one of these pots that Ren was observing the making of, as the potter removed it from the kiln and placed it on a bed of shredded paper, before covering it with a metal bucket as the paper began to combust.

"The more traditional method is to remove it and allow it to cool in the open air," said Saisei as she joined Blake and Ren. "But, after potters outside its native country got ahold of the method, they experimented with different approaches to cooling it that led to the development of pottery with a variety of colors and patterns. The composition of the glaze, how much it is allowed to oxidize, whether it's cooled slowly or quickly, can lead to a wide variation. Overall, the technique is hundreds of thousands of years old."

"Incredible," said Blake, eyeing a wide pot that she thought might make a good edition to their apartment. Looking at the price, she balked. There was no way to compare the worth of ryo to lien currently, but the number of zeros on the price tag gave her the impression that the piece was fairly expensive.

Looking up and down the street, Blake saw quite a number of traditional artisans. They sold everything from umbrellas to sandals to various kinds of clothing. Once again, she was hit with the impression that Onmyo was less the capital of the Mibu Clan and more like an incredibly prosperous settlement. As busy and bustling as the streets were, they didn't compare to the level of noise that the streets of Vale exhibited, even during the Kingdom's quietest times.

"So...did your research with Chika go well?" asked Saisei as she came to stand next to Blake.

"Well enough," said Blake. "Chika went off to research something on her own."

Saisei frowned. "I hope she's not getting herself into trouble. That girl worries me at times."

"I told Sora about it," said Blake. "So she's aware of what's going on. Right now, she's asked me to help Chika, so that she can learn what she wants."

"Well, if Sora-sama knows, then I doubt there's all that much to worry about," said Saisei softly. "I won't pry. I appreciate your willingness to help on this, Belladonna-san."

"To be honest, I'm glad to," said Blake. "From what little I've learned so far, there's enough to worry me somewhat. I would rather know and be sure of what this is about than not and be blindsided."

"I understand," said Saisei.

After a few more minutes, Ren finally emerged, and the group was free to move on. They worked their way down the street, Saisei showing them various sights and shops that might catch their interest. By and large, the people were polite and friendly, though there was an undercurrent of wariness that Blake suspected came from the fact that they were outsiders. The Mibu had lived in relative isolation for centuries, their only real experience with outsiders being those outsiders who immigrated to escape persecution or other problems in the outside world. Perhaps it was only natural that they viewed these visitors with a certain degree of caution.

As they passed an intersection, Ruby noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Looking over, she broke out into a grin as she spied a familiar pair, sitting under the awning of a nearby cafe. She tapped Jaune, pointing out what she saw to him, and he did the same to Nora and so on, until the entire group, including Saisei, had taken notice.

Kyo and Yang were sat at a table, talking quietly and sipping from cups. It was hard not to notice that Yang was wearing a kimono, looking especially pretty. Nor was it hard to notice that Kyo clearly appreciated the effort she had gone through. The two of them were talking and laughing, clearly enjoying themselves.

Looking at Saisei, Ruby noticed that Kyo's old traveling companion looked especially happy. However, when she caught Ruby's eyes, she silently shook her head. "Let's move on," she said softly. "Let them have their privacy."

The others nodded and followed after Saisei as she continued to lead the way down the street. However, Ruby paused and surreptitiously used her scroll to snap a picture of Yang and Kyo before following after her friends. She silently lamented the fact that she couldn't send it to her father straight away, instead having to wait until she got back into the range of the CCT. But she'd gotten a good shot at least.

* * *

"You are going too far, James," said Glynda curtly, glaring at Ironwood. "The invitation specifically made allowances for a _small_ escort. This is the furthest thing from small."

"I am taking into account the potential dangers of the situation," said Ironwood stubbornly. "The fact of the matter is that there are far too many unknowns when dealing with the Mibu. I have decided to strengthen the escort to take that into account."

"You have two mobile brigades, plus your own command ship," said Glynda. "This is not an escort. This is an _armada!_ It's an invasion force. The Mibu will never allow you to bring this much firepower within their borders. And that's not even counting your 'guest.'"

"What they want is irrelevant," said Ironwood. "Their current behavior and the behavior of those that they have allowed to go abroad has clearly demonstrated that they are dangerously arrogant. They need to be reminded of how far behind the rest of the world they are, and that they had best take our will into account for any decision they make."

"Of that, you can be assured," said Ozpin. "The Mibu are indeed taking our wills into account when it comes to their decisions." He smiled at Ironwood. "However, I believe that they have no intention of simply bowing to your will because you brought more guns. You underestimate them, James."

"So you're saying that I haven't brought enough firepower?" asked Ironwood skeptically.

"No, I am saying that the amount of firepower itself will likely be irrelevant," said Ozpin. "The Mibu are not interested in a contest of arms, James."

"Then there is no reason to contest the forces I have decided to bring," said Ironwood. "If this discussion is over, then we should be on our way if we want to be on time for the events the Mibu have scheduled."

Ozpin sighed softly and adjusted his spectacles. "Yes," he said. "By all means, let us be on our way."

* * *

Yang smiled as she rested her head on Kyo's shoulder. The two of them reclined under a tree, its position on a hill overlooking the city giving them a magnificent view as they watched the sun dip towards the horizon. After touring the city a little more, Yang and Kyo had visited a restaurant Kyo was familiar with for a quiet dinner, before returning to the open parks and gardens of the noble district to lounge as they watched the day come to its end.

It made Yang glad to see that, even though most people regarded him with a great deal of caution, Kyo had made a few friends amongst the regular citizens of the city. But the strange looks that they had been bombarded with still bothered her a little. At least there was no one like that out here. After leaving the city proper, they hadn't come across a single person in their wanderings, leaving Yang free to direct her focus to enjoying Kyo's company.

"So...as dates go, how was this one?" asked Kyo.

"Well, I haven't actually been on all that many," said Yang. "But this one was wonderful. I had a great time."

"I'm glad," said Kyo. "I don't have much experience myself. But I'm happy that I was able to share some of my favorite places with you."

"We should do this again," said Yang. "To be honest, I really like these kinds of dates. But maybe next time, we should hit up a pub."

"Uh...I'm not sure about that," said Kyo, his reluctance surprising Yang.

"Why not?" asked Yang. "You like to drink, don't you?"

"Yes...well...I'm not exactly a welcome guest at any of the pubs or taverns around here," said Kyo with a resigned sigh.

"Why not?" asked Yang. She'd noticed that Kyo's friends, few as they were, represented a variety of people, from shop owners to restauranteurs. She found it hard to believe that Kyo couldn't at least befriend one or two bar or pub owners.

"Well, this is where people's attitudes towards me tend to become an issue," said Kyo. "It's one thing in the street when it's limited to looks and mutterings. But, in a bar or tavern, where alcohol is served and inhibitions are lowered, people become more inclined to _act_ on their hostility."

"Oh," said Yang, seeing his point.

"Unfortunately, on the few occasions I've tried to go out to such a place with my friends here, they have inevitably resulted in violence," said Kyo. "Under normal circumstances, I don't mind all that much. But the owners of those establishments do. Even if my family covers the damages, they can't really do all that much about the profits lost from those places having to close to make repairs, and the overall inconvenience of it all. Because of that, an assembly of bar, tavern, and pub owners appealed to my parents, asking that I not enter their establishments. So...I'm essentially banned."

"That's awful!" exclaimed Yang. "How could they do that for something that isn't even your fault?"

To her surprise, Kyo grinned sheepishly. "I think you're forgetting the kind of person I am when there's a fight to be had," he said nervously. "And, though I take a certain amount of pride in my tolerance, my inhibitions can be loosened too. It's easy for me to get carried away, even if it's just for self-defense."

"Oh...that's right," said Yang in a deadpan tone. Kyo's congenial nature made it easy to forget that, beneath that, there lay the heart of a true fighter, someone who enjoyed combat, especially when it involved risking his life.

"Besides," said Kyo, "given the losses they suffer from the damage caused by such incidents, I can't exactly blame them."

"I guess not," said Yang.

"Not that we can't have some fun of our own," said Kyo. "The Palace has several cellars, with an extensive collection of liquors and spirits that come from all over the region. Anything that's available in any of the local establishments, we have at the Palace. So we can easily just get our friends together for an evening of drinking there."

"That works too," said Yang with a sigh, still feeling somewhat disappointed that she couldn't hit the bars with Kyo. She supposed that, if he came back to Vale with them, she could take him to a bar in Vale, especially now that they didn't have to worry about the bounty that had been on his head.

Kyo reached over and rested his hand on hers, gently squeezing it. "Don't worry," he said. "As long as it's with you, I think just about any activity would be enjoyable."

Yang nodded and closed her eyes, once again letting her head rest against his shoulder. "Yeah, I feel the same way," she said.

* * *

 **At this point, I would like to reiterate my reminder that this was written before Volume 4 was very far along, to say nothing of Volume 5. When it comes to the Headmasters of the other Academies, Ozpin and Ironwood aside, they are characters of my own invention, and actually stem from a personal theory I had come up with, regarding the Academy heads, back around Volume 3ish. Simply put, going along with the Wizard of Oz theme that persisted with Ozpin and his allies, I came up with the characters of Professor Pastoria and Professor Ozma, the Headmasters of Shade and Haven, respectively. I'll elaborate more on them in later chapters.**

 **I also inserted some of my personal interests into this chapter. I enjoy visiting stores that sell those different kinds of infused oils and vinegars, though I tend not to make it a regular thing, mainly because I often leave without buying anything, so it doesn't feel fair to the owners for me to come in, sample a bunch of their products, then leave without spending a cent. I also have a mild interest in raku pottery, mostly thanks to watching the demonstrations whenever our state Renaissance Fair comes around.**


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39:**

"What are you doing?" asked Ruby as she found Jaune in their room, staring at his sword. After a busy day, spent exploring Onmyo, they had returned to the Palace for the night. Though everyone else had gone to the pavilion to chat and enjoy themselves, Jaune had retired to his room almost immediately.

"I was just trying to do what Murasame did," said Jaune. "I want to hear the voice of my sword."

"Any luck?" asked Ruby, sitting down next to him.

"Not really," said Jaune, still staring at his sword. "I don't even really know where to begin. Murasame said that the sword has its own Aura, but I can't feel it. I've been trying for a while now."

Ruby frowned and reached over, brushing her fingers over Jaune's. "I know you can do it," she said.

"I just wish I knew how," said Jaune.

"Maybe I could be of some help," said Kyo, from where he stood at the door, which Ruby had left open.

"Can you really?" asked Jaune.

"Of course," said Kyo pleasantly. "May I come in?"

Jaune and Ruby nodded and Kyo entered, closing the door behind him. He sat on the floor in front of Jaune. "Murasame-sama told you to listen to the voice of your sword, but those words carry a bit of a misconception to them."

"What do you mean?" asked Jaune.

"Well, we use the words 'listen' and 'voice,' which contain connotations that sound is involved," said Kyo. "But that isn't quite the truth. To listen to your sword, you listen, not with your ears, but the whole of your being."

"By feeling its Aura, right?" asked Jaune, to which Kyo nodded. "But I can't feel a thing."

"Has it occurred to you that the obstacle to that might be your own Aura?" asked Kyo with sly smile.

Jaune blinked, pausing for a moment. Then his eyes went wide. "Oh! I could use Suppression! That'll remove the interference of my own Aura, right?"

"More or less," said Kyo. "Except, you shouldn't even need Suppression to listen to your blade."

"How?" asked Jaune.

"It isn't something so easy as cutting off your own Aura," said Kyo. "What is required to hear your blade's voice is clarity."

"Clarity?" asked Ruby.

"Yes," said Kyo. "You must silence your mind and heart, empty yourself of all else. Then, listen with all your senses to let the voice of your blade in. Once you do that, you will be able to hear its voice easily."

"Okay," said Jaune, still sounding somewhat dubious.

"It's not the easiest thing in the world," said Kyo. "But it is necessary if you truly want to experience your blade's voice."

"Well...I'll give it a try," said Jaune. "I was never very good at that meditation stuff."

"Me neither," said Ruby sheepishly.

"I wasn't either," said Kyo. "And though I hear Tenro's voice, there are times when I can't fully understand it. So I can't exactly call myself an expert either."

"Thanks," said Jaune, nodding to Kyo.

Kyo nodded back and stood up. Heading to the door, he opened it and stepped out. Before leaving, he looked back over his shoulder, giving Jaune one last encouraging smile. "Good luck," he said, before closing the door behind him.

For a moment, Jaune and Ruby sat in silence, neither of them really knowing what to say or do. Finally, Ruby stood up. "I guess I'll get out of your hair for now," she said.

"You don't have to-" said Jaune.

Ruby cut him off by leaning down and kissing his cheek. "This is important to you," she said. "I don't want to be a distraction. And I know something else."

"What's that?" asked Jaune.

Ruby crouched down in front of him and ran a finger over his cheek. "That you have one of the most open hearts of anyone I've ever met," she said. "I knew that back at Beacon, when you and Pyrrha first became partners. You were able to accept her without caring about her fame or status. You were the same way with Weiss when you were going after her too. That's why I fell in love with you. So I know you can do this." She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

"Thanks," said Jaune as Ruby pulled away.

Ruby smiled at him, before making her way out of the room as well. The door slid shut behind her, leaving Jaune alone in the room. Jaune stared down at the sword that he'd laid across his lap. With his right hand, he gripped the handle. With his left, he delicately rested his fingers against the flat of the blade.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune closed his eyes. He tried to let his extraneous thoughts go, thinking of nothing in particular, simply letting his mind slowly go quiet. It wasn't easy. Every few seconds, it seemed that a new distraction would present itself. The floor was too hard. His legs were starting to cramp. His back was beginning to hurt. One at a time, Jaune forced himself to set those distractions aside.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there. It could have been minutes. It might have been hours. But, finally, his mind was completely empty. There was nothing to think about. That was when he heard it.

It was an achingly clear, beautiful note, a ringing sound, like someone tracing their finger over the rim of a crystal goblet. Though he couldn't see it with his eyes, he felt like light was rising up out of his sword, washing over him and swallowing him whole.

* * *

"This way," said Hayate, his soft voice almost a whisper in Weiss' ear.

Weiss nodded, following along, noting that that hand that held hers felt strangely warm to the touch. She realized that she probably shouldn't be feeling so flustered, not when she already had Neptune, and Hayate was so much younger than her. Still, Weiss couldn't deny that she enjoyed the feeling of contact between them. _Maybe if I had met him before Neptune..._

It seemed silly to think of him like this. After all, this was only really the second time she had seen or spoken to Hayate. But he already seemed so familiar to her that Weiss hadn't even thought to protest or resist, when he had suddenly come up to her and offered to show her something. Perhaps it was because she'd spent so much time thinking about his alias lately, about the person who had been helping to free the faunus her father had been exploiting. That was the only logic Weiss could find to justify the way she felt.

She concluded that that had to be it. Hayate had set himself in opposition to her father, and had done incredible damage to her family's company. Yet he hadn't borne her the slightest iota of ill will, not even resenting her for her powerlessness, which had resulted from her own decisions. That was the only reason Weiss figured she could feel so comfortable around this boy. So she didn't mind as he led her along the Palace hallways, following a path that sent them skirting along the side of the mountain the Palace was built into.

A few minutes later, they emerged outside, not into another of the seemingly countless courtyards that the Palace possessed. Instead, they had apparently reached the edge of the Palace itself, emerging out a door and onto the side of the mountain. Weiss looked around in surprise, amazed at how easy it had been to leave the Palace. All they'd had to do was go out through a small door, and there they were. She thought it might constitute a serious weak point in their security.

 _But then again,_ she thought wryly, _they don't seem overly concerned about security to begin with._ After all, the Crimson King apparently thought assassination attempts were all in good fun. So perhaps weak spots like these had been left deliberately to lure would-be assassins in.

Hayate led her through the forest, picking his way along paths. Weiss had to occasionally twist and turn to avoid getting her skirt caught on branches that reached out. She frowned. It was beginning to get dark. She hoped that Hayate would be able to find his way back as easily as he'd found his way out here.

"It's just up ahead," he said, towing her around a small rocky outcropping. As they came around it, Weiss could see their destination.

A cave loomed up ahead of them. It wasn't a massive one. However, it was easily large enough for half a dozen people to walk in side by side, and deep enough that she couldn't see the back from the outside, though she suspected that the rapidly deteriorating light might have had something to do with that.

"Right here," said Hayate, towing her to the edge of the cavern mouth, to a set of stones that rested beside it. "You don't want to go inside there."

"Then why are we here?" asked Weiss, wondering what Hayate had wanted to show her.

"Listen," said Hayate.

Weiss did as she was told closing her eyes to listen better. She'd noticed it as they'd gotten closer to the cave, but it was much more apparent now. The air was filled thousands of cheeping and squeaking noises, sounding almost like a natural orchestra. There was nothing harsh or irritating about the sound. If anything, it felt soothing to Weiss. "What is that?" she wondered aloud. "It can't be birds..."

She opened her eyes and peered into the darkness of the cave. Seeing as she wasn't a faunus, her night vision was a long ways from perfect. But she could make out tiny shapes flitting about in the darkness. "Bats."

"That's right," said Hayate.

Weiss blinked in surprise. "I never knew bats were so...musical."

"It sounds nice, doesn't it?" asked Hayate, leaning back and closing his eyes.

Weiss nodded. The soft cheeping of the countless small creatures within the cave was amplified and projected outwards by the cave's natural acoustics. She'd never realized that bats sounded like this. Within the Kingdoms, bats did not have the best of reputation, despite scientists pointing out how important they were for ecosystems...and pest control. She'd heard people, including her own mother, describe them as winged vermin. Their nocturnal nature made people view them with a, perhaps instinctive, aversion that was normally saved for the Grimm, or animal pests like rats and cockroaches.

So it was surprising to sit in front of a cave filled with the little creatures, and let their sounds fill her ears, like a performance of nature.

"It's almost time," said Hayate, drawing her attention again. "Look."

Weiss looked into the cave. The flitting shapes were getting more numerous. The orchestra of their cheeping calls was being underlined by lower-pitched sounds, the rapid tempo of wings beating the air, like a new set of instruments shifting into play. In the gloom, she could barely make it out as more bats crawled out of crevices or dropped off stalactites on the ceiling, taking into the air and swarming around in the cave.

"What are they doing?" she asked.

"This is their feeding time," said Hayate. "They're getting ready to go out and hunt. When they do..." He looked at Weiss and smiled. "Don't move."

Weiss stiffened nervously. Given how relaxed he was, Hayate clearly didn't feel threatened. Weiss knew that bats hunted mainly for insects. But the thought of being so close to their cave when they swarmed out was daunting all the same. She thought she remembered a scene from a horror movie Yang had dragged her into watching like this, where a pair of people caught in such circumstances were caught in a swarm of bats and practically eaten alive.

Hayate's hand covered hers. "It's fine," he said. "Just watch."

Weiss felt herself calm down. The bats began to spill forth from the opening. It was just a few at first. But then it became a stream of black, winged bodies silhouetted against the failing light of the mostly-set sun. A stream became a flood as countless more began flying out, the path of their flight twisting and curling around one another as they flew so close together that Weiss was amazed they didn't slam into one another. Weiss watched in quiet fascination as they moved in incredible, acrobatic unison, seeming less like a crowd of individual creatures and more like a single, amorphous, airborne mass. Gradually, they spread out across the sky, scattering over the mountainside, and the land beyond.

"That was amazing," she breathed. During the entire thing, none of the bats had come close to her and Hayate.

"The first time Kyo brought me to Onmyo, I wandered all over this mountain," said Hayate. "After a couple of weeks, I found out about this cave."

"Did you ever get lost?" asked Weiss, wondering just how young Hayate must have been back then.

"All the time," said Hayate with a chuckle. "Dougal always found me and brought me back. It turned out for the best. There are some amazing things to see and...you can make some interesting friends."

Pursing his lips, Hayate let out an undulating whistle that sounded similar to the bat calls that they had been hearing earlier. A tiny, winged form darted out of the darkness. Hayate held up a hand, fingers extended, allowing the tiny bat to alight on them. Weiss had leaned back in surprise at first, but now she looked more closely. Its form no longer blurred by a combination of distance, speed, and its own small size, she was surprised to see that, up close, the bat was actually quite...cute. Its leathery wings were folded up against its body, hidden somewhat by its brown fur, as it used its long, dexterous fingers to maintain its hold as it clambered over the top of Hayate's hand. Its large ears swiveled around slightly, while its small nose twitched in a mouse-like fashion.

"Hold out your hand," said Hayate in a soft tone, so as not to disturb their visitor.

Doing as she was bid, Weiss held up her fingers to Hayate's, stifling a squeak as the bat almost immediately crawled across to her. Its tiny digits tickled with each climbing step it took as it moved up her fingers and to her knuckles.

"This fellow is relatively docile," said Hayate. "If you're very gentle, you can pet him across the back."

Nodding, Weiss slowly and carefully lifted her other hand, extending a single finger, which she then proceeded to run along the bat's spine, amazed at the softness of its fur.

"Is it safe?" she asked, realizing that it was probably a bit late for that question.

Hayate chuckled. "Bats are sometimes vectors for disease," he admitted. "But Makoto says that the ones around here are clean. A lot of homes in the city have their own bat boxes, because the people around here value them so much."

"Are they really that great?" asked Weiss skeptically.

"They consume the insects that would bite or sting or even eat the Mibu's crops," said Hayate. "Also, their guano is first-rate fertilizer."

"Guano..." said Weiss, eyeing the bat on her fingers dubiously, though she continued to pet it.

"They _are_ animals," Hayate pointed out. "They have the same needs as any other after all. That's also why we're staying out of the cave."

Weiss stifled the urge to grimace at the thought of what must be inside the cave. The floor was probably a solid layer of bat feces, with so many of the little creatures living there at all times.

Still, it was hard to worry about that, considering the adorable little bat on her hand, watching her with surprising attentiveness as she continued to gently pet its back. Moving her finger, Weiss held it out to the bat to inspect, giggling slightly as it gently prodded the finger with its tiny nose.

"Lift up your hand," said Hayate.

Weiss did and the bat dropped off and took to the air, cheeping as it darted off into the darkness.

"He still has to eat, after all," said Hayate by way of explanation.

Weiss nodded and smiled. "Thank you for showing me this," she said.

"It was worth it to see you smile," said Hayate. "You've seemed a bit down since I first saw you. I thought this might help you feel better."

"Well it worked," said Weiss, gladly. "Thank you so much for this." Impulsively, she leaned over and gently kissed Hayate on the cheek.

"Y-you're welcome," said Hayate. The two of them looked pointedly away from each other, glad that the deepening darkness hid their respective blushes.

 _This might just be a problem,_ thought Weiss as she touched her fingers to her lips.

* * *

 _The sky was a beautiful blue, achingly clear, stretching out in all directions. The earth around him was covered in tall grass. However, rather than being green, the grass was a rich, golden color that reminded him of the fall. However, it was a richer, purer gold, as though the the precious metal had somehow leeched its way up into the blades and dyed them with its luster._

 _"Where is this?" asked Jaune, looking around, his eyes wide. He tried to remember where he had been before._ I was in my room with my sword and... _He blinked, looking around once more._ How did I end up here?

 _Suddenly, he was conscious of a presence behind him, a presence that made his heart beat harder in his chest, a presence that caused tears to leak out of his eyes. It was a presence that he had been sure he would never feel again. For a moment, he was afraid to turn around, sure that he would turn to see just more empty scenery. But the impulse was just too strong. Slowly, Jaune turned his body, keeping his head down and his eyes closed, afraid to look._

 _Finally, he raised his head and pried his eyes open. When he did, he couldn't stop the gasp that escaped from his mouth._

 _She was exactly as he remembered her. Her long, lustrous red hair was bound up in a ponytail over the back of her head. She wore a golden circlet over her brow and bronze armor, with a red sash around her waist. Her green eyes twinkled, and a serene smile decorated her face as she met his gaze._

 _"Pyrrha," said Jaune, unable to stop the tears that fell from his eyes. Not even thinking anymore, he rushed forward and threw his arms around her. "Pyrrha!"_

 _He heard her laugh in his ear as she returned his hug, the two of them embracing tightly. Jaune was amazed. He could feel her breath on his neck, the warmth of her body in his arms. There was no doubt in his mind. She was here and she was real._

 _"Pyrrha! I missed you so much," said Jaune as he hugged her even tighter._

 _"I know," said Pyrrha. "It's all right."_

 _"B-but why are you here?" asked Jaune. "I...I thought you were dead. Was that just a bad dream?"_

 _He heard Pyrrha's sigh, shivering as her breath brushed against his ear. "No, Jaune, it wasn't a dream."_

 _"Huh?"_

 _Pyrrha pulled away slightly, though she didn't break contact. Instead, she pulled back just far enough that the two of them could look one another in the eyes. She was still smiling, but now it looked sad. "I did die," she said. "I'm dead, Jaune."_

 _The bottom dropped out of Jaune's stomach and a sob forced its way up his throat. "But...why...how? You feel so real?"_

 _"This is real too," said Pyrrha. "Just because this isn't taking place in the physical world doesn't make it any less so."_

 _"Then...where are we?" asked Jaune._

 _"This is your sword," said Pyrrha. "This is Crocea Mors."_

 _"My sword...?" Jaune looked around again, taking in the scenery. "I don't understand."_

 _"You could say that this world is a manifestation of your sword's soul," said Pyrrha. "This is how Crocea Mors chose to speak with you, now that you've finally opened your heart and mind to listen."_

 _"But why are you here?" asked Jaune._

 _"Because I'm Pyrrha," said Pyrrha. "But I'm Crocea Mors too. I came to be through the parts of me that you had melded into the sword and shield. That's why I'm able to talk to you like this."_

 _Jaune's eyes widened. "That's great!" he said. "That means I can talk with you like this anytime."_

 _Pyrrha's eyes closed. When they opened, Jaune saw that the sadness had returned. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm afraid that won't be the case."_

 _"Why not?" asked Jaune, fighting back the urge to cry in earnest. He'd done that enough when he'd first learned about Pyrrha's death. He wouldn't waste his time here with her bawling like a baby._

 _"I'm a portion of Crocea Mors soul now," said Pyrrha. "Before long, I will merge with it completely and my distinct identity will merge with the sword as well. It took all of my strength to remain distinct for this long, just so that I could talk with you, one last time. But I can't stay this way. It isn't right. Remaining separate like this inhibits Crocea Mors' strength."_

 _"But..." Jaune wasn't sure what else to say. All he could really do was beg Pyrrha not to leave him again._

 _"It's better this way," said Pyrrha. "Jaune, nothing can change the fact that I'm dead. You have to accept that."_

 _"But..." repeated Jaune._

 _"Jaune..." said Pyrrha, silencing him. "I love you. With all of my heart and soul, I love you. Nothing, no force in the world, will ever be able to change that. I'm sorry that I died. It was a foolish death, something that I could have avoided if I hadn't been so stubborn. But, like this at least, I can still be with you."_

 _"But you just said you won't be you anymore," said Jaune._

 _"Because I'm merging with your sword," said Pyrrha. "I will always be with you now, wherever you go, whatever you do. I will be by your side. That was the wish I had, back when I was alive. I may be dead, but I can fulfill that now. Even if we can't speak like this again, that's more than enough for me."_

 _"Are you sure?" asked Jaune._

 _"I am," said Pyrrha. "Besides, you have Ruby, don't you?"_

 _Jaune nodded wordlessly._

 _"It isn't fair to Ruby for you to keep clinging to me," said Pyrrha softly. "I've been with you as your sword and shield, since before the two of you fell in love, so I know how deep your feelings for each other are. Because you love Ruby, I love her too. That's why I want to lend you all of my power and strength...so that you can protect both yourself and her. Just as I will stay by your side, you need to stay by hers."_

 _Jaune sniffed and closed his eyes, steeling his resolve. When he looked up at Pyrrha again, his eyes were filled with determination. "I will," he said firmly._

 _"I'm glad," said Pyrrha. Slowly, she leaned in, closing her eyes and pressing her lips against Jaune's. Jaune's eyes drifted closed as well, their embrace tightening once more. He pressed his body against hers, basking in her warmth, one last time. This was a longer, softer, more lingering kiss than the one they had shared at the base of Beacon Tower. This time, Jaune could truly feel it in the touch of her lips against his, the words that were not spoken, but perfectly understood all the same. "Goodbye."_

 _Pyrrha pulled away once more. "Remember," she said, "I love you, and I will_ always _be by your side."_

 _"I love you too," said Jaune. "Thank you."_

 _Pyrrha nodded and the light swallowed Jaune once more._

* * *

He awoke with a start, gasping and panting for breath. His ears still buzzed with the lingering memory of the chime that had come from his sword. Looking down, Jaune saw the sword on his lap once more. There was no shine to it. However, it still felt different to him. Touching his fingers to the blade, Jaune realized that he could feel the sword practically humming with power.

"Jaune?"

Drawn by the sound of Ruby's voice, Jaune turned his head to see her face inches away from his own. "Ack!" he yelped, flinching away from her. "R-Ruby! What are you doing there?"

Instead of answering his question, Ruby's eyes boiled over with tears and she threw herself at him. "Jaune! You're back! I was so scared!"

Jaune caught Ruby, hugging her, careful to make sure she didn't cut herself on his sword in the process. "Of course I'm back," he said. "I didn't go anywhere. What were you afraid of?"

"I...I heard that sound," said Ruby, "the one that came out of your sword. I came in and I saw it shining and you were staring at it. You looked like you were dead!"

"I...I did?" asked Jaune, shocked.

Ruby nodded vigorously. "You wouldn't respond at all. I brought Kyo and he said you were talking to your sword. But it felt so strange. I felt Pyrrha there too."

"She was there," said Jaune, "in the sword."

Ruby gasped. "She was? You talked to her?"

Jaune nodded silently.

"What did she say?" asked Ruby.

"A few things," said Jaune, smiling sadly. "But what she really wanted to say was 'goodbye.'"

Ruby's hands went to her mouth and the tears spilled out all the more intensely. Jaune carefully sheathed Crocea Mors and then took Ruby into his arms, hugging her tightly as she sobbed against him.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" said Ruby, repeating the phrase over and over again.

"Ruby, it's okay," said Jaune, kissing the top of her head. "Pyrrha's not angry at you."

"B-but I was there!" said Ruby, looking up at him again. "I was there, and I couldn't do _anything!_ If I had been faster...stronger...!"

"Ruby...Pyrrha's dead," said Jaune, reminded of the sober, serious tone Pyrrha had used on him in there. "Nothing can change that. I know you did the absolute best you could. So does she. Pyrrha doesn't hate you. She said that she loves you."

"Why would she...?" asked Ruby.

"Because _I_ love you," said Jaune. "I won't be able to talk to her like that again. But she'll always be by my side, and she wants me to use her strength to protect you, because we both love you."

Ruby sniffed, tears still streaming down her face, but at least she seemed to be calming down a little.

"Pyrrha promised that she'd always be by my side," said Jaune. "And she wants me to stay by yours. So I will. You are my everything now, Ruby." He used his fingers to apply pressure to her chin, tilting her face up. "I will never... _ever_...let you go. That's my promise to you...and to her."

"Jaune..." said Ruby, her voice emerging as little more than a whisper.

Slowly, Jaune lowered his lips to hers, pulling Ruby in tighter. Their kiss grew more intense and, before long, they completely forgot the world around them.

They were unaware that they had an audience. Standing at the door to their room, Blake had been listening through a crack in the door. As she heard the two of them growing more and more...active...in expressing their love for each other, she slowly pulled away, and began to walk to her own room, a somber expression on her face.

Blake had been moved by Jaune's profession of love, and his resolve. Whatever had happened had clearly been a defining moment for him. However, their conversation had also shaken her. She still felt the lingering chill that had shot down her spine when Jaune had declared, with absolute conviction, that Pyrrha was dead and nothing would change that.

 _But what if something could?_ she wondered. Her mind went back to the conversation she and Chika had had in the archives, a conversation about the ancient Mibu Clan's lost power...power that might even be able to resurrect the dead. At the time, she had dismissed it as nothing more than the fancy of someone who desperately wanted to believe she could have godlike power. But... _What if it were real? What if that power really did exist? What if it could be restored?_

If that were the case, then perhaps Pyrrha's death could be reversed. She could be brought back to the world of the living. But what would that mean for Jaune and Ruby? Pyrrha's love for Jaune had been apparent to anyone who had spent more than a few minutes with her in Jaune's company. But Jaune and Ruby had each other now, and their love was both genuine and mutual. Pyrrha's return would disrupt that for sure. But...was it fair to Pyrrha to leave her dead, just because of that, just so that Jaune and Ruby's relationship wouldn't be jeopardized?

With those questions tormenting her, Blake settled into her own bed, staring up at the ceiling, not sure which she hoped for more...that the Mibu's power to resurrect the dead was real...or that it was merely a fantasy.

* * *

"Is everything all right?" asked Yang, looking at Kyo. She had been surprised to find the door to his room open, and found it a bit unusual that he was sitting on the floor, staring at the blade of his unsheathed sword, just as Jaune had been doing a short while ago.

"It's fine," said Kyo, smiling as he looked up at Yang. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?" asked Yang.

"Jaune is incredible," said Kyo.

"Huh?" Yang frowned. "Not that I'm disagreeing or anything...but why?"

"To be able to manage to hear the voice of his sword after merely the first time trying it is an incredible feat," said Kyo. "It took me several years of training before I was able to do that with Tenro, and Tenro is far more stringent. If I ever lost this blade's respect, it would have devoured me in a matter of seconds. In contrast, the only thing I could feel from Jaune's sword was a powerful, loving kindness. It's hard for me to imagine a _sword_ , of all things, being so kind."

"Why is that?" asked Yang.

"Well...what separates a sword from another kind of blade, like say a knife?" asked Kyo.

"Well...aren't they usually longer and whatnot?" asked Yang.

"But there are short swords, some of which are no longer than your average knife," said Kyo. "The range of sizes and shapes can be expanded, if we include other instruments, such as daggers. But what is it that truly makes a sword a sword?"

"Um...because it's used for fighting," suggested Yang, not sure what else it might be.

"Very close," said Kyo. "More than that, a sword is made for killing."

A shiver went down Yang's spine. When Kyo put it like that, it actually seemed disturbing, even if there was a certain sense of rightness to it. She decided to enter the room and sit down in front of Kyo, making sure to close the door behind her.

"What differentiates a weapon, like a sword, from an edged tool, like a knife, is that it is made for the express purpose of cutting down one's enemies," said Kyo. "Ultimately, that is what defines a sword. Such a weapon may be used primarily for the Grimm now, but before that, the sword existed primarily for use against other people, an instrument of murder."

Yang swallowed, trying to contain the sick feeling rising up in her stomach.

"There's nothing kind about murder," said Kyo, "so I can't understand how Jaune's sword can be so kind."

Yang forced down the sickening feeling and thought over Jaune's conundrum. Her eyes widened as she realized the answer. "Oh! It's actually simple, when you think about it."

"What do you mean?" asked Kyo.

Yang smiled. "Crocea Mors isn't just the sword, but the shield too," said Yang, grinning now. "Even if they're wielded separately, the sword and the shield are actually two parts of the same weapon. It was a weapon that's designed to protect. Maybe that's why it's so kind."

Kyo blinked, the realization crossing his face. "Oh! I see. When you put it like that, it makes sense."

"See," said Yang with a grin.

Kyo chuckled and smiled fondly, looking back down at the blade of his own sword. "With a blade that kind, I can see why Jaune had such an easy time learning to hear its voice. He's very kind too. They are quite compatible."

"So, was that all you were worried about?" asked Yang.

"Not really," confessed Kyo. "There's more to it."

"What?"

Kyo sighed. "When I saw Jaune, after Ruby came to me in a panic, I realized he wasn't just hearing his sword's voice, but that he was communicating with it on a level deeper than anything I've ever seen before. It was as though the sword's soul had pulled Jaune's heart and mind into a world of its own."

"And you've never done that?" asked Yang.

Kyo shook his head. "Tenro is the Wolf of Heaven. As such, I have heard its howl countless times. But I never really realized that communication was possible on such a deep level." He lifted his sword up in front of him. "I've been complacent. Both O-Tou-san and Murasame-sama have told me that I need to listen to the voice of my sword, that I would find the answers to my questions there. I didn't understand why or how that would be the case. But now I realize that I've only scratched the surface when it comes to speaking with Tenro. I need to go deeper."

"Okay," said Yang. "That sounds hard. But, if Jaune can do it with nothing but a little advice, _you_ should be able to do it. You've had years of training at this, after all."

Kyo swallowed and, for the first time, Yang saw him looking truly nervous. This wasn't the awkward nervousness that she'd seen from time to time during their relationship as they both explored ground that was new to them. It was something more primal, true, and genuine fear for his life.

"To be honest," said Kyo, "I think what's really holding me back is my fear."

"Why are you afraid?" asked Yang.

Kyo sighed. "You've heard me say that Tenro is stringent. Muramasa's swords are called demon blades for a reason, after all. I'm afraid that, if I try to communicate with Tenro the way Jaune did with his sword, that it will devour me, because I wasn't strong enough."

"Yeah...that would be bad," said Yang.

"It gets worse," said Kyo. "It is said that when Muramasa's cursed blades lose faith in their wielders, it overtakes both their mind and body, transforming them into a true demon of the blade. The wielder will then kill everyone he encounters. If it overtakes me, I will turn my blade on all my friends and loved ones..." He met her eyes. "...even you. That's what frightens me."

Kyo lowered his sword, once again laying it across his lap and staring pensively at it. Yang stared at him. Silence fell over the room as they both sat there. Yang had no idea what to say. All this business about talking with his sword seemed too esoteric for her to grasp, despite seeing Jaune do it earlier and seeing Murasame's demonstration the previous day. She had no idea on what advice to give about talking to a weapon.

 _Maybe thinking about it as a weapon is the wrong approach,_ thought Yang. She thought back over what she knew about Kyo, about all the conversations they'd had since she'd met him. _"This is my partner and dearest friend, Tenro."_ She frowned.

"Maybe you're thinking about it the wrong way," said Yang.

"What do you mean?" asked Kyo.

"You called Tenro your partner and friend, right?" said Yang.

Kyo nodded.

"Then why are you afraid of it?" asked Yang.

"Huh?"

Yang frowned. "You know...when I first found out that Blake was a faunus, and then that she used to be a member of the White Fang, I was a little scared. But...when she accidentally revealed it to us and ran off, I realized that she was even _more_ scared. That hurt. I was her partner, but I felt like she didn't trust me at all. She kept something so important hidden from me, and, when it finally came to the front, instead of owning up to it, she ran."

Kyo blinked, looking as though he was confused, wondering what her point was, but was too polite to interject.

Yang sighed and looked down at her hands, which she'd folded into her lap. "It made me angry. More than anything, I was angry that Blake, my own partner, had been afraid of me all this time. But, once the secret was out, and she came back and decided to trust us, we were closer and stronger than ever. I love Blake. She's a member of my family now."

She looked up and met Kyo's eyes again. "I can't say I know how a sword, of all things, thinks. But one thing I am sure of is that, if someone called me their partner, but was holding back because they were afraid of me, I would be seriously angry. If you really consider Tenro to be your partner and friend, you shouldn't be afraid of it. Maybe losing that fear is what you need to do if you want to communicate with your sword the way Jaune did with his."

Kyo blinked and stared at her with wide eyes. Then, to Yang's shock, she saw a tear tumble down his cheek. Kyo looked down at his sword, then back at Yang again. Finally, he let out a laugh that sounded as though it were mixed with a choked sob. "You're right," he said. "I can't believe it was something so simple."

"Well, I don't know about talking with swords," said Yang. "But I do know a thing or two about having friends and partners."

"So...fear _is_ what's holding me back," said Kyo, lifting Tenro once more. He lowered it again and stared at Yang. "Thank you so much."

Yang smiled warmly. "I'm glad I could help," she said.

Kyo picked up his sheath and slid Tenro inside.

"You aren't going to try it?" asked Yang.

"Later," said Kyo. "But...I wanted to thank you first." His eyes met hers and Yang felt her face heat up dramatically. There was an intense warmth in Kyo's eyes, a warmth that bordered on smoldering. The look Kyo gave her made the heat spread down from her face and move throughout her body.

Kyo stood up and Yang stood up with him. Not saying another word, he approached her. Yang let out the softest of gasps as his arms encircled her waist, her own arms rising up automatically to wrap around his shoulders. Kyo pulled her close, their bodies pressing up against each other. Yang's heartbeat spiked as she felt her breasts press up against the rock-hard muscles hidden beneath Kyo's kimono. His eyes met hers and Yang's excitement reached fever-pitch.

They mashed their lips together in heated excitement, Kyo's tongue questing out and prodding at her lips. Yang returned the favor almost immediately, their tongues swirling around each other. Yang's arms tightened their hold, as did Kyo's, almost as though they were trying to hold one another closer than was humanly possible.

Finally, they parted for air. When they did, they were panting for breath. They pulled their heads back, though they refused to release their hold on each other. When Yang's eyes opened again, their lilac color had been replaced by the same luminous crimson as Kyo's.

"You're beautiful," said Kyo, his expression one of wonder as he stared at her.

Yang couldn't help but smile at that. However, the look of desire in Kyo's eyes kept her from relaxing. All she felt was excitement coursing through her veins, just like when she was in a particularly thrilling fight. She could tell that, if they continued, they wouldn't be stopping at just kissing. "What now?" she asked.

Kyo leaned forward again, this time pressing his forehead to her own. "How far we go is up to you," he said. "But...I've decided."

"Decided what?" asked Yang.

"I've decided that I love you," said Kyo, the last three words of his sentence leaving Yang breathless. She found herself squeezing him even tighter.

She'd never imagined that anyone could make her feel like this, that someone could relax her and put her completely at ease one moment, then make her feel as though she'd been set afire the next. The time she'd spent with Kyo had been relatively brief, but Yang now realized just how important he had become to her, and just how amazing it was to hear those words come from his mouth, especially since they were words that now echoed within her own mind and heart.

"I love you too," said Yang.

As though that were a signal, Kyo seized her lips again and Yang returned the favor with a vigor. Her arms dropped from Kyo's shoulders, but only to dive for the sash that held his kimono closed, her hands working furiously to untie it. Kyo's own hands were getting busy as well. They were already rising up and sliding Yang's jacket off her shoulders. They both parted just long enough for Kyo's kimono to slide to the ground, along with Yang's jacket. Their lips crashed together again as Kyo's hands worked their way under Yang's tank-top and began to pull it up. They had to part again as Yang raised her arms to allow Kyo to finish pulling it off.

Their clothes fell to the floor, followed by their undergarments as they embraced and kissed some more, their hands now wandering as the feeling of skin against skin from their naked bodies pressing against each other excited them even more. They didn't so much as lie down on Kyo's bed as they collapsed on it, the covers forgotten as they focused the whole of their bodies and minds on each other.

Several minutes later, Yang lay on her back on the bed, staring up at Kyo, who hovered over her. Their Crimson Eyes met, Kyo's with a wordless question. Yang smiled and gave him the smallest of nods, prompting Kyo to lower himself on her once more, their lips pressing together again as the two of them became one.

* * *

 **This is the part where having Pyrrha's possessions melded with Jaune's weapon becomes important. Believe it or not, this is gonna have an impact beyond just powering up his weapon, but that comes later.**

 **The bit about the bats comes from personal experience. If you've been to RTX Austin, then you've probably at least heard about the famous "Bat Bridge," as the Congress Avenue Bridge is often called, which is home to the world's largest urban bat colony. Each year that I've gone to RTX, I've made it a point to visit the bridge. If you're going this year, I highly recommend seeing it. It's even worth it to get tickets on one of the riverboat tours that park almost directly under the bridge to see the bats, when they come out in the evening. It's an incredible sight to see them all flying out in the evening. And that cheeping sound they make really is very nice to listen to. So that's what informed the part about the bats in this chapter.**


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40:**

Yang awoke slowly. Unlike the previous day, there was no trace of a hangover. Of course, she hadn't consumed much in the way of liquor last night. Instead, she had gotten drunk on something else entirely. She smiled as she felt the warmth of the covers over her body and, more importantly, the warmth of a pair of arms wrapped around her stomach, as the arms' owner spooned against her backside, his breath gently stirring the hair over her neck.

Part of her still couldn't believe what she and Kyo had done last night. Her heart began to beat faster from the mere memory of it. Still, there was no denying the feeling of their naked bodies pressed together, their skin sticky from the sweat that had been a product of their lovemaking. She could even still feel the faint memory of the warm feeling of having him inside her.

 _We really did it,_ thought Yang, trying to figure out how that made her feel. To her relief, there was no sense of regret over their actions. She had felt Kyo's sincerity through his tender treatment of her, and could even feel it now through the way he held her.

"Good morning," said Kyo softly, his voice tickling her ear, making Yang giggle as she turned herself over in bed to face him. Her eyes, their normal lilac color once more, met his and her smile widened.

"Good morning yourself," said Yang. "How long have you been up?"

"Just a few minutes," said Kyo. "I didn't want to disturb you. Besides, holding you is a wonderful feeling."

"I can understand that," said Yang, slipping her arms around him and pulling herself to him. "So now what?"

Kyo blinked. "I'm...I'm not sure," he admitted. "I've never been in this situation before."

"Me neither," Yang reminded him. "We have a lot to talk about. I also have the feeling your parents are going to have a few things to say to me."

"And I have the feeling your father will have a few things to say to me," said Kyo with a cheeky smile.

"At least," said Yang. "And I get the feeling there will probably be some heavy profanity involved. He accepted us, but I don't think he thought we'd move this fast."

"A feeling I can empathize with," said Kyo with a chuckle.

"Me too," said Yang with a giggle of her own. "But I don't regret a thing about what happened last night."

"Me neither," said Kyo.

"We certainly didn't plan this," said Yang. "So the only thing I think we can do is take things as we come. We have each other, so I think we can manage."

"You're right," said Kyo.

"Right now," said Yang. "All I really want to do is stay like this for a while longer." She grinned. "Do you think the others will mind?"

"Well...time-wise, I doubt it," said Kyo. "There's no set schedule. But it probably won't be long before they realize what we did, so..."

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," said Yang with a laugh.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Kyo with a grin.

Yang let out a happy sigh and tucked her head under his chin. Silence fell over them once more, and Yang actually began to drift back to sleep.

Sadly, it wasn't to be, as they were snapped out of their blissful stupor by the sharp sound of someone knocking on their door.

"Yes?" asked Kyo, looking up at the door.

"Kyo," said the voice of Kyo's mother, making Yang's eyes shoot wide open and her breath catch in her throat, "would Xiao Long-dono happen to be in there with you?"

"Um…" Kyo looked at Yang, both of them at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Of all the people to show up in the morning while they were naked in bed together, Kyo's mother had to be the most awkward possibility neither of them had considered.

They could practically hear the barely-restrained laughter in Sora's voice. "From your hesitation, I'm guessing that the answer is a yes."

The door slid open and Kyo sat upright sharply, while Yang gripped the covers, holding them up over her chest to keep from being exposed as Kyo's mother came in. Behind Sora, to Yang's utter mortification, she could see Kyo's father. Unlike Sora, who was now using a fan to cover her mouth, hiding what was clearly an amused smirk, Mibu Kyoichiro looked deadly serious. Something about the look in his eyes told Yang that this wasn't just a social call.

"My…it seems we have quite a few things to talk about," said Sora, amusement still heavy in her voice.

"Uh…O-Kaa-san…Tou-san…I would really rather you didn't barge in like this," said Kyo, wrapping a protective arm around Yang. He wasn't able to interpose himself between her and his parents, seeing as Yang was on the side of the bed that was closer to the door. However, he did hold her close so that she could press her blushing face into his shoulder.

Sora closed her eyes and coughed politely before folding her fan and lowering it. "I apologize for barging in like this," she said. "However, something very important has come up, and we will need to borrow Xiao Long-dono from you."

Kyo blinked and stared at his parents in confusion. "Why?"

"The time has come to answer her questions," said Kyoichiro in a dead-serious tone, "her questions about the truth of the Crimson Eyes."

"What?" asked Yang, forgetting about her embarrassment to pull away from Kyo and stare in shock at his parents.

"While this is not terribly urgent, time is an issue," said Sora. "Xiao Long-dono, please go ahead and get yourself cleaned and dressed as quickly as you can manage. We will wait for you out here. After that, we will depart immediately."

"Depart for where?" asked Yang.

"You will see soon enough," said Sora. "We aren't leaving the Palace grounds, if that is what you're worried about."

"We can answer those questions later," said Kyoichiro. "Please hurry."

They stepped back and Sora closed the door. Yang and Kyo stared at it for a moment before turning to each other.

"What should I do?" asked Yang.

"You should probably go ahead and do as they asked," said Kyo. "It seems important, so we shouldn't keep them waiting. You can go ahead and use my shower. I'll wait out here."

"Okay," said Yang. Part of her wanted to invite Kyo to join her. However, she knew that sharing a shower with him would lead to…other things…which would probably constitute a serious delay of the kind that Kyo's parents would not like. So she got out of bed and headed for his bathroom.

Cleaning off the remnants of last night's activities took a little longer than Yang had thought it would. But she still thought she was making good time as she got out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel ( _Kyo's towel,_ she thought to herself) and came out of the bathroom. She was surprised to see a stack of fresh clothes sitting on the desk near Kyo's bed.

"Mother got them from your room," said Kyo, by way of explanation. "I hope you don't mind." He was already dressed in his kimono, apparently deciding that not keeping his parents waiting was more important than showering himself.

"It's fine," said Yang.

She hesitated for a second before realizing that, after what they had just done last night, there was no real reason for her to be worried about modesty in front of Kyo, so she went ahead and shed the towel so that she could dress herself. She could feel Kyo's eyes on her as she did so. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling, but Yang still dressed as quickly as she could, feeling that, if she took too long, she might not get all the way into her clothes before she succumbed to her feelings again. Sliding her jacket back on, Yang turned back to Kyo, who was smiling at her.

"You're beautiful," he said with a smile.

"That's what you said last night," said Yang with a giggle.

"And I'll keep saying it for as long as it remains true," said Kyo, "which will probably be for quite a long while."

"It had better be," said Yang with a playful grin as she punched Kyo lightly in the shoulder. "Come on."

Kyo nodded and they both exited the room to see Sora and Kyoichiro still waiting for them.

"Now that you're ready, let's be on our way," said Sora, already turning to head down the hallway.

Kyo and Yang nodded and set out to follow her, but stopped as Kyoichiro held out his hand in front of Kyo. "Not you," he said firmly. "This is only for Xiao Long-dono."

"But-" Kyo turned pleading eyes on his father.

"No," said Kyoichiro, his tone unflinching. "You will get your answers, Kyo, but not from this. You know what you must do."

"Kyo?" asked Yang, feeling somewhat hesitant. Kyo had many of the same questions that she did. It didn't feel right that she was being taken to have them answered, while he had to stay behind.

Kyo closed his eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out in a sigh. When he opened them again, he smiled at Yang. "Go on ahead," he said. "It's time for me to do what you suggested last night."

"Are you sure?" asked Yang.

"Yes," said Kyo.

"Let us move along," said Sora, coming back to place a hand on Yang's shoulder and steer her away from Kyo. "Your friend isn't far ahead of us yet."

"My friend?" asked Yang, blinking in confusion as she allowed herself to be led away.

Sora began to explain about Blake's "research project" with Chika as she continued to lead Yang away, with Kyoichiro falling into step alongside her.

Kyo watched as they headed down the hall until they turned a corner and vanished from sight. He sighed and returned to his room. Closing the door behind him, he looked down at where Tenro rested. He extended a hand towards the sword before pausing. Sniffing, Kyo turned his head and sniffed himself before wrinkling his nose. "Well, since I'm not going anywhere, I guess I should get a shower of my own before I do this," he said.

* * *

Blake had to fight to keep up with Chika as they headed through the countless hallways that seemed to make up the Palace. After a troubled night, she had been awoken quite abruptly, when Chika had thrown open the door to her room, startling Blake out of her sleep, and demanded that she get dressed and come with her.

By the time Blake had finished showering and had gotten dressed, Chika had been fuming in the hallway. She hadn't wasted a second before grabbing Blake by the wrist and yanking her along down the hallway.

"What's the rush?" asked Blake.

"We got lucky," said Chika, her platinum-blonde hair practically flying behind her as they speed-walked/ran through the Palace. "I thought it might take more than a week for me to find a way down into the underground. But one of the first entrances I looked into checked out."

"Why did you think it would take so long?" asked Blake.

"The Palace is built on the side of a volcano after all," said Chika. "It hasn't erupted in millennia, but there are still plenty of tectonic forces still at work. The earth shifts and passages collapse. Others become unsafe and new ones open up. That means quite a few entrances into the underground had to be closed off."

"Are you sure that this one is safe?" asked Blake dubiously.

"No," said Chika flatly, "but we're about to find out."

"Wonderful," muttered Blake with a groan.

Chika towed her around another corner and opened a rather innocuous-looking door. The door opened to a set of stares that descended down into darkness.

"Come on," said Chika, pulling Blake down.

As she did, Chika produced a crystal from her sleeve that dangled on a short lanyard. The crystal gave of a low, yellow glow that illuminated the passage ahead and below them as they continued to descend. After less than a minute, they arrived at another door. This one was not an elegant construct of wood, but solid-looking steel. Chika grabbed the handle, turned it and pulled…then growled and yanked harder. The door screeched as it finally came lose and swung open. Blake guessed that the same tectonic forces Chika had told her about earlier had warped the frame, resulting in the jammed door.

Ahead of them, the passage continued to descend. However, now, instead of plaster walls and wooden stairs, the whole passage had been carved from stone; ceiling, walls, and steps all. Blake looked around, seeing cracks running along the walls and ceiling. The stairs were cracked as well, split almost down the middle, with one side having risen an inch or so above the other. She swallowed nervously. This passage didn't look very safe to her.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked Chika.

"Come on," said Chika in a stubborn tone, already continuing her descent.

With a resigned sigh, Blake followed along behind her, deciding to let Chika find out whether the passage was safe or not, especially if that meant finding out the hard way.

Fortunately, despite the visible cracks and other defects in the stone around them, nothing shifted or crumbled as they continued their descent. Blake had no idea how long they descended the stairs for. It felt as though time had lost all meaning in this dark, cramped space. It almost felt as though they would descend all the way down into the center of the earth.

Finally, just Blake was beginning to feel that they couldn't descend any further, the wall on one side disappeared, along with the ceiling, as the stairway ran down into a massive cavern, running along the wall as the space opened up to their left. Blake looked down, her keen night-vision allowing her to use the soft light to see much further than a human could. However, she soon found it was unnecessary, as the space seemed illuminated on its own…though Blake couldn't discern a source for the light. Ahead of her, Chika tucked the crystal back into its sleeve.

Looking down, Blake could see the floor of the cavern, which spread out and stretched off into the distance. The floor was covered in some kind of white substance, looking puffy and cottony from their vantage point. It was also dotted with countless small objects. The distance made it hard for her to see what they were, but Blake thought they were wooden constructs of some kind.

As they descended, their true nature became clear, and Blake let out a horrified gasp. It had taken her a little longer than it should have for her to figure out what the wooden objects were, only because her mind refused to grasp the implications. However, there was no mistaking the purpose of the countless wooden crosses sticking up out of the ground, their endless numbers stretching off into the distance.

"It's a graveyard," she whispered in horror. Just how many graves were down here? She couldn't even begin to count. It had to be thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. She and Chika reached the bottom of the stairway and stood for a moment at the edge of the graveyard, simply taking in the solemn and horrifying sight.

Kneeling down, Blake examined the cottony substance that blanketed the floor. Upon closer inspection she realized that the substance was in fact composed of countless small objects. They looked vaguely like mushrooms, with a thin stem, topped with a rounded tuft of the soft, white material. "What are these things?" she asked, gently breaking the stem of one and picking it up.

"It's a cloud," said Chika, looking at it closely.

"What?" asked Blake, blinking and staring at the object in her hand. It was too light and soft to be any substance she knew. But a cloud…

"Shihodo was the original wielder of the Kusanagi," said Chika. "The Kusanagi gave its wielder the power to create clouds for a variety of purposes. She must have created these flowers with the sword's power."

"But why?" asked Blake, staring again at the endless field of grave markers. "What are these graves for?"

Chika frowned and said nothing. Instead, her head turned back and forth as she searched around for something. Her eyes zeroed in on a doorway not too far away and she let out a faint gasp.

"What?" asked Blake.

There was no answer as Chika simply broke into a run, dashing between the graves, throwing up cloud flowers in her wake as she ran. Blake ran after her, wondering what Chika had seen, though she already had an idea. Despite the impact of the graves, there was no question that Chika's mind was fixed on her objective. Obviously, the only thing that would hold her attention was something related to that.

They reached the door and Chika plunged through. The room on the other side was smothered in darkness. But the shadows quickly fell back as Chika produced her light crystal again, holding it up. Looking around, they saw that they stood in a room that resembled the archives where she and Chika had begun this project in the first place. The walls were lined with shelves, supporting countless thick tomes, stretching along for dozens of meters. At the far end of the room stood a single table. Atop that table rested an especially thick tome, its cover looking weathered, and the edges of its pages yellowed.

"We did it!" said Chika breathlessly. "This is it. This is what I've been looking for…the records of the Mibu Reconstruction Project!"

* * *

In his room, Kyo sat, crosslegged on the floor. Tenro was unsheathed, resting across his lap as he stared down at the naked blade. Looking at it, Kyo found himself nearly lost in the cold gleam of the steel. The sight of it made him swallow nervously. Unlike Jaune's sword and shield, this sword was no kind-hearted tool, made to protect. There was no kindness in Tenro's gleam, only the promise of swift death to its enemies...and the one who wielded it, if the sword found him wanting.

Kyo took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Remembering what Yang had told him, he allowed his fear to flow away with the air in his lungs. He had called Tenro his partner and friend. Now it was time to put that claim into action. He couldn't just wield Tenro, he had to put his absolute trust in it. He had to relinquish his fear and cease regarding his blade as something trying to consume him. Instead, what he needed to do was what Yang suggested, to open his heart and allow Tenro's voice in.

Kyo gripped his sword's handle with his right hand, while resting the index and middle fingers of his left hand on the flat of his blade. Closing his eyes, Kyo allowed his thoughts and feelings to slip away, completely emptying himself, relaxing his guard. He placed his full trust in Tenro and allowed both his heart and mind to open completely, his defenses disappearing.

Kyo was hardly conscious of the fact that Tenro's blade blazed with light, like a star had ignited in the middle of the room. It was accompanied by a ringing, bell-like roar that made the bones of everyone in the vicinity buzz with its sheer intensity. He didn't notice the skin of his right hand turning black as it gripped the handle of the sword tighter, black, vein-like lines rising beneath the skin as the darkness climbed his arm, rising up to his shoulder, then spreading to his neck and inching towards his face.

None of these things were noticed by Kyo, because his mind and soul were no longer in his body.

* * *

 _He stood in the midst of a field. The grass beneath his feet was yellowed and wilted, looking more dead than alive. Ahead of him stood a single tree, its bark gray and lifeless, not a single leaf supported on any of its spindly branches. There was no wind in this place, no sound, no indicator of life at all. Looking down at himself, Kyo saw this his own form was ghostly white, wisps of his own essence seeming to stream off and swirl around him, as though tossed by a nonexistent wind._

 _Grass crackled beneath the tread of something as it approached him. Kyo was barely able to stop himself from gaping at the sight. A silver-furred wolf approached. From its size and shape, there was nothing truly remarkable about it. However, its body seemed to have the same ghostly qualities that Kyo's form held right now. Misty wisps rose away from its fur, swirling in the air around it, as though scattered by an unseen breeze. Its eyes shined like pale, ghostly lamps._

 _"So...you have finally come here," said the wolf, its voice deep and resonant. "You kept me waiting a long time."_

 _"So you are..." said Kyo, not really needing to ask._

 _"I am Tenro, the Wolf of Heaven," declared the beast before him._

* * *

"What on earth was that noise?" demanded Weiss as she rushed down the hall alongside Ruby and Jaune.

"I don't know for sure," said Ruby. "But it sounded a little like the sound Jaune's sword made last night."

"Yeah, but this is way more intense," declared Jaune.

"It came from Kyo's room," said Ren as he fell into step alongside them.

"I hope he's okay," said Nora as she joined the group.

"Where are Yang and Blake?" asked Weiss.

"No idea," said Jaune.

To their surprise, Saisei had come to the door to Kyo's room as well. Neo was with her. As the others arrived, Saisei pulled the door open. She gasped and took a step back from the door.

"What is it?" asked Ruby, edging forward to look.

Saisei's tail divided into nine, fanning out behind her, interposing themselves between everyone and the door. "Stay back!" she said sharply, moving back herself as she spoke.

"What's happening?" asked Weiss, craning her head, trying to catch a glimpse between Saisei's tails. When she saw what was going on in Kyo's room, she gasped too.

Seeing that no one was going to try and get past her to go in, Saisei retracted her tails, merging them together once more. Now everyone could see what was happening.

Kyo was frozen in place, sitting crosslegged on the floor. Ruby remembered Jaune sitting in the same position last night. But that was where the similarities ended. Tenro's blade shed waves of pale, ghostly light that threw flickering, twisting shadows around the room. On the flat of the blade, behind the edge, black characters had now manifested, running up and down the length of the sword, giving the weapon a sinister air. Looking at it, they could now understand why such a sword might be called a demon blade.

However, more horrifying still was the state of Kyo's body. Starting from his right hand, which gripped the sword's handle, his skin was completely blackened, with lines rising up beneath it, running along as though countless worms were slowly tunneling their way up Kyo's arm. The darkness and lines had already spread to his shoulder and up his neck, now covering the right side of his face, and spreading farther.

Neo clapped her hands over her mouth and turned, bolting through the door of the room behind her, not caring who it belonged to, and rushing straight into the bathroom, where she emptied the contents of her stomach in the toilet.

"I can't blame her," said Jaune in a sickly tone. "That really does look familiar. What's going on?"

"If I'm correct, then Kyo is communing with Tenro," said Saisei, in a nervous tone.

"So that's what I did with Crocea Mors," said Jaune.

"Yeah, but you never looked like this," said Ruby.

Saisei swallowed nervously. "Tenro is not your average sword, even going by blades that have their own Auras. If Kyo missteps even slightly, the blade will take over his body and transform him into a demon of slaughter. He'll start killing everyone that he sees."

"Oh no!" gasped Weiss. "What can we do?"

"There's nothing we can do," said Saisei gravely. "This is all up to Kyo. He's the only one who can determine wether or not Tenro takes over his soul." She turned to the others. "I want all of you to get out of here. At the moment, it doesn't matter where. But it shouldn't be here.

The sound of two sets of feet coming down the hall got their attention. "We'll take them out," said Hayate, as he and Nigel stopped a short distance away. "Are you staying here, Saisei?"

Saisei nodded slowly. "I'll keep watch over Kyo."

A pair of hands clamped onto her arm and Saisei turned her head to see Neo staring at her with a pleading expression.

Doing her best to put an encouraging smile on her face, Saisei leaned over and kissed Neo's forehead. "I'll be all right," she said. "Kyo can't kill me that easily."

Hayate rested a hand on Neo's shoulder. "Sasame is the hardest one of us to kill," he said. "Leave it up to her."

Reluctantly, Neo nodded and allowed Hayate to lead her away. The others followed them, throwing reluctant glances back at Saisei as she settled herself on the floor in front of Kyo's door, watching him intently.

Her eyes locked on Kyo, Saisei frowned sternly, staring at him without blinking. "You had better not lose to that sword," she said firmly. "Don't you dare leave me now."

* * *

Blake felt a bitter chill go down her spine. Though she wasn't sure how she knew, she got the impression that something, somewhere, was very wrong. The only thing she could tell was that, whatever it was, it wasn't in their immediate vicinity.

Chika certainly didn't act as though she'd felt anything similar. She was already scanning the shelves, analyzing the books, looking through titles, trying to determine where to start. "This is amazing," she said. "If these were put down here by Akari, then these tomes are hundreds of thousands of years old. I'm amazed they haven't turned to dust."

Blake frowned, deciding to head towards the far end of the room, where the especially thick tome rested. Carefully, she hooked her fingers under the edge of the cover, and, moving with deliberate care and slowness, pulled the cover back, afraid that the whole thing would crumble away at her mere touch. However, the book opened quite normally. And though the paper inside had yellowed with age, the writing was still legible, the lines crisp and clear. She touched the paper, carefully peeling back a page. It bent and flexed, but didn't tear.

Unfortunately, the writing, while legible, was in the characters of the Mibu Clan's Old Tongue, which made it utterly incomprehensible to Blake. She frowned, examining the layout of the page. It seemed to be a list of some kind, written out in a tabular format. In the column on one side, Blake saw a variety of characters. She hazarded a guess that these were the subject's names. Each of the following columns contained more characters, data of some kind, she supposed. However, the column on the far side of the table had the same character for each name listed, extending down the page.

"What is this?" asked Blake, drawing Chika's attention to the tome.

"It's a list," said Chika, frowning as she looked it over. "I'm guessing it's a list of all the experimental subjects used for the Mibu Reconstruction Plan."

 _That's what I was afraid of,_ thought Blake, her already pale skin lightening by another shade. "What does this character mean?" she asked, pointing to the repeated character in the far column.

"Dead," said Chika, her face betraying genuine unease for the first time that Blake could recall seeing. It seemed that even Chika's determination to learn about the project couldn't overcome her sense of the implication of that one word that stretched down the entire length of the page.

Nervously, Blake turned the page, revealing more names, with the same character indicating the status of each one. The list continued on the next page, all the names with the same character depicting the subjects' fate. Her hand shaking, Blake turned to the next page, then the next, and then on, seeing countless names, all of them accompanied by that same symbol, all of them listed as dead.

She continued to turn the pages, rifling through them, growing sick of seeing that same character, repeated over and over in an endless series down the length of each page. Then, further along, Blake noticed that something had changed. Instead of what she had assumed were the names of the research subjects, she saw new lines of characters, with most of the characters being repeated on each line, save for the last one, which changed in sequence several times before the character behind it changed. Blake had seen this pattern before.

"Are these numbers?" she asked, pointing to the characters in question.

Chika leaned in to inspect the page. "Yes," she said. "It seems that, after a while, they gave up even bothering with the subjects' names and just started numbering them."

"What number is this?" asked Blake, pointing to one.

"2327," said Chika gravely.

Blake felt sick. She could see why they had given up on names. The list was already stretching out into the thousands and they weren't a quarter of the way through the tome yet. She continued to page through the book, each page showing her the same thing: countless subjects, numbered instead of named, all dead. Blake's movements became frantic as she continued to page through it, each page showing the same results, over and over again. Just looking through this book was maddening. Blake was certain that, even after she finished, the character for "dead" would stick like glue to her mind's eye for months to come.

Finally, unable to stand anymore, Blake slammed the book shut, pressing her hands hard against the cover, as though afraid that if she released the pressure, the book would spring back open, displaying its horrid contents for her to see once again. It took her a second to feel the tears running down her face and realize that she was crying. "This is...monstrous," she said. "How could they have possibly sacrificed this many people for this project?"

"It must have been supremely important," said Chika, pulling another book off the shelf.

Blake stared at her incredulously. However, in the back of her mind, she noted that even Chika sounded distinctly uneasy, as though she was trying to convince herself of what she was saying, almost as much as she was trying to convince Blake.

Trying to distract herself from what she had just seen, Blake focused her attention on the book that Chika selected. "What is that?"

"If I'm right, it's an overview of the project," said Chika, opening it up to the first page, muttering to herself as she began to translate. She frowned as she went through the first pages, not apparently finding much. Finally, she let out a small gasp and began to speak. _"Through the analysis of the test subjects, I have come to a realization that the genetic material of the Mibu is identical to that of our own failed creations. The average failed subject lives no longer than twelve to fourteen years before their flesh rots away. The results, while less dramatic than the effects of the Death Disease, suggest that the deterioration stems from a similar source, namely a flaw in the overall design. Therefore, I have come to the ultimate conclusion that the Mibu are truly..."_

Chika's voice trailed off and her skin practically turned pure-white, her eyes going wide, an expression of the starkest horror appearing on her face. Blake watched as the book fell from Chika's unmoving hands, dropping to the floor with a low thud and throwing up a small cloud of dust upon impact. Chika didn't even seem to care or notice, her eyes staring, unseeing, at the space the book once occupied, clearly able to see the words on the page that was no longer in front of her.

"Chika...?" prodded Blake, uncertain of what to do or say.

Chika didn't even seem to notice her. Instead, she began to shake her head. "No," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "No! There's no way that can be right. It _has_ to be a mistake. I just didn't read far enough. There must be data that refutes his hypothesis. It has to be wrong."

"Unfortunately," said a familiar voice from the door, "it is not."

Blake and Chika whipped their heads around to look at the door, both of their eyes going wide. Standing there was none other than the Crimson King himself, Mibu Kyoichiro. Beside him, on his right, stood Sora, her mouth hidden by her fan, but the look in her eyes grave. To Kyoichiro's left stood...

"Yang?" Blake blinked in surprise, shocked to see Yang here before remembering the conversation she'd had with Sora.

Yang seemed as lost and confused as Blake felt, though a trifle less horrified, thanks to the fact that she had not seen that book and its horrific contents. However, she was clearly attuned to the atmosphere of the room, realizing that there was something very wrong with this sensation. It seemed that what she and Blake were about to learn was a secret like no other.

"You're lying!" said Chika, almost shouting, not seeming to care that she was accusing the Crimson King himself of such a thing. "This can't be true!"

"It is," said Kyoichiro, his voice heavy with sadness. "To be honest, I would have told you, if you had asked, and been persistent enough, but I thought that you would not believe me. That is why we left the way open to this place, so that you might find it and see for yourself...the truth of the Mibu Clan."

"If that's true, then what is all of this?" demanded Chika, throwing her arms out to encompass the room and its contents. "What is the purpose of the Mibu Reconstruction Plan? What are the Mibu?"

Kyoichiro sighed and lowered his head, closing his eyes. "It began many hundreds of thousands of years ago," he said. "Back then, the world itself was a different shape. The Mibu were at the peak of their power, ruling the land from the shadows, their hand-picked and painstakingly-shaped puppets guiding mankind down the path that the Mibu laid out for them. Ironically, it was during this time that the Mibu came to the very edge of extinction."

Blake swallowed hard, feeling sick at this revelation. She could see that Yang apparently felt the same way.

Kyoichiro continued. "A terrible ailment began to spread through the Mibu. The Mibu were practically gods, all-powerful and immortal, or so they thought, living for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They had unlocked the secrets of life and death, capable of not only resurrecting the dead, but creating new forms of life with their own hands."

 _So it's true,_ thought Blake, aghast. _The ancient Mibu really could revive the dead!_

"But the disease seemed to strike them down without regard for their age or status or the purity of their bloodlines. Those afflicted would waste away into nothingness, their forms crumbling into dust, and leaving not a single trace behind. Even the Mibu's power of resurrection was unable to return those that the disease struck down to life. Because it seemed so absolute, striking down those who thought themselves gods, the Mibu came to name this affliction the Death Disease.

"But it was even worse than that. The disease not only killed the living Mibu, but it also stole their future from them. The Mibu found that they had lost the capacity to have children of their own. Because of these two factors, the Mibu were faced with utter annihilation, even though their rule over the world was almost uncontested.

"Thus, the Mibu Clan's greatest scientist and biologist, Hishigi of the Taishiro, began experiments to find a cure. This was the beginning of what became known as the Mibu Reconstruction Project."

"So Hishigi wanted to find a cure to the Death Disease," said Yang, looking around. "Is that what this was all about?"

Kyoichiro nodded. "At first, that was its sole aim," he said. "In order to test treatments and divine the nature of the disease itself, Hishigi used the Mibu's power of creation to create experimental subjects for the project."

"So that means they were..." Blake turned her terrified eyes on the book she had left on the table.

"Yes," said Kyoichiro. "It is even worse than you feared. Those names, then numbers, were not people selected to be experimented on, they were lives that were _created_ for that sole purpose, tens of thousands of people made artificially, just to have their lives snuffed back out again."

Blake backed away from the book as though it were a poisonous creature. "Then the graves outside are..."

Sora nodded. "That's right," she said. "When Shihodo retired from the Taishiro, she chose to reside down here in the underground. Here, she created a memorial for all the lives lost to the Mibu Reconstruction Project. She crafted each of those graves and the flower field that surrounds them, keeping the memory of every single life lost to the project locked within her heart. She protected this ground until the end of her days."

The darkness stifling Blake's heart lifted a little as she thought about the compassion of such an act.

"Unfortunately, with regards to the project, things took a turn for the worse," said Kyoichiro. "For Hishigi, in his studies to find a cure for the Death Disease, stumbled upon the darkest secret of the Mibu Clan, a truth that shattered every illusion that the Mibu ever had about themselves."

"What truth?" asked Yang.

"That the Mibu were not gods," said Kyoichiro. "Rather, Hishigi learned that the Mibu were themselves no different from the poor beings they created and then labeled as failures, for not living up to their expectations."

"No..." whispered Chika.

* * *

 _Kyo swallowed, and resisted the urge to take a step back from the wolf in front of him. He had promised himself that he would not meet Tenro with fear in his heart. But that promise was hard to hold._

 _"Finally, you have come here," said Tenro. "Many times I have spoken to you. You have heard my voice, even heeded it. But, until now, you did not_ listen _. Now, you stand before me, the fear that once stoppered your ears and closed off your heart is gone."_

 _"So now what?" asked Kyo. "Where do we go from here?"_

 _"Since you have finally come before me, the time has come to learn the truth you sought," said Tenro. The wolf's eyes blazed, their light going from white to crimson._

 _Kyo's jaw dropped as he saw what were unmistakably Crimson Eyes, though they looked different from his own. "Why do you have those?"_

 _"Learn for yourself, Kyo," said Tenro, "youngest child of our people."_

 _The wolf leapt at him, the crimson light shedding from its eyes swallowing Kyo and everything around him._

 _When the light cleared, Kyo found himself in the middle of a street. The scenery had changed completely. The place he now stood reminded him of the streets of Onmyo. However, it was clearly different. The buildings were taller, more ornate. Everywhere he looked, Kyo saw decorations and embellishments in gold, silver, and other precious metals. Jewels were set into designs, glittering as they caught the light of the sun overhead. This was a place of wealth and privilege._

 _Laughter caught his ears, drawing Kyo's eyes down. Children ran along the street, playing with one another. Kyo took a step back, his eyes widening in shock. To his amazement, all the children, tiny though they were, sported what were unquestionably the Crimson Eyes. However, again, they were different from the Crimson Eyes that he or Yang had._

 _"Welcome, Kyo," said a voice behind him._

 _Kyo spun around to see the source of the voice and fought down the urge to panic. The man who stood there hardly seemed a man at all. He towered over Kyo, his stature exceeding seven, maybe even eight feet. A vast mane of crimson locks spilled down from his head, falling across his shoulders in streams. A pair of curved horns, like a ram's, extended from either side of his head. He was clad in red and black, his kimono decorated with numerous characters and symbols that Kyo couldn't interpret. From his black cloak rose several projections that resembled spines. His fingers sported long, claw-like nails. However, the feature that truly drew Kyo's gaze was his eyes. Like the children, this man, if he could be called a man, had the Crimson Eyes. But, like the children, his eyes were different from the ones that Kyo was so familiar with._

 _The pupil was barely visible, no bigger than a speck of black amidst a sea of shining red. The man's Crimson Eyes shined like miniature suns, blazing with powerful, overwhelming light. They infused his presence with incredible force, a force that made Kyo feel less like he was before a person, but instead stood before a god._

 _Kyo swallowed nervously and clenched his hands. His form was no longer ghostly white, but instead resembled his normal self. He no longer really felt like he was within the world of Tenro's soul, but rather, somewhere else. This phenomenon like the person in front of him, completely dwarfed his expectations._

 _The man grinned, reclining on the massive, ornate throne that just seemed to be there. "After so long, you have finally come here and we are truly able to speak," he said._

 _"Who are you?" asked Kyo._

 _"In a sense, I am the soul of your sword, but that is not entirely true," said the man. "Thanks to the skill of Muramasa, Tenro serves as both reincarnation and the a medium for my soul, allowing me to speak with you across the gulf of ages that separates us."_

 _"Again...who are you?" asked Kyo._

 _The man's grin widened. "I am the progenitor of the Mibu, from whom you yourself are descended. I am the first Crimson King."_

* * *

 **And here we get into the meat and potatoes of what the Crimson Eyes are all about. In the original _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ manga, these revelations take place near the end of the series. If you only ever watched the anime...you missed out. Still, if you haven't read the manga, worry not, as the next chapter will elaborate on what that revelation is.**


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41:**

 _"The first Crimson King," said Kyo, staring incredulously at the monstrous man in front of him. "You are...not what I expected." His eyes flicked to those horns in particular._

 _The First Crimson King's grin widened even more and, to Kyo's shock, became playful. "Yes! Well...these are fake!" he said, pulling the horns away from his head, revealing them to be mere props._

 _"Huh...?" Kyo tilted his head._

 _The First Crimson King sighed and tossed the horns aside. "You know, that used to get a better reaction when you didn't share the world with people who_ actually _have horns growing out of their heads...among other things."_

 _"So there were no faunus in your time?" asked Kyo._

 _"Nope," said the King, his manner now remarkably casual. "There's no point in asking me where they came from either. They were long after my time. But that's beside the point."_

 _Kyo nodded, unable to take his eyes away from the King's._

 _The King's grin became a smirk. "Unfortunately, unlike the horns, these eyes are the real deal. They are the mark of the Mibu heritage."_

 _"But they don't look anything like mine," protested Kyo._

 _The King laughed, getting to his feet and striding over, he laid his hand atop Kyo's hand and began to playfully rub his hair with enough force to make Kyo squirm. "That's because you're still weak," he said as he continued to laugh._

 _Kyo grunted and raised his arm, trying to force the King's arm away from him. To his shock, it wouldn't budge in the slightest. Kyo growled and exerted all his strength. But it was pointless. He might as well have been trying to uproot a mountain._

 _"What's the matter?" asked the King playfully. "Having trouble? Do you understand how weak you are yet?" He began to press down harder._

 _Suddenly, it was all Kyo could do to remain standing. All his strength was pressed into keeping him upright, as the street beneath his feet began to crack._

 _The King laughed again and lifted his arm away. "The way you are now, you couldn't even best one of these children here," he said, gesturing to the children Kyo had seen running playfully around. Now they were swarming around the First Crimson King, climbing up his robes like he was a piece of playground equipment. The King didn't seem to mind in the slightest, even taking one of the children in his arms, and fondly rubbing the top of the child's head...much more gently than he had done with Kyo's._

 _"Now that you have managed to come here," said the Crimson King, returning to his throne while the children continued to clamber up and down him, "the time has come to reveal the truth of the Mibu's heritage and history to you."_

 _"What are the Mibu?" asked Kyo._

 _"They were gods," said the King, "true gods, complete with absolute power." He swept his arm out. "Behold! These are but the shadowed memories of our domain. The reality was grander and greater than you could possibly imagine. We, the Mibu Clan, had absolute power, unparalleled wealth, almighty strength, even mastery over life and death itself. We could raise the dead freely and even create new life from nothing. In every sense of the word, we were gods."_

 _"Somehow, I get the sense that wasn't a good thing," said Kyo, his stomach churning uneasily._

 _The King grinned. "That is because, while you are weak, you are also wise, far wiser than the Mibu, far wiser than me. The Mibu were born with absolute power, blessed with utter happiness and fulfillment. Let me ask you a question...when you have absolutely everything you could ever desire, without having to to exert the slightest effort, where do you go from there?"_

 _"I don't know," said Kyo. "I can't even begin to imagine such a life."_

 _"Then you are quite lucky," said the King. "What we thought to be our greatest blessing instead turned out to be a curse. Their lives filled with every kind of richness imaginable, the Mibu had nothing to strive for, nothing to achieve. Because of that, they turned their eyes on the only things they could strive to overcome...each other."_

 _"So...they fought?" said Kyo._

 _"They_ slaughtered _one another," said the King, his voice becoming cold, anger rolling across his face like a storm. "In their search for stimulation, the Mibu turned upon one another, reveling in violence and mayhem as they cut each other down with reckless abandon. They even went the extra mile. They used their powers of creation to create a new people, special fighting puppets, to battle for their entertainment and fight alongside them in their conflicts. Before long, the Mibu Clan I had built so painstakingly had all but wiped itself out."_

 _"But the Mibu still exist," said Kyo. "We managed to overcome that. We survived."_

 _"No_ we _didn't," said the King coldly. "The clan decimated itself, until only a single survivor remained. That survivor spawned a family line that extended down through the ages, until it reached the present day."_

 _"Then what about everyone else?" asked Kyo. "What about Saisei, Shinrei, and the rest? What are they? They are Mibu, aren't they?"_

 _"They are and yet they are not..." said the King._

* * *

"In this day and age, the term, Mibu refers to three distinct, yet overlapping entities," said Kyoichiro. "First, there is the Mibu Clan as a political entity. We are the ones who rule this continent, and the term has grown to encompass all that live under our banner, including those outsiders that have immigrated. Second, it refers to those who are Mibu by blood, the descendants of the Clan that have diffused themselves throughout the world, including you and your mother, Xiao Long-dono."

Yang nodded.

"Third..." said Kyoichiro, hesitating slightly. "It refers to the first Mibu, the original Mibu, the True Mibu. In practically every sense, they were truly gods, complete with absolute power. Yet, they are distinct from the Mibu in the second category."

"Then we are not the True Mibu?" asked Chika.

Kyoichiro shook his head slowly. "No," he said. "The True Mibu created special fighting puppets to battle for their entertainment and to fight alongside them in the intra-clan conflicts that ultimately devastated them. At first, the fighting puppets were generally quite monstrous in appearance, created more to serve as weapons than anything else. But, over time, the Mibu refined their designs, making the puppets more like them in appearance, even gifting them with the Clan's signature Crimson Eyes."

"Then...we are..." Chika seemed unable to even finish her sentence.

Kyoichiro nodded. "It is exactly as Hishigi said. Those of Mibu blood that exist today, including you and Xiao Long-dono, as well as the rest of the blood descendants within the clan, are descendants of those fighting puppets created by the True Mibu long ago."

"No!" gasped Chika.

"Yes," said Kyoichiro. "You are descendants of an artificial people, the remnants of the True Mibu's creations."

Yang sank to her knees, her eyes wide and unfocused. Blake rushed to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, trying to offer what comfort that she could. However, she had no idea what to even begin to say.

"That was the source of the Death Disease," said Kyoichiro. "Rather than a virus or bacteria or some other contagion, it was actually the result of some defect in their creation, left by the True Mibu. Originally, it was probably a minor thing. In the ancient past, all the Mibu possessed the Crimson Eyes. But, over time, the trait began to fade, until it was possessed only by a select few. Furthermore, the defect ultimately rendered the Mibu unable to have children, before causing them to waste away themselves, threatening the Clan with extinction."

"But they didn't die," said Blake, looking up at Kyoichiro. "They are still here today."

Kyoichiro's sober expression was replaced with a warm smile as he turned his eyes to Blake. "That is because the Mibu finally realized their limitations. My ancestor, the original Kyo, took up arms against the Mibu Clan, to break their hold over humanity, to tear them down from their lofty perch as gods. From what little we know, his efforts might have been fueled by his own selfishness, but they were what ultimately saved the Clan."

"Why?" asked Blake.

"Because, by tearing the Mibu down from their place as gods, he forced them to follow the path of humanity," said Kyoichiro. "It was by chance that the cure to the degeneration of the Mibu's artificial bodies was discovered. But the key to their future came from another realization. The Mibu learned that, by joining with humans, taking human wives and husbands; in other words, mixing human blood with their own; they were able to produce children of their own once more, and the Clan was saved from destruction. Because of that, the Mibu blood was spread throughout humanity, which is why descendants sometimes emerge outside our Clan and lands, just like Xiao Long-dono." He nodded to Yang, who seemed to be recovering from the shock. "That is the true history of the Mibu Clan."

"So...what about the Mibu Reconstruction Project?" asked Blake. "You said, initially, that it was to look for a cure to the Death Disease. Does that mean the objectives changed?"

"Yes," said Kyoichiro. "Once Hishigi learned the truth of the Mibu Clan, the project's objective shifted. In a sense, you could say that its goal became to create a god...or rather...gods. Hishigi reasoned that, since the True Mibu had engineered their own extinction, and left their fighting puppets behind like so many discarded toys, then, if they conquered their limitations and cured the Death Disease, then they would, by definition, become the new True Mibu and thus, surpass their creators. As a consequence, Hishigi's goals began to shift to that end. His research expanded to include experimenting on the Crimson Eyes, creating experimental subjects to exhibit the trait, and see how they survived.. It is due to that shift that the worst excesses of the Mibu Reconstruction Project came to be, and its number of victims rose to nearly twenty-thousand."

"And..." Yang finally spoke, lifting her head. "And what about the Crimson Eyes? What about me and my mother? What are we?"

"The Crimson Eyes you and your mother sport are remnants of the original Crimson Eyes," said Kyoichiro. "Once the True Mibu refined their fighting puppets to resemble them almost perfectly, they proceeded to devastate themselves through their infighting. Gradually, the True Mibu killed themselves off, until the few remaining survivors were vastly outnumbered by the fighting puppets. Over time, the fighting puppets came to believe themselves to be the Mibu and forgot the truth about their creation until Hishigi rediscovered it. Back then, all the Mibu had Crimson Eyes.

"However, as new generations of the Mibu Clan were born, the Crimson Eyes began to disappear, only surfacing occasionally. Their existence became a taboo to the Clan, as the Mibu forgot their meaning. After the first Kyo's rebellion against the Clan tore them down from godhood, and the Mibu began to merge with humanity, the incidence of the Crimson Eyes became even rarer, until they were all but forgotten. You and your mother must come from a very powerful pedigree to exhibit the Crimson Eyes as strongly as you do."

"Oh..." said Yang, not sure what else to say. For all that this revelation was earth-shattering to her, the truth of the Crimson Eyes became an almost mundane footnote to it.

Their attention was stolen by the sound of a sword clearing its sheath. Looking over, they saw that Chika had drawn her sword and was now leveling it at the Crimson King. Her expression was a mix of anger, terror, and...something else...as she glared at Kyoichiro. For his part, Kyoichiro showed no signs of anger at having someone who was supposed to have pledged loyalty to him now pointing her sword at him, as though he were an enemy. Sora raised her fan and spread it across her face to screen her mouth, though it did nothing to hide the scowl in her eyes. However, that was the extent to which she displayed her displeasure.

"If all that's true," said Chika, sounding breathless, as though she had just run several miles, "what does that make _you?_ "

"Huh?" grunted Blake and Yang in unison.

"You said the Crimson Eyes faded over time," continued Chika, "but here you stand, exhibiting them naturally. You were _born_ with them, just as Kyo was. Your family has _always_ had the Crimson Eyes. That means your blood doesn't thin, no matter who you marry or how many generations pass. What does that make you? What are you? What is the Line of Kyo?"

To their surprise, Kyoichiro smiled, though it was a sad smile. "You have the pieces to answer that," he said softly. "I believe you can put them together yourself."

Chika's anger dissolved entirely into fear. The tip of her blade wavered, then lowered, then her sword dropped to the floor and she began to backpedal away from Kyoichiro. "No...Then that means that you are..."

"Yes," said Kyoichiro, his tone somber.

* * *

 _"That's...unbelievable," said Kyo, his eyes wide. The truth was devastating to hear. "Then we are just descendants of the True Mibu's artificial creations."_

 _"No," said the First Crimson King firmly. "_ They _are the descendants of those creations._ You _are something else, though not unrelated."_

 _"What do you mean?" asked Kyo._

 _"Don't you recall me saying that there was a single survivor of the True Mibu's extinction and that he spawned a family line of his own?" asked the King. "That line passed down until a child was born, a child who would eventually grow up to challenge the Mibu Clan's supremacy and save them from their own foolishness."_

 _"The first Kyo," said Kyo softly. "Then that means..."_

 _"Correct," said the King. "You and your father are the last living descendants of the True Mibu, the final remnant of our once-great people."_

 _Kyo gaped, unable to find the words to say. He wasn't even remotely sure of how he felt about this revelation. He lifted up his hands and stared at them._

 _"A great power sleeps within you," said the King. "It is a power you have yet to summon even the slightest hint of. It is power that could utterly change your world. You could, if you so desired, mold the world in your image. You could possess absolute power, complete mastery over life and death, just as the True Mibu of old once did."_

 _"If I_ did _embrace such power, what would become of me?" asked Kyo._

 _"What indeed," said the King. "There is no telling the consequences of unleashing your full, True Mibu strength in this day and age. You could have all that you desire. Every pleasure in the world would be yours to indulge. You would be free to shape things, to make the world safe from the forces that threaten it, even now."_

 _"You mean, I could destroy the Grimm, completely," said Kyo._

 _"You could," said the King. "To be one of the True Mibu is to have complete mastery over creation and destruction."_

 _Kyo stared at his hands again, trying to grasp the implications of this revelation. "It's too big," he said finally._

 _"What?" asked the King, raising an eyebrow._

 _"It's too big," repeated Kyo. "There's just too much. This power..."_

 _"Even though you could have anything you desire?" asked the King._

 _"What I desire..." said Kyo softly. "I already have what I desire." He lifted his head, his eyes meeting the King's and he smiled. "I have the strength that I have earned through my own sweat and blood, through the scars carved on my body, by both my friends and enemies. I have dear friends, with whom I have shared so much. I've seen just how beautiful this world can be, and I've experienced it, inch by inch, through each step of my feet. I even have someone who is now more precious to me than anything else, someone I met and bonded with, someone with whom I've shared my heart."_

 _The King sat upright, now watching Kyo attentively._

 _"And so, even though you say I could have anything my heart desires, that I have the power to create whatever I want, I have something that power ultimately_ can't _create," said Kyo. "I have experience, the experience of obtaining, and the sense of accomplishment that comes with it. And I feel that that is far more precious to me than any power of creation or destruction could be. I don't need the True Mibu's absolute power. I have the strength and the will to seize what I want with my own hands."_

 _The King stood up, shedding the children who clung to him like fruit falling from a tree. Slowly, he walked towards Kyo, until he was just a foot away, looming over Kyo. Slowly, his lips peeled back into a grin. Then he began to laugh, the sound low at first, then getting gradually louder, until it boomed through the air around them, making Kyo want to clap his hands to his ears._

 _"Very well, you pass!" said the King suddenly._

 _"Huh?" said Kyo, blinking in surprise._

 _"Confused?" asked the King, still grinning. "Your father once stood where you are, and his father before him. Originally, I appeared before the first Kyo to see if he could be entrusted with the future of the Mibu. At the time, I recognized him as the_ final _child of our Clan, the one who would not only serve as the culmination of the True Mibu, but the one who would finally consign our blood to oblivion. But, as the family line extended, it became a rite of passage for each child of the Line of Kyo to find their way here and be confronted with the truth of the Mibu Clan. Only then could that child truly be recognized as worthy to ascend to the Crimson Throne and be entrusted with the title of Crimson King."_

 _"So that's how it is," said Kyo. "But does that mean that Kyo was meant to be the end of the True Mibu?"_

 _"It does," said the King._

 _"Then why didn't our line end back then? Why does it persist?" wondered Kyo. "It continues on to this day, our blood never thinning, no matter who we marry or what blood we bring in."_

 _"That is a conscious decision of your ancestors, extending all the way down to your father," said the King. "They have chosen to continue this line, using their power to keep the True Mibu blood from being diluted, even as it is passed from one generation to the next."_

 _"Why?" asked Kyo._

 _"The Line of Kyo cannot be allowed to fade, because these is something yet undone," said the King. "This is not your responsibility as the last of the True Mibu, but the responsibility of those who are descendants of the first Kyo. At first, it was merely a promise to answer a challenge that has echoed throughout the ages. But now it has become a quest to rectify the Mibu Clan's, the current Mibu Clan's, final sin. For, at the peak of their power and the waning of their lives, the Mibu created a terrible weapon, one that was meant to solidify their hold over humanity, once and for all. However, in doing so, they unleashed an evil beyond their control, one that has hounded them through the ages, to this very day. Only when that evil is consigned to oblivion can the Line of Kyo be allowed to fade away."_

 _"What is that evil?" asked Kyo._

 _"You already know him," said the King. "Though you have yet to cross swords with him, you will. It is your destiny as the descendant of the first Demon Eyes Kyo. In time, he will seek you out, for you have what he most desires. And...you already know his name."_

 _Kyo swallowed. "That I do," he admitted._

 _"But that is for later," said the King. "You may not even face him yourself, if your father manages to defeat him. So do not dwell on it until it actually comes to pass. In the meantime, take solace in that I have decided to place my faith in you, like your father before you." The King lifted his right hand, pressing the index finger to Kyo's forehead. Light shined forth from it and Kyo felt his body grow hot. "So now, I bless you with the sign of your worth, which will appear once you have lived up to the promise that you have shown to me."_

 _"Thank you," said Kyo, bowing his head as the King withdrew his finger._

 _The King chuckled. "Oh how the times have changed," he said. "To think that you are descended from that surly child."_

 _"Surly child...?" Kyo blinked. "You mean the first Kyo?"_

 _The King nodded._

 _"What was he like?" asked Kyo._

 _"He was a selfish prick," said the King sharply, his tone, as well as his words, making Kyo jump. "He was prideful to a fault, refusing to heed my voice for the longest time. He was unfathomably stubborn, crass, and callous. He cared_ only _for the pursuit of strength."_

 _Kyo found himself staring, having a hard time imagining that he was descended from such a man._

 _But then the King smiled. "But...like you, he too found and obtained precious things. And...his conviction was second to none. When he set his sights on something, he pressed forward relentlessly, and allowed nothing to stand in his way." He focused his gaze on Kyo again. "The two of you couldn't be more different. And yet...you truly are of his blood. You also harbor that powerful conviction, that dauntless strength of will."_

 _"That's fine," said Kyo. "I don't need to be my ancestor."_

 _"A good answer," said the King. "Now it is time to return you."_

 _Kyo nodded._

 _"Before I send you back, I have one more thing to tell you," said the King._

 _"What?"_

 _"You have precious things you want to protect, and you wish to ease the lives of others," said the King. "I have always sensed your compassion, the strongest of any of your line that I have ever felt."_

 _"Thank you," said Kyo cheerfully._

 _"Do not thank me just yet," said the King. "That compassion can be dangerous. In fact, you could say that that compassion is what led the True Mibu to their doom in the first place."_

 _"What? Why?" Kyo stared uncomprehendingly at the towering man._

 _"As the progenitor of the True Mibu, I shared my absolute power with them," said the King, stooping down to scoop up one of the children still crowding around him and cradling her in his arms with incredible tenderness. "I did not care about us being gods. All that I wished for was that the children could lead lives of richness and contentment, free from strife and pain. That is all I desired. In the end, my compassion became the curse of my Clan, and led us to our destruction."_

 _He turned his gaze back to Kyo. "That is why you must be mindful of your own compassion. You will have to accept that there are those you can help and protect, and those that you cannot. If you try to protect everyone, you may well head back down the path that I once traveled. And this time, it won't be just the Mibu that suffer the consequences."_

 _"I...I understand...I think," said Kyo._

 _"That's good enough for now," said the King. He held his hand up to Kyo's face. "And now...I return you. Remember your conviction, and what you truly value in this world."_

 _Light flared forth from the King's hand, washing over Kyo and swallowing him up._

* * *

"Then you and Kyo really are the True Mibu?" gasped Blake, gazing in fear and awe at Kyoichiro.

"We are," he said with a nod.

"Does..." Yang's voice was weak, as though she were struggling to keep from fainting. "Does Kyo know?"

"He does not," said Kyoichiro. "Or...he _did_ not. If he has done what I expect of him, then it is likely that he knows of all that I told you now."

"How?" asked Yang. "You told him to ask his sword. How can a sword know about all of this?"

"Tenro was Muramasa's greatest masterpiece," said Kyoichiro. "When he forged it, he created much more than just a sword. Tenro became the vessel for the reincarnated soul of none other than the first and original Crimson King, the true progenitor of the Mibu Clan. It has become the tradition of our line that those born into the Line of Kyo must learn the truth from the sword, from the first King."

"Oh...well..." Yang blinked. "That explains a lot."

Silence fell over the room. No one seemed to be quite sure what to say. Blake could see Yang's eyes drift downward as she began to think deeply about the implications of what all this meant. Blake imagined that Yang had quite a lot to think about. _It must be hard to learn that your boyfriend is actually a god,_ she thought somewhat wryly.

"Then that means you could do it," said Chika, her voice barely a whisper, prompting everyone to look at her.

"Do what?" asked Sora.

"If the Crimson King is one of the True Mibu, then he has their absolute power," said Chika, raising her eyes to gaze on Kyoichiro. "If that's true, then there is no need for all the posturing, the bargaining, the compromises. We don't need to treat with the other Kingdoms. All we need is to declare our will and make them abide by it. We could rule humanity, just as we did before."

"I believe we have already shown where that path leads," said Kyoichiro, gesturing to the room around them. "It is the road to ruin."

"But we needn't worry anymore," said Chika quickly, her volume rising as she began to speak faster. "The Death Disease is just a memory. We have the strength, the prosperity, the power, and we are no longer checked by that flaw. We could be even greater than the Mibu Clan of old."

"No," said Kyoichiro.

"But...You have the power...Kyo has the power...you could-"

Chika's voice was cut off abruptly. Blake didn't even have time to wonder why, as she learned the answer to that question first hand. The Crimson King's Aura exploded around him, filling the room in an instant. Its force was crushing, all-consuming. Blake's arm dropped from around Yang's shoulders because, at that moment, Blake felt herself being crushed like an insect. Her breathing stopped, as though a vice had clamped itself around her neck. She fell to her hands and knees, tears streaming from her eyes. She felt wetness around her nose and ears, all four of them.

Yang snapped out of her thoughts, roused by the sudden explosion of Kyoichiro's Aura. Yang groaned and strained against the awesome force, marshaling all her strength to keep from being crushed. Her own eyes turned crimson, as Yang summoned every ounce of power she had. Looking over, Yang saw Blake, collapsed, and quickly wrapped her left arm around Blake's shoulders, pulling Blake up against her chest. Yang then held up her right arm, forged from her own Aura and channeled all her strength into it, projecting it out into a shield of sorts between her and Kyoichiro, trying her best to hold his Aura at bay.

Her efforts paid off, as Yang heard Blake take a sudden, shuddering breath and lift her head, streams of red leaking from her nose and ears, her eyes bloodshot. Blake clung desperately to Yang as Yang continued to use her Aura to shield them both. Their jaws dropped as they saw Kyoichiro.

Kyoichiro's Aura swirled around him like a hurricane. He seemed larger than before. However, the most startling change was in his eyes. No longer were they the Crimson Eyes they had become so familiar with. The pupils had shrunk down to tiny dots, while the shining red of the irises has expanded outward, completely filling his eyes, so that they blazed with the force of mighty suns, casting the rest of his body into shadow.

With a swish of fabric, Sora drifted in front of Yang and Blake, interposing herself between them and the Crimson King. The force of Kyoichiro's Aura vanished. Both Yang and Blake collapsed with tired gasps. Sora looked over her shoulder at them, and nodded with a small, apologetic smile.

At least they were faring better than Chika. Like Blake, she had fallen down on all-fours. Her head was bowed, her hair having come lose from its tail and cascading down her face. They could see droplets of blood spattering the floor beneath her head, making them realize that she was probably bleeding from her orifices as well.

Yang grit her teeth, checking to make sure that Blake was all right before standing up. She stepped out from behind Sora's protection, grimacing as Kyoichiro's Aura slammed into her once again. Sora's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to call out to Yang, but stopped herself as she watched Yang work her way across the room, thrusting her right arm in front of herself, using it to break her way through the nearly solid resistance of Kyoichiro's Aura, which only grew stronger as she neared its focus.

Reaching Chika, Yang found that her right arm was deforming, the Aura streaming out to form a hemispherical shield between her and Kyoichiro, as the force of his will crushed her Aura out of its shape. However, Yang strained and did not falter, sinking down to her knees beside Chika and using her Aura to shield them both as she wrapped her left arm around Chika as she had with Blake earlier.

Then Kyoichiro spoke. " **Yes,** " he said, his voice booming like thunder in the enclosed space, assaulting their ears and rattling their bodies. " **I could rule. I have the full measure of the True Mibu's power. I could go forth, crush the four Kingdoms, and bring them to heel. I could use my power to quell all conflict, destroy all opposition, and make the world safe for all. None would be able to stand in my way. I would usher in a golden age for all people everywhere...** "

Finally, Kyoichiro's Aura subsided. The pressure vanished. Yang nearly pitched forward, barely catching herself with her left hand as her right arm dissolved, the Aura scattering. Her eyes returned to their normal, lilac color. Gasping for breath, Yang forced herself up, mostly to to help steady Chika, as she too sat up. As Yang expected, Chika's ears and nose were bleeding, and tears of blood were streaming out from her eyes.

After making sure Chika was at least marginally okay, Yang turned her attention back to Kyoichiro. His Aura subsided, he seemed to shrink back down to his normal size, while his eyes had likewise returned to their normal form, still crimson in color, but now more closely resembling normal eyes, the Crimson Eyes she was used to.

"...and in doing so," said Kyoichiro, continuing his speech, "I would condemn _all_ to destruction."

"Why?" asked Yang, her voice hoarse and dry.

"There is a price to be paid for such power," said Kyoichiro. "The True Mibu paid that price with their destruction, which is why only Kyo and I remain. The True Mibu were ultimately victims of their own strength. If I indulge in that power, then I will likely suffer the same consequences, and I shall probably pull the rest of the world; the Mibu Clan, the Kingdoms, and everyone else; down into oblivion with me." He shook his head. "So I will not. Do you understand, Chika?"

Chika swallowed and nodded reluctantly. With Yang's help, she got back to her feet, though she was helping Yang as much as the other way around, seeing as Yang only had one arm to work with now.

"What was _that?_ " asked Yang.

"That was a portion of my true strength, the power inherent in the True Mibu blood," said Kyoichiro. "But even that is but a _portion_ of the True Mibu's capacity. I apologize to you, Xiao Long-dono, Belladonna-dono. It was most inconsiderate of me to do that with you in the vicinity and unprepared."

"It's okay," said Yang, still marveling at what they had just seen and experienced. She had thought Kyo's Aura seemed endless. But he was a crackling campfire to his father's roaring inferno. Kyoichiro's Aura was so colossal that it completely defied all logic of what should have been humanly possible.

 _But, then again, he isn't human, I guess,_ thought Yang, her heart shuddering as her mind reached the corollary to that realization, _which means...that Kyo isn't either, I guess._

Feeling Chika's eyes on her, Yang looked over and saw Chika staring at her. There was no reading the expression on the girl's face. However, after a moment, Chika closed her eyes and sighed in what sounded like resignation. She stooped, somewhat clumsily, to pick up her dropped sword and sheathed it. "It looks like I lose on all counts," she said, a trace of sadness in her voice before she headed for the door, pausing only to bow to Kyoichiro before continuing on. Neither he nor Sora made no move to follow her.

"What will you do?" asked Blake, leaning on Sora's arm, which was the only thing holding her upright. "Will you tell the rest of the Mibu?"

Chika stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder at Blake. "What would that do?" she asked. "That knowledge is no longer of any worth. I'm sorry I dragged you on such a fruitless venture." With that, she took her leave.

"I don't think it was fruitless," said Blake softly. She felt Sora's hand on her shoulder. Looking up, Blake saw Sora smiling down at her, which made Blake smile back.

"So now what?" asked Yang, leaning against a table to keep from falling over.

"That is up to you," said Sora. "We have decided to place our trust in you, and your judgment. It will be up to you whether to tell or not, as well as _who_ to tell." Still supporting Blake, Sora made her way over to Yang and offered Yang her free arm to lean on, which Yang took.

"You're putting an awful lot of trust in outsiders like us," said Blake. "Why?"

Sora escorted them towards the door. "To be honest, I don't really know. The excuse that you are my son's friends is wearing a bit thin, even for me. I suppose that something about you strikes me as truly trustworthy. From what I've heard, you've shouldered even greater burdens in the past."

Blake frowned. Granted, the burden of dealing with Salem had been a great one. But she wasn't sure where the burden of knowing such a massive secret about an entire people fell on that scale. All things considered, she thought Chika had taken learning the truth about the Mibu Clan rather well. If this secret got out, would the rest of the Mibu take it even half as well. What if the other Kingdoms learned of this? Telling the wrong people, or anyone at all for that matter, might cause untold chaos.

However, there was one other matter that dragged at her mind. "So...it's true," she said. "The Mibu have the power to raise the dead."

Yang froze in place, her sudden stop causing Sora and, by proxy, Blake, to halt as well. She whipped her head around to stare past Sora at Blake.

Kyoichiro let out a breath, seeming to sag under the weight of some unfathomable burden. "The Mibu _had_ the power to raise the dead," he said, careful to emphasize the past tense of the phrase.

"So it was lost?" asked Blake.

"The knowledge of the necromantic arts was consigned to oblivion, where it belongs," said Kyoichiro.

"But...as one of the True Mibu, you have that power too, don't you?" asked Blake.

"Technically, yes," admitted Kyoichiro. "Resurrection is within my capabilities as one of the True Mibu. I do not have the knowledge to utilize that power, but I imagine that I could rediscover how to use it, if I experimented."

Yang's head whipped back and forth between the Crimson King and Blake, her eyes wide, the implications of this truth beginning to sink in. "So you could bring back-"

"No." Kyoichiro's response was not angry or curt, but firm and sad...and tired. Both Yang and Blake stopped, the faint hope that had been stirring in their hearts dashed. Kyoichiro sighed. "I am sorry," he said. "I don't know all the details regarding who you have lost...a dear friend perhaps."

Yang and Blake shared a glance. The subject of Pyrrha had not yet come up in any of their conversations with Sora or the King, but it was easy enough to divine their intent.

"Let me pose you a question," said Kyoichiro. "Would it be fair if I raised this person for you?"

"Well..." said Yang uncertainly.

"What of the countless people throughout the world who have lost friends or loved ones?" continued Kyoichiro. "Should I raise those people as well, just to be fair?"

"Maybe you could," said Blake. It would be a huge undertaking, but...

"And where do we go from there?" asked Kyoichiro. "Should I look to raise all who have died, from causes natural or otherwise? Does that mean I should resurrect even criminals...or the very enemies you once defeated?"

"Uh...well...not them," said Yang.

Kyoichiro frowned sternly at them. "Even criminals, and those who have done terrible evil, have friends and loved ones, people who will mourn their passing. Would you deny those people the chance to have their loved ones back?"

Yang and Blake looked down at the floor. Right now, they were thinking of a very particular criminal. Roman Torchwick had been an unrepentant scumbag, helping Cinder orchestrate the Fall of Beacon, resulting in the deaths of countless people, laughing all the while. He was not missed by anyone...save one of their number. To Neo, Roman had practically been a father. If they followed this line of logic, they would have to explain to Neo why Roman _shouldn't_ be brought back.

"Of course," continued Kyoichiro, "justice can be considered quite subjective. There have been many who have committed grave crimes simply out of sheer need, often for the sake of their survival. Sometimes such actions cost them their lives. Perhaps I should review their cases and determine if they are worth bringing back."

"That..." At first, Blake thought it made sense, but then she began to clue in to what Kyoichiro was really saying.

"Yes," said Kyoichiro, seeing the dawning realization on her face. "That would result in me becoming the arbiter over life and death, the one who chooses who lives or dies. Perhaps such decisions could be delegated to others, but any action would have to be undertaken by me, my power, which would give me the final say. And so...I would be well along to the path of godhood, which, as I have already explained, would ultimately lead to destruction."

Kyoichiro walked to one of the tables and ran a hand across its surface. "And so, I must choose to abstain from using this power entirely. I realize that you are sorrowed by the ones you have lost. I understand that. I too have lost dear friends in my time. Refusing to use this power means that I do not bring _them_ back either." He looked up at them once more. "Both the True Mibu and the Mibu Clan that succeeded them learned the hard way that life and death must not be toyed with, even for the most benevolent of reasons. I choose to abide by that age-old wisdom and not repeat their mistakes."

"I'm sorry," said Blake lowering her head.

Kyoichiro came up to her and placed gentle fingers under her chin to lift her face so that she could look at him. "Do not be sorry," he said. "I understand your feelings. It is only natural to want the ones that you have lost back. It is something that we all wish for. But some things are not meant to be done."

"Thank you for being honest with us," said Blake. Yang nodded her agreement.

Kyoichiro smiled fondly at them. "My son is rich in friends, if he has you and the others with him. It is _I_ who must thank _you_. Come, I suspect we are being missed up above."

With that, Sora led them out, still supporting both Yang and Blake, while Kyoichiro followed them. They made their way through the field of graves, surrounded by flowers formed from clouds, which seemed to stretch on forever. Looking at the graves, Blake realized that this place was truly beautiful, in a somber way. It had clearly taken great care and kindness to fashion so much for the lives of people born solely to be experimented on.

* * *

Kyo's eyes opened slowly, and he found himself back in his room. Blinking, he looked down at his sword, which still rested across his lap. It looked no different. But, through his hand, he could feel it brimming with power. He realized now that he had only scratched the surface of Tenro's strength. Now that he had truly connected with his sword, he could command its full power.

"Ahem." An angry-sounding cough drew his attention to the doorway, where Kyo was surprised to see Saisei, sitting there, arms folded, her tail lashing angrily behind her.

"Oh...hello," said Kyo before yelping and ducking beneath the furious swipe of her tail.

"Hello?" demanded Saisei, shooting to her feet and glaring at Kyo. "That's all you have to say after scaring us all half to death by pulling that stunt? I should pound you into a pulp and toss you into the volcano for putting me through that!"

Kyo sheathed Tenro and got on his knees, bowing profusely to Saisei, touching his head to the floor. "I'm very sorry for distressing you and the others. I needed to commune with Tenro."

He heard Saisei sigh, and carefully lifted his head. She looked resigned now, resting her hands on her hips, slowly shaking her head back and forth. "I suppose there's no helping it," she said irritably.

Kyo sat back up and opened his mouth to talk, but lost his voice as Saisei threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. "You scared me, you idiot," she whispered into his ear.

"I'm sorry," repeated Kyo, returning the embrace.

"It's all right," said Saisei. "I'm just glad to have you back."

Kyo smiled, but his smile faltered as Saisei's embrace tightened...considerably...until his bones began to groan, and his joints ground together. Saisei might have looked like a tiny slip of a girl, but, when she wished, she could exert truly bone-crushing strength. Kyo's mouth opened, a strangled squawk escaping as Saisei seemed about to squeeze his innards out through his mouth.

"If you ever do something like that again, I _will_ kill you," said Saisei, her voice a low growl.

"U-understood, Saisei...sama," croaked Kyo, fighting for breath.

Finally, Saisei took mercy on him and released him. Kyo collapsed to the floor again, gasping for breath, his body aching.

"Now then," said Saisei, looking at him sternly. "You'd best tell me what this was all about."


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42:**

"Thanks for helping us out," said Yang, settling onto a bench and leaning back against the wall. Blake joined her a minute later.

It hadn't occurred to them when they had been going down, but going back up all those stairs, especially after the ordeal they had been through, had probably been the worst part of the day. Both Yang and Blake were recovering from nearly being crushed by the force of Kyoichiro's Aura. Yang had expended almost all her Aura protecting Blake, and then Chika, from the incredible power. Frankly, she was amazed that she could stand at all, with or without Sora's help.

"Rest a little," said Sora. "I'll take you back to your rooms when you're ready."

"Okay..." Blake's eyes drifted closed and she actually leaned against Sora, drifting off. Sora smiled and gently moved Blake so that her head was lying on Sora's lap. Untying Blake's ribbon, Sora began to gently stroke Blake's ears, making Blake purr softly in her sleep.

Yang smiled at the sight. She had to admit that Sora knew how to make the atmosphere easy and relaxing, which felt good after what they had been through. Looking up, she saw Kyoichiro smile and nod at her, before turning and setting off down the hall in another direction. Sighing, Yang leaned back against the wall again. Her impulse was to cross her arms, but was reminded that she didn't have enough Aura left to form her right arm, so she had to settle with resting her left arm on her lap.

"I can move you to the other side and you can rest too," said Sora, gesturing to her lap.

"Thanks," said Yang, "but no thanks." Not that Sora's invitation wasn't tempting, but at the moment, Yang's mind was too busy to allow her to sleep. The implications of what it meant to be descended from the Mibu rattled around her head repeatedly. She still had a hard time believing it, believing that she was descended from a race of artificial constructs. If that was the case, was she even a real person?

Sora leaned back against the wall, her eyes drifting towards the ceiling, even as her hand continued to gently caress Blake's ears. "You know," she said, somewhat off-handedly, "it really is an amazing thing to learn."

"Yeah," said Yang, remembering that, as a former outsider herself, Sora would have had to wrestle with this at some point. "I don't know...what to think, honestly."

"I can understand that," said Sora. "It must be especially hard for you, as you are of Mibu descent yourself."

Yang nodded slowly.

Sora was silent for a moment. "When I think about it, the Mibu Clan, the current one, the one you're descended from, are both the True Mibu's greatest sin and their greatest triumph."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang, turning her eyes to Sora.

Sora's smile faded. "To start with, their very existence is a demonstration of the worst excesses of the True Mibu, creating and toying with life solely for their amusement, then left behind with what would become a crippling defect. With the power that the True Mibu had, such a defect could have probably been easily rectified, or avoided in the first place. What that means is that they simply did not care about their fighting puppets beyond their immediate use. They were never meant to last beyond that, and become a people of their own."

Yang's throat bobbed and she fought the urge to retch, glad that she'd actually skipped breakfast today.

Then Sora's smile returned. "But, at the same time, they are the True Mibu's greatest triumph, albeit an unintentional one."

"Why?" asked Yang.

"Because they advanced," said Sora. "They overcame the limitations their creators had placed upon them, both intentional and not, and then grew and thrived where their creators succumbed to extinction. They rose above the circumstances of their creation. They may have begun as a race of artificial constructs, but there is no denying that they are a real people, with true souls and lives of their own." Sora raised the hand she wasn't using to stroke Blake's ears to Yang's cheek, gently rubbing it with her thumb. "You are _real_ , Yang Xiao Long. You are not any less of a person because of the dubious origin of your ancestors, and I know that my son will never think any less of you because of it."

Yang sniffed and leaned into Sora's touch. It was gentle, motherly, a feeling Yang had missed for the longest time. "Thank you," she said. When she thought about it, she was probably silly for worrying about that. After all, she and her friends had accepted Penny as a real person, and Penny had been an android until recently. If they could accept her as real, then Yang knew she shouldn't have any trouble accepting herself.

Of course, there was the other issue that had come up, one that was much harder for her to wrestle with. The realization that Kyo was one of the True Mibu, that he possessed godlike power, made her shudder. Yang wasn't sure whether or not it was a shudder of fear. There were times that Kyo had seemed genuinely fearsome, in the midst of battle, his Aura swirling around him, sword in hand, almost maddened grin on his face as he clashed with a powerful opponent. But Yang had never truly been afraid of him. But that was before she had realized that he was pretty much a god.

That meant that Kyo had the same power that Kyoichiro had ascribed to himself, the power to create or destroy at will, maybe even the power to revive the dead, if he put his mind to it. Yang briefly entertained the thought of seeing if she could convince him to do what his father had refused to, before mentally kicking herself for it. It was wrong to leverage her relationship with Kyo to get him to do something like that, especially when his father had painted such a stark picture as to why it was so wrong to begin with.

The real question that bothered her was whether or not she could continue to have that relationship with him. Yang had thought she loved him, but now she wondered if she could continue to do so, knowing what she knew now. She wasn't certain she'd ever be able to look at Kyo the same way again. Did she still love him?

Yang looked up at Sora again. "What was it like, when you found out about your husband?" she asked.

"You mean when I learned about his heritage as one of the True Mibu?" asked Sora.

Yang nodded silently.

"I see," said Sora, immediately grasping why Yang would ask her such a question. Sora turned her eyes down to Blake for a moment. "We weren't married yet, when I learned about it. Back then, he was still Kyo, and his father resided on the Crimson Throne as Kyoichiro. We had traveled together for several years by that point. I was well and truly in love with him and he returned my feelings. There were times when we talked about the future together, what it would be like to be married, to have a child, to live amongst the Mibu.

"He learned it from Tenro one day, succeeding in connecting with his sword on the deeper level needed to meet with the spirit of the First Crimson King. I wasn't there at the time that it happened. When I saw him again he had become...distant."

"Did he suddenly think he was too good for you?" asked Yang.

Sora frowned darkly at Yang, the first display of anger she had openly shown, an expression that immediately made Yang's stomach drop within her and made her regret even thinking that.

"Never," said Sora firmly. She turned her eyes to stare across the hall. "Rather, it was as though he had become afraid of himself, afraid that _I_ would be afraid of him, if I knew what he really was, afraid to tell me because of how critical a secret it was, yet afraid to keep a secret from me because of how much we trusted one another." Her smile returned and she favored Yang with it, making Yang relax again. "I'll admit, I did begin to question our relationship then, but only because I didn't know why the man I loved was suddenly keeping his distance from me.

"It was Kyo's, my Kyo's, father who brought the issue to a head. He decided to take matters into his own hands, taking me and Kyo down to see the remnants of the Mibu Reconstruction Project for ourselves, just as my husband and I did for you today. It was there that I learned the truth about Kyo and the True Mibu.

"When I heard it, I understood Kyo's worry, because I immediately found myself doubting whether or not I could see him in the same light, the light that made me fall in love with him in the first place. I wasn't sure whether I could truly commit to a relationship with a god, even if he chose not to see himself as one."

"What did you do?" asked Yang.

Sora chuckled. "I went through my memories and examined the things about my Kyo that had made me fall in love with him in the first place. I looked for them and I realized that learning about his heritage hadn't made those things go away. They were still there, and I realized that he was still the Kyo I knew. He was still the Kyo that I loved."

"Oh," said Yang, her mouth hanging open a little.

Sora smiled. "That being the case, I resolved myself to become someone who could stand by Kyo, someone who would accept him for who he truly was, who could stand with him through every trial and remind him that, god or not, True Mibu or not, he was still Kyo, my Kyo. Does that answer your question?"

Yang nodded wordlessly.

Sora cupped her cheek again, stroking it with her thumb. "You are a kind girl, with a loving heart, Xiao Long-dono. I doubt my son would ever find anyone better than you."

"I doubt that," said Yang, pulling away from Sora's touch slightly, still smarting from her earlier selfishness in contemplating trying to manipulate Kyo to revive Pyrrha.

Sora's smile did not falter. She reached around Yang's shoulder and leaned her over, placing her head close enough that Sora could kiss the top of it. "Don't hate yourself for being selfish at times," said Sora. "It's only natural...only human. I too, when I learned the truth about the Line of Kyo, imagined convincing Kyo to resurrect my family and friends, who perished when our village was attacked, just before Kyo found us. Like you, I posed the question to his father, and he laid out the reasons why they couldn't, the same ones that my husband explained to you today." Sora rested her forehead against Yang's. "That does not change the fact that you are a wonderful person, don't ever doubt that."

"Thank you," said Yang, leaning into Sora's touch.

"Good, now rest a little while longer, until you feel like you can make the walk back," said Sora, once again turning her attention to the sleeping Blake. "I think I'd best just carry her, and put her to bed when we reach your quarters. I would hate to disturb her now."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," said Yang also watching Blake and listening to her purr with a fond smile.

* * *

"So...that's what happened," said Saisei, frowning as she leaned back against the wall of Kyo's room. "I never imagined that Tenro held such a tremendous secret. So, you spoke with the First Crimson King."

"I did," said Kyo.

"And what did he say?" asked Saisei.

"That...I can't tell you," said Kyo, lowering his eyes. "At least...I have to think a great deal before I do."

Saisei frowned. "Kyo..." she said in a warning tone.

To her surprise, Kyo didn't try to placate her or back down in any fashion. "No," he said firmly. "I need to think about whether or not I tell you about this, and I might not. I need you to abide by that decision, if that's what I decide."

Saisei blinked, her expression softening slightly. "Why?"

"It's...it's a terrible secret," said Kyo. "With anyone else, I wouldn't hesitate to keep it to myself. The only reason that I would consider telling you of all people is that you are practically a sister to me. But I'm still not sure whether or not that would make it a good thing for you to know this."

Saisei let out a resigned sigh. "Fine then," she said. "Whatever this is, it must be a truly incredible secret."

"It is," said Kyo. "And I need to talk with Yang when she returns."

"Oh..." said Saisei, a wry smile appearing on her face. "You won't tell your big sister, but you'll tell your girlfriend, huh?"

Kyo reeled back, holding his hands up in front of him with a panicked look on his face. "Uh...well...it's just that..."

Saisei giggled. "I'm teasing," she said. "Of course you'd tell Yang-san. Helping her learn the truth of her heritage was the main reason you brought her here in the first place. I get the feeling that it's different for her as, while she is of Mibu descent, she is not a member of the Clan."

"And it could be that she already knows," said Kyo. "Tou-san and O-Kaa-san borrowed her this morning to talk to her about her questions. More likely, the two of us will have to talk about where this knowledge makes us stand with each other."

"It's that important?" asked Saisei.

"It's the kind of secret that may change the way she sees me," said Kyo, "and not for the better."

Saisei moved over to Kyo and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a truly sisterly hug. "Yang-san is not such a shallow girl that her love for you would be lost that easily. Have faith in her."

"Thank you," said Kyo, leaning into and returning the embrace.

"Good," said Saisei, releasing him and getting up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go reassure your friends that everything is all right."

"Thank you for looking after them," said Kyo.

"Well it can't be helped," said Saisei. "After all, they're the kind of people that grow on you. I can't help but see them as _my_ friends too now."

Kyo nodded and Saisei left. Kyo sat alone in his room and stared at the wall, his heartbeat picking up pace as he wondered how Yang was taking all of this...and if she thought of him any differently now.

* * *

Yang wasn't sure where to begin, when it came to reconciling her feelings for Kyo with what she knew about him now. She'd been thinking about it as she and Sora made their way back to the guest quarters. Sora cradled a still-sleeping Blake in her arms, even as she allowed Yang to lean against her as they walked.

Ultimately, Yang decided to examine her feelings about Kyo, looking at the things that had drawn her to him in the first place. He was kind, polite, and friendly, that much was for sure. It made him likable, but that wasn't what had made her come to love him. It was a variety of things: the way he talked about faraway places and people with such passion, that it made Yang want to go with him and see them for herself; that awkward laugh of his; even that grin of his, whenever he was fighting against a truly strong opponent. There wasn't just one thing or even a few big things, but many tiny things, small tendencies and mannerisms that had endeared him to her as she had come to know him. That was the Kyo she had fallen in love with. Even knowing the truth about him, Yang realized that those things were what made Kyo _Kyo_ , not some deep, dark secret about his bloodline.

"We're here," said Sora, interrupting Yang's train of thought.

Yang blinked and looked up, seeing that they were indeed at the guest quarters.

"Can you make it on your own from here?" asked Sora. "I'll put Belladonna-dono to bed."

"Yeah, I'll be fine," said Yang.

The area felt quiet and empty. Yang saw no signs of anyone else as she made her way to the door, not of her room, but Kyo's. She slid the door open without knocking, not surprised to see Kyo sitting there. His head snapped up, his eyes meeting hers immediately. Yang's stomach roiled when she saw a spark of fear there.

Yang closed the door behind herself and, with a little bit of awkwardness because of her tiredness and the fact she was short one arm at the moment, sat down on the floor next to him.

"So...I'm guessing you found out," said Yang.

"As did you," said Kyo. Hesitantly, he turned to look at her, seeming afraid of what he might see on her face when he did. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused," admitted Yang. "It's a lot to take in, both about myself and you. I had wondered what it was about me and Mom, but I never imagined that it was something like this. Also...tired." She smiled ruefully at him. "That's your Dad's fault, by the way."

"What did he do?" asked Kyo.

Yang related the story of what had happened down below and how Kyoichiro had all but crushed Chika with the force of his Aura alone, leaving out the part where he had nearly accidentally killed Blake in the process.

"I'm sorry about that," said Kyo.

"Not your fault," said Yang. She reached for his hand and took it in hers. "None of this was your fault."

"Yang..." said Kyo, returning her grip and squeezing it tightly.

"I know about you too," she said. "I know about the True Mibu, what they did and who you are."

"And...?" prompted Kyo.

Yang kissed him. "And, as far as I'm concerned, you're still you," she said as she pulled back. "That's all that really matters to me."

Kyo abruptly surged forward and hugged her tightly. "Thank you," he said.

Yang hugged him back as best she could with her left arm. They stood up together and Yang held him as tightly as she could around the shoulders, while Kyo wrapped his right arm around her back. As their kiss intensified, he brought his left up to gently palm her stump, the touch sending tingles running up to her shoulder and then down her spine.

"Kyo," said Yang, her voice a husky whisper.

"Yes?" he said pulling back.

"I'm tired," she said, prompting a laugh from him. "Do you mind if I sleep for a little while."

"Of course," said Kyo. "I'll walk you back to your room."

"No," said Yang, smiling teasingly as she leaned into his embrace. "I'll sleep right here."

She felt Kyo's throat move in a swallow. "All right," he said.

Yang stripped off her clothes and crawled into Kyo's bed. Laying her head down on the pillow, she heard the rustle of fabric as Kyo shed his own garments and crawled in behind her, wrapping his arms around her front and pulling her against him. Yang let out a happy sigh and allowed her eyes to drift closed.

* * *

Chika rested on her knees, her head bowed as she tried to clear her mind of what had just passed this day. She had learned a terrible secret about the Mibu Clan and their origins. She had learned a horrifying truth about the Line of Kyo, something that would haunt her to the end of her days. To make matters worse, she knew she could not breathe a word of this to another living soul. To do so would probably unravel the Mibu Clan and destroy everything they had built up until this moment.

A part of her scolded herself for her absurd weakness. She had seen Yang Xiao Long, the girl who had so boldly claimed to be Kyo's girlfriend, take the same truths. While she had been rattled by them, Yang had ultimately stood firm, and even acted to protect Chika from the power of the Crimson King's Aura. For an aspirant to the rank of one of the Goyosei, to need the protection of an outsider was disgraceful.

 _If she makes Kyo happy, then who am I to complain?_ thought Chika glumly.

Back when she had first met Kyo, Chika had found herself unsettled by his Crimson Eyes, and the air of power that seemed to gather around him. It had made her nervous. And someone who trained in the martial arts as thoroughly as she had did not like being nervous. For reasons she still couldn't identify, Kyo's very existence had felt like a blade inches away from her neck.

So she had banded together with those of like mind. They didn't dare try to kill the child of the Crimson King. But, at the very least, if they could beat him down, then they could prove that they had nothing to fear from him. However, Kyo was quick to give them something to _truly_ fear as he stood firm against their attacks, and beat _them_ down instead. That loss had been a severe blow to Chika's pride. But it was also something of a wakeup call. She had attacked with nearly a dozen other like-minded people, and had been crushed by a single boy, who had neither tried to run nor hide nor complain about their underhanded tactic of ganging up on him.

Most of Chika's allies hadn't seen it that way. Instead, most of them only became more determined to bring Kyo down, and their tactics began to shift from simply brutal to lethal. Instead of wooden weapons, real, steel blades were taken up, and they attacked to kill.

But Kyo stood strong against them all the same. Though he took wounds, he did not flinch. Though they came at him again and again, he never faltered, never showed any sign of despair, but stood firm and wielded his own sword in defiance of their hatred.

And Chika, shoring up her resolve, challenged him alone.

Kyo beat her, of course. However, there was something more satisfying about fighting on your own, even if you lost. Chika felt a sense of accomplishment that she had been able to do what most could not and had fought against Kyo, one on one. As soon as she recovered and went through more training, she had challenged him again...and again...and again...

She lost every time. The gap between her and Kyo never seemed to shrink. No matter what new skills she acquired or strength she obtained, Kyo grew just as, if not more, quickly. However, striving against him had results that Chika hadn't expected. She began to pull away from her fellow students, distinguishing herself through the rate of her growth and the development of her skills. Her fights against Kyo spurred her to improve all the more quickly.

She hadn't been the only one to discover this. At least three others had come to much the same conclusions she had, challenging Kyo singly to prove their own determination to themselves and finding themselves striving against him again and again. While triumph against Kyo himself always seemed just as impossible as always, they had discovered that their continued fights against him had borne fruit in their regular training.

As such, their feelings for Kyo had changed, going from disgust and anger to appreciation and admiration. His power, rather than something to loathe, became something to aspire to. Ultimately, their determination, their efforts to chase after Kyo had borne them the ultimate fruit. Keikoku, Chinmei, and Shinrei had joined the ranks of the Goyosei and Chika was already considered an informal member.

And Chika's feelings of admiration had changed into something else. After Kyo had started traveling abroad, when he returned, he had been somewhat different, more cheerful, kind, and warm. Chika's heart began to beat faster whenever she spoke to him. She found herself smiling whenever they crossed blades, not the excited smile of battle fever, but a happy smile that came from interacting with someone she had come to cherish. Before long, Chika had come to realize the reason for this. She had fallen for Kyo.

Which made it all the more jarring when Kyo had returned from his travels a few days ago, bringing with him a girl who clung to him and declared herself his girlfriend, a fact that Kyo himself affirmed. It galled Chika to think that this weak, blonde outsider dared to cling to _her_ Kyo and lay claim to him. There was no way such a girl was worthy of Kyo's affection.

But today, Chika had seen the core of Yang Xiao Long's strength. Yang had stood firm against the Crimson King's unleashed Aura, which had driven Chika to her knees, and almost crushed the life from her body. Yang Xiao Long, who had no reason to care about Chika whatsoever, and even consider her a rival or threat to Kyo's affections, had gone out of her way to protect and support Chika. Seeing that, Chika had come to realize that she had lost.

It didn't help that learning the truth of the Mibu Reconstruction Project had turned out to be a bane, rather than a boon. Chika found herself cursing the day she had learned the project's name.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by the sharp rap of knuckles against the door of her room. "Come in," she said, looking up.

The door opened and Chika stiffened visibly as she saw the graceful regal figure of Sora sweep in, sliding the door shut. "Sora-sama," she said, lowering her head to the floor in a bow. "Have you come to punish me for my impudence?"

"You know that I haven't," said Sora, her tone serious, but not angry. "I hope you can acknowledge what you have learned today, and use it to mature so that you might better serve the Clan as one of the Goyosei."

"Then what?" asked Chika, raising her head.

Sora lowered herself to sit on her knees in front of Chika, their eyes meeting. "I came to ask you one thing," said Sora. "Where did you first hear of the Mibu Reconstruction Project?"

Chika lowered her head again, this time only bending her neck. "I was told about it."

"By whom?" asked Sora.

Chika swallowed. "I don't know her name," she admitted. "I know she wore black hair...and was clad in red. Her face was hidden by a white mask, and she carried some kind of strange, outsider weapon."

Sora's eyes narrowed sharply. "Where and when did you meet her?"

"Three weeks ago," said Chika. "I encountered her in the city. She called out to me from an alley and told me that, if I wanted to lead the Mibu to true greatness, I had to learn the truth of the Mibu Reconstruction Project and finish it."

"Where did she go?" asked Sora.

"She turned around and drew her sword," said Chika. "Then it was as though she cut a path through space itself. This red and black portal opened up, and she walked into it and disappeared."

Sora raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And on the basis of the words of this less-than-trustworthy sounding woman, you decided to research one of the darkest periods of our history."

"I was merely curious at first," said Chika. "I had no reason to believe that the project was anything that she had promised it would be. But...the more I looked into it, the stranger I found it that it was hardly mentioned at all. So I looked into the Mibu Clan's history around the time that the project was being conducted, and learned about many of the things the ancient Mibu were capable of."

"I see," said Sora.

"I'm sorry," said Chika. "I've caused you so much trouble, and have shown such disdain and disrespect. I'm no longer worthy to become a Goyosei." She lowered her head again.

A gentle hand came to rest atop her head, lightly rubbing it in an affectionate gesture. "I disagree," said Sora. "Mistakes are an important part of your growth. You have grown considerably this day, and I think the day that Taihaku grants his title to you is not far off."

Chika looked up and saw that Sora was smiling at her. Sora leaned over and kissed Chika's forehead. "What you truly need to learn is that strength is not what makes a Goyosei. The most important thing you saw today was not in that room, but right outside of it."

"The graves," said Chika.

"It is a sad sight," said Sora. "Looking at them, you can see the scope of the atrocity that was the Mibu Reconstruction Project. However, what you also see is the overwhelming compassion of the woman who crafted those graves, who dedicated herself to building and protecting that memorial to the lives lost. To others, including Hishigi, they were little more than discarded trash. But Shihodo chose to protect the memory of each and every one of them. Accounts say that she remembered every single person she fashioned a grave for."

Chika's mind drifted back to that vista, which she had been all too happy to ignore in the excitement of the realization of her goals. She remembered the scope of it, the feeling of sadness and loss, but also the feeling of peace that had suffused that field of cloud flowers.

"That strength, to face the loss of so many, that compassion, to treasure their memory for their sake alone, that is what it means to be a true protector of the Clan," said Sora. "That is the ideal you must hold in your heart as one of the Goyosei. You will be charged with protecting our people. You have the strength to do so. But you must also have the compassion to care for them from the bottom of your heart."

Chika nodded. "Thank you for your counsel, Sora-sama."

"I look forward to your future," said Sora, standing up. She headed for the door and stopped just shy of opening it, before looking over her shoulder. "Although it didn't work out the way you wanted between you and Kyo, I would have approved of the two of you."

A tear spilled out of Chika's eyes as she bowed to Sora one last time, before the Elder took her leave. "Thank you," she whispered softly.

* * *

Yang, Kyo, and Blake awoke in the afternoon when their empty bellies roused them, reminding them that they had skipped not one, but two meals. By that time, their friends had returned after being evacuated so suddenly. At Saisei's urging, they hadn't disturbed the two slumbering lovers. Weiss and Jaune had needed to physically restrain Ruby from using her scroll to snap pictures of the pair in bed together.

Instead, they had occupied themselves in whatever ways they could. None of them felt the urge to stray far, the strange events of the morning sticking in their minds, making them want answers as soon as possible. Saisei had said little about what Kyo had told her, instead leaving the explanation of the matter to Kyo, when he woke up.

They took a late lunch at the pavilion, where they were joined by their friends, who arranged themselves around the table and waited to hear what had transpired that morning.

"What happened, Yang?" asked Ruby anxiously. She had noticed Yang and Blake trading questioning looks with Kyo, who also seemed rather uncertain about what the should and should not say.

"Well...I got my questions answered," said Yang as she moved her plate to the side. It had taken a little bit of getting used to to eat with one arm again, as she still felt she didn't have enough Aura to recreate her left arm at the moment, even after her nap.

"And...?" prompted Ruby.

"We're not sure what we should and shouldn't say," said Blake. "It turns out that it was a very important secret. It's not the sort of thing we should risk talking about freely."

The others frowned, clearly unhappy with this sense of mistrust. Aside RWBY and JNNR; Nigel, Hayate, Penny, and Saisei were there as well. Hayate's expression was neutral, while Nigel didn't seem to care about anything being said. Saisei held her tongue as well, looking surprisingly calm. Penny simply watched Ruby with concern.

"Just how bad is it?" asked Jaune.

"It's very serious," said Blake. "It's the kind of secret that could throw the Mibu Clan into an uproar and then some."

"What do you think, Kyo?" asked Yang, looking over at Kyo who was staring down at his own empty plate pensively. He didn't even seem to hear Yang's words, so deep in thought he was. "Kyo...?"

Kyo flinched, blinking in surprise before looking up at her. "What?"

"Should we tell them?" asked Yang.

"Oh..." Kyo frowned and looked down at his plate again. "In all honesty...I think...yes. We should tell them."

"Are you sure?" asked Blake.

"Well, I don't think it's fair or right to keep this kind of secret of them," said Kyo, looking around the table. "Saisei-and now Penny-aside, the rest of you may not be Mibu, but you aren't uninvolved."

"So what is this secret that is so important?" asked Ren.

"Just a moment," said Kyo, closing his eyes, Extending his senses to make absolutely sure there were no potential eavesdroppers in the vicinity. Only when he was sure that no one would overhear them did he begin to speak.

He told them about the history of the Mibu, the True Mibu, before elaborating on their creation of the fighting puppets, and the fighting puppets evolving to become the new Mibu Clan after their creators' extinction, before concluding with the revelation that he and his father were the sole remaining descendants of the True Mibu.

After he finished, silence reigned over the table. No one seemed sure of what to say.

Finally, it was Ruby who broke that silence. "I don't know about you Yang, but we're not telling Dad about this...ever."

Yang burst into laughter, nearly falling over the table. "You're right about that," she said, once she recovered. "I can't even begin to think about how he'd handle that."

"Well, I'm glad to see that at least _you_ are handling this well," said Weiss curtly.

"What's wrong?" asked Ruby.

"Don't you realize how serious this is?" asked Weiss.

"Well, I mean it would be pretty crazy for the Mibu to deal with," said Jaune, looking at Saisei, who had clearly been rattled by the revelation, and still seemed to be thinking about the implications.

"Not that!" said Weiss. "That isn't so bad. Penny is proof that even artificial beings can have souls of their own."

"Thank you," said Penny, beaming.

"The problem is the information about Kyo and his father," said Weiss.

"You have a problem with that?" asked Yang defensively.

Flinching back at the low growl that had undercut Yang's voice, Weiss coughed. "N-not in and of itself," she said. "The thing I'm worried about is that's the one piece of information we can absolutely _never_ let slip."

"You think so?" asked Nora.

Weiss nodded. "Especially with what's coming next week," she said.

"You mean the Opening?" said Saisei.

Weiss nodded again. "Above all else, we can't let that knowledge reach anyone from the four Kingdoms, especially not anyone on the Councils. If they learned that two people who, for all intents and purposes, are practically gods were here, you can bet there would be trouble."

"They probably wouldn't even believe it," muttered Jaune skeptically. From her place beside Saisei, Neo nodded in agreement. "I'm _still_ having trouble believing it."

"You should've been there when Kyo's dad Projected his Aura," said Blake glumly. "You wouldn't have much trouble believing it then."

"That's an experience we could probably do without," said Ren carefully, while the others nodded.

"We can't take the chance of them not believing it," said Weiss firmly, "especially not when it comes to Ironwood. He's paranoid enough for a hundred people right now. We don't need to go around giving him more fuel for that."

"He would probably declare war on us on the spot," said Kyo ruefully.

"That's true," agreed Blake. "And he'd probably be able to convince at least one or two of the other Kingdoms to ally with him. If that happens..."

"That would be bad," said Ren.

"Well, the Mibu would win," said Nigel, as though that were an ordinary fact.

Heads swiveled, looking to Saisei, who frowned and shrugged. "In terms of military power, yes, we could easily defeat the forces of any Kingdom or Kingdoms, particularly if we're fighting on our home ground. But the consequences..."

"Most likely the other Kingdoms, assuming they sat the conflict out, wouldn't take it kindly," said Hayate. "Sora's hope of establishing the Mibu Clan as equal to the other Kingdoms would probably be dashed. No one would want to interact with the Mibu after that."

"Yeah...when you put it like that, letting Kyo's secret get out would pretty much ruin everything," said Ruby.

"So we definitely will _not_ speak of it unless _absolutely_ necessary, and _especially_ not where someone might overhear us," said Weiss in a firm, commanding tone.

"That is certainly a wise choice," said Sora, coming up behind Yang and her son, making nearly everyone at the table jump, even Saisei. All eyes went to Kyo's mother, who rested her hands on her son's shoulders. Behind her stood Kyoichiro, smiling indulgently.

"I hope you have room for two more," he said cheerfully.

"It's fine," said Yang as she and Kyo scooted over and Saisei got up to quickly fetch two more chairs for them.

"So...I see that you've all taken the truth about the Mibu rather well," said Kyoichiro after he and Sora had sat.

"As well as we can," said Ren.

"Saisei...how do you feel?" asked Sora, fixing Kyo's oldest friend and virtual sister with a concerned gaze.

"I'm...coping," said Saisei. "Ultimately, how I feel doesn't have much bearing on it. Disliking a fact won't change that it _is_ a fact."

"Very true," said Sora. "But we'd prefer to know that you are well. I know it must be a hard thing to accept. But where your ancestors came from does not change who you are, and you are as much a daughter to me as Kyo is my son."

Saisei smiled happily, clearly reassured by Sora's words. "Thank you, Sora-sama."

"It's the least I can do for one who has watched over Kyo as much as you have," said Sora fondly.

"Uh...not that we're not happy to have you and all," said Ruby a trifle nervously, "but why are you here?"

"Well, we figured that Kyo and Xiao Long-dono had told you about the Clan's secret by now," said Kyoichiro.

"So you wanted to talk to us about that?" asked Nora.

"Not...exactly," said Sora hesitantly. "The matter is related...Perhaps we should start with what I learned from Chika earlier."

"You talked to Chika?" asked Blake, leaning forward. "Is she all right?"

"She'll be fine, I believe," said Sora, smiling at Blake. "This experience has been humbling for her. But she shall recover her confidence and strength, without her previous arrogance."

"That's good," said Blake. While Chika's coarse attitude and obvious arrogance, along with her apparent belief that the Mibu were naturally superior to outsiders, had irked her, Blake had to admit that she had grown to care at least a bit about the girl she'd been spending so much time with.

"However, Chika shared some disturbing information with me," said Sora.

"What is it?" asked Yang.

"I was curious about where Chika had first learned about the Mibu Reconstruction Project," said Sora. "While she was a diligent student of the martial arts, she was not one of a particularly scholarly bent. Researching old tomes and prying into the secrets of ancient history held little interest to her in the past."

"I can understand that," said Blake, nodding sagely. When she had first met Chika, the aspiring member of the Goyosei had been poring over ancient documents, simply looking for the slightest mention of the project, without really knowing what to do with what little tidbits she did find. It wasn't until Blake had started pointing her down potential avenues of investigation that her work had gained any traction.

"As it turned out, Chika first learned of the project from an outsider," said Sora in a dark tone. "At least, we believe her to be an outsider, based on Chika's description." Sora began to describe the woman Chika had met. As she did, faces around the table began to grow pale, particularly Yang and Kyo's.

"You know this woman?" asked Kyoichiro, looking at his son and Yang.

"We should," said Yang. "That's clearly my mother."

"That is very odd," added Kyo. "When I offered to bring her to our lands so that she could pose her questions herself, she turned me down flat, and she clearly didn't trust us."

"Maybe that's why she did it like this," said Ren. "If she didn't trust the Mibu to give her a straight answer, then maybe she decided that manipulating one into doing the questioning for her was a better way of ensuring that she got accurate information."

"But where did she hear about the Mibu Reconstruction Project?" asked Kyo. "It certainly never came up in any of the conversations I had with her, seeing as _I_ hadn't even heard of it back then."

"I didn't hear of it until today," said Saisei. "In fact, I doubt that more than a scant handful of the Mibu, even amongst the Taishiro, have ever heard of the project, or so much as thought about it. Yet this outsider woman knows about it." She frowned, focusing her gaze on Yang. "And now we learn that this is apparently your mother. The more I hear about this, the more contrived everything seems."

"That it does," admitted Kyoichiro.

Yang shifted nervously and Sora took her hand and meshed their fingers together. "Don't worry," she said. "No one here thinks that you had anything to do with this."

"Oh," said Yang, sagging slightly in relief. "That's good...I guess. I just wish I knew what my mother was up to."

"The way I see it, there are two ways this came about," said Kyoichiro. "Either there is a traitor within the Clan, who set your mother on this path. I have serious doubts about that, as almost no one here has even heard of the Mibu Reconstruction Project, and the tiny few that have I trust completely. The other option...is more worrying."

"Why's that?" asked Nora.

Kyoichiro turned his gaze to her, and everyone was unsettled by the genuinely nervous look on it. They had just learned that the Crimson King had godlike power, potentially absolute power, that only remained untapped due to his resolution never to abuse it. To see such a formidable individual looking so nervous was perhaps the _most_ unsettling thing they had seen here yet.

"It may mean that Xiao Long-dono's mother has come to associate with our most dangerous enemy," said Kyoichiro. "And, if that is the case, then the situation is very serious indeed."

"Why's that?" asked Ruby. "Who is this enemy?"

Kyoichiro and Sora exchanged glances, before turning back to the group. "I suppose it is fitting that we tell you," said Sora. "After all, you are not uninvolved."

"How so?" asked Jaune.

"During the conflict last year, you fought against the entity known as Salem," said Sora. "She was served by a woman that you know as Cinder."

All around the table, faces hardened, particularly Jaune, Ruby, and Neo's.

"Yeah," said Yang. "But Cinder ditched Salem at the last second. That's actually how we ended up winning."

"Therein lies the real problem," said Kyoichiro. "For Cinder is not who you thought she was, nor who Salem thought she was."

"There's a big surprise," muttered Weiss sarcastically.

"You know this woman as Cinder," said Sora. "She is known to us as well. But, to the Mibu, she is known by a different name."

"Ooh! What name?" asked Nora, leaning forward eagerly. "Is it some kind of super-secret spy name?"

Despite the grave subject matter, Sora's mouth twitched in a small smile. Nora had a gift for lightening even the grimmest of conversations. "You could say that," she said.

"Amongst the Mibu who know of her," said Kyoichiro, "she is called Mekira."

"And why is that important?" asked Weiss.

"Because that name designates her as but one of a number," said Kyoichiro, "one of _twelve_."

Now the Beacon students' faces turned pale. Even Nigel and Hayate looked slightly nervous, having apparently heard something of this before.

"T-twelve people like Cinder..." said Jaune in a trembling voice.

"Many of them are even _more_ dangerous than she is," said Sora in a dark tone.

"They are known as the Junishinsho," said Kyoichiro. "In Common, the approximate translation would be the Twelve Heavenly Generals."

"That's a grandiose title for someone like Cinder," growled Jaune.

Kyoichiro nodded. "However, even that is but an addendum to the true problem."

"What do you mean?" asked Blake.

"The true problem is the one that the Junishinsho serve," said Kyoichiro. "They are an ancient organization, one that descends from the time of the ancient Mibu, when the Mibu Reconstruction Project was still active. Their master definitely knows about the project's existence, even if he does not know the particulars of its purpose."

"Who is their master?" asked Blake.

"You've actually heard his name before," said Kyo.

"From where?" asked Nora.

"From me," said Kyo with a sour wryness.

"Once, he was the Mibu Clan's greatest tool," said Kyoichiro, "painstakingly crafted to subdue humanity to their rule. To that end, they filled his soul to the brim with evil, demonic power, making him into the ultimate weapon of destruction, and giving him a thirst for power and bloodshed second to none. The first Kyo began his revolt against the Mibu by killing him. But the power the Mibu Clan had given this fiend gave him a soul that refused to pass beyond the veil between life and death."

"You mean he couldn't die?" asked Jaune incredulously.

Kyoichiro shook his head. "Not easily, in any case. They used this quality of his to transfer his evil soul into body after body in repeated attempts to set him up as humanity's ruler."

"Wait a second!" shouted Ruby, her eyes going wide. "They transferred this guy's soul into a new body when he died. But that sounds like…" Her eyes drifted to Penny, who had suddenly paled.

Kyoichiro nodded gravely. "When Kyo first brought Penny's core, the host for her Aura, to us, we were presented with a true conundrum. It was an extremely difficult problem to solve, but not in the way you might think. Presented with Penny's unique situation and condition, the solution to her problem was obvious, and well within our capability. However, the question of the matter was never whether or not we _could_ , but whether or not we _should_."

Sora closed her eyes and nodded. "It was a problem we debated fiercely. Creating an organic body for Penny was quite easy, even doing it according to the specifications of her original appearance. However, we all touched upon that fear that we were about to commit the same grave error that our ancestors did. In the end, we decided to go through with it, having taken Penny's situation into consideration. And we can all say without reservation that it was the right decision." She opened her eyes and smiled at Penny.

"Thank you," said Penny softly.

Kyoichiro returned to his original tract. "As for our enemy, the first Kyo defeated him every time he rose again. However, even after Kyo brought down the Mibu from their assumed godhood, this monster they had created continued to plague them, for he had grown far beyond their power to control. As such, those of us descended from the first Kyo have clashed with him time and time again. It is the last duty left to us, the reason we have allowed the Line of Kyo to persist for so long. Until we have dealt with this, the final sin of the ancient Mibu, we cannot allow our line to fade."

"You said you told us his name before," said Blake, looking at Kyo. "When?"

"Remember when I told you about the Three Great Unifiers?" asked Kyo.

They all nodded. Kyo continued. "I mentioned that the first one had been incredibly brutal in his methods. I also mentioned that he had been betrayed by one of his generals. That is all true. However, that would not have stopped him, had the first Kyo not intervened."

"Then..." said Weiss, her voice faint.

"Yes," said Kyo with a slow nod. "That is the identity of our ancient foe and Cinder's true master: The Demon King of the Sixth Circle...Oda Nobunaga."

* * *

 **And here we have it, our first real hints of bad guys on the horizon. This chapter, and the previous few also introduce a few concepts that it might help to sort out. So, for organizational purposes...**

 **Mibu Clan: In this case, it refers to the Mibu in the story's present, which, as Kyoichiro describes, is the overlapping existence primarily of the blood members of the clan, and the political entity representing the Mibu as the inhabitants and rulers of Leng, a sort of unrecognized Kingdom. Of course, with what we know now, it also pertains to those descendants of the True Mibu's fighting puppets, including Yang.**

 **Ancient Mibu: The Mibu Clan represented by the Mibu characters of the _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ manga, which takes place in the early years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which, in this universe, is Remnant's distant past.**

 **True Mibu: The godly progenitors of the ancient and current Mibu, who created the fighting puppets that most of the current Mibu are descended from. Kyo and his father are the sole remaining descendants of the True Mibu.**


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43:**

The flutter of wings announced the arrival of a crow. The black bird settled onto the roof of the Palace and let out a raucous caw. It hopped about on the roof, moving this way and that as it pecked at the shingles, before descending to the window. It let out another caw, again pecking around, before fluttering into the Palace hallway.

A few seconds later, a tall, lanky man was making his way through the Palace, his dark-red eyes darting about as he moved. Approaching a corner, he carefully peered around, seeing no one. Letting out a small breath, he moved on, the red length of his cape fluttering in his wake.

 _Geez, I have to go without drink to get this job done,_ through Qrow crossly. It wasn't often that a mission required him to be sober. Qrow's skills were such that there was very little he _couldn't_ accomplish in that mysterious place between total sobriety and complete drunkenness that he appeared to perpetually occupy.

The Mibu required Qrow to keep all his wits about him. As he made his way through their territory, he didn't dare use his favorite flask to wet his whistle, instead making due with freshwater streams he found along the way. He hunted and fished for his meals, keeping well clear of any people as he used the wilderness to maneuver around settlements, and keep the Mibu from finding out that he'd breached their borders.

The insular culture of the Mibu meant that an outsider like him would stick out like a sore thumb, if anyone saw him. Even outsiders who immigrated into the Mibu generally took up their methods of dress and adopted their conventions over time. There was no way someone like him could fake that easily, especially not with the massive blade that hung from his back, its handle extending out over his shoulder.

Qrow was tired. An extended period of keeping his guard up meant that he had little time to sleep. Even if he kept to the wilderness, all that meant was that he had to watch out for a completely different kind of threat. Even though they didn't seem to pose a threat to the settlements, plenty of Grimm still roamed the wilderness, looking for unwary prey that might have stumbled out of the protection of those towns, and into their domain. However, he'd worked longer and harder missions in the past. He could keep going for a good while longer without losing his edge.

His current mission was somewhat ambiguous. He didn't really have any orders, but had gone, on his own initiative, to scout out the Mibu and try to learn about any threats that might be here. If he could establish contact with his nieces and their friends, so much the better. Truth be told, Qrow didn't think the Mibu were up to anything too shady, aside from probably giving Ironwood a black eye, which he fully supported. But he felt it was best to scope things out for himself, just to be sure.

 _Well, I'm in the clear so far,_ thought Qrow as he peered around another corner, looking for any signs of people. If there was anything truly suspicious about this place, it was how empty the Palace, the heart of their government, was. The Council buildings of the Kingdoms were always bustling, full of people, various functionaries fluttering about, working in a cluttered sort of organized chaos to ensure that the act of running the Kingdom continued unabated.

Thus, it was odd to come to the Onmyo Palace and find it seeming so...deserted.

"Can I help you?" inquired a voice behind him.

Qrow leapt forward, spinning around as he did. His feet skidded over the polished wood as he landed, allowing him to slide to a stop a considerable distance away from the speaker, his hand on his weapon, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

The black-bandage clad wolf faunus in front of him made no move to attack or defend, simply watching Qrow, keeping his arms folded across his chest.

"Who are you?" asked Qrow, his eyes narrowing.

"I am Dougal Conrad, Imperial Guard to Sora-sama, leader of the Taishiro," said the black-clad man. "Now that I have answered your question, perhaps you can answer mine."

"I ain't giving my name that easily," said Qrow.

"I never asked that," said Dougal plainly. "Can I help you?"

Qrow blinked, a bit confused by the man's attitude. If there was one thing Qrow had learned about infiltration missions, it was that security personnel typically didn't react to intruders like customer service associates. If he were guarding a place, the last thing he'd be expected to ask was if an intruder required directions. "I'm good," said Qrow.

Dougal raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? The Palace can be quite tricky to navigate for an outsider, even one as skilled as you."

Qrow tilted his head, frowning. "You ain't exactly acting like you've caught an intruder here."

Dougal's posture did not change. "Well, so long as you do no harm, I see no harm. Of course, if you try to go someplace we don't want you to go, you will be stopped. But, aside from that, there's no real need to take direct action."

"Well, that's a lax attitude towards security if I've ever seen one," said Qrow.

"I am of the opinion you are not someone we actually need to worry about overly much," said Dougal. "The only really great concern is where your curiosity might lead you."

"I don't like being talked down to, pal," said Qrow.

"I apologize," replied Dougal, bowing slightly. "I did not intend to disparage your skills, as they were quite remarkable. It takes impressive skill to penetrate this far, without raising any notice. You even made it past the Five Shining Gates without anyone realizing.

"What I meant is that you don't seem to be a true enemy. Rather, you are merely curious and cautious. If that is the case, there is no reason to really view you with hostility."

Qrow stood up, his hand lowering from the hilt of his sword. "Well, I'll be switched," he said. "I've been caught before, but it's never gone like this."

"That is the way we are," said Dougal. "Is there somewhere I can direct you to satisfy your curiosity and put your concerns at ease?"

Qrow sighed in resignation. "Well, I guess trying to sneak around is pointless now." He pulled out his flask and took a long pull from it before lowering it with a satisfied sigh. "The name's Qrow Branwen. I just came to scope you folks out ahead of the delegation. But my nieces happen to be visiting here."

"Your nieces?" said Dougal, raising an eyebrow. "I take it you are speaking of a pair of the visiting Huntresses from Beacon."

"They're the ones," said Qrow. "Ruby and Yang. I was planning to see if I could drop in on them, if I could get away with it. Since it looks like I needn't have even bothered, I think I want to see them first."

"Branwen..." Qrow blinked when he heard his surname being muttered. It seemed Dougal had just remembered something. "You wouldn't happen to know a woman named Raven, would you?"

"Yep, unfortunately," said Qrow. "That's my sister, for what little it's worth."

"Then I will be happy to guide you to your nieces," said Dougal. "It seems that your...sister...has been causing a fair amount of trouble lately."

"Lead on," said Qrow, stepping aside to allow Dougal to walk past him, following behind in his wake. _What have you done now, Raven?_

* * *

"So...your dad's finished my new weapon already?" asked Yang as she, Kyo, and Penny made their way to Murasame's quarters.

"He hasn't built it yet, but he does have the basic design finished," said Penny excitedly. "He's been working hard. I think Papa's really excited about it."

Yang stopped and gasped, staring at Penny in amazement. "What did you call him?"

"Hmmm? Papa?" said Penny, a bit confused by Yang's reaction.

Yang squealed shrilly and pulled Penny into a one-armed hug, yet somehow still hugging her with enough strength to lift her feet clear off the floor. The movement knocked the bamboo hat from Penny's head, which Kyo stooped to catch before it could hit the floor as Penny's legs kicked feebly.

"That's soooo cuuuuute!" said Yang, now shaking Penny back and forth, giving the former android an idea of what it had been like for her friends whenever she had hugged them with all of her strength, back when her body was robotic. Yang let her go and Penny's legs nearly buckled as she hit the floor. Only Kyo's steadying hand on her back kept her from toppling over as he chuckled at Yang's excitement. "Please tell me you call him that in person," said Yang eagerly.

"O-of course I do," said Penny, now somewhat nervous as she saw a new, excited glint in Yang's eye.

"Easy there," said Kyo, using a hand on Yang's shoulder to forestall another lunge. "Let's move on, shall we. I'd rather not have to catch Penny's hat again."

"Huh..." Yang's eyes went to the hat. "What's the big deal?"

"Hold out your hand," said Kyo, hefting Penny's hat, while Penny looked on with a sly grin.

Yang held out her left hand, hooking her fingers under the brim of Penny's hat, right before Kyo released his hold. Suddenly, Yang had to strain with all her strength to keep the hat from plummeting to the floor. _What the Hell? How much does this thing weigh?_ she wondered as she grit her teeth and strained to keep the hat from falling.

Grinning cheerfully, Penny took the hat from Yang, leaving Yang panting for breath and stumbling. She stared in complete shock at Penny. "What is that?"

"Training," said Penny. "Now that I have an organic body, I need to train it to build up its strength."

"It actually weighs several-times what it did when she started," added Kyo.

Yang couldn't believe her eyes, staring at the hat in awe. _And she's been jumping around like a cricket with that thing on,_ she thought in shock.

"Actually, I think it's time to increase the weight," said Penny, finally showing a little bit of trepidation and letting out a small sigh.

Kyo patted her shoulder. "You'll adjust quickly," he said assuredly.

Yang noticed Penny blush at the slight contact and her lips twitched in the beginnings of a frown. However, she forced it back, knowing that Kyo only really had eyes for her. If anything, she felt a little bad that Penny was nursing a crush on her boyfriend. After everything that Kyo had done for her, Yang could understand why Penny would feel that way. Unlike Chika, who had been obviously possessive and somewhat arrogant in her behavior, Yang loved Penny and didn't want to see her hurt. But she didn't want to give up Kyo either.

As Kyo removed his hand from her shoulder, Penny's blush faded and she calmed back down as she continued to walk alongside him and Yang. As they did, Yang resolved herself to have a talk with Penny about their feelings for the boy, hoping that she could find some way to help Penny, before things got messy.

It wasn't much longer before they left the Palace halls and reached the grassy meadow, alongside the tranquil house that belonged to Penny's new father.

Yang inhaled, breathing deeply and basking in the sheer calm and easy feeling that filled the air. It was really relaxing and a welcome change after what she had been through this morning. They climbed the steps to the porch and Penny opened the door, not even bothering to knock this time.

"I brought Yang, Papa," said Penny as she entered.

Yang and Kyo couldn't keep their smiles from widening as they saw Murasame's expression. He was clearly thrilled to be addressed that way by Penny. It appeared that he'd been anticipating their arrival, as tea and snacks already waited.

"It's good to see you again," said Murasame, bowing his head slightly towards Yang, who returned the gesture as she sat on the floor.

"Thank you for doing so much for me," said Yang.

"Think nothing of it," said Murasame. "Coming up with your new weapon has been quite the exciting process. I haven't stretched my creative muscles like this in a long time."

"So you've got it all worked out?" asked Yang.

"More or less," said Murasame. "I have the design and the materials worked out. However, actually forging it shall prove a unique challenge in its own right. In fact, that is why I asked for your presence." He blinked and looked around. "Where are Ruby-chan and Jaune-san? I was fairly certain Penny would bring them along too."

Yang fought back another squeal at the cute sounding addition to Ruby's name, secretly thinking that she might appropriate that manner of address for her own use the next time she talked to her sister. "She went with Kyo's mom," said Yang.

"O-Kaa-san offered to give Ruby some pointers to help her get stronger," said Kyo.

Yang nodded, her spirits falling a little as she remembered the grim conversation they had just come from. She could scarcely imagine an enemy worse than Salem. But it seemed that this Nobunaga fit the bill.

 _"His motives are much simpler than Salem's,"_ Kyo's father had explained. _"But that only makes him worse. Nobunaga only cares for two things, conquest and bloodshed. If he is allowed to rise, he will take the world and slaughter all who stand his way and a great many who do not."_

Yang could hardly believe that Cinder would work for such a monster. Sure, nearly everything Cinder had done was monstrous, but there had always been that sense of greater purpose to it. That made it hard to believe that she had simply been working for a murderous fiend the entire time.

However, those were worries for another time. At the moment, she needed to focus on the man who had graciously offered to craft a brand new weapon for her.

"I see," said Murasame, nodding. "I hope your sister is all right. Sora can be quite the stringent trainer."

Yang swallowed nervously, but forced herself to keep smiling. "I'm sure she'll be fine," she said.

Murasame nodded and leaned back slightly so that he could retrieve what looked like a sketchbook that lay on the floor behind him. He handed it to Yang, who set it on her knees so she could use her left hand and began to flip through it. It was indeed a sketchbook. To her amazement, she saw the full array of Murasame's design. It was rendered in simple pencil sketches, but was remarkable in the detail.

What Murasame had designed was a gauntlet. However, it was much more elaborate in appearance than the Ember Celica. It was built from flexing, overlapping plates, designed to fit over nearly her entire arm, from the end of her hand, over her elbow, and all the way up to her stump, maybe even a little bit past it. Further illustrations showed the design of each separate piece, illustrations showing how each plate fit together and, finally how all the plates folded together into a single, compact piece that would rest near the end of her stump, when it wasn't in use.

"It looks beautiful," said Yang, gasping with amazement. "I love it!"

"I'm glad you approve," said Murasame. "Its design is unique from anything I've ever created. I'll be doctoring the metal so that its shape will respond to your Aura."

"Cool!" said Yang.

"However, I will require your help on certain parts of this," said Murasame.

"What do you need?" asked Yang, looking up at him.

"Normally, to fit the plates, I would use a series of rods to form each one into the right curvature to fit your arm," said Murasame. "However, I believe that we have the opportunity to perform a more efficient and effective method of fitting this weapon for you, one that is only possible for someone like you."

"You mean to fit it around her arm directly," said Kyo, his smile fading slightly, replaced with a more neutral expression.

"That is correct," said Murasame. "Since the arm wearing this weapon is composed of pure Aura, if she applies her Aura to reinforce its strength, I will be able to mold the metal to her arm itself and produce the perfect fit, and also make absolutely certain that the weapon is conditioned to respond perfectly to her Aura."

"Uh...what's that gonna look like exactly?" asked Yang nervously.

"I believe he is going to brace your arm against the anvil and then pound pieces of red hot metal into shape around it," said Kyo matter-of-factly.

Mursame nodded.

"That's what I thought," said Yang, a slight whimper finding its way into her voice. The arm she could forge from her Aura was amazing, but, in its own way, it also sensed everything _more_ clearly than her actual flesh and blood arm did. She got the feeling that that might be most unpleasant, if she was having sheets of almost molten metal being pounded into shape around it.

"Needless to say, even if she agrees to it, we will have to wait," said Kyo. "Yang had a rather…intense…ordeal this morning, and her Aura is still recovering, which is why she hasn't produced her arm right now. I wouldn't recommend this process with anything less than her full Aura."

Yang whipped her head around to give Kyo a disbelieving look. _Does he want me to go through with this?_ she wondered. However, Kyo met her eyes and smiled serenely, before gently resting his hand on her knee and giving it a squeeze.

Murasame sighed, sounding disappointed. Clearly he was very excited about the prospect of trying this. "Well...I can't exactly argue with that," he said. "Perhaps you can come back tomorrow, when you've recovered your strength. I'm sorry for calling you all the way out here just to show you some sketches."

"N-no, it's fine," said Yang. "I'm really amazed. I look forward to seeing the finished product."

That seemed to raise the swordsmith's spirits. "Then I shall go ahead and finish crafting them. I do have one more request."

"Sure," said Yang.

"If it's not too much trouble, could you produce your right arm so that I might take measurements?" said Murasame. "That way I will know what size to make each piece."

"Uh...sure," said Yang. Between her nap and her meal, she felt she'd gotten enough of her Aura back to produce her arm. She'd just not done it to help her Aura to recover faster, as Suppression worked more effectively when she wasn't supporting an Aura construct at the same time.

She allowed her Aura to flow out through her stump and assume its regular form, which she held up for Murasame's inspection. The Elder examined the arm closely, muttering to himself as he took up his sketchbook and began scribbling numbers into it. Yang was surprised, having expected him to produce a cord or measuring tape of some kind in order to be exact. She hadn't expected him to be able to eyeball the measurements. She glanced at Kyo, who grinned and nodded.

After a few minutes, Murasame nodded and put his sketchbook away. Yang pulled her Aura back in and initiated Suppression once more.

"Thank you very much for your time," said Murasame. "I should have all the pieces fabricated by tomorrow. If you feel up to it, we can work on the fitting then too."

"Uh...sure," said Yang, her nervousness returning. However, Kyo squeezed her knee again, which helped her to calm down.

"In that case, we'll be going," said Kyo, bowing to Murasame. "Thank you for everything you've done for us, Murasame-sama."

Murasame nodded. "By the way, I heard that you'd successfully communed with Tenro today. Is that true?"

"It is," said Kyo.

"I see," said Murasame. "And did you learn the answers to your questions?"

"I did," replied Kyo. "However, it is a matter that I believe I should keep to myself for the time being." He looked pointedly at Penny, who gave him the smallest of nods back.

Murasame looked back and forth between his daughter and Kyo. "I see..." he said. "It must have been a truly serious matter for you to keep it so secret. But Penny knows?"

"She does," said Kyo. "I would ask that you not pressure her or pry about the matter."

"Very well," said Murasame, lowering his head. "In that case, I shall see you tomorrow."

Kyo and Yang got up, though Penny remained seated. "Are you staying here?" asked Yang.

"Yeah," said Penny. "I'm going to have dinner with Papa."

Once again, Yang had to fight down the urge to squeal, especially as she saw Murasame's face light up again.

"Then we'll be on our way," said Kyo. "Have a pleasant evening."

"See you tomorrow," said Penny as they left.

Leaving the house, Yang looked up to see that the sun was beginning to set. It dyed the sky behind the mountain in oranges, yellows, purples, and pinks. She and Kyo descended from the porch, but Yang stopped before they were midway through the meadow, simply pausing to take a few more deep breaths and drink in the peaceful atmosphere of the place. "I love it here," she said softly.

"I'm glad you like it," said Kyo, taking her left hand in his right. Yang leaned against him and turned her head so she could kiss him, which Kyo gladly returned. Then the two of them finally set off back to the Palace.

As they walked, Yang thought back to what had just transpired. "Do you want me to do it?" she asked.

"You mean get your weapon fitted directly to your arm?" Kyo asked back.

Yang nodded.

"That is up to you," said Kyo. "I don't want to pressure you." He scratched the tip of his nose, looking a bit shy. "The reason I put it like that back there was because I wanted to buy you a little extra time to think things over, though I also believe that we should wait for your Aura to recover in any case."

"Oh..." said Yang. "Thank you."

"I apologize for Murasame-sama," said Kyo. "When he gets excited about something, he gets a little overenthusiastic at times."

"I can understand that," said Yang. "But do you think I should do it?"

"I think it is worth considering," said Kyo, "as the results will be very unique, just like _you_ are so very unique." He ended that last part by planting a light kiss on Yang's cheek.

"Flatterer," said Yang with a giggle. "But..."

"I can understand why you're worried," said Kyo, tightening his hold on her hand. "I do feel that Mursame-sama was rather insensitive to pose his suggestion to you in that manner, without fully explaining his reasoning."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"What I mean is that you don't necessarily have to be worried," said Kyo. "Your right arm is composed of Aura and only Aura. There are no actual nerves to feel what is being done to you, no flesh to actually be harmed by the hot metal or the hammer blows. In other words, there isn't any tangible reason the process should actually be painful, as there is nothing actually there that should be able to produce the sensation of pain."

"Oh..." said Yang, her mouth hanging open slightly. She hadn't thought of it like that.

"If you were to feel any pain, it would be because your mind subconsciously believes you should," said Kyo. "All things considered, that is an obstacle that should be easy enough to overcome. If you choose to believe that there is no pain, you shouldn't feel any. Aside from that, it is simply a matter of reinforcing the Tempering for your arm to enhance its durability, which actually shouldn't be very hard for you at all."

"Okay," said Yang.

"If you're willing, we can practice a little to help you get the hang of it before we let Murasame-sama start pounding molten metal against it," said Kyo with a faint laugh in his voice as he spoke.

"That would probably be a good idea," said Yang wryly.

"We can start tonight," said Kyo. Seeing the trepidation that appeared on her face, he grinned. "Don't worry, we won't start with anything extreme."

"I...guess it's okay," said Yang, still feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing. _I hope Ruby's having a better time than I am._

* * *

Sora slid her unique, jewel-decorated sword into its sheath, smiling as she looked at her opponent. "That was an excellent match," she said. "However, I believe there is quite a bit of room for improvement."

"Ow," moaned Ruby, twitching as she carefully tried to pry her body out of the Ruby-shaped indent she'd left in the stone wall. Slowly, with the sound of crumbling stone, Ruby peeled herself out of the indent, limb by limb.

Finally pulling herself free, Ruby dropped a couple feet to the ground, only to have her legs go out from under her and she almost face-planted. Only Jaune's quick thinking saved her from the ignominy of that fate as he rushed to catch her, easing her onto her back and cradling her gently as Ruby continued to groan, her entire body just one massive ache.

"Uh...Maybe you should've gone a little easier on her," suggested Jaune.

"Nonsense," said Sora. "I had to draw out all her strength to effectively assess her technique and overall level of ability. I must say that she is remarkable for someone her age. I'm especially impressed at how well she has been applying Tempering and Flow to enhance her capabilities, despite having learned them only recently."

"Yeah," said Jaune. "That's my Ruby." He gently brushed her hair away from her face, eliciting a smile from her.

Sora's smile widened as she saw the obvious affection the two of them shared. "However," she said, her expression becoming grave once more, "that won't be enough for her to beat Mekira, especially since she now sports the powers of the Fall Maiden."

"You know about that?" asked Jaune.

"We know a great deal," said Sora. "Mekira was busy with whatever she was doing by working for Salem, but other members of the Junishinsho have tried to sow chaos and destruction within our lands. We've managed to stymie their efforts so far, even kill some, but there are those amongst their number who are far more dangerous than Mekira is."

"So we might not have to deal with all twelve of them?" said Jaune.

"Or we might," said Sora. "The reason Nobunaga has endured so long is that the Junishinsho have become adept at replacing those among their number who are slain, ensuring that at least one always remains to provide their master with even a temporary vessel for his evil soul. They have likely replaced the ones we've killed already."

"Oh..." said Jaune.

"H-how...how can I get better?" Ruby croaked as Jaune helped her to sit up.

Sora smiled again. She came closer so that she could kneel in front of Ruby and Jaune. "I believe that you can learn a great deal here," she said. "What you call your Semblance can be refined much further than it already is. If you focus on that, I believe your speed will reach levels that only a few ever have managed to match. There is a technique to help with that. However, it will take a great deal of work to master, as it puts tremendous strain on the body. You'll need to overcome that difficulty, but I think it is within your ability."

"What skill is it?" asked Ruby, her voice clearer after Jaune had given her a drink from the water bottle he'd been keeping.

"It is a secret art of the Mibu," said Sora. "Even within the Clan, very few have ever learned it. With it, you will be able to obtain speed beyond anything you have ever encountered before, _Godspeed_. When you reach that speed, time itself shall yield to you, and the impossible can become possible."

"Whoa!" gasped Ruby. "That sounds awesome! Why don't more people try to learn it?"

"As I said, it is extremely difficult to master, once you've acquired it. I could at least partially implant the skill within you, but I believe that it will be better for you to obtain the skill yourself."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"Because I would only be able to implant it within you at partial strength," said Sora. "You would be able to use it immediately, but you would lose the chance to adapt your body to it, which would limit its usage to no more than five times a day. If you learn and acquire the skill yourself, you will do so while building up your body's strength to use it so that, one day, you will be able to master it and use it completely at will."

"How long will that take?" asked Ruby. "If Cinder and her master are really up to something, then we can't afford to wait."

"You won't be waiting, dear," said Sora. "You'll be improving in the process of learning this skill. And, while the matter with Nobunaga is urgent, I won't resort to means that would ultimately hobble you in the future, unless there truly was no other way. Matters are serious, but not sufficiently desperate enough that I would dare resort to something that awful."

"If you're sure..." Ruby looked down before looking up again. "What do I need to do?"

"You can start by studying this," said Sora, reaching into her sleeve and withdrawing a scroll. "Don't worry, I had it translated a while ago."

Ruby's face fell as she accepted the scroll. Academics weren't her strongest suit.

Sora giggled at Ruby's consternation before gently rubbing the top of the young woman's head. "Don't worry," she said. "It's a fairly short read. Once you're done with that, you should be able to do the rest yourself."

"Okay," said Ruby reluctantly.

"What can I do?" asked Jaune. "I need to get stronger too."

"Hmm...you..." Sora rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she gazed at Jaune. "My first thought would be to send you to Murasame. He would be the best for teaching you how to fully wield your sword and its latent strength. However, I believe he is preoccupied with designing your friend's new weapon. So, instead..." She paused, apparently needing to think about this some more. "Ah!" she said, hitting the palm of one hand with the fist she'd made of the other. "I know! I'll send you to Taihaku. Amongst the Mibu, there is no one else who has studied the Way of the sword as purely as he has. I believe he will be able to help you a great deal."

"Thanks," said Jaune.

Sora scratched her chin. "Your friend, Belladonna-dono, has gone off to study with Dougal. He promised to teach her the Shadow Arts. Schnee-dono has gone off with Hayate-kun. And your other friends..." She paused. "I'm not sure where they went, but I'll check on them later."

Turning, Sora addressed what looked like empty space. "However, _you_ are quite skilled already, dear, though I can see you could do with some pointers as well."

"Huh?" said Jaune and Ruby in unison.

The air shimmered, followed by an abrupt, white flash, then Neo was there, looking surprised that Sora had noticed her. Sora laughed cheerfully. "Don't be too surprised, Capello-dono. Light is my domain, after all. I can teach you how to use it more effectively."

Neo nodded eagerly, watching Sora with wide eyes.

"Then we shall begin immediately," said Sora, sounding quite eager to have a dedicated student. She turned her smile on Jaune and Ruby. "Off you go," she said. "Get some rest. Arc-dono, I will have someone take you to Taihaku tomorrow."

"Okay," said Jaune as he held Ruby by her arm to support her.

In the meantime, Sora turned back to Neo. "Now then, let's begin your training. I hope you realize that I am _not_ a gentle teacher."

Neo swallowed visibly.

* * *

"In essence, the Shadow Arts is about using your Aura to control impossibility," said Dougal as Blake knelt in front of him. Around them stretched the polished wooden floors of a practice court located within the Palace.

"Impossibility?" asked Blake, tilting her head.

Dougal nodded slightly. "In essence, shadow is defined as the absence of light from an area, because the light has been blocked by an opaque obstruction. It does not consist of particles or waves, and exerts no force of its own. Therefore, the first thing you must learn to do is use your Aura to grant substance and energy to that which has none. Only after you manage to do that, will you be able to control it."

"So how do I begin?" asked Blake.

Beside Dougal, on the floor, sat an unlit candle. Picking it up, Dougal lit the candle and brought it behind Blake. The flickering light of the candle threw Blake's shadow into stark relief, spreading it across the floor in front of her. "Begin by learning to control your own shadow. You must learn to feel it through your Aura. Then, begin by altering its dimensions. Shrink it down, stretch it beyond what it should be. Change its shape. Once you become accustomed to that, the mored difficult aspects of the Art should not be beyond your reach."

Blake licked her lips, looking down at the shadow in front of her. Dougal made it sound so simple. However, she was fairly certain this was something she wouldn't be able to do that easily. _But I need to do it,_ she thought determinedly. _Someday, I'll have to face Adam again. And, when I do, I'll need something he didn't teach me._

* * *

Steel clanged against steel as Hayate whipped his blade through tight, crescent-shaped passes, picking off the rapid series of thrusts Weiss directed at him with her rapier. Weiss frowned, seeing she wasn't going to penetrate Hayate's defense from the front. She flicked her fingers and a white, shining, snowflake glyph appeared behind Hayate. A twist of her fingers made the glyph suddenly turn black.

She saw Hayate falter as he felt the glyph's pull on him. Weiss threw another thrust his way as a feint and then lashed out with a sudden kick. However, her foot met nothing but air as Hayate allowed himself to succumb to the glyph's pull and went through of his own volition.

Not willing to allow him to get away from her that easily, Weiss darted forwards, her black glyph disappearing, while a white glyph appeared on the floor in front of her, propelling her upwards as she stepped onto it. In the air, Weiss created another glyph behind her, using it to launch herself downwards at Hayate, who seemed to have lost track of her.

As the tip of her blade descended towards Hayate's skull, his own sword suddenly whipped around and up, as though it had a mind of its own, coming up to intercept the tip of her rapier with flawless accuracy.

Weiss allowed the recoil of her attack to knock her back away and out of Hayate's reach. As she did, she flicked the first two fingers of her right hand again. This time sweeping that arm out in a wide arc as she did. Glyphs appeared rapidly, surrounding Hayate in a hemispherical formation, closing off any path of escape. Weiss landed on her feet as another glyph appeared below her. This one was different, resembling a clock-face with hands whirling about. All around her, the world seemed to slow down. She launched forward like a rocket, throwing herself straight at Hayate.

If the sudden change in her speed disturbed him any, it didn't show. Hayate remained in place, catching, then parrying her sword as she rushed past him. He turned on the spot, blade already moving to deflect another thrust as Weiss' speed only increased all the more. More glyphs appeared as old ones faded, allowing Weiss to keep up this avenue of attack indefinitely, so long as as she could keep up with the pace of her own movements. Fortunately, her Time Dilation glyph allowed her to do just that.

Hayate was beginning to have trouble keeping up with her. Her blade got closer and closer to his body with each thrust, his parries only just barely managing to keep up. Finally, Weiss whipped through an attack that Hayate only managed to avoid by stumbling back far enough to give him room to catch her sword in another parry. Weiss shot around him on a variety of vectors, bouncing from glyph to glyph, until she launched off one, heading directly at his unprotected back.

What happened next completely threw her off her game. Hayate's slender, straight, double-edged sword split down the middle, lengthwise. One sword abruptly became two, the second blade almost seeming to jump to his unoccupied left hand, which he brought up and around in front of him, over his right shoulder, orienting the tip right at her.

At first, Weiss thought he was going for a mutual strike, hoping to catch her as she hit him from the back. But she quickly realized that she had gravely underestimated him. Hayate's precision allowed him to catch the tip of her blade...with the tip of his own. Weiss' movements came to an abrupt halt and she hung in space for the briefest of seconds, before her inertia began to fail and she started to fall towards the floor.

As she dropped, Hayate pivoted, ducking his head under his left arm as he did so, bringing the sword in his right hand around in a powerful slashing attack that carried the full strength of his body behind it. Weiss brought her own blade up to catch the attack, wincing at the impact, which nearly tore the handle from her grip. As it was, she was launched away from Hayate like a projectile. She hit the floor with an impact that drove the breath from her lungs.

 _Get up! He's coming for me!_ she thought frantically, trying to turn what remained of her backwards momentum into a roll that would bring her back to her feet. She managed to get her legs back under her, but she was still disoriented, pained, and breathless. Just one hit and Hayate had managed to turn the entire fight around. _Well I've seen this before,_ she thought.

Sure enough, as she came up, Hayate was already right in front of her, practically face-to-face with her. She caught the light dancing off the sides of his swords before everything else became a blur. Her body was cognizant of impact after impact, Hayate's strikes hammering her Aura over and over again. He danced around to come at her from odd angles that she was unable to keep up with. Her efforts to defend or evade were useless. In the back of her mind, she knew that Hayate was holding back a good portion of his strength, and using his Aura to actually _blunt_ the edges of his swords, otherwise they would have sheared through her own Aura, and Weiss would have been cut to ribbons.

Finally, Hayate's attack ended, slamming her into the floor with enough force to shatter the stone tiles. Weiss' breath deserted her again, and her vision went gray...then black...

* * *

When she came to, Weiss let out a low groan as the pain in her body filtered back up into her mind. She felt like one giant bruise, after the battering she had taken. However, she wasn't without relief, as her head was resting on something soft, and a cool hand was on her forehead.

It was a struggle to open her eyes. But Weiss managed it. Her vision was a total blur for a moment, light and dark mixing above her. She blinked, her eyes stinging from the light. However, something dark covered them and Weiss felt relief again. Gradually, the hand covering her eyes pulled away, allowing them to slowly adjust to the light. As they did, her vision also began to focus. Hayate's outline was still a bit blurry as he looked down at her from above, but the haze was beginning to fade.

"How do you feel?" he asked with a trace of humor in his voice.

"Like I got run over by a Goliath," said Weiss, her voice cracking and breaking, her sentence ending with a cough.

Slipping an arm under her shoulders, Hayate lifted her up so that he could bring a water bottle to her lips. Weiss drank gratefully, the cold liquid soothing her dry throat. After that, Hayate let her lay down again, Weiss realizing that her head was resting on top of his legs. The realization made her blush a little. However, at the moment, all she really wanted to do was relax until the ache faded from her body. Hayate had stopped just shy of breaking her Aura. What remained was enough to start easing the impact of his hits, though Weiss figured she probably wouldn't have any left by the time it was finished.

"Sorry," said Hayate.

Weiss smiled. "It's okay. I told you to fight seriously."

When the fight had begun, Weiss had found herself irritated when Hayate had stayed on the defensive, contenting himself with intercepting her strikes. She wondered if he wasn't taking her seriously. However, then she had noticed the laser-focus of his eyes, the way in which he efficiently and carefully tracked her every move. A chill had gone down her spine then. She had realized that Hayate _was_ fighting seriously. His decision to remain on the defensive was a conscious strategy to lure her into overextending herself. He got to see how she fought, learn the nature of her style and, in exchange, lure her into expending her Aura and stamina, while he waited for the perfect moment to shift the balance and strike back.

And when he did, he did so decisively. The moment he'd had her off-balance, Weiss hadn't stood a chance. Weiss would have been truly impressed...if she didn't hurt so much. "I guess I'm not as good as I thought," she said.

"Well...deciding not to use Dust might have made things more difficult than necessary," said Hayate.

"That was necessary," said Weiss. It was necessary on several levels. Firstly, she wanted to test her skill with her own Aura, rather than her reliance on Dust. The other reason was more pragmatic, namely that she'd only brought so much Dust with her. Granted, her Dust supply made up the bulk of her luggage. But Weiss was conscious of the fact that, once she used it up, it was gone. Since the Mibu didn't utilize Dust, there was no place for her to buy more once she ran out. That was likely to be the case until she got back to Vale.

"Well...it did give me a good idea of the nature of your style and Semblance," said Hayate.

"And..." prodded Weiss, wanting to hear his input, even though she realized she was likely not going to like what she heard next.

"It's interesting," said Hayate. "I get the feeling there are parts of your Semblance that you didn't show me yet, but we can take care of that later."

Weiss nodded. Hayate had turned the tables on her before she'd gotten a chance to use her Summoning.

"My main issue with your style is that it's very linear," said Hayate. "That makes sense to a certain extent. The rapier originated mainly as a duelist's weapon, rather than something for the battlefield. Because of that, you tend to advance and retreat in straight lines. Even when you change your direction, like that trick you used with all those glyphs in formation around me, you use it to switch the line of your movement from one direction to another."

Weiss nodded. When limited to melee attacks, she had to admit that her weapon wasn't perfectly suited to the chaotic conditions of a true battlefield. Her Semblance allowed her to mitigate that somewhat. But the true equalizer lay in her Dust, which Myrtenaster had been designed to utilize. Utilizing Dust gave her ranged capabilities and opened up new avenues for attack and defense that would have been impossible with her sword alone.

"It's also a light weapon, which makes it poorly suited for defense," said Hayate.

Weiss winced, expecting that. She generally used her Dust for defense. When she used her sword alone, being overpowered by her opponent was all too easy. This fight had been a perfect example of that. Once Hayate had landed a blow, Weiss had been sent flying.

"So what can I do?" she asked.

Hayate frowned and scratched his chin with the hand he wasn't resting on her forehead. "I've never actually taught anyone before," he said. "And I'm only really familiar with using my style, which is mainly self-taught. I'm sorry to say that I don't have all that much advice to give you, especially when it comes to developing your Semblance or working it into a Manifestation." He shrugged. "Sorry."

Weiss frowned, but held her tongue. It wasn't right to hold it against Hayate that he wasn't a teacher. He'd already given her a lot to think about. As it was, Weiss didn't have the slightest idea what to do with her Semblance, particularly how to make it something on the level of what Hayate or any of the Mibu's fighters could do.

She blinked. Actually...what _could_ Hayate do? She'd never actually seen him use anything other than his sword skills. She hadn't yet seen his Manifestation, the power that she assumed had earned him the name, Lightning Lord.

"C-could I see your Manifestation, please?" asked Weiss, looking plaintively up at Hayate.

Hayate blinked, staring down at her for a long moment. Weiss held back panic, wondering if what she had just asked was too personal for him. However, after a moment, he gave her a small, yet warm, smile. "Sure."

* * *

 **One of the aspects that the actual show overlooks is detailing the cost of Weiss' fighting style. It's pretty much all but stated that the main reason she can use the weapon and the style that she does use is because of her position as heiress to the SDC, that she can pretty much afford to spam Dust-attacks all the livelong day, without having to worry about needing to get more. Surprisingly, there is no indicator that this has hampered her in the most recent volumes, even though she's been disinherited by her father, and has run away from home. There's been no indicators that she's felt the need to be more conservative with when and how she uses her Dust, nothing indicating that her current supply might be more limited. So there's the question of just how much mileage Myrtenaster gets with Dust attacks that is, again, never directly addressed.**

 **Part of my assessment of Weiss' Semblance is a combination of being outdated by canon...and a lack of proper research on my part, until the parts of this story it figures into were already fully written out, with no way for me to really work in a change without some serious re-writing. So my assumption was that Time Dilation, and turning her Propulsion Glyphs (as I call them) black were simply additional aspects of her Semblance, while I've learned, more recently, that those come about through applying Dust to her glyphs (maybe...it hasn't been completely clear to me, and the surety of those statements seems to depend on who's editing the RWBY wiki on a given day). I've opted to make all those just different facets of her Semblance, which will have considerable bearing in the story later on.**


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44:**

Yang nearly jumped out of her skin when a crack of thunder echoed through the Palace with enough force for her to feel it in her bones. "What the Hell?" she exclaimed.

"Ah, that sounds like Hayate," said Kyo cheerfully.

"Huh? How do you know?" asked Yang.

"Lightning is his Manifestation," explained Kyo. "It's actually an ancient technique that was created by a shinobi named Sarutobi Sasuke. Hayate discovered it and taught himself, remaking the technique to better suit his fighting style." He winked at Yang. "That makes it pretty much the only explanation for why you'd hear a thunderclap so close, on an evening when there isn't a single cloud in sight."

"Well...that makes sense, I guess," said Yang, wondering if this place or people would ever run out of surprises to throw at her. _Oh well..._ she thought with a small chuckle, _...it keeps things interesting, I suppose._

They reached the courtyard and pavilion outside the guest quarters, where they were greeted with another surprise. "Uncle Qrow!" shouted Yang, bursting into a run as she saw the lanky, brown-haired man slouched in one of the chairs set up at the table.

"Hey there, Firecracker," said Qrow, holding up a glass, filled with an amber liquor, which had apparently come from the bottle resting on the table by him. "Good to see ya." He tossed back the glass' contents and thudded it down on the table. "I've gotta hand it to these folks. They have some pretty sweet booze."

"Is that all you have to say?" asked Yang, coming to a stop and resting her hand on her hip. "What are you doing here?"

"Spying," said Qrow.

"Huh?" Yang tilted her head at that response.

Qrow shrugged. "I got caught. I've gotta hand it to the Mibu. If this is their idea of an interrogation, I'll make it a point to get caught around here more often."

"I wouldn't advise that," said Kyo with a chuckle. "O-Kaa-san's patience with such antics will only go so far. However, it is good to see you again."

"The feeling's mutual," said Qrow, refilling his glass before holding it up to Kyo in a mocking, but good-natured salute. "How about you, kid. You been treating my niece right?"

"Oh...better than right," said Yang, glancing sidelong at Kyo with a sultry purr, as Kyo blushed.

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "That far along already, huh?" he said, knocking back another glass of the liquor. "Better wait a while before letting Tai know. He'll go on the warpath for sure."

"Well, that much we already figured," said Kyo with a slight sigh as his shoulders sagged. "Fortunately, in our current circumstances, it would be pretty hard for him to find out, if not downright impossible."

"You've got that right," said Qrow, pulling out his scroll and holding it up. "No reception out here. That's gonna change in a few days though."

"Why?" asked Kyo.

"When the delegation from the four Kingdoms arrives, they're gonna be bringing a CCT relay with them," said Qrow. "That'll let them stay in touch with their people. It's also gonna allow them to broadcast things like conferences and any ceremonies out for the public to see." He frowned. "Be careful of what you let them see."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," said Kyo with a laugh and scratching the back of his head. "My orders are fairly clear. Even without them, I would have made it a point to stay out of General Ironwood's way as much as possible."

"Well...I'm guessing that it's not because you're suddenly scared of him," said Qrow, his eyes narrowing slightly, "especially not after how your previous meeting went."

"I don't want to disrupt O-Kaa-san's plans," said Kyo. "That means being careful to avoid doing anything that might provoke the General...at least on my part."

"Well...sounds like your mom is planning on taking Jimmy down a few more pegs," said Qrow, throwing back another glassful of the liquor. "More power to her." His eyes wandered to Yang's stump. "Where's your arm, Firecracker? I thought the Mibu were gonna try and grow it back for you."

Kyo looked pointedly away, his expression ashamed as Yang sighed. "Yeah...that plan fell through..."

"That so?" said Qrow, his expression becoming a bit more hostile as he looked at Kyo.

"Well, it turned out that the process wasn't one I'd want to go through," said Yang, "on account of the fact that it was gonna be extremely painful and possibly fatal. But I got something better anyway."

"Huh?" Qrow's eyebrows went up.

Yang grinned. "I showed Dad this already, but watch." A stream of her golden Aura flowed outwards from her stump, forming her right arm and hand, melding almost perfectly to where her flesh and blood ended. She held it up for Qrow's inspection, twisting it and flexing her fingers as he watched with wide eyes.

"Well now...that's...something..." said Qrow, his tone a little dubious, before he took a look down at his drink.

Yang giggled before retracting her Aura.

"Can't keep it out for long?" asked Qrow.

"Actually, I can keep it out indefinitely," said Yang with a proud grin. "I can even do it in my sleep." Her smile faltered for an instant, something Qrow didn't fail to notice. "I just had a...rough...day today, and ended up using most of my Aura this morning. Putting my arm away helps me recover it faster. In some ways, it's actually better than my old arm. Kyo's teacher is even making a brand new weapon for it."

"Well, _now_ I'm impressed," said Qrow.

"And Kyo helped me figure out how to do it," added Yang, her grin widening. "We did this back at Beacon."

Qrow grinned, his eyes going back to Kyo. "Not too shabby, kiddo."

"Thank you," said Kyo.

"Well, pull up a couple of chairs and tell me what's happening," said Qrow. His smile faded, his face becoming deadly serious. "I'm especially curious to know what trouble my sister's been stirring up."

Yang and Kyo exchanged looks, looking decidedly more nervous now. However, they did take their seats. Yang tried to work out how to phrase what had led to the afternoon's conversation with Kyo's parents and Raven's involvement with recent affairs, _without_ spilling the Mibu's and Kyo's secrets to her uncle. It would be a tricky thing, given that Qrow was incredibly good at making people talk more than they probably should. His seemingly perpetual drunkenness was a good way of putting people off their guard and getting them to open up to him. If anything, he'd probably already gleaned more out of this conversation than he would have if he spent the next week trying to spy on the Mibu covertly.

It was Kyo who spoke first. "Your sister has apparently been making her own investigations into the Mibu," he explained. "To that end, she tried to use one of the future members of the Goyosei as a...patsy...of sorts for her investigation."

"Oookay...that sounds like something Raven'd do," said Qrow, his voice a low growl.

"The problem is that it led us to believe that she may be associating with someone very dangerous," said Kyo. "It also suggests that she may now be on the same side as the woman known as Cinder."

Qrow, who had just taken another shot of liquor sputtered, spewing his mouthful across the table. "You're kidding me!" he said, almost shouting. "You're saying Raven has thrown in with her?"

"Is that so odd?" asked Kyo.

"Yeah, pretty much," said Qrow. "I mean, Raven was never really on our side, but she sure as hell wasn't on Queen's side either."

"It's hard to say why," said Kyo. "We only have speculation really, and no concrete evidence."

"And what makes you speculate that she's working with Queen?" asked Qrow, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Yang swallowed and looked to Kyo. This would be where things got dicey. Could they explain this in satisfactory terms to Qrow, without bringing up the Mibu Reconstruction Project and Kyo's true nature?

"The truth is that the woman you know as Cinder is affiliated with a certain group in service to a dangerous foe of ours," said Kyo. "Because they are ancient enemies of our Clan, they know things that other outsiders do not. When Raven tried to use one of our own to investigate, she brought up these things."

Qrow huffed under his breath. "So that's how it is, huh..." He squinted at Kyo, seeming to have trouble seeing him, though Yang knew that Qrow probably saw Kyo clear as day. "And I'm guessing you _don't_ want to tell me what these things are."

"That would be correct," said Kyo, his own eyes narrowing dangerously. "And you would do well not to pry further into them."

Yang shivered as the air seemed to literally crackle with tension between her boyfriend and uncle. Kyo's Aura did not come out, but there was a definite force behind his gaze as he looked at Qrow. To Yang, it served as a reminder that, while Kyo might have been her boyfriend and lover, he was also exceptionally powerful and dangerous. Normally, he was quite careful with the people close to her, not trying to use the implication of his strength to force them into line with his wishes. But when it came to the Mibu Clan's deepest secrets, she saw that Kyo was going to be...firm...with Qrow.

Qrow let out a small breath and looked away, turning his eyes back to his cup. "Fine," he said. "I guess I underestimated you guys after all this easy treatment. I'll keep my questions to myself then."

"Thank you," said Kyo cheerfully, the tension immediately going out of his gaze.

Yang let out the breath she didn't even know she'd been holding.

"So now what?" asked Qrow. "Are you folks going after Raven and these...enemies...of yours?"

"Possibly," said Kyo. "There are no definite plans in place, but we're working on them."

"Well...guess I'll get comfortable then," said Qrow, leaning back in his chair. "What are you kids up to?"

"Well..." said Yang, remembering what Kyo wanted to do when they got back.

"We're doing some...training...of a sort," said Kyo. "Because of the unique properties Yang's right arm has, Murasame-sama wants to try an unconventional form of fitting it. We're preparing her for that."

Qrow looked to Yang who nodded. "You up for this, Firecracker. I know your man's a good guy. He won't pressure you if you say no."

Yang nodded. "I want to try at least," she said. "I can't say for sure what I'll say tomorrow. But that depends on how tonight goes."

"Well, good luck to ya," said Qrow.

Yang nodded. "I guess we'll see you at dinner," she said.

She and Kyo made their way down the hall. Behind them, they heard the sudden, joyous shout of Ruby. "Uncle Qrooooow!"

Yang giggled. Kyo looked a little bit worried. "Do you think he'll ask Ruby?" he wondered.

"Nah," said Yang. "Uncle Qrow's good as his word...to us, anyway. If he says he'll step off, he'll step off."

Kyo let out a relieved breath. "Good. I was worried there for a minute."

Yang nodded. "I can understand," she said. "Uncle Qrow's good at that sort of thing."

"It's hard to imagine that he could be that capable, as drunk as he is," said Kyo.

"If there's one thing about Uncle Qrow you need to learn," said Yang, "it's that he's _never_ as drunk as he looks..."

* * *

 _The bottom of Qrow's glass met the bar with a satisfying thunk, accompanied by the clink of ice rattling about inside. Directing a smile at the barkeeper, Qrow tapped the bar twice with his fingers, signaling a refill._

 _Yang's glass joined his a moment later, Yang sputtering a little as she wrestled with the burning feeling of the hard liquor running down her throat. Her current drink was certainly no Strawberry Sunrise, that was for sure._

 _"Trouble keeping up, Firecracker?" asked Qrow teasingly as the barkeeper refilled their glasses._

 _"N-no," said Yang, before seeing Qrow raise an eyebrow at her. "Fine...a little. How do you do it?"_

 _"Years of practice, kiddo," said Qrow with a chuckle. "It took a lotta work to get used to drinkin' hard. Drinking's like working out for your liver. The more you do it, the more your liver can handle. 'Course, there's a line where you can go too far."_

 _"Why?" asked Yang._

 _"It's good if you want to gather information," said Qrow. "People let their guards down around a drunk...so long as he's not the rowdy kind. They assume that a drunk isn't gonna pay attention to the little details and the small things that they say, that he's in no fit state to put little clues together into the bigger picture, and he's likely not to remember enough of it to do it later. And, for the most part, they're right."_

 _"How do you do it then?" asked Yang._

 _"The key is that you look drunker than you are," said Qrow. "It's not like you have a glowing bar hovering over your head saying how intoxicated you are. People rate your drunkenness by your behavior. They look for cues that show how out of it you are. If they're drinking too, they aren't gonna look too carefully and they aren't gonna scrutinize too closely. Everyone gets drunk differently, so it ain't like they're gonna ever get a precise idea. The key is to get just drunk enough that you can fake it convincingly, but not so drunk that you're actually inhibited. It's a tricky line to walk. And, of course, if you start overacting, they're gonna realize you're faking."_

 _"Okay," said Yang._

 _Qrow grinned. "When you're drunk, you can get away with saying stuff that you wouldn't while sober too. Questions that might make a person think twice about talking coming from a guy who clearly knows what he's talking about don't sound near as dangerous as one that comes from a guy who's slurring all over the place."_

 _"Sounds hard," said Yang._

 _Qrow grinned. "It ain't easy. It's not the sorta thing you can train easily. Doing it right means you have to at least be part drunk. You have to learn to keep your wits about you, when there's something constantly nibbling on them."_

 _Yang frowned. "Is that why you're always drinking, even when you're not in a bar?"_

 _Qrow grinned. "Nah, that's just for fun...and to piss off the Ice Queen. She's at her sexiest when she's mad."_

 _Yang didn't quite believe him, not that he would ever confirm it. As it was, she hid a grin with her hand. "You'd better not let Weiss hear that or she'll screech."_

 _Qrow chuckled. "Hearing your friend screech is fun too," he added._

 _"Yeah," said Yang. Soon, the two of them were back to drinking, but their conversation stuck in Yang's mind._

* * *

"Your uncle is quite the impressive man," said Kyo.

"Well, he's certainly a fun drinking partner," said Yang. "It worries me a bit that he's spying around."

"I'm sure we don't have all that much to worry about," said Kyo as they reached his room. He opened the door for her, allowing Yang inside before going in himself.

"So...how are we gonna do this?" asked Yang.

Kyo was rifling around and came up with a candle on a candlestick. "The first exercise is very easy," he said. Lighting the candle, he placed it on the floor in front of Yang. He held out his hand and began to run his fingers through the flame. "I'm sure you've seen someone do this before."

"Yeah," said Yang.

"Even a person without their Aura unlocked can do this," said Kyo. "In actuality, what they are doing is moving their hand just fast enough that not enough heat from the flame transfers to the skin to do any damage."

Yang nodded.

"However, what you will be doing will be different," said Kyo, nodding towards Yang's stump. "Go ahead and bring out your arm."

Yang nodded, projecting her Aura out through her stump and shaping it into her arm and hand.

"Now," said Kyo, "hold your hand still over the flame."

Yang gulped nervously.

"You'll be all right," said Kyo in an encouraging tone. "Remember, there is nothing there to _actually_ burn. You'll feel the heat. But there won't be any pain if you don't _believe_ there should be any."

Yang nodded and reached out for the candle. Instead of bothering with her fingers, she rested her palm over the candle flame, letting it spread out across the surface of her hand. She felt the heat rise rapidly. Yang held her hand there, gritting her teeth as the heat continued to rise.

 _I have to pull it away!_ she thought. Then she blinked, thinking about how long she'd held it there already. If it had been her left hand, it would have burned already. Kyo was right. All she was feeling was the heat, not any kind of pain. Her own mind was doing the rest, reacting because she was well past the point where the heat should have begun to hurt. _It's actually pretty amazing,_ she thought, smiling and watching in fascination as the flame continued to burn against her hand.

"Ready to move up a notch?" asked Kyo, coming back in the room, making Yang start. She hadn't even noticed him leave. Now he was holding a lit torch. The flames were much larger and brighter than the candle. Watching them crackle made Yang almost forget what she had just experienced and swallow nervously.

A few minutes later, she hardly cared as she held her hand amidst the crackling flames. "Wow! It works."

Kyo smiled. "So I think you should have little trouble tomorrow if you allow Murasame-sama to shape the steel to your arm."

"I think I'll manage," said Yang with a grin, pulling her hand out of the flames. "But it could burn through my Aura pretty quickly."

"There's a way to prevent that," said Kyo. "Use Flow to channel as much Aura into your arm as you can reasonably contain."

Yang nodded, sending as much of her amassed Aura out into her arm as possible. To her senses, it felt as though her arm was getting heavier and heavier, but her stump didn't notice any actual change in the weight. Her Aura arm looked more solid and dense as she poured more and more of her Aura into it. A faint sweat broke out on her brow as she focused her Tempering to keep the compressed Aura from escaping.

"Hold it like that for as long as you can," said Kyo. "Spread the rest of your Aura evenly across your body. You'll want some protection from the general heat and the sparks."

"Right," said Yang, doing as she was told. It was a bit tricky, like trying to look multiple directions at the same time. But, after all the training she had done on her Aura, she managed it. She flexed her arm experimentally. It wasn't any more sensitive than it had been before. But it felt heavier and a bit...unstable.

"This might be difficult for you, but try to maintain that for the rest of the evening," said Kyo. "That way it will hold up under Murasame-sama's hammer blows."

"Okay," said Yang, still looking at her arm in fascination.

* * *

The rest of the evening proceeded, more or less, normally, save for the surprise on everyone's faces when they saw that Qrow had joined them. Weiss, Blake, Ruby, and Jaune all seemed more pensive than usual, apparently thinking about their experiences during the afternoon. Nora seemed more bubbly and excited than before, while Ren was...well Ren hardly seemed bothered with anything at all, save keeping Nora under control.

On the other hand, Yang discovered that reinforcing her arm with nearly all of her Aura had an unfortunate side effect. She discovered that when she sat at the table and tried to pick up a glass, only to have it shatter in her grip. As it turned out, increasing the amount of Aura that composed her arm also increased the force it exerted. For the rest of the evening, Yang did as much as she could with her left hand alone, careful not to use her right if she could help it. Whenever she did have to do something with her right hand, she did it as carefully as she could, like she was trying to hold a soap bubble without breaking it.

That night, she joined Kyo in his room again, surprising him as he looked up from one of his books to see her standing over him, in her pajamas.

"Scoot over," she said, settling next to him on the bed as he moved over to give her room.

"Miss me already?" asked Kyo.

"Well...it really feels comfortable," Yang admitted, her cheeks turning pink. "I don't feel like sex tonight, but I'd really rather be here."

Kyo laughed softly and set his book aside. "Keep this up and we might well not need a separate room for you."

Yang turned and kissed him, which Kyo gladly returned. "I'm fine with that," she said.

Kyo turned off his bedside lamp and the two of them went to sleep, Yang resting comfortably in Kyo's arms.

* * *

The next morning, they got up early and enjoyed an early breakfast before Kyo and Yang went back to Murasame's quarters. When they got there, they were in for a surprise. Penny was standing in the middle of the meadow. She had drawn the Kusanagi and was holding it up over her head, parallel to the ground, resting the fingers of her left hand against the flat of her blade. She bowed her head slightly, eyes closed.

As they watched, the blade began to glow, then shine. Yang watched in awe as the sword's Aura exploded around it. At the same time, Penny's own Aura emerged. Yang's eyes widened even more as the two Auras began to merge, becoming something even greater. She had to stop and rub her eyes, thinking that the light coming out of the sword was beginning to get to her. She had seen fuzzy shapes coming out of the blade.

When she opened them again, Yang's jaw dropped. The fuzzy shapes were no longer so fuzzy. Now Yang was sure she could see them, undulating, serpentine coils that ended in heads with backwards sloping horns and rounded snouts. The snakelike forms wound about the blade, becoming more clear with each passing second, until Penny apparently finished. The light faded from the sword and the snakelike images became transparent before fading away entirely. Penny lowered the sword, panting, a faint sheen of sweat decorating her brow.

"What was that?" gasped Yang.

Penny beamed at them. "Oh! Hello," she said in her normal cheery tone. "I was just practicing listening to the voice of my sword."

"You're doing quite well," said Kyo approvingly. "You're already drawing out the Yamata-no-Orochi."

"Thank you," said Penny, another blush appearing on her cheeks at Kyo's praise, which put a slight damper on Yang's excitement.

"The what?" asked Yang, looking at Kyo in confusion, trying to keep her mind off Penny's reaction.

"According to legend, in ancient times, a god came to earth and slew a terrible monster," said Kyo. "It was called Yamata-no-Orochi. It was a serpent or dragon with eight heads and eight tails. It was said to span eight valleys. After slaying the beast, the god discovered a sword in one of its tails. That sword was the Kusanagi."

"So then that thing was..." said Yang, her eyes going back to Penny's sword.

Kyo nodded. "The spirit of Yamata-no-Orochi resides in the Kusanagi. If its wielder is skilled enough and sufficiently in tune with the sword's voice, she can call forth its power."

"Well, that _sounds_ impressive," said Yang.

"I haven't been able to do that yet," said Penny.

"I'm sure you will in time," said Kyo.

Yang nodded her agreement.

Penny sheathed her sword, looking quite happy. "I think so too," she said. "You're here for Yang's weapon, right? Come in."

She led them up and into the house, where Murasame was indeed waiting for them. "I'm glad you're here," he said happily. "I can't wait to try this. This is an unprecedented opportunity."

"Yes, now that I've spent an evening preparing her, it should go without incident," said Kyo.

"Preparing her?" Murasame raised confused eyebrows.

"Well, you will be shaping red-hot metal around her arm with a hammer," said Kyo. "Her arm is more than capable of feeling those things while you do them, so I had to ensure that she didn't have to worry about pain while doing it."

Murasame's eyes widened and he turned to Yang. "Good heavens," he said. "I didn't even think about that. I'm terribly sorry, Xiao Long-dono. I apologize." He bowed his head to the floor.

"It's okay," said Yang, shifting nervously, this time because it didn't feel right that someone so important should be bowing to her.

"I should have asked in any case," said Murasame, lifting his head back up. "I get carried away when something grabs my interest. I didn't think about how difficult such an experience might be for you." He met her eyes. "Are you willing to go through with it?"

"Yeah," said Yang, giving him a grin. "Otherwise, I wasted my time spending last evening sticking my hand in torch-fire."

"Good," said Murasame, standing up. "Follow me, please."

He led them back through his house and into his forge. They made their way past the rows upon rows of completed weapons that resided upon racks on the walls. They reached the forge and Yang immediately broke out in a sweat as she was assaulted by the volcanic heat that radiated out of the furnace.

"We start with this," said Murasame, producing what looked like a broad ring, composed of silvery metal with what appeared to be golden inlays.

"What's that?" asked Yang.

"This is what you might call the anchor point," said Murasame. "This is the weapon's base. You wear it on your upper arm, which is what your gauntlet will collapse onto when inactive, or when you haven't produced your arm. For obvious reasons, this is the only one that I had to fit beforehand. I just need to put it on your arm and then make some final adjustments."

Yang nodded and held out her stump, which Murasame then slid the ring onto. It didn't go very far before it was too tight. Murasame removed it before Yang could even protest. He put the ring into the furnace.

"Not too much expansion," he said almost seeming to mutter to himself. "It needs to be snug enough that it can hold the rest of the weight. But we don't want to cut off circulation..."

He put the ring in the furnace to heat it. A few minutes later, he brought it out and fitted it, using an iron cone that got thicker towards the base, carefully pounding it down until he judged that it was wide enough. Then, after heating it again, he quenched the ring in water, throwing up a spray of steam and hissing wildly. Finally, he removed the cooled piece of metal and brought it up to Yang's arm again, sliding it up until it would go no further. Yang was relieved that it fit snugly, but not so tightly that she felt any kind of pinch.

"Perfect," said Murasame with a satisfied smile. "Now from here is where things get interesting. Please bring out your arm."

Yang nodded and her Aura shimmered out from her stump and formed into her right arm. As it did, she noted that Murasame had positioned the ring perfectly. Her Aura did not just extend straight out of her stump, but enveloped it partially. The Aura actually stopped right at where the ring that would anchor the whole weapon rested.

"Good," said Murasame. "I'm glad we got it right on the first try. Now take a seat." He gestured to the stool he had set out by the anvil. Sitting on it, Yang found that the anvil's top was now just below the level of her shoulder, which would keep her arm extended straight out when she extended it. Not needing a prompt for the next part, she held out her right arm and rested it on the anvil.

Yang watched as Murasame proceeded to remove another piece from the furnace. At the moment, it looked like a simple, metal rectangle with sloped edges. Murasame grasped it in a pair of tongs. Taking it, he brought it up to Yang's arm. Yang's mouth went dry as she watched, hoping she was ready for this. Doing as Kyo had instructed last night, she had channeled as much of her Aura into her arm as it could hold, solidifying and strengthening it to the maximum extent possible. Now she would see if she could handle the sensation of having red-hot metal pressed up against it.

Murasame laid the piece against her arm and Yang immediately felt the heat. Her breath escaped her mouth in a reflexive hiss, but she held her arm steady. True to Kyo's theory, all she felt was the heat, but no pain. But her brain was trying to tell her that, with something this hot pressed up against her, there _should_ be pain, a lot of it. Yang forced herself to dismiss her brain's impression of the situation as she watched Murasame take up the hammer.

She felt the impact of each blow as Murasame pounded the piece into shape around her arm. Almost immediately, something felt off...not wrong...but off, like something she hadn't expected. She'd expected to feel the jolt of impact, feel her Aura chip away a little as it absorbed the brunt of the blow. However, what she didn't expect was for the jolt to travel up through her Aura, into her flesh, and up her shoulder in a snapping pulse that almost felt electric. She would have compared the sensation to having a hot wire jabbed into her arm, except there was no pain accompanying the sensation. What was more, each blow stole more of her Aura than Yang thought it should have, not enough to worry her, but more than she knew it should have. And "stole" was the right word. With each hit, she felt a tiny bit of her Aura go straight into the metal that was pounded against her.

Yang kept her arm straight and still as Murasame laid out each plate in the sequence so that, when they were pounded together, they overlapped, ensuring complete protection. Only when he reached the joint of her elbow, was there a break in the pattern. Murasame skipped over that bit, instead moving on to the next sequence of plates, hammering them into shape all the way down to the plate the covered the top of her fist.

Once the plates were fitted, Murasame turned his attention back to her elbow. That's when Yang realized that, more than just pounding the plates into place, Murasame had somehow been fitting them together as he went, so that they were all joined. Yang wasn't even sure what was holding them together. She could see no latches or links when they had been hammered together, but they felt all of one piece against her Aura. Now he pounded a selection of thinner plates together, linking them so that they would slide over and under one another as her arm moved, working as a single armored hinge, that would still ensure that the plates that covered her upper and lower arms were linked together, while making sure that her elbow was protected.

"There," said Murasame as he pounded the last piece into shape. "Now for the quenching."

It was then that Yang noticed that the metal pieces seemed to have lost none of their heat as Murasame worked them. However, she knew what was coming next. "Should I take it off?"

Murasame shook his head. "This will be the difficult part, use what's left of your Aura to reinforce your flesh above your arm as much as possible." Yang, already sweating heavily in this sweltering room, began to sweat a little more at what she was about to be asked to do.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Kyo, worry in his voice. Clearly he hadn't been expecting this.

"It will be the finishing touch," said Murasame. "Please trust me."

Kyo looked to Yang, the expression on his face telling her that it was her decision. Slowly, Yang nodded, praying to God that she wasn't about to regret this. Getting up from the anvil, remembering to keep her arm well away from her body, Yang made her way to the furnace. She took one last look at Murasame and he nodded. Yang braced herself and inserted her right arm into the blaze.

She stopped when it reached the part where her Aura joined her flesh. The heat was incredible. She was glad she'd listened to Murasame's advice and had redirected her remaining Aura to shield the flesh of her stump, which was just outside the furnace. Otherwise, she'd be burning and blistering already.

The heat was intense, like nothing she'd ever experienced, which was to be expected. Less than twenty-four hours ago, Yang had never even entertained the notion that she'd have to do something like shove her arm into a furnace used to heat metal for forging. She was a bit worried that her instincts would be screaming at her to get her arm out as fast as possible. But it seemed that, after what she had been through already, her instincts had simply decided to throw in the towel.

Yang was sweating buckets. Her mouth was dry, her lips beginning to get chapped. She barely noticed as Kyo lowered himself down into a crouch in front of her and held a cup of water up to her lips. Yang sipped automatically, her mind mostly occupied with other matters.

Murasame was standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders as he angled his head to watch the state of the metal in the forge, checking its color. She could feel him using his aura, manipulating how the heat moved into his creation. Finally, he squeezed Yang's shoulders. "Take it out," he said softly.

Yang did as she was bid, removing her arm from the heat. The metal of her new weapon glowed bright-orange, yellow at the edges. Murasame guided her to the large tub of water nearby. "In it goes," he said.

Yang, bracing herself, did as he instructed. She spread the Aura that had been protecting her stump up to cover her shoulder and face, glad that she did so as she thrust the heated metal into the tub. The water hissed and boiled angrily, throwing up a cloud of scalding steam and superheated droplets. Yang cried out as the steam washed over her, and the droplets found places on her skin that her Aura wasn't able to protect or burned their way through what meager protection she had left.

But the pain soon became the last thing on Yang's mind. Just a second after her arm, and the gauntlet covering it, entered the water, she felt something snap, not the snap of something breaking, but the snap of something sparking. A second later, the mass of Aura that made up her arm was gone, all of it. It vanished in an instant, disappearing into the metal of her new weapon, as though to replace the heat that the water had drawn out of it.

She felt another snapping spark, then a hum that intensified for a brief second, before fading, almost as though something had woken and taken its first breath. If there was anything else to feel, Yang wasn't aware of it, as having so much Aura stolen from her all at once, combined with the heat of the steam and boiling water made her eyes roll up in her head. The world went black.

* * *

 **So, yeah...this chapter was clearly written before Volume 6 came around, and Qrow's drunken shenanigans were no longer just a character quirk. In retrospect, that makes a lot of sense, considering how he thinks about himself, and how he thinks about his Semblance. But this was _also_ written before we knew his Semblance was Bad Luck, back when we were all assuming that it was shapeshifting...before we also learned that Semblances apparently can't do that, but magic can...I give up.**


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45:**

Yang slowly opened her eyes, feeling groggy. For a moment, she struggled to remember what had happened. She had to work to piece together her final memories before going under. Gradually, they came back to her. She remembered the forge, Murasame pounding hot metal against her arm, heating it in the furnace, then plunging it into the water for quenching. Something had happened. Her Aura was gone. Then everything had gone dark.

Everything was still dark. It took a moment for Yang's eyes to adjust as she realized that, this time, the darkness was because she was in a room with the door and shutters closed. It was too dark for her to make out the details until her eyes began to adjust. It wasn't the room she'd been given in the guest quarters. It wasn't Kyo's room either. Nearby, she saw a row of stuffed animals lining a shelf. On another wall, she saw a dresser with a mirror over it. Turning her gaze around, she noted other features of the room, realizing that it was one she'd only seen in glances before.

Something soft and fuzzy was nestled in the crook of her left arm. Looking down at it, Yang couldn't keep from smiling as she recognized a stuffed bear, most likely placed there by the sweet, adorable, former-android that called this room home. They hadn't moved her far then, but simply out to the house, where they could put her to bed.

Tilting her head a little, Yang saw a shadow looming over her. Panic rose inside her, but quelled quickly as she made out its features. Instead, it was replaced with relief and happiness as she realized that Kyo was sitting next to the bed, leaning up against the wall, chin against his chest as he slept.

Yang shifted under the covers, trying to get a feel for her body. Everything felt as it should, all of one piece. She'd expected her skin to feel hot and feverish from the burns she'd taken from the quenching, but everything felt normal. She closed her eyes and tried to get a feel for her Aura. It was there, but depleted, almost to nothing. If she had her scroll and it had a signal, it would probably read her Aura in the red zone, or even zeroed out, given how little of it she felt.

Off to her side, Yang heard motion as Kyo stirred from his sleep. She saw his eyes open, their crimson color shimmering in the low light. "You're awake," he said softly. "How do you feel?"

"Surprisingly...okay," said Yang, her voice feeling a little hoarse.

Kyo got up and went over to a door set into one wall. He opened it and entered what Yang assumed to be the bathroom, as her ears picked up the sound of running water. He returned with a cup. He helped her up into a sitting position and held it to her lips, the cool liquid soothing Yang's throat. As it flowed over her lips, Yang couldn't help but note that the chapping was gone too.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You fainted in the forge," said Kyo. "Once you put your weapon in the water for quenching, your Aura vanished and you passed out."

"I thought so," said Yang. "I could feel it. It was like a sponge. It soaked up everything I had."

Kyo nodded. "Of course, that meant that there was nothing to protect your skin from the steam and splatter anymore. You got burned pretty badly. I would have pulled you out, but Murasame-sama insisted on keeping you there until the weapon had finished cooling. We sent Penny to get...Saisei."

Hearing the hitch in Kyo's voice, Yang winced sympathetically. "That must have been fun," she said.

Kyo nodded. "She was furious with us. I'm lucky Murasame-sama had insisted on taking the blame, or it would have probably been a repeat of what happened on the airship."

Yang giggled at that, glad that Saisei hadn't beaten Kyo black and blue again. She wasn't angry at him. She couldn't even be angry at Murasame, as she got the distinct feeling that they had done something extraordinary.

"She healed you, of course," said Kyo. "But, since you didn't have any Aura left, she was forced to rely entirely on her own, something she doesn't like to do."

"How long have I been out?" asked Yang.

"You were asleep for the rest of the day and through the night," said Kyo. "It's almost dawn outside. How do you feel?"

"I feel okay," said Yang. "Nothing hurts. But I still have hardly any Aura."

Kyo nodded. "Saisei said that would be the case. Her healing is utilizing your Aura as you generate it."

"What else happened?" asked Yang.

"Your sister and friends came as soon as they heard what happened. They weren't happy." Kyo rubbed his cheek. "Ruby has a mean left hook by the way."

Yang couldn't help but giggle at that. She felt a little too out of it to be properly upset at her sister for punishing Kyo for something that wasn't really his fault. "How'd Uncle Qrow take it?"

"Quite well, considering," said Kyo. "He checked on you and said he didn't need to add to his own commentary."

"What about Murasame?" asked Yang.

"Murasame-sama locked himself in the forge as soon as Saisei finished healing you and assured us that you would be all right," said Kyo. "He spent the rest of the day putting the finishing touches on your weapon. It was quite late when he finished. He and Penny are both asleep in his room."

"So it's ready then?" asked Yang, almost straining to sit up, though her body didn't seem quite ready to obey her yet.

Kyo's hand pressed down on her shoulder, pushing Yang back down into the bed. He had to exert hardly any force at all to keep her from rising, given how weak she was at the moment. "Rest," he said. "Your new weapon will still be there."

"Okay," said Yang a little reluctantly as she settled back under the covers.

Kyo chuckled. "Breakfast...or brunch...should be ready when you wake up. You're going to be ravenous."

"I'm sure," said Yang. Right now, she was too tired to be properly hungry. "Kyo...can you...?"

She couldn't see Kyo smile. But she could feel it. She felt the covers shift as Kyo climbed in with her and wrapped his arms around her. Yang smiled and allowed him to pull her up against his chest, one hand gently stroking her hair.

"Sleep," said Kyo softly, kissing her lips.

Yang smiled and closed her eyes.

* * *

As Kyo had predicted, Yang was starving when she woke up again. She still required Kyo's help to get out of bed and make it into the living room of Murasame's house, where an impressive repast had been set out for them. Yang devoured everything in front of her eagerly. As she did, she began to feel her strength come back, gradually. Her Aura was feeling a bit more substantial, though she didn't yet have enough to generate her arm.

To her disappointment, Kyo didn't take her back into the forge to see her new weapon. Instead, Kyo guided her back to the guest quarters, where Yang could shower and brush her teeth. Admittedly, she felt much better, now that she was clean.

Afterwards, she met with her friends and family to assure them that she was fine, though still needing to recover her Aura. They accepted her responses easily enough, though many a threatening glare had been leveled at Kyo, who acted suitably chastised by their collective, silent scolding.

After settling things with them, Yang turned pleading eyes on her boyfriend. "When can I see it?" she asked.

Kyo grinned cheekily at her. "When you've recovered enough to produce your arm again. Until then, there's no point. You'll understand when the time comes."

"When the time comes?" asked Yang.

Kyo nodded. "According to Murasame-sama, the act of putting it on and...drawing it, so to speak...for the first time should be a special experience. Ideally, we should wait until your Aura has completely recovered. But we don't want to make you wait too long. I believe Murasame-sama also wants to wait because he's still making final adjustments and tinkering with it here and there. He's extremely excited with what you've made. Unless I miss my guess, he considers it his finest creation to date."

"Wow..." said Yang, excitement filling her, along with an eagerness to see the completed form of her weapon. It was accompanied by a sense of annoyance that they were making her wait.

Kyo wrapped his arms around her, hugging her from behind and pulling her up against him. "Don't worry," he said. "I've made arrangements to help you stay entertained until you're ready."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"Do you know what day it is?" asked Kyo.

Yang frowned and began thinking. So much had happened in the past few days that keeping track of what day it actually was had been the last thing on her mind. "It's...Sunday, I think," she said finally.

Kyo grinned. "That's right. I made arrangements with Shinrei."

"What about?" asked Yang.

"Well, at Makoto-sama's school, Sunday is the day of the week that his students have off. So, Ciel-san is free for the day. Because of that, Shinrei suggested that we do a...double-date...Is that the right term?"

Yang couldn't help but giggle at his wording. "It is," she said, a little bubble of happiness rising inside of her. She liked the sound of the idea, even though she was still anxious to see her weapon. As a way to kill time, she supposed it was a good idea.

"So what are we doing for our double-date?" she asked, relaxing against Kyo's chest.

"Well, you mentioned that you'd like to go dancing," said Kyo. "There is a dance-hall and restaurant in the city that we can go to. I'm not very good, but I think you'll like it."

"I think I'll have fun as long as you're there," said Yang. "Is your friend a good dancer?"

"Very," said Kyo. "The _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ has strong ties to dance as an art, so he has a lot of practice in that sort of thing."

Yang laughed. "Well, you could stand a little more practice. It sounds like fun." She hesitated for a second. "Will they allow you there?"

"Well, they do serve alcohol," said Kyo, "but only as an accompaniment for the food. They have agreed to allow me so long as I promise not to partake."

Yang frowned. That didn't seem particularly fair to Kyo. However, after he had already apparently gone through the trouble to set this up. She'd keep her thoughts to herself this time and do her best to enjoy herself. Hopefully, in the morning, she would be ready to see her new weapon. In the meantime, she'd take advantage of this night to enjoy herself as much as possible.

* * *

Ren dropped, panting, to his knees. He was drenched in sweat. His arms felt as though they were made of lead. It took all his strength to maintain his grip on StormFlower's handles and keep from dropping the guns to the ground.

He stood on the edge of a stone platform that seemed suspended in darkness. All around him, pillars of stone stretched up from the darkness below. From either side of the platform, raised paths of stone stretched out towards the gates. This seeming abyss hovered between two of the Five Shining Gates, where one of the Five Stars in particular was supposed to stand watch.

"Well...you were right about your stamina," said the dark-skinned man in front of him, standing casually on one leg as he tapped his shin with his uplifted foot. "I still can't see what you came to me for?"

Lifting his eyes, Ren focused on meeting Chinmei's gaze. "I'll improve my stamina as much as possible," he said. "But that's not why I came to you."

"Oh...why?" asked Chinmei, twirling a dreadlock around the finger of his left hand, while his right gripped his sword, which he rested over his shoulder in a manner that Ren had seen Kyo do.

"When I saw you fight Kyo on our first day here," said Ren, struggling to his feet, "what impressed me wasn't just your power. What interested me was your economy of motion."

"Oh..." Chinmei raised an eyebrow.

"When Kyo hit you back, you would hit to the ground and return to your feet without suffering from the impact," said Ren. "I've never seen such a brilliant breakfall technique."

"Oh...interested in my _ukemi_ , huh?" said Chimei.

" _Ukemi_?" Ren tested the unfamiliar word on his tongue.

Chinmei grinned. "In our martial arts, uke refers to the person who is receiving an attack," he explained. "Like if you're practicing throws. The uke is the guy who has to let himself be thrown, when it's his turn."

"Oh," said Ren.

"Therefore, _ukemi_ , technically refers to the art of receiving a technique," said Chimei. "But in quite a few schools, it became an art of its own, a way of receiving an opponent's technique to minimize the damage taken or, as you've seen, how to break your fall without injuring yourself."

He scratched his chin. "It can also be tied to arts like Parkour, where economy of motion is king. I get what you're saying."

"Then you'll help?" asked Ren.

Chinmei shrugged. "Sure. I've got time." He grinned menacingly. "You may regret asking me, after you've tasted my first lesson."

"What do you mean?" asked Ren.

Chinmei took two steps, coming up right in front of Ren. Without so much as a warning, Chinmei lifted a foot and planted it against Ren's chest before shoving him backwards...right off the edge of the platform. Ren's eyes widened and a shocked gasp escaped his lips as he plummeted backwards.

"If I were you, I'd figure out how to get out of this fix!" shouted Chinmei with a grin as he leapt off the edge behind Ren.

Panic would have been anyone's first reaction upon finding themselves falling through darkness. Ren had good reason to panic. His earlier sparring session with Chinmei had worn down his Aura so that little remained, certainly not enough to take a fall from this height...however high up they actually were. Ren didn't look forward to finding out. However, his training held firm and his mind worked through his options.

The first thing he had to do was control his speed and slow his descent. Whipping his arms around, he lashed out with his weapons, sinking their blades into the side of the stone pillar that supported the platform he'd just been punted off of. His arms screamed with the strain and were nearly wrenched from their sockets. Without his Aura to support his strength, all Ren had were his muscles, which, he had to admit, were not the strongest in the world. However, he managed to hold on, though the handles of his weapons nearly slipped from his grip.

"Well now...I'm not too surprised," said Chinmei right behind Ren, prompting him to look over his shoulder. Chinmei was there, lounging on thin air as though it were a couch. "But I bet you can do better than that," he said. "Your arms must be giving you some serious grief."

"They're not the only things," muttered Ren. The back of his mind was screaming that he was stupid to ask for this maniac's help.

"Well, that's certainly not the most economical way to handle a fall," said Chinmei. "What are you going to do now? You don't know how far down it is from here. Plan on climbing back up in your state? I ain't helping you either way, by the way."

Ren's eyes narrowed in a glare at the man, who merely grinned teasingly in response. Looking around, he understood his predicament perfectly well. Trying to repeat the process of using his weapons to manage his fall would only wear him out and StormFlower would probably wear out before that. Chinmei was also right in pointing out that climbing up was not an option at this point.

What was more, his time was running out. His sweaty palms were beginning to lose their grip on StormFlower's handles. In a matter of moments, Ren would be on his way down, whether he wanted to fall or not.

Looking for some answer, he observed the area around him. In the time that he'd been falling, the number of stone pillars stretching up below had multiplied, these ones not extending as high as the ones that reached the level of the platform. Looking around, Ren tried to work out if any were close enough that he could leap on top of one to get a chance at finding a better approach to the situation.

"You're overthinking it," said Chinmei, startling Ren out of his thoughts. "You wanted my help to work on your economy of motion. Well, this is your lesson. You have to get down with your current Aura level, using nothing but the physical skills you've developed over the course of your life of training. From our spar before, I can see you've got the reflexes and skills to handle this. You just need to think about what you want and use that to do what you need to do."

"With no instruction?" asked Ren angrily.

"Instruction only takes you so far, pal," said Chinmei laconically, folding his arms behind his head. "I don't have your body. I can't feel out your balance or sensations. The only one who can refine your technique and movement is you. You have to focus on yourself and _feel_ where your movement is being wasted, when you're taking impacts that you don't have to. From what I could see, you've got all the requisite skills to do this. You just need to refine them."

"But shouldn't you start with something safer?" asked Ren.

Chinmei shrugged. "Sure...if you wanted to improve over a year or so. But I get the impression you're in a little bit of a hurry."

Ren's jaws clamped shut. Chinmei was right in that front. If Cinder and her allies were planning something, they might not have a year to get ready for it. He wanted to improve quickly. He supposed he should have realized that no such endeavor came without risks.

His fingers slipped a little more on the handles of his weapons, and Ren knew that his time was running out. He let out a small sigh and frowned, before tightening his grip one last time, then yanking the blades free of the rock. Chinmei following him down, Ren plummeted into darkness.

* * *

Nora whipped her hammer in a wide swing, its passage ruffling the blonde hair of Keikoku as he ducked beneath it. Keikoku thrust out with his spear. However, Nora had already turned her weapon's arc into a spin, allowing her to position the shaft of the hammer between her and the incoming thrust, catching Keikoku's spear between two of its three prongs. Doing so allowed the center blade, the longest, to come dangerously close to her chest, but Nora managed to halt his thrust just shy of it.

Retracting his thrust, Keikoku danced back, skipping just beyond the arc of Nora's next swing. Nora pursued, spinning her hammer by its shaft in her hands, allowing her to move the deceptively bulky weapon with incredible speed and precision, swinging the head at Keikoku from a variety of directions with blinding speed. When she was on a roll, Nora could keep up with _Yang_ in close combat.

Her speed and the ferocity of her assault seemed to catch Keikoku off-guard. For an instant, his movement faltered, and Nora didn't hesitate to take advantage of it. Swinging her hammer around, she brought it straight into the side of Keikoku's head. She expected him to be flung away as his Aura took the impact. Instead, his head exploded, splattering out from the force of her blow.

A horrified gasp worked its way out of Nora's throat. She hadn't meant to _kill_ him. Then she noticed something strange. Instead of blood, bone fragments, and pulverized brain matter, what Nora had thought had been those things were, in fact, dancing tongues of flame. Keikoku's body had been replaced with a sculpture in his likeness, formed from solid-seeming fire. The flames lingered a second, then burnt out as the fire-double vanished.

Nora didn't have time to think about what she had just seen, as she felt a presence at her back. She spun around just in time to intercept another thrust from Keikoku's spear. However, her eyes widened as she saw a spark from the tip.

" _Shakuran Entei!_ " A gout of flame exploded from the blade of Keikoku's spear, washing over Nora at point-blank range. With a yelp of surprise and pain, Nora threw herself backwards, channeling as much of her Aura as she could to her front to keep the wave of fire from burning her. As she did, she caught a flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye.

Determined not to let Keikoku get off another attack like that, Nora spun in place, swinging her hammer in a wide arc, straight down. She slammed it down into the top of Keikoku's head. However, her hammer encountered no resistance as, instead of her opponent, she instead finding herself smashing another fire-double into scattered tongues of flame. Once again, Nora felt her opponent's presence at her back. She spun around, but was too late.

The butt of Keikoku's spear caught her right in the stomach, doubling Nora over as the breath exploded from her lungs and she was knocked backwards, landing on her butt and rolling onto her back, before skidding to a stop.

"Owwwwww," she groaned, going limp.

"You okay?" asked Keikoku, a small laugh in his voice as he spoke.

"Give me a minute," said Nora tiredly.

"Worn out already, huh?" said her opponent, coming to stand over her.

"No...just...ow," said Nora.

Keikoku extended a hand down, which Nora took, allowing him to pull her to her feet. "Well, your technique is interesting for sure. You're quicker than you look with that monster of a hammer of yours. But I still see a good bit of waste in your movements, especially early on, when you were jumping around all over the place, like a grasshopper."

"Aww...but I like doing that," said Nora. "It's awesome."

"It also uses a ton of extra energy and telegraphs your attacks," said Keikoku. "I'm sure that, when you're going all out, you can use that fancy Dust-tech in your weapon to add all sorts of wrinkles in your strategy, but there's still a lot of waste in big moves like that."

Nora pouted cutely, making Keikoku laugh. However, she also appeared to be genuinely upset. "What's the matter?" he asked.

Nora sighed. "I don't want everyone else to get ahead of me," said Nora. "Lately, I feel like I haven't been doing much, and I just don't have enough screen-time."

"What?" asked Keikoku flatly.

"Well, I just feel like I haven't been doing enough to get better," said Nora, sticking out her bottom lip.

"Okay...I'm not sure how much help I can be," said Keikoku. "We both wield long weapons. But a spear is very different from a hammer."

"I know," said Nora. "I wanted to see if I could work out how you can just go _Boom!_ like that."

"Boom?" Keikoku raised a confused eyebrow and tilted his head.

"Yeah!" said Nora excitedly. "Like, just a minute ago, you were right there, and suddenly you had flames going _Whoosh!_ "

"Oh," said Keikoku, beginning to get what she was saying. "You want to figure out how to output a lot of power, all at once, for big Aura-based attacks."

Nora nodded. "I can create electricity with my Semblance, but I can't do a lot at once. If I really want to charge up, I have to wait or find a live wire or get struck by lightning."

"Hmmm..." Keikoku leaned against his spear's shaft, the butt planted on the ground, as though it were a walking stick. "Well...technically, since you use electricity, I'd recommend asking Kyo's buddy, Hayate. He's a master of lightning. He can even use his Aura to control nature."

"Ooooh..." said Nora.

Keikoku grinned. "But if you just want to learn how to be able to make your Aura surge all at once for big attacks like mine, I think I can help with that."

"Really?" asked Nora, her eyes widening.

"Yeah," said Keikoku. "I still recommend you look up Hayate after this. But, for now, let me tell you about the _Breath of Fire_..."

* * *

Yang spent the day with Kyo. For the most part, the two of them were content to lounge while Yang napped in Kyo's arms, doing her best to recover her Aura and energy. As evening arrived, and the sun began to dip towards the horizon, Yang dressed in her kimono, while Kyo, much to her surprise, changed into a slightly different set of clothes, a dark-blue kimono with crimson that matched his eyes around the hems. His back was decorated with the same taijitu symbol as he regular kimono. Much to her surprise, he had left his sword, which he normally carried everywhere with him, in his room.

Yang grinned when she saw him. "That looks good on you," she said.

"Thanks," said Kyo, beaming. "You look wonderful as well."

Yang blushed and averted her eyes, feeling unusually shy. This time, she'd tried tying up her hair behind her head, which showed off her neck. Kyo took her hands and Yang's heart-rate jumped slightly. She was getting used to him, but situations like this always made her excited.

Once again, they made their way through the maze of hallways that made up the Palace, before passing through the gates, heading down the path that led towards town. Kyo stopped at a branch in the path, which he turned them down. The path meandered through rolling green hills, before arriving at one of the many sprawling compounds scattered throughout the upperclass district.

"This is where Makoto-sama lives," explained Kyo. "It's also where his school is as well."

"So Ciel's been living here?" asked Yang, looking up at the building with interested eyes.

Kyo nodded.

Ahead of them, the building's front door opened and Shinrei stepped out. He'd switched out his usual clothes for a sky-blue kimono with spiraling dragon designs. With him, her arm hooked around his, was Ciel, dressed in a very simple teal-colored kimono with gold hems.

"Wow! You two look great," said Yang, grinning as she saw Ciel blush fiercely.

"W-well...my friends helped me pick one out," explained Ciel.

"They took her shopping in the city for the entire day," said Shinrei, laughing as he patted her hand. "They wore her to a frazzle, and she barely had any time for a nap before we had to get ready."

"Are you up for this?" asked Yang, giving Ciel a worried look. "I don't want to pressure you..."

"No! It's fine," said Ciel quickly. "Kaito just worries too much. I've really been looking forward to this." She ducked her head shyly. "The food here is very nice and all..."

"But sometimes it's good to get out and try something different," said Shinrei. "She's been working hard, so she's definitely earned this."

"Oh?" said Yang, raising an eyebrow and mock-glaring at Shinrei. "Is that all this is to you, a reward for being a good student?"

Shinrei blanched, coughed, then stuttered. "N-no...of...of course not! I just meant...uh..."

Ciel giggled and hugged Shinrei's arm. "It's okay," she said. "I know."

Shinrei relaxed and let out a relieved breath. "Okay."

"Wow, you're gonna be fun to tease," said Yang, giving Shinrei her most mischievous grin.

Shinrei gave her a flat look, before turning the same look on Kyo. "You just had to get _that_ kind of person for a girlfriend, didn't you?"

Kyo laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Come on, let's go," said Yang, pulling on his arm.

The four of them set out and made their way down into the city. All around them, lights and lanterns were being turned on or lit, lighting up the streets, even as darkness fell while the sun set. Yang couldn't help but marvel at the ambience it made. Though the streets were bustling with other people, many of them partaking in the same and similar activities that they were, it was still so much quieter than the streets of Vale at the same time of night. It wasn't so much that the Mibu had no nightlife, but that they just didn't have as many things that made noise as the people in Vale did.

Of course, after getting used to the Palace, which seemed deserted, even at the busiest of times, Yang found the city a riot of color and noise by comparison. And, given the way she clung to Shinrei's arm, Ciel felt the same way too, clearly a little overwhelmed to suddenly have so much going on around her after presumably spending most of her time in the upperclass district of Onmyo, around the school.

They reached the restaurant and quickly entered. The customer area of the restaurant consisted of a single, large, high-ceilinged room. The outside perimeter of the room had raised floors, which were set with several tables nearly all the way around. The square dance floor occupied the center of the room, depressed so that it was a little less than a foot below the section where the tables were. Wooden pillars lined the edge of the dance floor, supporting the roof above. On the far end of the room from where they had entered was the only break in the tables lining the perimeter, as that was where the bandstand was.

The band seemed to consist mostly of players using string or woodwind instruments, which they used to produce a lively tune while several couples danced around each other in the center of the room in a dance that reminded Yang of square-dancing. Whatever it was, it looked simple enough and, more importantly, looked like a lot of fun. The atmosphere was cheerful and energetic, but not excessively so. Yang saw plenty of other couples at the tables, enjoying their meals, or resting after a prolonged session of dancing.

A slender waitress with tanned skin, dressed in a dark-red qipao with orange patterns, and a short skirt greeted them. Her black hair was done up in a tight bun, held in place with several pins. She smiled cheerfully at them, not even seeming to notice Kyo's eyes as she greeted them.

"Welcome!" she said eagerly.

"Hey," said Shinrei. "We've got a reservation for four."

"Of course, Shinrei-sama," said the waitress, bowing politely to them. "I'll show you right to your table." She led them back towards a corner of the room, near the bandstand.

Normally, being so close to the source of the music would have made it difficult for them to talk, but the unique acoustics of the room seemed to funnel the majority of the sound out to the dance floor, leaving the volume of the music in their vicinity as a pleasant accompaniment to the setting. Yang also noticed that it tucked them out of the way, so that Kyo and his Crimson Eyes were less visible to the other members of the clientele. It made Yang wonder whether the staff were being considerate or cautious.

The waitress left them with their menus, after taking their drink orders. Yang, having been through a rough couple of days, decided that she didn't need another rough morning. She decided to forego alcohol and stuck with a lemonade. She noticed that the others followed suit, ordering non-alcoholic beverages.

"Expecting trouble?" asked Yang, looking from one to the other.

"I have a stipulation, remember?" said Kyo.

"Oh, right," said Yang.

"I'm not one for drinking," said Ciel.

"Well, I figured that if no one else was going to, I shouldn't either," said Shinrei.

She'd been so wrapped up in chatting with Shinrei and Ciel during the walk into town that Yang hadn't noticed if there had been any adverse reaction to Kyo's presence. Looking around, she noted that, for the time being, no one really seemed to notice Kyo. Of course, it helped that Kyo was sitting with his back to the majority of the room, ensuring that his eyes weren't visible to most customers.

"Huh?" Yang blinked when she realized that Kyo had been speaking to her. "What?"

"I was asking if there was anything you were interested in," said Kyo. "You haven't even looked at the menu yet."

"Oh!" Yang blushed furiously and quickly opened up the menu, using her curiosity about the food to ablate the embarrassment at her lapse in attention.

The options on the menu were surprisingly varied. Fortunately, it was all in Common, which allowed her to easily understand what was offered. Yang recognized variants of dishes she had seen throughout Anima, and even Sanus, down by Vacuo. There were a variety of fish dishes on offer. It seemed that the Mibu liked their seafood. _Blake would love it here,_ Yang thought, and said as much to Kyo.

Kyo laughed. "Well, I'm told that, long ago, our Clan actually lived in an island nation. I guess seafood is in our blood."

Yang blinked and nodded, a little bit of confusion rising up inside of her. _But the capital has been here the entire time, hasn't it?_ she wondered. The massive catacombs and the graveyard beneath the Palace had supposedly been there since ancient times. That meant that the Mibu Clan had been in this spot at least for that long.

 _But they're living at the foot of a volcano,_ thought Yang. _Maybe the tectonic forces involved might've shifted the island until it was part of a larger continent...but that kind of movement takes place over millions of years, not thousands or even hundreds-of-thousands...so how..._

She blinked again when she realized she'd let her thoughts wander off again and Yang turned her attention back to the menu. An interesting item caught her eye. _Good thing Nora's not here or she'd probably flip for that...pun intended,_ thought Yang humorously. She decided to pick that one, looking up just as the waitress arrived at the table to take their orders.

"I'll have the okonomiyaki," said Yang.

"An excellent choice," said the waitress with an approving smile as she noted Yang's decision on a notepad before turning to take their orders back to the kitchen.

"Have you had that one before?" asked Kyo.

Yang nodded. "There's a village in Anima, on the edge of the inland sea, that we visited last year, that had great okonomiyaki."

"Oh! I know that one," said Kyo, smacking his hand with his fist. "Tsubaki, right?"

"That's right," said Yang, leaning forward.

Kyo blinked and rubbed his head. "I should have realized that you've probably been to some of the same places I have."

"Well...after I caught up with Ruby and the others, we still did a lot of traveling around Anima," said Yang. "So we've been to a few of those villages."

They chatted a little longer, pulling Shinrei and Ciel into the conversation, swapping stories about their past experiences. Yang got to hear a more detailed version of the story of how Ciel had ended up with the Mibu, along with the story of Ciel's first few months spent with them.

"Wow! I can't believe they hazed you like that," said Yang, hearing what Ciel's fellow students had done to her.

"I've seen it before," said Ciel. "I was able to handle it in the end."

"Without any help from me or Makoto-sama," added Shinrei with a proud grin.

Ciel nodded. "I also made a few really good friends."

"It must have been hard at first," said Yang.

Ciel nodded. "The culture shock was difficult to deal with at first. But I managed."

From there, the conversation ranged to other topics. Yang told Ciel what she could about what had been happening in the Kingdoms, since she had left Atlas. As they talked, the waitress returned with the food. The sight of it nearly made Yang drool, and she immediately tucked into her dish with a gusto that made her friends and Kyo smile, even bringing out her right arm, which she'd avoided doing over the course of the day to help speed her Aura's recovery.

After the food, they spent some more time chatting over their drinks, while they waited to let their stomachs settle a little before they hit the dance floor.

True to his word, Kyo was just as clumsy as Yang remembered him being back in Junior's club in Vale. Fortunately, the restaurant wasn't crowded, and it wasn't as though all of its customers were on the dance floor at the same time, so there was plenty of room, and she and Kyo were able to dance (or try to dance, in Kyo's case) without tripping up any of the other dancers. Much to Yang's envy, Ciel and Shinrei were doing much better, whirling around each other with grace and coordination that Yang couldn't hope to match, even on her best day. The two of them made a fine pair as they danced. It was a sight that made Yang smile, especially when she saw the radiant look on Ciel's face.

As they continued, Yang noticed that Kyo was beginning to attract more attention too, of the negative variety. There hadn't been much attention paid to them when they were at their table, which had been tucked into a discreet corner of the restaurant. But, here on the dance floor, Kyo was, almost literally, the center of attention, and many of the other diners and dancers paused in their activities to look at him.

Though she tried to keep the looks from distracting her from the fun, Yang couldn't help but take note of them as she and Kyo continued to dance. She noticed that they weren't _all_ looks of hostility. She even saw what she fancied might be looks of surprise, confusion, or amusement. That made her grin. They probably never expected to see Kyo, of all people, out on the dance floor, or for the Crimson Cross Knight to have two left feet.

After a few more rounds on the floor, Kyo and Yang returned to their table to rest their feet. Yang's stamina wasn't at its peak, considering what she had been through the day before, and Kyo needed a break from his own clumsiness and embarrassment. However, they were able to see Shinrei and Ciel still going at it with undiminished enthusiasm, something that Yang was happy to watch.

After a few more minutes, Ciel and Shinrei, both of them panting and sweating, came back to the table as well. "Looks like you two had fun," said Yang, grinning at the two of them.

"I never used to dance before I came here," said Ciel, smiling. "I had no idea it was so much fun."

"Of course it is," said Shinrei. "Almost anything can be fun when you have a good partner." He grinned wickedly at Kyo. "Speaking of which, I wonder how much fun your girlfriend had."

Kyo smiled congenially at Shinrei. "We had plenty, thank you," he said. Though both of them were smiling, there was that undercurrent of tension that Yang felt on the day they'd arrived in Onmyo, and she realized that they were both itching to fight each other again.

" _Boys_ ," she said warningly, drawing their attention to her, "not in the restaurant...or I'm telling Saisei."

Kyo and Shinrei both locked into place, their expressions terrified. A second later, they oriented on Yang in unison. "You wouldn't," they said together.

Yang grinned maliciously. "Oh, I would," she said with a cackle. "You boys want to test me?"

Kyo was the first to bow his head in submission. "No, Ma'am," he said. A few seconds later, Shinrei followed suit.

"That's what I thought," said Yang in evident satisfaction while Ciel giggled helplessly,

"That was mean," said Kyo sullenly.

"Hey, if it keeps you two from bringing this place down around our ears, I'd do it in a heartbeat," said Yang.

"They did go through quite a lot of trouble for us," admitted Shinrei.

"Good," said Yang. "So behave."

Beside her, Ciel was doubling over with unrestrained mirth.

* * *

The remainder of their date proceeded without incident. Yang thought that may have been due to the other patrons seeing Kyo's attempt at dancing, which maybe took the edge off their suspicion and hostility, given that they saw the Crimson Cross Knight showing that he had his own foibles.

Weary after the dancing, and the fact that her stamina was still recovering, Yang leaned heavily on Kyo as she walked. At least she had fared better than Ciel, who had nodded off while Shinrei was settling the bill. Rather than wake her, Shinrei had scooped her up in his arms and carried her as they made their way back to the upper class district. They said goodnight to Shinrei, and the still-sleeping Ciel, at the juncture that led off to Makoto's school, before Yang and Kyo returned to the Palace.

After another long walk through the corridors, they arrived at the guest quarters. Yawning, Yang slid open the door to her room...and bit back a yelp of shock.

Her room was completely empty. Everything she had brought with her was gone and everything had been cleaned. _What the...?_

"Yang..." called Kyo from his room, drawing Yang over. She joined him at the door to see that her possessions had been moved into his room, while they were out. Her pajamas lay next to Kyo's robe on the bed, and her clothes had been given their own side of the closet.

"Who do you think did this?" asked Yang, raising an amused eyebrow at Kyo. "Your mom?"

"She's definitely at the top of the list of suspects," said Kyo with a sigh, shaking his head slowly. "But I wouldn't put it past our friends either."

"You have a point there," said Yang.

"Do you mind?" asked Kyo, giving her a concerned look. "I can help you move your things if you'd rather-"

Yang cut him off with a long, lingering kiss to his lips. "No," she said. "This is fine. I was thinking of doing this anyway." She blushed and looked down. "I didn't want to bother you, so I wasn't sure if I should bring it up, but-"

Now it was Kyo's turn to cut her off. He stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her, his right circling her abdomen, while his left hugged her around her collar. He leaned in and began kissing her exposed neck. Pulling his lips away, he lifted them up to her ear. "If you're all right with this, then there's nothing I'd like better."

"Good thing we're in agreement then," said Yang with a throaty giggle as Kyo gently blew on her ear, then returned his lips to her neck. As he did, his hands began to wander over her body, brushing over the fabric of her Kimono, before slipping inside as he began to touch Yang in ways that made her gasp with pleasure.

A few minutes later, they lay together in bed, clinging to each other as they shared their love once again.

* * *

 **Next chapter, we get to see Yang's new weapon make its grand debut.**


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46:**

Yang awoke the next morning, feeling refreshed and energized. Kyo wasn't in bed with her, which disappointed her a little. But she still felt unbelievably happy, after the last evening. More importantly, today was the day she would get to see the finished product, the weapon that Murasame had made specially for her. It took all her self control to not rush her shower. She forced herself to take her time cleaning off the remnants of last night's lovemaking and get herself ready for the day.

After she was finished, she went out to the courtyard and pavilion to see if Kyo was there. He was, along with breakfast.

"I see that you're eager," he noted as Yang dug in.

"Of course I am," said Yang. "I'll admit, I've never been this excited about a weapon before, not even when I made my own."

"You'd mentioned that before," said Kyo. "Do all Huntsmen and Huntress students make their own weapons?"

"Usually," said Yang. "That's typically a part of the curriculum in Combat School. Every now and then, you see someone who bought their weapon rather than made it, but the schools and Academies discourage that. Making your own familiarizes you with its workings and components so that you can better take care of it."

"Well that makes sense," said Kyo. "Your weapons are much more complex than ours, so it would stand to reason that you'd make your own to help familiarize yourself with its workings."

"I guess it wouldn't be as big of a deal to the Mibu, since their weapons are so simple by comparison," said Yang.

"Well yes," said Kyo. "But that's only part of the issue."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"Our weapons aren't only simple because we don't rely on Dust," said Kyo. "The overriding philosophy is, the more components there are to a weapon, the easier it is for a tiny flaw to occur, a flaw that could wreck or ruin the whole thing. The fewer parts there are, the easier it is to keep track of your weapon's quality and ensure that it is in working order."

Yang nodded. That made sense. Even as they coached their students in making weapons, Yang remembered her teachers and instructors regaling her and her fellow students with stories of Huntsmen and Huntresses who had died in the field, because one or two neglected components in their weapon failed, causing the whole thing to malfunction at a critical moment. They told those stories to emphasize the importance of taking care of one's weapon, to look after each and every part on a regular basis. However, Yang could also see such stories as an argument for simpler weapons, with fewer moving parts or tiny pieces.

"The other thing," continued Kyo, "is that our weapons are generally made by dedicated smiths. They study and dedicate themselves to their craft above all else. Only a few, like Murasame-sama are warriors themselves and, in Murasame-sama's case, that is only possible because he has lived for a long time."

"So you've never learned how to make a sword or anything?" asked Kyo.

"I've learned a few things," said Kyo. "But that knowledge comes from watching Murasame-sama at work. I have been taught that I should dedicate myself only to wielding the sword." He held up his hands. "These hands may swing a blade, but it is highly unlikely that they will ever forge one."

"Why is it so important?" asked Yang.

"That singular dedication produces grand results," said Kyo. "It is what enables smiths like Murasame-sama to breathe life into their creations, and imbue them with Auras of their own. That is what makes our blades so potent. I was honestly shocked to see that Ruby had managed something like that with her weapon."

"Yeah, well, Ruby is pretty special like that," said Yang. "She was more excited than anyone I know to make her weapon, and she truly saw it as a person, not just a tool."

Kyo nodded. "There is one other factor in play," he said.

"What's that?" asked Yang.

"Because the weapon is forged by someone other than yourself, and given life and power by someone other than yourself, it is, in essence, a different person from you. It creates a sense of otherness that requires you to bond with the weapon, to see it as having its own distinct identity, then fully appreciating that and embracing it. Thus, you do not truly wield your weapon, but the two of you come together as partners, producing a result greater than the sum of your parts."

"So it's like great teamwork," said Yang.

Kyo nodded. "Exactly like it," he said. "Murasame-sama always said that that difference serves as a catalyst for unlocking greater strength. The analogy he used was pointing out how you often add salt to sweet things to improve their flavor."

"That's true," said Yang with a chuckle.

She glanced around, noticing that she and Kyo were alone. "Where's everyone else?"

"They all apparently have their own matters to see to," said Kyo. "It seems that they've become very busy all of a sudden."

Yang frowned. She had a feeling she knew why. The conversation about her mother and Cinder still weighed heavily on everyone's minds. At the moment, they were all probably focusing on getting stronger as quickly as they could. She understood the feeling. She wanted to get stronger too. Fortunately, she figured getting her new weapon would be a step in the right direction.

Their breakfast finished, Kyo and Yang quickly made the walk to Murasame's quarters. He was waiting for them, beaming with excitement.

"I'm glad you're here," he said. "I do believe this is my finest creation to date, though I can hardly claim sole credit for it, Xiao Long-dono."

"Thanks," said Yang, grinning back. "Can I see it?"

"Absolutely," said Murasame, holding up what looked to be a thick armlet. It was about as thick as Ember Celica in its collapsed form. In fact, its appearance very much resembled Ember Celica in its collapsed form, just larger...and heavier. That came with the territory, of course, given that the weapon compacted within was designed to cover most of Yang's arm below her shoulder, not just her forearms.

"Go ahead," said Murasame, placing the ring in Yang's hands. Yang retracted the Aura that formed her right arm and slid the ring up her stump until it stayed snugly in place. Getting up, she stepped out into the meadow beyond the porch, while Kyo, Murasame, and Penny all looked on eagerly.

Yang channeled her Aura out again, forming her arm. The armlet remained in place.

"To activate it, you'll need to channel your Aura through it directly," said Murasame. "It was designed that way so that it doesn't activate whenever you bring out your arm. I get the feeling that would be inconvenient."

Yang grinned and channeled her Aura into the armlet. Abruptly, her ears were assaulted with the grating sound of metal sliding against metal, punctuated with the metallic clicks of pieces locking into place, as interlocking plates of metal slid down her arm, covering her upper arm to the elbow, a rounded, circular plate sliding into place at the joint, supported by a set of armored hinges as the plates extended further down her forearm before sliding into place to form a single piece covering her fist.

Kyo whistled appreciatively, while Penny clapped gleefully. Yang lifted her arm to admire her brand new weapon. The design was beautiful. It was composed of plates of silvery steel with blue highlights, which served to emphasize a rippling finish that resembled the edge of a sword like Kyo's. The plates covered the outside of her upper arm. However, the ones that covered her forearm completely enclosed it, save for her hand, which was covered by a single, broad plate on the top, while leaving her palm and fingers free. When she clenched her fingers into a fist, the metal plate slid forward ahead of it.

In addition to the steel, there was a pale-gold design inlaid into the weapon, possibly a finish of electrum, though Yang got the impression that it was some other metal. Her eyes widened as she recognized her trademark flaming heart emblem, which decorated the plate over her fist, with streams of golden fire seeming to stretch out from it to run up the length of the weapon, across the multiple plates that made it up.

"It's beautiful," she said, fascinated by it. More than what it looked like though, she could feel...something...within it. She realized she was feeling the weapon's own Aura. She thought back to her final memory of the forging, remembering how it had sucked the Aura out of her arm, then she felt as though something had taken its first breath. She could feel that life now, pulsing through the weapon, making it seem to hum or even buzz against her skin and Aura. She could feel its excitement, an eagerness that matched her own. _Well, I guess it it used my Aura as a base, that would make sense,_ she thought wryly. _I can't wait to take her for a test run and, if her feelings are any indication, she can't wait to see what she can do either._

"You've outdone yourself, Murasame-sama," said Kyo. "Have you named her?"

"Yes," said Murasame with a chuckle. "Her name is Kiren Kaina. It means Yellow Lotus Arm in Common."

"What do you think?" asked Kyo, looking back at Yang.

"I like it," said Yang. "It's a perfect name for her."

"You can hear her voice already?" asked Kyo.

Yang nodded. "Sort of," she said. "I can't understand her really well, but I'm really happy to meet her." Yang felt that humming sensation of her weapon increase, almost like the purring of a cat. "I think she feels the same."

"Then shall we put her through her paces?" asked Kyo.

"I'd love to," said Yang, looking up at Kyo eagerly.

"Good," said Kyo. "Let's relocate to an appropriate venue and give you an opponent."

"It's not gonna be you?" asked Yang, tilting her head slightly.

"Not yet," said Kyo. He glanced sideways at the girl standing on the porch next to him. "Rather, I was thinking that Penny should give you a try."

"Huh?" said Penny, shocked to be volunteered for something like this.

"An excellent idea," said Murasame happily. "It's a good opportunity for both of you to put your weapons through their paces."

Yang and Penny shared a confused glance, wondering how they'd ended up in this situation.

* * *

Jaune's legs were sore. That was to be expected. He wasn't used to sitting on his knees in the manner that the Mibu warriors seemed to prefer, at least in a situation where informality was not encouraged. Sitting across from him, Taihaku's face betrayed no sign of discomfort, not that Jaune thought that the man, who positively radiated power, was actually capable of feeling discomfort.

As it was, Jaune tried to keep his own expression under control. He was awed by Taihaku's presence alone. It felt like an enormous privilege to meet with this man in private, even for something as simple as basic advice on his fighting style.

"Hmm..." Taihaku's voice was like the rumbling of distant thunder. "Yes," he said simply. "I believe I understand what Sora-sama thinks you should do."

"What is it?" asked Jaune.

"To put it simply, you should focus all yourself into expressing your power though your weapons," said Taihaku. "You have already proven yourself able to hear your blade's voice. Now you must bring both sword and shield to life in your hands as you wield them."

"What do you mean?" asked Jaune.

"When defending with the shield, think of nothing but defense," said Taihaku. "When attacking with the sword, think of nothing but the attack. If you follow those guidelines and practice them continuously, you will perfect your Manifestation."

"My Manifestation?" asked Jaune. "What would my Manifestation be?" He hadn't expected to hear this when he'd gone to see the leader of the Goyosei.

Taihaku smiled, almost seeming like a kind, grandfatherly man when he did so. "You have a strong heart, young man. I can see plainly your desire to protect those you care about, and that the ones you care about are not simply limited to your lover and immediate friends. You care about the people of your Kingdom, the people beyond that, in the farthest corners of the world. You wish for the strength to protect as many of them as you can."

"I do," said Jaune.

"Then make your Manifestation the embodiment of that desire," said Taihaku. "There is nothing simpler." He held up his sheathed sword and drew it. "We who hold the title of Metal in the Goyosei require no supernatural powers. We do not summon flames. We do not command water or raise the earth. Rather, I have trained so that this _sword_ has become my Manifestation."

"The sword is your Manifestation?" Jaune stared at the naked blade, a chill going down his spine.

"When you swing, cut down your foe without fail," intoned Taihaku in a voice that seemed more like he was chanting a sutra than actually talking to Jaune. "The sword exists only to cut down your enemy. Become one with your sword, and wield it to do nothing but cut the foe in front of you down."

Jaune swallowed, his mouth feeling a little dry.

Again, Taihaku smiled, the gesture reassuring Jaune. "In your case, it will be a little different. But the overall principle is the same. Become one with your shield, and allow nothing to pierce it to threaten the ones you protect. Then, swing your sword to strike down the one that threatens the ones you protect. That is all you need to focus on."

"Okay," said Jaune.

Sheathing his sword, Taihaku got to his feet, gesturing for Jaune to do the same. They got up and walked out of the room, Jaune blinking as his eyes adjusted from the darker setting to the full light of day, as they walked out into the sun that overlooked the courtyard between the fourth and fifth gates that guarded the Palace.

"The only way to refine such skill is through practice, ceaseless practice," said Taihaku. "From what I have seen, you already have a firm foundation in that. Now, we shall simply up the intensity."

"What do I have to do?" asked Jaune.

Taihaku was silent for a moment. At first, Jaune was worried that he had no idea what to do. However, a new voice intruded on their conversation.

"Sensei?" asked Chika, approaching from the gate, her expression bemused.

"Ah, Chika," said Taihaku fondly. "You're here. Excellent."

"Well, you _did_ call for me," said Chika.

"Yes, I did," said Taihaku. "I would like you and Arc-dono to trade blows."

Chika and Jaune looked at each other, their eyes widening.

Taihaku smiled. "This is going to be a rather simple affair," he said. "It may seem tedious at first, but it has its purpose. First, Chika shall attack once. Arc-dono, you are to defend to the best of your ability. Then you shall attack. Chika will defend. Repeat that until you cannot stand any longer."

"Very well, Sensei," said Chika, bowing to her master.

Taihaku smiled. Normally, he would have expected to hear some faint note of resentment in her voice to suggest that she participate in such a banal exercise, and to help an outsider no less. Yet, she appeared to have settled somewhat after recent events, though Taihaku knew little of what she had experienced. The only thing he could say with certainty was that Chika had matured.

Chika drew her sword, and assumed one of the most basic stances in swordsmanship, her blade held up vertically in front of her. Jaune drew his sword and expanded his shield, taking up a more defensive stance, positioning himself behind the shield, readying himself to take her attack, his eyes focused and serious.

 _Well well,_ thought Taihaku, _I may well get to see something very interesting here._

He looked from one to the other, assessing their readiness before nodding to himself. "Begin."

* * *

Yang blinked, looking around. She hadn't expected the Palace to have its own arena. It was a circular enclosure, lined with stone walls. A single balcony ran atop that wall, allowing those who stood or sat there to see the entire space. The floor was unmarked, polished stone tiles. The arena itself was almost as large as the one inside the Amity Coliseum, where the Vytal Festival Tournament was held. With just her and Penny inside it, the space felt intimidatingly vast.

"Uh..." said Yang, looking across at Penny, who looked almost as baffled and nervous as she did.

"Uh..." Penny said back.

"Feel free to use whatever techniques you feel comfortable with," shouted Kyo from the wall, where he and Murasame stood. "I don't think we need to ask you two to refrain from killing each other. But just in case...don't kill each other."

"Seriously?" said Yang, throwing her boyfriend a glare, while Penny giggled.

"Well, I guess we should do our best," said Penny, drawing her sword. "I don't want to mess up in front of Kyo."

Yang nodded before stopping herself. "Penny," she said, keeping her voice low enough so that Penny could hear her, but nobody else, "can we talk later?"

"Sure," said Penny. "What about?"

"It's something private," said Yang. "It's something that I think just the two of us should talk about."

"Just us?" asked Penny, tilting her head. "Not Kyo or Ruby?"

"Let's leave them out of this for now," said Yang. "I think it's for the best if we keep it between the two of us."

"Okay," said Penny uncertainly.

Then Yang grinned. "But that's for later. For now...let's fight!"

"Right," said Penny.

Penny raised her sword and surged forward, her striped cape fluttering behind her as she closed with Yang with impressive speed, swinging her sword in a simple sideways slash. Yang raised her right arm, using it to catch the strike and bracing her feet against the ground.

The force behind Penny's blow as incredible. The stone tiles beneath Yang's feet cracked, then shattered as she strained with all her strength to not be knocked away by the impact. She managed to remain upright. As she did, Yang jabbed forward at Penny's stomach with her left arm, Ember Celica armed and ready. An orange bolt fired out. Penny leapt over the shot, her jump taking her over Yang's head. Yang spun around to follow her movement, once again raising her right arm to catch Penny's descending sword.

The clash between them drove Yang's feet down further into the ground, causing them to form craters to the depth of her ankles. With a low growl, Yang fired another shot from her left gauntlet, forcing Penny to dance back out of the line of fire and disengage. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yang surged forward, raising her right arm as she prepared to attack with her new weapon for the first time.

All the training she had done under Ozpin paid off. She felt her Aura Flow through her weapon, channeling down its length in perfect conjunction with her movements. Channeling it through the gauntlet, Yang felt its hum intensify, right as she struck. Penny held up her sword, angling the blade downward and bracing its flat against her left arm as she caught Yang's attack with the other side of the blade. There was another echoing clang and Penny was sent skidding backwards, her feet plowing furrows through the stone.

Yang pressed her attack, leading with another fiery bolt from Ember Celica, which Penny split in two with a swing of her blade, parting it so that both halves of the shot flew past her. Yang used the opportunity to close the distance again, leading with several sharp jabs with her left to try and throw Penny off-balance before following up with a powerful haymaker from the right.

Penny dipped and dodged, ducking around Yang's jabs, warding off her right arm's punch with a swing of her sword, meeting attack with attack. The resulting force caused the ring beneath their feet to explode.

Something felt off to Yang. Her new weapon was incredible. It was strong, able to take Penny's strongest attacks and absorb their force easily. When she attacked, she could feel Kiren Kaina's power. But, at the same time, she also felt that her own Aura was rubbing up against something, grating against it, something that took the edge off her strikes.

 _Well...I did only just get her,_ thought Yang. _I need to get a better feel for her Aura, if we're gonna fight together properly._ Conscious of her earlier conversation with Kyo, Yang realized that she couldn't consider this magnificent weapon a mere tool. It was a partner, a friend, just as Kyo sometimes referred to Tenro as. She had to treat Kiren Kaina with the same level of respect.

Off to one side of Penny, Yang saw something go tumbling away. Her eyes widened. _Penny's hat!_ The bamboo hat, or rather, the hat that looked like it was made from bamboo, fell to the floor, hitting with enough force to crack the stone in its own right. Yang still remembered clearly just how cursed heavy that thing was. If Penny had taken it off...

Sure enough, Penny vanished from before Yang's eyes, moving with that same blinding speed that nearly all of the Mibu seemed to have mastered. She danced back, moving nearly all the way to the arena wall. Her sword was glowing, shedding mist-like streams of light that swirled around it. Penny hefted the blade, angling it across her body, which was hidden by her cape, the majority of her face hidden behind the cloak's high collar, so that only the ginger-haired top of her head was fully visible. A single green eye stared out through the gap in the collar, and Yang gulped, feeling the air suddenly grow heavy.

The mist-like streams of light coming from Penny's sword changed, suddenly becoming real mist, then wisps of cloud. Yang had to fight to keep from gaping at the sight. _Kyo said that the Kusanagi uses clouds as a weapon,_ she thought. _But it's one thing to hear him say that, and totally another to see it for real._

Penny lunged forward, whipping her sword around in a rapid, spiraling motion, the streams of cloud congealing together, merging, then boiling outward in a growing mass of white, as she ended her spiral with a sweeping slash that terminated in a movement like a thrust. " _Ame-no-Murakumo!_ " With a roar, like the sound of rushing wind, the mass of cloud surged forward, continuing the spiraling motion, even as it stretched and elongated.

Yang had expected to maybe see something cute, or at least something more along the lines of a solid, bulbous hammer. However, as the spiraling stream of cloud stretched out towards her in a swirling white helix, Yang was shocked to see that the inside of the spiral was lined with what appeared to be pointed teeth, the arch between them smooth, interrupted only by slight ripples, like the roof of a mouth, giving her the impression she was staring down the throat of a ravenous beast with only a single, spiraling jaw that wrapped around endlessly. She could feel its hunger. That jaw would close around her with crushing force and devour her without a trace if she let it.

With a shout, Yang punched forward with her left fist, launching another fiery bolt from Ember Celica. The orange blast slammed into the front of the attacking cloud and exploded, but didn't even slow the incoming attack down. She might as well have been trying to stop a rockslide with a thrown pebble. Grimacing, she set herself, cocking back her right fist, preparing to put all her strength into her next punch. As she did, she readied her Aura, once again feeling that grating feeling that suggested she and Kiren Kaina were not fully in synch yet. But now was not the time to worry about something like that. By trying to stop Penny's attack with one of her own earlier, she had given up her chance to dodge it. Instead, all she could do was meet it with another, even stronger attack, one that might at least take the edge off its power.

With a roar, Yang stepped forward, punching with all her might, slamming as much of her Aura into the blow as her arm could handle without losing its form. The roaring of the clouds was met with a bell-like tone as Yang's gauntlet hammered into the white mass. The floor around Yang was ripped apart by the shockwave of the impact. The clouds scattered before her fist, but more boiled in their wake, wrapping around her. Yang felt teeth against her Aura, squeezing, trying to pierce through. She retracted her right arm, trying to put as much of her body behind her new gauntlet as possible even as she roared again, Projecting her Aura out across her body with all the strength she could muster.

Kyo and Murasame both leaned forward, looking worriedly as the clouds seemed to swallow Yang whole. Even Penny blanched as she lowered her sword, worried that she'd gone too far. The clouds vanished, replaced with a cloud of dust and shattered fragments of stone tiles that still hid the impact site from view. Silence, punctuated only be the faint crumbling sounds of stone.

Finally, they heard someone coughing and Kyo's shoulders sagged with relief as he saw the silhouette of Yang get to her feet. The dust cleared around her to reveal Yang, looking a bit battered, but otherwise unharmed. Golden radiance seemed to infuse her form, and her hair seemed a shade lighter than before, ember-like motes drifting off her body. Kyo grinned as he remembered her Semblance. She had taken the power of Penny's blow, and now that power was feeding her own.

Yang grinned, excitement thrumming through her veins. On her right side, she could feel her new weapon respond in kind. _Now I think we understand each other,_ she thought. That was it. Both she and her weapon were eager for battle. She just had to tap into that excitement. _Let's scorch her,_ Yang thought to her weapon, feeling the gauntlet's hum intensify in response. She brought her right arm across in front of her body, bracing it against her left fist and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, unconsciously mimicking Kyo as she opened herself to her weapon's Aura, allowing it in to merge with her own.

A low, bell-like ring issued forth from the gauntlet, and the steel ribs blazed with light. What was more, from the golden design, streams of what looked like yellow fire began to stretch out into the air, dancing and whipping about like elongated tongues of flame. The glow around Yang's body and hair actually began to lessen. Yang felt the power stored up through her Semblance being drawn out and into her gauntlet, which seemed to be holding it in reserve.

 _I get it,_ thought Yang eagerly. Across the ring from her, Penny showed a grin that matched her own. Lifting the Kusanagi above her head, Penny held it parallel to the ground before lowering it in front of her, pressing her fingers against the flat of her blade. With a loud ring, one higher-pitched than the one that had come from Yang's gauntlet, the blade blazed to life, the white light of its Aura merging with the emerald-green of Penny's, their combined Auras surging to match Yang's.

On the sidelines, both Murasame and Kyo looked on with eager faces. "I'm amazed," said Kyo. "She's speaking with her weapon already."

Murasame nodded. "Her weapon was born, in a sense, from her own Aura. There is a great deal of her within it, which gives them a powerful natural affinity for one another. It helps that your lover has a very strong and open heart."

Kyo nodded. "Congratulations, Murasame-sama. I can feel the intensity of Kiren Kaina's Aura. It's every bit as potent as Tenro's. You've created a weapon equal to that of Muramasa's greatest masterpiece."

"That is because it is wielded by the one it was forged for," said Murasame, though he was smiling widely. "I still have much to learn."

Acting on instinct ingrained through years of practice, Yang punched behind her, a jet of orange flame erupting from Ember Celica, matched by a jet of golden fire from Kiren Kaina. The recoil propelled her forward at incredible speed. Penny charged forward as well, seeming to skip across the ground as though she weighed nothing. They met in the center of the arena, blade clashing against gauntlet, the impact between them exploding the ground around them, throwing up another cloud of dust and shattered stone to match the one thrown up by the Kusanagi's clouds earlier.

Their next clash blew the cloud away, revealing they had switched positions as they circled with each other. Yang's arms worked in perfect synch with one another, as she fired shots from Ember Celica in rapid succession, punctuating them with powerful punches with her right fist. Penny whirled like a dervish, dancing between Yang's shots and blocking the punches with the flat of her blade before leaping over Yang in a rapid blur, coming down behind her, ending the movement with a spin that brought her blade around in a sideways slash. Yang spun to meet her, lifting up her right arm and its gauntlet to block the attack.

Yang responded with an uppercut from her left, aiming for for Penny's chin. Penny jerked her head back, barely escaping the fiery, orange burst that flew ahead of Yang's fist. In the same movement, Yang had wound back her right arm and now brought it up and around, punching it down at Penny's head, aiming for where she had dodged too. Penny managed to bring her sword up in time to catch Yang's punch. But she was thrown back by the impact, knocked backwards and down, slamming into the ground with enough force to crush it beneath her body, creating a miniature crater where she hit.

Not allowing Yang the chance to follow through, Penny thrust up with her blade, throwing another boiling mass of clouds in Yang's direction. In the short space between them, the clouds once again formed into that strange, spiraling, jaw-like shape. However, it was much smaller than her previous attack.

Yang brought her right arm up across her body, then swung at the attacking clouds with a shout, putting a little of the stored power of her Semblance into the motion. The clouds disintegrated and scattered on contact. But Penny had the opening she needed to flip over backwards, going into a handspring that brought her back to her feet. She landed and charged again, closing the distance between her and Yang in a flash. Yang was ready for her and the two of them met with the clang of steel against steel.

Kyo and Murasame both took a step back, then jumped upwards, their leaps carrying them up the height of the enclosing wall, where they landed on the balcony that ran its length. "Well, I wasn't expecting this," said Kyo with a chuckle. "This was just supposed to put Yang's new weapon through its paces. But we have a real fight on our hands now."

"It seems that they both have that quality of losing themselves to the excitement of battle, when their blood is up," said Murasame. His smile widened as they continued to watch the pair dance about the ring.

More clouds streamed off of Penny's sword, forming swirling streams in the air around her, orbiting her in stacked rings. Some were solid, intercepting Yang's attacks. Others were insubstantial, like normal clouds, which offered no resistance, instead serving to obstruct Yang's view of her opponent. Yang darted in close when Penny's sword emerged unexpectedly from one of the cloud streams, its appearance enough of a surprise that Yang backpedaled, even as she intercepted the concealed slash.

"I haven't seen her do that before, in all the times that we sparred," noted Murasame proudly.

Flames erupted from Kiren Kaina, streaming forth from the gold designs that ran its length, making it look like Yang's arm had been set aflame, burning the clouds with a loud, angry hiss, forcing them back as Yang pressed her renewed advantage.

"They're learning, improving as they fight," said Kyo with a laugh.

They felt the arrival of several others. Looking around, they saw that the other members of RWBY and JNNR had come to join them, along with a few other guests.

"My, they certainly get along well," observed Sora, using a fan to hide her grin.

Saisei came to stand next to Kyo. "They remind me of you and the boys whenever you were playing," she mentioned.

"It does seem familiar, now that you mention it," said Kyo with a small laugh.

Looking around, Kyo spied Hayate standing between Weiss and Nora. A short ways away from them, Nigel stood off by himself.

"I don't know who to cheer for," said Ruby, her eyes flickering back and forth between the two fighters as she stood next to Sora.

"Cheer for both of them then," suggested Sora amusedly.

"Go Penny!" shouted Jaune, apparently having no trouble who to cheer for. Seeing him, Kyo noted that Jaune had apparently been through quite a lot. His face and arms were covered with tiny cuts that were, only now, just beginning to close, though none of them seemed to be bleeding at the moment. "Get her back for all the puns!" he shouted as a followup to his cheer.

"That's right!" shouted Weiss. "Teach that blonde lummox some manners!"

"Go for it Yang!" shouted Blake in a surprisingly cheerful tone as she and Dougal looked on from another part of the balcony.

"Fight!" shouted Nora, pumping her fist into the air. "Break her legs!" No one had any idea who that was intended for.

"Heh, Firecracker looks good out there," observed Qrow as he came to stand next to Ruby. Cupping his hand around his mouth, he shouted, "Take that carrot-top down!"

Standing on the side of Sora opposite Ruby, Neo laughed and clapped happily. No one could tell who she was cheering for or even if she was cheering on one person in particular. Like Jaune, Neo looked rather battered and worn.

Down below, the two dueling girls separated from one another with a final clang of steel on steel. Kiren Kaina was practically shining white, the gold design on it also shining, making it stand out all the more as tongues and streams of golden flame danced off its surface. Penny's sword produced circling streams of cloud as she held it up at the level of her collar, turning so that it hid most of her face again.

The energy suffusing the air suddenly intensified as the two of them gathered their strength for their final blows. They had both reached the limits of their strength and Aura. Yang settled into a crouch as she grinned. Her weapon still held all the accumulated power of her Semblance, which had been building up with each blow that they had traded.

Penny attacked first, spinning her sword as she thrust it forward. " _Ame-no-Makigumo!_ " This time, it wasn't one stream of cloud, but _four_ that boiled forth from the blade, spiraling around each other, their tooth-lined forms giving the impression of a bottomless maw, stretching out to swallow Yang whole. The swirling helix of clouds rushed straight for Yang, tearing through earth and stone as it rushed along the ground.

Yang grinned. _Time for us to cut loose,_ she thought to her weapon. She crashed her fists together, Kiren Kaina letting out a bell-like roar of agreement as it clashed against Ember Celica. Her Aura exploded outwards as the accumulated force of her Semblance was unleashed. Taking a step back, Yang cocked back her right arm. As she did, she let go of all her thoughts, focusing only on the opponent in front of her. As she did, her eyes turned crimson and blazed like flame.

Her right arm began to transform, the Aura taking on a new shape. The plates of her gauntlet separated as her arm's width and length began to expand, a pattern of shimmering scales emerging as backwards-sloping spines extended out through the gaps formed between the plates. Yang's fist swelled and elongated, extending out into a snout, horns stretching out from underneath the plate that covered her fist, through the gap where her wrist had been.

In place of Yang's right arm, a golden dragon with shining, white eyes opened its tooth-lined maw and roared. Yang stepped forward, as though stepping into a punch and the dragon head surged forward, charging straight down the center of the swirling mass of clouds that Penny had launched.

It blew through them with ease, scattering the clouds into insubstantial mist, and ripping a new trench along the ground with the mere shockwave of its passage as it rushed straight for Penny, golden flames streaming from its mouth.

The Kusanagi blazed brighter than ever before. From the hilt, a single stream of cloud emerged, winding its way up the blade to the very tip. As it did, the cloud's form solidified, forming a scaled surface decorated with dark speckles as the end formed the horned head of another dragon, albeit one that looked distinctly more snakelike in appearance than the dragon that had come from Yang's fist.

Penny thrust her sword forward, and the dragon of clouds that had emerged from her blade darted forward in an undulating, serpentine motion, swelling in size until it matched the discharge of Yang's attack for width. The two dragons rushed at each other, meeting perfectly in the middle of the ring.

The explosion of the two attacks meeting rocked the entire Palace ,and was both heard and felt in the capital below. The ground responded with a low rumble as even the powerful forces of the sleeping volcano seemed roused by the collision between these two mighty techniques. Dust, rock, dirt, and smoke were thrown hundreds of feet into the air like a geyser. The shockwave reached out, cracking the stone walls that surrounded the arena, and blowing nearly all the onlookers off their feet.

Ruby sat up slowly, her ears ringing from the noise of the blast, even as her head swam. She let out a low groan before she felt Jaune's arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him heavily as he pulled her back up onto her feet.

"You okay?" asked Jaune.

Ruby slowly nodded, wondering how Jaune was doing so well, when he had clearly been in worse shape than she was. Granted, her balance wasn't at its best after what she had been practicing. She felt Sora's hand on her shoulder, her touch seeming to impart a sense of relief on its own. Looking over at Sora, Ruby saw that Kyo's mother had folded a protective arm around Neo, shielding her from the worst of the blast.

Ruby looked up and down the balcony, taking in the state of her friends and the others that had joined them. They were in various states of disarray as they tried to recover in the aftermath of the blast. She couldn't keep a grin from her face as she saw that Hayate had wrapped protective arms around Weiss and held her close, turning them so that he took the brunt of the explosion. Nora had shielded Ren in much the same way. Blake looked all right, seeing as Dougal had stepped in front of her and shielded her from the shockwave. Nigel lay flat on his back, staring dumbly up at the sky, as though his brain hadn't yet caught up with what had happened to him. Next to Kyo, Saisei had wrapped herself up in a cocoon formed from her nine tails, which retracted to reveal that she was unfazed by the blast. Both Kyo and Murasame seemed untouched.

"That was incredible," said Saisei, her tails whipping behind her excitedly. "I haven't seen a finish like that in a while."

Ruby leaned over the railing and looked into the smoke, trying to spot any sign of her sister and Penny, silently hoping that they hadn't killed each other. As the dust and smoke began to clear, she caught sight of Yang, lying on her back. Yang was rubbing her head with her left hand, groaning softly as she tried to sit upright. Ruby twitched, but before she could move, Kyo had already vaulted over the rail and dropped down to go to Yang's side.

Ruby lifted her eyes up to look to the other side of the arena, which was finally coming into view. There, she saw another figure, lying prone on the ground. "Penny!" she shouted, moving to jump the rail.

"Hold up," said Jaune, grabbing her arm before Ruby could make the leap. "You're gonna fall unless you go around the edge."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked and looked back towards the center of the arena. She gasped. Yang and Penny were lying on the edges of a massive crater that looked as though someone had scooped out a massive portion of the ground with a spoon.

However, that was secondary. Now that she saw what Jaune was talking about, Ruby jumped down and made her way around the perimeter of the crater to reach Penny and check on her. "Penny! Are you okay?" she asked as she reached her friend's side.

Penny blinked and groaned. "Ah-owww..." With Ruby's support, Penny slowly sat up, trying to clear her head. When she saw the crater she and Yang had inadvertently created, her jaw dropped.

"Yeah...you sure did a number on the arena," said Ruby.

Blinking to try and clear her eyes, Penny looked across the arena at Yang, who was looking back. Yang's eyes were back to their normal lilac color. When their gazes met, Yang's lips pulled back in a grin. Penny felt her own lips tugging into a smile. Something bubbled up in her chest and forced its way out of her mouth.

Penny threw back her head and whooped with laughter, prompting Ruby to jump back, startled. Penny fell back onto her back, her legs kicking up into the air briefly before flopping back down. "That. Was. _Sensational!_ "

On the other side of the crater, Yang began to laugh too as Kyo rubbed his hand up and down her arm and shoulder. "Yeah," she said, once she recovered, "that was a hell of a lotta fun."

"It certainly looked like it," said Kyo. "You and Penny both looked like you couldn't have been happier. I was very impressed."

"It was pretty awesome," said Yang. "Now I understand why you like that kind of fighting so much."

"So, do you like your new weapon?" asked Kyo.

Yang looked at her gauntlet and drew her Aura out of it. The plates collapsed in on each other, retracting up her arm and folding away into the armlet. "I love her," said Yang. "We had a blast."

"I'm glad," said Kyo.

A pair of feet touched down lightly next to them and Saisei arrived, her tail wagging happily. "Well, aren't you a sight?" she asked teasingly. "I guess it's time for me to do my thing..."

* * *

 **And so, Yang's new weapon makes her debut. The fight with Penny was a lot of fun for me to write, particularly when considering their different approaches to battle. Who knew clouds could be so deadly, huh?**


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47:**

"Well, that was quite the interesting diversion," said Sora as she folded her fan and tucked it into her sash.

Neo gave Sora a confused look, then pointed down at the massive crater that had been left behind by the fight.

Sora smiled and gently rubbed the top of Neo's head. "Don't worry about that. We have the means to quickly and easily repair it. Believe it or not, that isn't the worst thing that's happened to this arena."

"I'd hate to see the worst thing then," said Blake, coming over to join them.

To Blake and Neo's infinite surprise, Sora actually blushed, pulling out her fan and using it to hide her face below her eyes. "I was partially responsible for that," she conceded. "My husband and I had a match down there, shortly before our marriage. Things got quite...energetic...between us."

"In more ways than one," commented Dougal from behind her, making Sora utter a most undignified-sounding squeak as she ducked her face all the way behind her fan. "If I recall correctly, you two forgot you were supposed to be fighting. Thankfully the previous Crimson King managed to remind you where you were, _before_ the clothes started coming off."

Neo was doubled over, holding her sides and quivering with silent laughter, while Blake hid a smile with her hand and fought the urge to laugh herself. The fact that it sounded like a scene from one of more...adult...books only made it all the more amusing, to say nothing of the fact that the motherly, mature, and incredibly dignified head of the Taishiro was ducking her head and hiding her face, like an embarrassed schoolgirl.

It took Sora a few moments to recover her composure. When it did, she finally lowered her fan, taking a deep breath as she did so. "Thank you for that lovely reminder of the days of our youth, Dougal."

"I live to serve," said Dougal in a tone that, from anyone else, might have been disrespectfully sardonic. But Blake and Neo would both hear the the warm fondness that underlaid his words.

"In any case," said Sora, looking back down into the ring again, "it would seem that the entertainment is over. Those two are probably going to need to lie down after this."

"Looks like it," said Blake.

"In any case, could you do me a favor, Belladonna-dono, Capello-dono?"

"What is it?" asked Blake, surprised by the request.

"I would ask that you and your friends join us tomorrow," said Sora. "We will be greeting some very special guests of our Clan."

"You mean the delegates from the Four Kingdoms?" asked Blake.

"Oh no, not them yet," said Sora. "Our reports indicate that they are due to arrive the day after tomorrow. After you were dropped off, our airship was sent to fetch some very important guests, people that we have been in contact with for some time."

"Who are they?" asked Blake.

"It's a surprise," said Sora teasingly, "though I believe you will find them very familiar, Belladonna-dono."

Blake raised a skeptical eyebrow, wondering just what Sora was implying. Not all of the surprises in her life had been pleasant ones. From Sora's demeanor, Blake could see that Sora thought this was the pleasant kind of surprise. She just hoped that she would agree when she got to see the surprise for herself.

* * *

"Something wrong?" asked Hayate as he stood next to Weiss, the two of them watching from the balcony as Saisei tended to Yang and Penny, while their friends fussed about them. A glance at Weiss made it easy to see her distress. Dark clouds hovered over her face.

"Ah!" Weiss was startled out of some kind of reverie, her eyes darting to Hayate before going back to the arena. "N-no...nothing."

"I don't think you're being completely honest," said Hayate.

Weiss bit her lip. "I'm not sure I want to talk about it," she said.

"If you're sure," said Hayate. He stepped back, planning on giving Weiss some space.

"Did..." she said, her voice stopping him. He waited patiently for her to continue. "...Did getting a new weapon really give Yang that much more power?"

"It isn't so much as the power was given," said Hayate, returning to Weiss' side. "It is true, her new weapon is powerful. But that would have been little had her own strength not already been considerable. The new weapon allowed her to unlock her full potential, and exert her existing strength to a greater degree."

"But the weapon had its own Aura," Weiss pointed out. "I could feel it. Their Auras merged together."

"That's true," said Hayate. "But again, that would not have been possible, if Yang's strength hadn't been up to the task."

Weiss frowned and looked down at Myrtenaster, where it was sheathed at her side. "If I got a weapon like hers, could I do that?"

"I can't say," said Hayate. "It might be that your weapon is already like hers, and you just haven't been able to hear its voice yet. Such things are rarely as simple as they seem. Don't discount your current weapon just because you feel as though you're in a rut right now."

"What should I do?" asked Weiss.

"Explore the things you _can_ do," said Hayate, resting his hand over hers. "Reflect on the things that make you you, and how you can use them to their greatest effect. Don't rush into looking for a new blade until you've determined that you truly can't progress any further with your current one."

Weiss nodded, though she was worried that might always be the case. She'd always thought it was odd that Ruby treated her weapon with such love and affection, not merely treating it as a tool for righting, but almost like a person. Weiss was proud of Myrtenaster, in the sense that she had helped design it to maximize both her skill with her Semblance and in utilizing Dust. It represented her standing as the heir of the SDC, and stood for her pride in her family, her company, and all that they produced.

Then had come the Fall and the conflict with Salem, and Weiss had seen a new aspect of her life, an aspect she didn't find so appealing. Myrtenaster's use of copious amounts of Dust kept her dependent on her father and his "generosity," even when she did the utmost to maximize her independence. Now it felt as though the blade at her side symbolized her inability to find herself as her own person, separate from the family that had made her.

"Well, it seems that most everyone's plans for the day have been slightly derailed," said Saisei as she alighted on the balcony next to them, having just finished healing Yang and Penny, "not that that's a bad thing."

"It was certainly worth it," said Hayate.

"So, what do you think of Penny-chan?" asked Saisei. "Should we let her join?"

"I'm okay with it," said Hayate. He glanced sidelong at the young man a little ways away, still lying on his back. "Nigel...?"

"Huh?" asked Nigel, seeming to forget why he was on his back in the first place.

Saisei and Hayate exchanged looks and sighed. "Never mind," said Hayate.

Saisei turned to look at the massive crater in the center of the arena. "To think, she did that after summoning just one of Orochi's heads. Imagine what she can do once she learns to summon all eight of them."

Weiss watched the back and forth between the two, feeling increasingly discomfited. She remembered what they had learned about Penny's sword, and the incredible power came from learning to tap into its strength. Her own blade had no such hidden reserves, no ancient secrets.

"It was very impressive," Hayate said shortly, his fingers brushing against the back of Weiss' hand, which eased her discomfort somewhat. He could tell that Saisei's words were upsetting her, and was trying to move the conversation in a less uncomfortable direction.

Saisei seemed to notice, looking at Weiss. Her smile faltered slightly. Weiss got the distinct impression she was abruptly under examination before the feeling passed and Saisei smiled again. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was just babbling. In any case, I wanted to offer a suggestion to you, Weiss-dono."

"What is it?" asked Weiss.

Saisei's smile softened slightly. "You've expressed an interest in our Etheric Energy Crystals," she said. "I was going to offer you to come with me to see our crystal vats, where they are made."

Weiss' eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, leaning forward eagerly.

Saisei nodded, beaming. "I figured that might get you excited," she said. "Will you be coming with us?" she asked, turning to Hayate.

Hayate looked to Weiss, seeing an expression that was almost pleading. "Sure," he said.

Saisei looked between them, a small, secret smile forming on her face before she turned to lead the way. "All right, follow me."

Hayate and Weiss fell into step behind her as Saisei led the way. Hayate took Weiss' hand in his.

"Thank you," Weiss whispered.

Hayate said nothing in reply, but squeezed her hand a little tighter.

Saisei led them through more winding corridors, the number of turns bewildering Weiss, who found herself wondering just how Saisei found her way around with such ease and familiarity. She threw a questioning look at Hayate, who merely shrugged in response, indicating that he was as baffled by the Palace's layout as she was.

As they walked along, Weiss came to realize that there were no more windows and open spaces. Instead, the wood walls gradually gave way to walls of carved and chiseled stone, the wooden floor continuing on for a while longer before it too was replaced by stone. Also, Weiss noticed that the temperature was rising. _We must be heading into the volcano,_ she thought, her nervousness increasing. She couldn't help but be unsettled by the Mibu Clan's willingness to apparently build portions of their Palace not only on, but _into_ the side of a volcano. She remembered Ruby and Yang talking about Murasame's forge. Perhaps the Etheric Crystals also required volcanic heat in the process of their creation.

Their path was suddenly blocked by a pair of large, thick doors of gray steel. Weiss and Hayate stopped cold, staring up at the imposing portal. The doors were each one piece. However, their surface was carved with what looked like runes and lines, flowing lines of some vertical script, script that made Weiss' skin crawl. More importantly, she could feel the faint, but intense hum of power from the doors.

"Those are some serious security measures," observed Hayate.

Saisei nodded, her normally playful demeanor nowhere to be seen. "Haruka-sama is very serious about security...a little _too_ serious if you ask me, but this is her domain after all."

"Haruka?" Weiss frowned.

"She's the only member of the Taishiro you haven't met yet," explained Saisei. "She's a reclusive workaholic. She almost never leaves here." Saisei sighed. "She was also the one who held out the longest against the proposal for the Opening, and she only agreed under serious duress." Saisei gave Weiss a concerned look. "She seems to be very suspicious of outsiders, so please tread very carefully."

"Are you sure it's all right for me to even be here?" asked Weiss, not understanding why Saisei would invite her here if the one responsible for this place might potentially be hostile.

"Because I think you should see this," said Saisei. "The Kingdom delegates will be seeing it as well, so there shouldn't be any problem with a sneak preview for you. Besides...you might see something interesting."

Weiss frowned, wondering what that meant. "What about these?" she asked, looking up at the door.

"Those are defensive spells," said Saisei.

"Spells...? Like magic?" asked Weiss incredulously.

"Not exactly," said Saisei. "They're a more advanced application of Manifestation that a person can use to embed various functions in objects or places. They're most often used to create wards, alarms, and various other security features, or even strengthen certain objects or materials. There are quite a few of the Mibu who are proficient in them, including myself and all of the Taishiro. But Haruka-sama excels at them. Her spells have reinforced the gate to the point where a charging Goliath would smash its skull to pieces without so much as scratching it. That's assuming the gate's more...active...defenses didn't kill it first."

"What kind of active defenses?" asked Weiss.

"Haruka-sama changes them up fairly regularly," said Saisei, squinting and leaning a little closer to inspect the runes that adorned the gate. "Right now, an unauthorized person tampering with the gate would be subjected to a gravitational vortex that would wring their bodily fluids out like a wet dish towel, then compact them into about the shape and size of your average volleyball."

Feeling sick, Weiss took a nervous step backwards.

"Don't worry," assured Saisei. "Simply touching the gate isn't sufficient to activate the defenses. You'd have to try and actively force your way through in order to trigger them." She gave them a reassuring smile. "Since you're with me, you'll be fine."

"Okay," said Weiss dubiously, her hold on Hayate's hand tightening.

Saisei placed her hand on the seam between the two doors. A faint hum filled the hallway and light stretched out from Saisei's hand, running through the grooves carved in the door's surface, illuminating patterns that had been either carved or painted on with black ink. Something clicked, and the doors swung open without any further noise.

"It's like the system you had in place in the airship," noted Weiss.

"More elaborate, yes," said Saisei, "but aside from that, exactly the same. Haruka-sama is the Clan's chief alchemist and engineer. She was the one who designed the airship."

"Oh..." said Weiss. Once again, she found herself marveling at the things the Mibu could do. It seemed their capability to extend their lifespans seemed to inevitably lead them into mastering multiple fields of study. She wondered what she might do if she ended up living as long as they did.

The doors opened all the way to reveal the hallway beyond, consisting entirely of polished stone. Crystals, set into brackets long the wall, glowed, throwing gentle, white light, illuminating the way. The three of them headed down the hallway, the doors swinging soundlessly shut behind them on their own.

Despite the fact that they must have been heading even deeper into the heart of the volcano, Weiss felt no further substantial increase in temperature. The warmth reminded Weiss of basking in the heat of a crackling hearth fire, on a cold winter's night. It was a soft, cozy warmth that wrapped around her like a blanket, the kind of warmth that would lull her to sleep if she wasn't careful.

As they walked, they began to pass other doors, none of which sported any signs of the defensive measures that warded the outer gate. They were all plain, albeit sturdy, steel doors. Above them, Weiss could see labels written in the Old Tongue favored by the Mibu, which made their meaning completely indecipherable to her.

"As you can see, Haruka-sama can be rather...old fashioned...about certain things," said Saisei. "She keeps all her records in Old Tongue and refuses to allow anyone to translate them. It can make things rather difficult for the rest of us."

"How so?" asked Weiss.

"You need to memorize several-hundred characters simply to be considered literate in Old Tongue," explained Saisei. "Unfortunately, Haruka-sama's reports on her work get rather...technical...they require a scholar's level of memorization, well over a thousand characters."

Weiss's stride ground to a halt, her jaw dropping. "How many people can read that?" she asked.

"Not many," said Saisei. "Aside from the other Taishiro, there are only a handful of other people in the whole Clan who can read Haruka-sama's work."

"Can you?" asked Hayate.

"Some of it," said Saisei. "I'm not quite there yet. Writing in the medical profession can be similarly technical, but Makoto-sama does not insist that all writings be in Old Tongue, so I end up getting out of practice, more often than not." She sighed. "Truth be told, I probably should be more committed to brushing up on my vocabulary. Reading and writing in the Old Tongue is slowly on its way to becoming a lost art to our people. It may be inconvenient at times, but it's better not to let something to be lost to history just because of that."

Weiss nodded in understanding. During their time fighting the war against Salem, Weiss had seen plenty of ruins; sometimes small hamlets, like the ones they often fought to protect on their missions; other times, the ruins suggested the presence of great cities, maybe even lost nations or Kingdoms. How much had been lost to the Grimm? How many lost languages, knowledge, art, and progress had been forever snuffed out by the eternal enemy of them all? And that was just what was lost to the Grimm. It seemed a shame to allow an entire language to be lost to simple apathy.

They reached the end of the corridor, where another double-door stood. This one had no etchings or ink on its surface, and Saisei pushed her way through it without hesitation.

Weiss followed her through and surveyed the room in which they now found themselves. It was a large room, roughly square in shape, a setup that reminded Weiss of a warehouse. They had entered onto a walkway that ran about the room's perimeter, allowing them a good view of the floor. There, what Weiss saw took her breath away.

The floor had been divided into a basic grid pattern of what she assumed were the crystal vats. The vats were arranged into grids within a grid, set so that walkways were able to run between them, through which she saw numerous humans and faunus walking, surveying their contents, taking notes on clipboards before moving on. Those grids were themselves arranged into a larger grid, with wider walkways, which divided the crystals being grown into groups, which Weiss assumed were separated according to the crystals' purpose.

In one set of vats, Weiss saw pale-violet crystals, their facets arranged asymmetrically so that one side was broader than the other, giving them a slightly egg-like shape, suspended in some kind of solution. She leaned over the railing a little to get a better look, recognizing the lift crystals that kept the airship she and her friends had flown in on suspended in the air. In the next group, she saw light-blue crystals, spherical in shape, with evenly-distributed facets.

"Those are shield crystals," answered Saisei when Weiss asked what they are.

Weiss focused on the crystals with renewed interest. These were the crystals that projected the field that kept the Grimm at bay. She was not surprised to see that the shield crystals seemed to make up the largest quantity of the crystals being produced in this place. She had no idea how many settlements the Mibu had, but she got the distinct impression that there were far more than the Clan needed. _Probably because they aren't going to be exclusively used by the Clan,_ thought Weiss.

"Do the crystals have to be powered by energy from a Core Crystal?" asked Weiss, turning to Saisei again.

"They do not," said a cool, feminine voice approaching them from further down the walkway. Weiss and her two companions turned to regard the new arrival approaching them.

She was a woman, but Weiss was only really able to tell that from her voice. She was dressed in rather basic clothes, loose, black pants that were a little different from the hakama that members of the Mibu typically wore. She also wore a dark-purple shirt that was tucked into those pants, set loosely enough that it was hard to discern anything about her figure. The shirt's sleeves ended at the elbows, however, giving Weiss a view of thick, powerful, muscular arms that made Yang's look almost scrawny by comparison. The woman's face was hidden by the hood that extended from the top of her shirt, covering her head and obscuring most of her facial features, save for a smooth, rounded chin, with a thin mouth above it. Aside from that, the only other features of her face that Weiss was able to make out were a pair of brilliant, violet-colored eyes. Twin strands of dark-brown hair extended out from her hood on either side of her neck, ending right below her collarbone.

"Haruka-sama," said Saisei, bowing to the woman. Weiss curtsied politely, but noticed that Hayate said and did nothing, instead standing aside and almost seeming to behave as though he were a piece of furniture.

Haruka dipped her head towards Saisei in the shallowest of nods before turning her attention back to Weiss. "The Core Crystals convert Etheric Energy that we then convert into electricity through an array. That means that electricity is the only thing really required to utilize any of the other crystals. Any power source will do."

Weiss blinked, thinking about the implications of this. With this, settlements could protect their borders from Grimm incursions much more easily. Future settlements could be built in places that were less defensible if they had access to this kind of technology. This would open up new spaces, allow access to resources previously thought unobtainable, and provide people with a sense of security that would otherwise be impossible. This would change the face of Remnant!

"However," continued Haruka, "A Core Crystal would be best. Virtually any other power source would run out over time, but a Core Crystal grows only more efficient at converting Etheric Energy into electricity as time passes. The longer it is used, the further settlements can be expanded, and the more crystals can be supported by just one."

"But the other crystals wear out over time, right?" asked Weiss, turning to look back over the railing again.

Haruka gave another of her incremental nods. "Yes. Eventually, they will have to be replaced. Controlling both input and output is a work in progress. Running too much power through them without giving them a matching output can wear them out faster."

"So that would mean, if you increased the power supply to produce a tangible shield over a more limited area, it would decrease the crystal's effective lifespan," said Weiss, frowning.

"Correct," said Haruka, "which is why it is best to use them as a deterrent for the Grimm, rather than a physical defense."

Glancing back at Haruka, Weiss saw that Saisei was looking back and forth between them, her expression bemused. "Where are the Core Crystals?" she asked.

Haruka turned and pointed out across the floor to the second largest set of grids. The vats that made up these grids were larger than the ones that produced any other kind of crystal. Within them were the pale-green crystals with yellow highlights running along their ridged, rippling surfaces. Looking through the vats, Weiss could see that some crystals were larger or smaller than their neighbors. _That must be because they're newer ones,_ she thought. She could already see the sequence in play. They'd probably started growing the crystals in sequence, row by row. As each batch matured and reached the proper size, it was removed and new crystals were begun in their place.

"What are they made of?" she asked.

"They are grown from a variety of organic and inorganic ingredients," said Haruka, "along with specially-crafted alchemical substances. You don't need to know the recipe for those."

Weiss nodded. It didn't surprise her. She was an outsider after all. Besides, it was the prerogative of a producer to keep the secrets of how her products were made, so long as said secrets did not make them harmful in any fashion. Weiss had only just met Haruka, but she had too much faith in the other members of the Four Elders to believe that they would allow anything harmful to be utilized by their Clan on a wide scale.

"Are they shaped with Aura?" asked Weiss.

"Correct," said Haruka. "I and the other crafters manipulate the gravitational fields around the crystals periodically to affect their formation. That is how we produce the facets on the utility crystals."

Weiss nodded, fascinated by this. She probably should have been more nervous, seeing as this kind of system would clearly undermine the world's demand for her family's chief product when word of it got out. But it was amazing to finally see the source of such technology.

"Come," said Haruka, setting off down the walkway. Weiss and the others quickly moved to follow her.

As they did, Saisei came up beside Weiss. "Haruka-sama used to be Chinmei of the Goyosei," she said softly. "She's the current Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Daion Ryu_ , among other things."

Weiss nodded. That made sense. To their surprise, Haruka led them to a set of stairs that led down to the floor. From there, she led them along the broader walkways until they reached the section where the Core Crystals were being grown. They had to go up another set of steps that reached the walkways that ran between the vats, the rims of the crystal vats reaching about chest-level as they walked along.

They stopped by one vat, which Weiss had initially thought was empty. But, from this close, she could now see the tiny, grape-sized, seed of a Core Crystal, floating in almost the exact center of the solution, which looked almost gelatinous this close up. Though it was mostly clear, by looking closer, Weiss could see countless tiny particles swirling around in the solution. Though its size made discerning details difficult, Weiss noticed that its surface was almost perfectly smooth, devoid of the ridges and ripples that she'd seen on the mature ones.

Haruka held out her hand over the vat. In the fluid around the crystal, Weiss could see light suddenly bend and warp. The particles suspended in the solution began to swirl about more furiously, as though someone was stirring them up.

Without saying a word, Haruka moved on to the next vat, doing the same to the crystal within. "How old are these ones?" asked Weiss, as they continued walking.

"The batch that makes up this row is five years old," said Haruka. "Some stages of their growth are faster than others. The first three decades are the slowest."

They moved further along, Haruka showing them vats of crystals that were ten years old. A few rows later, they were fifteen years old, finally beginning to develop the ridges and ripples that their mature cousins sported. At the ones thirty years old, they looked almost exactly like the mature versions, except they were only about the size of Weiss' fist.

"From here, they are technically considered complete," said Haruka. "From this point on, they primarily gather mass, while we maintain their shape and increase their size to improve their output."

"So these ones could be used?" asked Weiss, staring at the crystal in one of the vats.

"Yes," said Haruka. "However, its output would be insufficient for most purposes."

"But their output increases the more they're used, right?" asked Weiss.

Haruka nodded. "But that increase is affected by their overall mass, making it proportional to their size. A crystal this size would need to mature for more than a century, before its output could be used to raise a ship."

"I see..." said Weiss, staring down at the crystal. There was something about its shape and form that drew her eyes. She was almost tempted to reach out and try to touch it. However, she quashed that impulse mercilessly. She was a guest in this land, in this Palace, in this facility. She didn't dare do something so uncouth. Doing so would surely disrupt decades of work. Each of these crystals was of immense value, if they were grown with such care and attention over the course of at least a century.

The crystal inside the vat seemed to pulse faintly, making Weiss' breath hitch. Once again, the impulse arose to touch it. However, she fought it back again and forcibly pushed herself away from the edge of the vat.

"You all right?" asked Hayate, coming to her side immediately.

"I'm fine," said Weiss, wrapping her arms around her sides, mostly to help fight her impulse to reach out again. She couldn't understand why that crystal in particular called out to her in such a fashion. All she knew was that she had to put some distance between it and herself to keep from doing something she knew she'd regret.

She didn't notice Haruka staring at her intently.

* * *

Haruka continued their tour of the facility, which went on for over an hour. She answered all of Weiss' questions without the slightest sign of irritation. Her behavior was completely neutral. There was no way that Weiss could call Haruka friendly, but Haruka hadn't acted hostile either. Given what she'd been told by Saisei, she'd expected someone more surly and suspicious.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting her to be so accommodating," said Saisei as the warded doors swung shut behind them.

"Is she normally surly?" asked Hayate.

"Not really..." said Saisei. "It's hard to say what her attitudes or opinions might be at any time. It's strange really." She looked at Weiss. "I didn't expect her to answer your questions so readily and so completely."

Weiss nodded. It seemed that Haruka of the Taishiro was not as most people who knew her, or thought they knew her, expected. In fact, Weiss got the impression that Haruka at least respected her for her interest and her ability to ask questions.

"Do you feel better?" asked Hayate, keeping his voice low.

Weiss thought about it and smiled. She had to admit the excursion had done a good job of taking her mind of her worries for a little while. Right now, she was too fascinated with going over what she'd learned from Haruka to worry about her previous sense of inadequacy, though she expected it might return in time. But, for now, those troubles seemed a world away. "I do," she admitted.

Hayate smiled and squeezed her hand. Weiss squeezed back. Neither of them saw or heard Saisei struggle to keep down a happy squeal at the sight of the two of them.

* * *

Yang awoke with a yawn, stretching her left arm and arcing her back as she sat up in bed. Kyo was gone, which was a bit of a disappointment to her. She enjoyed the feeling of waking up in his arms in the morning, but he'd probably gone to arrange breakfast for them, which she appreciated.

After her match with Penny yesterday, Kyo had carried Yang back to their quarters. By then, she'd recovered just enough to strip out of her dirty, torn, and battered clothes to climb into the shower to wash. After a moment, Kyo had joined her, his hands massaging the soap into her body before moving to carefully shampoo and wash her hair. They'd shared more than a few kisses, but, aside from that, they hadn't been too vigorous, Kyo recognizing that Yang was too tired for anything more amorous. Instead, after getting her clean, Kyo had helped Yang into her pajamas and tucked her into bed before going to see to other matters for the remainder of the afternoon. Yang had briefly awakened when he'd returned to join her in the night, only to quickly go back to sleep with the comforting feeling of his arms around her.

Turning her senses inward, Yang checked on the status of her Aura. It had fully recovered. She got the impression it was beginning to recover faster the more she wore it out like this, which pleased her. She was still amazed that she and Penny had been able to fight like that the previous day. Maybe, someday, she would be able to match and keep up with Kyo in a real fight. She grinned to herself and resolved to work towards that end.

Getting up, Yang cleaned her face and brushed her teeth, before getting dressed in fresh clothes. After that, she made her way to the courtyard. Sure enough, Kyo was waiting for her at the pavilion, with an impressive spread of breakfast foods to choose from. Her friends and Uncle Qrow were there as well.

"Well, look who's up," said Qrow as they approached. "You put on quite the show, Firecracker."

"Thanks," said Yang.

Yang was buffeted by a sudden breeze, red petals scattering across her vision before Ruby suddenly appeared in front of her. "I wanna see your new weapon!" she said eagerly. "Can I see it? Can I see it, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!?"

Yang laughed and Jaune quickly moved to pull Ruby aside. "Let's wait until Yang's actually gotten some food," he admonished her as he directed Ruby back to her seat.

Yang sat down next to Kyo, leaning over to kiss him before starting on the food. As she ate, her friends asked her more questions about her weapon, including the process of forging it. As she ate and answered, Yang noticed that Weiss was listening very quietly and pensively. She noticed that Weiss sometimes fingered the hilt of Myrtenaster, and worried that maybe Weiss was upset about something. Yang resolved to ask her later.

"How's Penny?" she asked, figuring that would be one of the first things Kyo had seen to after putting her to bed.

"Like you, she wore herself out," said Kyo. "Murasame-sama and Ruby helped clean her up and put her to bed. She'll have recovered by now, and I suspect we'll see her later today."

Yang nodded. She and Penny still needed to talk. She hoped that Penny would take their talk well. She still remembered Penny's whoops of mirth as she celebrated the excitement of the fight, not caring which of them had actually won or lost. Yang herself remembered the sense of exultation that had rushed through her as they clashed. _Is that what Kyo feels every time he fights against someone on his level?_ she wondered. In any case, Yang didn't want to see Penny hurt and lose that smile. They needed to talk while Yang was fairly sure that Penny's feelings for Kyo were little more than a crush, before they matured to the point that she could really be hurt by them.

But that could wait a little longer. According to Blake, it appeared that the Mibu would be greeting some important guests today, an event to which they had invited. They would even be receiving those guests in the throne room, making it the first time that any of them had actually been inside the massive structure that dominated the Palace. Penny would probably be there too, though Yang didn't think there would be an opportunity for them to talk right away.

"So when are these guests arriving?" asked Blake, looking to Kyo.

"A little before noon," said Kyo.

"Do you know who they are?" asked Ren.

"O-Kaa-san hasn't told me," said Kyo. "By now, you shouldn't be surprised that I have little involvement in matters of state. I'm purely an accessory to her court."

"Somehow I think you're more than that," said Yang with a teasing tone. "Should we get dolled up for this?"

"O-Kaa-san told me that it's relatively informal, as these guests are actually good friends," he said. "In fact, attendance is optional, but O-Kaa-san recommended that Blake in particular should be there."

Blake frowned. "Did she mention why that was the case?"

Kyo shook his head. "She only said that you would be pleasantly surprised."

They ate and talked for a little while longer before they needed to head to the throne room. As they walked, Yang moved to walk next to her boyfriend. "You know, it's kinda strange that we haven't been there yet."

"The throne room doesn't see much use anymore," said Kyo. "Most meetings that Tou-san participates in utilize smaller conference rooms. The throne room can make things...unwieldy."

"What does that mean?" asked Yang.

"Let's just say it's a bit too impressive and imposing for Tou-san's purposes," said Kyo. "He prefers more intimate settings where his status as the Crimson King isn't as heavily emphasized. It makes it easier for others to speak their mind to him. We'll be using it today and when the delegates arrive tomorrow. That meeting will be much more formal, by the way."

Yang nodded. "Should we dress up for that?"

"It's advised that you wear your most formal outfit," said Kyo. "For the most part, you'll be off to the side of the main proceedings. After the initial greetings are done, we probably won't have much to do with the main conference. However, I'm told that each of the delegations will be bringing a selection of their Academy's students with them, so we will probably be responsible for entertaining them for the duration of the conference."

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Ruby.

"But it's absolutely imperative that we be on our best behavior," said Weiss imperiously, looking at them with a commanding expression on her face. "And, above all else, remember what things we absolutely _shouldn't_ talk about."

They nodded in agreement. Yang was pleased to notice that Weiss seemed a little more like her usual self, apparently shaking off whatever strange melancholy had possessed her earlier that morning.

They emerged from the hallway into a vast room. The walls and floor were built from pristine, white marble that shined from the light streaming in through the windows that lined the walls above. The ceiling was supported by massive, smooth-side pillars that formed a corridor between them, through which ran a dark-red carpet, which ran all the way up to a set of stairs that spanned the width of the room on one side.

The stairs were interrupted in the center by a smooth slab of white stone that lay at the same angle as the steps, splitting the stairs into two sets on either side. In its center was a taijitu symbol, surrounded by a set of nine stars. Their eyes were drawn up to the dais that rested atop the stairs. Set in the center, right above that smooth slab of stone, was a throne of dark-gray stone, its high back decorated with the same taijitu symbol that adorned the stone below, and seemed to represent the Mibu Clan in general.

"Here should be good," said Kyo, leading them to a space between the pillars at the base of the steps.

"Uh...wow..." said Yang, staring in awe at the room. "I can see what you mean."

"It certainly makes me feel...small," said Ruby, cringing against Jaune's side.

"But think of all the fun things they could do in here!" said Nora eagerly.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Weiss. "This room is far too important for some kind of frivolous game."

"It would arguably be a better use of this space," commented Sora, entering the room from another door on the other side. "For the most part, it just sits around gathering dust, which makes it a pain for the staff to keep it clean."

Weiss frowned, looking around. The room was far more impressive than anything her family's mansion held. She had no doubt that her father would love to have a room like this, a true showcase of his wealth and power. There was no doubt that this was the room of a true king, where the ruler of the Mibu Clan held court and showcased his power and authority to all who saw him. It was a good room for making people feel small...which might have explained why Kyo's parents disliked using it.

Up above, another door opened, and they saw Kyoichiro walk out, traveling across the dais to take his seat in the throne. There, he sat, holding his back up straight, his arms resting on the arms of the throne. He looked down at Sora and nodded his head to her. She nodded back.

A door opened behind Kyo's group, the same door they'd come through, in fact. Turning to look over their shoulders, they saw Murasame and Penny come in. "We aren't late, are we?" asked Murasame as he made his way over to join Sora, while Penny moved to stand next to her friends.

"You're just in time," said Sora. "Makoto probably won't make it, and Haruka's absence goes without saying."

"Oh well," said Murasame with a shrug. "At least, this time, we don't have to worry overly much about formalities. We can be assured that they'll be in attendance tomorrow, correct?"

Sora nodded. "They will. Even Haruka has agreed to put on an appearance."

Murasame chuckled and fell silent.

They only waited a few more moments before, with a low boom, the massive doors that rested at the far end of the room from the throne itself swung open. Looking down, the Beacon students saw Shinrei and Chinmei stride in, looking uncharacteristically serious. They took up stations on either side of the door before Shinrei spoke up, his voice echoing through the massive hall.

"Announcing the Chief of Menagerie, Ghira Belladonna, and his wife, Kali Belladonna," said Shinrei.

* * *

 **So we've reached the point where my own writing was overlapping with the release of Volume 4. My original headcanon for Blake, before Volume 4 came out, involved a naturally tragic backstory with her parents being laborers in the SDC's Dust mines. Of course, then it was revealed that Blake's parents were both alive, and very affluent, actually running Menagerie, and Blake's dad used to be the head of the White Fang. Fortunately, that was something I was able to adapt into this story. Ghira and Kali don't play a huge role in what's to come, but giving them a history with Kyo's parents was a fun thing that I was able to add.**


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48:**

Blake let out a gasp of shock as she watched her parents enter the room. Her father, Ghira, was a large, powerful man, his head covered with black hair and framed by a thick, black beard. He wore a purple coat, lined with white fur, resting open to reveal his powerful, muscular chest, with a large patch of hair covering its center. Like Blake, he had a pair of amber eyes.

However, Blake mostly took after her mother, who stood much shorter than her husband. Kali's cat ears stood taller than Blake's typically did, with two gold earrings on her right ear and one on her left. Her clothes were actually quite similar to the kind that the Mibu favored. She wore a white, sleeveless kimono, over which, she wore a black shrug with a long sleeve on the right side and a short one on the left. Her legs were also covered by a pair of loose, black hakama.

Blake's gasp drew both their attention, and their eyes widened at the sight of their daughter. To her surprise, Blake felt a hand on her back gently pushing her forward. She turned her head to see Kyo smiling at her. "Go ahead," he said.

Blake turned to look across the way at Kyo's mother, who nodded in agreement. Blake quickly rushed out, running straight for her mother, who spread her arms to catch her as Blake hugged her tightly. A second later, they were both enveloped in a pair of thicker arms as Ghira wrapped them both up in an embrace of his own.

"Mom...Dad...what are you doing here?" asked Blake, pulling back far enough to look at Kali's face.

Kali beamed at her daughter. "We have business with the Mibu," she said. "We're quite surprised to see you here."

"I'm sure that all of us will have explanations to make," said Ghira, his voice a low rumble. "But we should take care of business first."

Kali nodded and she let go of Blake so that she and her husband could proceed the rest of the way up the carpet to the base of the steps. There, they both bowed deeply to the Crimson King on his throne before turning to Sora and Murasame. "I apologize for our unseemly display," said Ghira as he and Kali bowed to them too.

Sora's eyes twinkled as she stepped forward. "There is nothing unseemly about being happy to see your daughter. It's so good to see you both again. I'm glad to find you well." Then, much to the shock of Blake and her friends, Sora hugged Kali tightly before clasping Ghira's arm in greeting.

"You know each other?" asked Blake.

"I met your parents a while ago, back when my husband and I still traveled," said Sora. "We visited Menagerie several times."

Up above, Kyoichiro stood up from his throne and seemed to take a single step, vanishing and reappearing beside his wife, his sudden appearance making Ghira and Kali flinch slightly. But they relaxed and greeted Kyoichiro just as warmly.

"What's going on?" asked Blake as she came up behind her parents, her friends still lingering off to the side for the time being.

"We're here to finalize our allegiance to the Mibu Clan," said Ghira, turning to address his daughter.

"Allegiance?" asked Blake, looking back and forth between Ghira and Sora in confusion.

Sora nodded. "The Council of Menagerie has finally accepted our offer and agreed to join the Mibu as a vassal state."

"Wha-what does that mean?" asked Blake, not sure how she felt about this revelation.

"The Mibu have been supporting Menagerie for many years now," explained Kali, resting a gentle hand on her daughter's arm. "Their supplies are the reason we've been able to support such a dense population of faunus with so little arable land. They kept us from being completely dependent on the other Kingdoms for necessary supplies."

Sora nodded. "We also accepted many of their people into our Clan. Before Hayate-kun started up his little project in Atlas, most of our faunus immigrants came from Menagerie."

"But what's this about Menagerie becoming a vassal state?" asked Blake anxiously. "What does that even mean?"

Sora traded glances with Ghira and Kali. "Perhaps we should adjourn to a conference, room," she said. "It will be easier to talk there. Holding conversations here always makes me nervous."

The group moved out the door that Sora had entered through, traveling a short distance down the hallway beyond it before finding themselves in a room of dark, wood. Its center was dominated by a large, round table with several chairs arranged around it. Sora and Kyoichiro sat in two, while Ghira and Kali took the seats next to them. Blake sat next to her parents, while Murasame took the seat on Kyoichiro's open side. The others arranged themselves in the remaining seats to listen.

"The history of our relationship is a little...longer than you might expect," said Ghira. "After the Revolution, the Kingdoms stopped supporting Menagerie with supplies."

Kali glared bitterly at the table in front of her. "The Kingdoms claimed that, since the faunus were supposed to have equal status with humans, then we should stop being dependent on them for support. Because of that, we had to trade for the food we needed to support Menagerie's population."

"But, as you know, there isn't much we could do in that regard," said Ghira. "There are not many tradable resources on Menagerie that we can access. On top of that, just because the Councils of the Kingdoms said faunus were equal to humans, it didn't mean that humans magically changed their attitudes. Because of that, Menagerie still saw many faunus come there to live, far more than we could possibly support with the resources that we could produce on what arable land we had."

"That was part of the reason the White Fang was founded," said Kali. "It was meant to be a movement to help affect change in the Kingdoms, but we also started the organization to create a network with settlements on other continents to produce supplies for Menagerie."

"Sadly, as things became more difficult, the White Fang became more focused on combating the prejudice against the faunus," said Ghira. "When Sienna Khan took over, after I stepped down, the White Fang shifted its stance to aggressively combating human oppression, which, unfortunately, meant they were no longer working to develop a network of settlements to support us."

"Luckily, a little while before that, we met Sora and Kyoichiro," said Kali, smiling at Sora and her husband, "though he was still Kyo back then. When they learned of our plight, they returned to the Mibu and arranged for the Mibu to provide us with relief supplies to help support our people."

Ghira nodded. "Without them, we would have likely starved many years ago. However, their relief supplies came with an offer for Menagerie to join the Mibu Clan as a vassal state."

"What does that mean?" asked Blake.

"It means that Menagerie will become a part of our Clan's territory," said Sora. "Its people shall be considered members of the Mibu Clan. For all intents and purposes, they will be considered one of our settlements."

"More importantly, it allows us to expand our association with them," said Kyoichiro. "Because of our Clan's previous isolationism, our laws limited what we could do to aid the people of Menagerie, so long as they weren't actually members of the Mibu Clan."

"By making Menagerie a vassal state, we will be able to help them in ways that were previously impossible," said Sora. "We will be able to offer them the Mibu Clan's protection against attacks by bandits, and even people of other Kingdoms who still associate them with the White Fang. We will be able to send our warriors out to help them tame their desserts and access the resources therein, which will help them to better support themselves. We will be free to teach the Mibu Clan's methods of Aura control to them, and their people and ours will be able to travel freely back and forth between our lands."

"It took a while, but we were finally able to convince the Council that this was the best course," said Ghira.

Blake chewed the inside of her lip. This whole affair rubbed her the wrong way. She wasn't quite sure why, but she didn't like the idea of the Mibu just taking her homeland for their own. She felt distinctly troubled by the way this whole arrangement had come about. She was so lost in thought about it that she flinched when Kali touched her arm.

"Please don't think that the Mibu tried to blackmail us into joining," said Kali. "They never once used their supplies as leverage to force us to comply. And it's perfectly understandable that there's a limit to how much help they could give if we did not join them. If we insisted on remaining distinct, it would be wrong to ask another nation to come in and solve our problems for us."

"So you join them instead?" asked Blake.

Kali frowned. "We chose to join them not merely for convenience. We joined because we wanted Menagerie and its people to be part of something greater, a part of a Kingdom that would truly care for them, that truly treats their faunus as people on equal standing with humans. We have found that quality nowhere else, except with the Mibu."

Blake turned to look at Sora, who smiled warmly at her. "I may be a member of the Mibu Clan," she said, "but I am also a faunus. I wish to do the best I can for _both_ of my peoples. What better way to accomplish that than to make them one and the same?"

Blake didn't have an answer to that.

Sora turned to Ghira. "So...then we should finalize the arrangements."

Ghira nodded. He turned back to the students. "This part of our meeting is going to be the boring part. It may be best if you took your leave now."

They all nodded and got up to leave, save for Blake, who remained seated. "I want to hear this," she said to the others.

"We'll see you later then," said Yang as she and the others got up to leave.

Now Blake was left alone with her parents and Kyo's.

"Are you really so worried about this, Blake?" asked Ghira, looking at his daughter.

"I am," said Blake. "You never once told me about any of this."

Kali sighed. "By the time you were old enough to understand what we were doing, you were already working with the White Fang. Then, after you left, you broke off contact with all of us, so we didn't have the opportunity to tell you then either."

"I'm sorry," said Blake, lowering her head.

"We're sorry too," said Ghira. "This is an important decision for all of us. We shouldn't have left you out of it."

Blake's gaze lowered further. "No...I don't have the right to complain about it." After all, _she_ was the one who had broken off contact. Worried about possible reprisals from the White Fang, she'd halted contact with her parents, the group's former leaders, afraid that they would, accidentally, direct the organization in her direction or, worse, find themselves the subject of reprisals in her stead. Then, once the conflict with Salem was underway, Blake had left Menagerie behind, along with her parents. After everything had been resolved, she hadn't bothered to come back, finding herself spending more time with Yang and Ruby's family than her own.

Part of it was that Blake felt that living in Menagerie was an insult. She'd grown up with the belief that the place had been thrown to them, like a bone to a dog, a minor appeasement to keep the faunus from grumbling about their status. Then the humans had tried to confine them there completely, which had kicked off the Revolution. To Blake, settling in Menagerie was a tacit admission that the humans had won out, that there was no way to make them ever truly accept the faunus as equals, and those that did settle there were simply too cowardly to try...

...Including her own parents. After her father had stepped down and Sienna Khan had taken over, Blake had come, at least in part, to see them as cowards and failures for choosing to stay in Menagerie, and try to make it into a livable place for the faunus that did dwell there. It was an attitude that had become more entrenched in the White Fang as its stance grew progressively more and more militant, to the extent that Blake silently held onto those beliefs, even after she had abandoned the organization.

Perhaps the remnants of that attitude were coloring her view of the current situation. In a way, she was seeing it in a similar light. By joining the Mibu Clan, the faunus of Menagerie were saying that they couldn't survive independently, that they had to bind themselves to another power and authority simply to survive. If they had done it with Mistral, Vale, or Vacuo (Atlas, for obvious reasons, was out of the question), Blake would have been opposed outright. Only the fact that she knew the Mibu treated the faunus well and that the Clan's leader was a faunus herself kept Blake from rejecting the idea out of hand.

Although, once again, she realized she didn't have much right to oppose anything her parents decided. She had divorced herself from them and their decisions through her own decisions. She had no real grounds to contest the decisions they made for the sake of the people who depended on them.

As lost in thought as she was, Blake almost didn't notice when a pair of gentle arms draped themselves over her shoulders and she was hugged from behind. Turning her head, she expected to see her mother, only to find herself looking up into Sora's almond-colored eyes.

"Don't be hard on yourself just because you've chosen to follow your own path," said Sora. "You are not your parents. You have your own goals and responsibilities, just as they have theirs."

"Thank you," said Blake, looking at her parents, both of whom were smiling at her.

"We'll always be proud of you, no matter what," said Kali, taking her daughter's hand.

Blake nodded.

"Good," said Sora, releasing Blake and returning to her seat. "Now then, let's go over the details of the arrangements. The supply deliveries will continue as scheduled, and..."

* * *

The group from Beacon, along with Kyo and Penny, made their way down the hallway. However, they stopped when they realized that Weiss had come to an abrupt halt and seemed to be thinking about something very seriously.

"What is it?" asked Yang, looking at her friend and teammate.

Weiss cupped her chin, her eyes narrowing. "It's not a coincidence," she said, "that they scheduled this meeting today."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"The fact that Blake's parents are here to finalize Menagerie joining the Mibu as a vassal state today was a deliberate move by Sora," said Weiss. "She deliberately set it up so that they would do this right before the delegates from the four Kingdoms got here."

"Why is that a big deal?" asked Ruby.

"Because it's basically a slap in the face to the Kingdoms, especially Atlas," said Weiss. "In the outside world, almost nobody has heard of the Mibu. But nearly everyone has heard of Menagerie, even if most people never have or never will go there themselves. Menagerie is something children learn about in elementary school. By taking Menagerie as their vassal state, the Mibu are declaring that they are revealing their existence to the world, whether the other Kingdoms want them to or not."

"Well...that's their right, isn't it?" asked Nora, tilting her head. "It's not like the other Kingdoms can actually tell them not to reveal themselves."

"And Menagerie has CCT facilities," added Ren. "Even if they don't have a tower of their own, they still do have access to the network through relays, which means that, even if their plan for the Opening falls through, the Mibu will still have access to the network."

"Except that the Kingdoms can cut off access to specific relays without compromising the entire network, unlike the towers." said Weiss. "They can still cut off Menagerie and the Mibu with ease."

"Except that everyone would notice that," said Jaune. "Atlas aside, the other Kingdoms have pretty substantial faunus populations. A lot of them have friends or family in Menagerie, so they'd notice if the CCT was suddenly cut off, and any excuses that the Kingdoms made would wear thin before long."

Their eyes all went to Kyo, who shrugged. "You forget that I have no real involvement in matters of state," he pointed out. "That said, it is the sort of thing that O-Kaa-san would do. She considers things very carefully and rarely takes action for one single reason. She can also derive meaning from the smallest of details. So it makes sense that she would devise this approach to fulfill multiple objectives at once."

"It's almost like a challenge," said Ruby. "She's basically daring the other Kingdoms to try and stop the Mibu from announcing themselves."

"Ironwood's not gonna take this well," said Yang.

"Good."

They all flinched at the angry tone in Penny's voice. Looking at her, they could see the dark, simmering anger on her face. It made them all nervous. Penny noticed their looks and she immediately tried to shed her anger. "I...I mean..."

"We understand," said Kyo, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Please be patient a little longer."

Penny nodded slowly. Once again, Yang noticed the pink tint to her cheeks and frowned. _I'd better talk to her soon._

"Uh...so now what?" asked Yang, looking at Kyo.

Kyo blinked and scratched his chin. "I don't know," he admitted. "I hadn't thought of anything."

"Maybe we should head back into the city," suggested Ruby. "I'm sure there's stuff we haven't seen yet."

Suddenly, Kyo's eyes widened. "Oh! I have an idea."

"What?" asked Yang.

"We can visit the Palace baths," said Kyo.

"The baths?" asked Weiss, looking at Kyo in confusion. "What's so special about the baths?"

"They're natural hot springs," said Kyo. "It's quite popular with the visitors."

Yang was in his face in an instant. "Why didn't you say so back when we first got here?" she demanded.

"I forgot," said Kyo, laughing awkwardly. "This Palace is so stupidly huge it's hard for me to remember what all is here."

"Let's not waste any time," said Ruby eagerly. "Let's go back and get our bathing suits!"

"Yeah!" shouted Nora. "This'll be awesome!"

They set off at a rapid clip, getting back to the guest quarters. As they arrived, Weiss entered her room and noticed a box on her bed. She blinked, staring at it for a moment, wondering if she should touch it. Her family's history with the White Fang had taught Weiss to be cautious of boxes and packages, when she didn't know who the sender was. At least one of the members of the SDC's executive board had lost his life to a letter bomb.

However, from what she had seen, the Mibu were very good with their security. She doubted that they would allow someone who was after her life to get this far unchallenged, much less allow such a person to leave a package in her room. Swallowing, Weiss made the three steps she needed to reach the box, and carefully plucked the note from its top. The message was hand-written, but with such precision that she initially thought it had been typed.

 _Due to a flaw in its growth, I no longer have a use for this particular Core Crystal. Since you seemed very interested in it, I decided that you could have it, since I no longer have any hope of growing it into anything useful. Do what you will with it...Haruka_

Weiss blinked and stared at the letter again. She couldn't understand why the reclusive Elder would send her a precious Core Crystal, even a flawed one.

Setting aside the note, Weiss carefully opened the box. It was lined with velvet cushions, like an oversized jewelry box. Set within an indent in the cushions, shaped to fit it, was the faintly glowing, green crystal with faint, yellow highlights. Up close, Weiss could see that the ridges were not stretched across the surface, but formed trenches and valleys that ran nearly all the way into the center of the crystal. However, what truly caught her attention was the strange sense of familiarity she got from looking at the crystal. Carefully, she held out her hand and touched it to the rough surface.

A jolt rushed through her body, not a painful one, but a sudden one that surprised her, prompting Weiss to yank her hand away. This was the crystal that had enticed her yesterday, the one that had compelled her to almost reach out and touch it. There was something about this crystal that drew her in. Weiss was drawn out of her curiosity by a light knock on the side of her door. Startled all the same, she whirled about to see Hayate standing there.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "The others were starting to wonder what was taking you."

"Oh!" said Weiss, having completely forgotten what she had come back to her room to get in the first place. "Sorry...I was distracted."

Hayate's eyes flicked to the crystal, still resting in the box. "By that?"

Weiss nodded. She slowly closed the lid on the box. "That was probably the last thing I expected someone to leave in my room."

Hayate frowned. "From everything Sasame's told me, those crystals are incredibly valuable. It's hard for me to imagine Haruka parting with one that easily."

"Is Saisei around?" asked Weiss. "I'd like to ask her about this."

Hayate shook his head. "She left this morning. She's taking the airship out to greet the delegation at the Mibu's borders. She probably won't be back until tomorrow."

"Oh..." Weiss blinked, then remembered what she was supposed to be doing. She rushed to find her bathing suit and a towel. After that, she and Hayate quickly headed off to join the others. "Do you know someone I can ask?"

Hayate twirled a lock of his hair around a finger. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I know next to nothing about those crystals. I had trouble wrapping my head around what you and Haruka were talking about." He looked upwards thoughtfully. "If I were to guess...I'd say you should ask Murasame. He's the Clan's other resident expert on...making...stuff..."

Weiss couldn't help but giggle at his description of Murasame. Seeing no further progress to be made on this particular topic, she decided to switch gears. "I didn't see you this morning," she noted.

"And you probably won't see me around any official functions in the future," said Hayate. "After all, I'm a terrorist and criminal. If anyone in the delegation catches me around, it's gonna cause serious problems for the Opening. It would indicate that the Mibu are offering me shelter and fully supporting my actions."

"I see," said Weiss. "So you and Nigel will be keeping yourselves scarce."

"As scarce as we can," said Hayate with a sigh. "Of course, knowing Nigel, he'll probably go wandering off on his own and wind up tripping over Ironwood in the halls. That'll raise the roof for sure."

Weiss couldn't quite suppress a giggle at that. She sped up their walk to meet with the others.

* * *

"There it is," said Ironwood, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the green line that had appeared over the horizon. From this distance, it was hard to make anything out. It looked like just about any other stretch of land. But this was no ordinary land. It was Leng, Mibu territory, enemy territory, as far as Ironwood was concerned.

"Well, we should be in their capital by tomorrow," noted Ozpin as he came to stand beside Ironwood.

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" demanded Ironwood. "After all the loss, all the sacrifices that were made, the Mibu are threatening to upend everything. The balance we've striven so hard to protect will be overthrown if we don't do something."

A booming laugh echoed across the bridge of Ironwood's command ship. They were joined by a massive, mountain of a man. His body was all heavy, chiseled, muscle; while his head was covered with short, red hair; and his face was framed with a well-trimmed beard. There was a merry, almost playful twinkle in his reddish-brown eyes as he came to join them. "It seems that you are a perpetual worrywart," he said boisterously, grinning widely at Ironwood and Ozpin. "I, for one, am looking forward to this."

"That is because you have no sense of caution, Councilman," said Ironwood tartly. "I fear for the wellbeing of your people with you at the helm."

"They certainly seem to be doing well enough," said Councilman Radcliff, the representative of Mistral's council, "especially after we put the new reforms into place. Our faunus are especially happy with the changes that we've made." His expression became sly, and he smirked at Ironwood. "I wonder how your people are doing, James. Do you even have any faunus left? Last I heard, they were fleeing your Kingdom in droves."

"I have no comment on the matter," snapped Ironwood.

Radcliff merely grunted and chuckled.

"Now now, James, Councilman..." said Ozpin, raising a placating hand. "We didn't come here to start arguing amongst ourselves."

"Precisely," said Ironwood. "We need to present a united front to the Mibu, if we are to stand against them."

"You're assuming that we want or need to stand against them," said a bronzed-skinned woman, who joined them. Her body was dressed in robes of dark-blue and pale green, with a dark-green headscarf wrapped around her head, hiding the jet-black hair she wore. Her dark-blue eyes were cool and calculating as she took in her companions. "From the invitation, it sounds as though the Mibu have some very interesting offers to make, and I, for one, think it would be an excellent idea to listen to what they have to say."

"Agreed," rumbled Radcliff.

"Is that your stance then, Councilwoman?" asked Ironwood.

"It is," said Councilwoman Nilam, of Vacuo.

"And what about you?" asked Ironwood, turning to the woman who had come up with Nilam.

The other woman was pale-skinned, with pure-white hair. Her skin hung taut on the bones of her face, giving her a strained, hollow-cheeked appearance, with faint wrinkles at the corners of her dark-brown eyes. She was dressed in a dark-gray suit with a tight, conservative skirt that hung down her knees. She looked more like an office worker than a member of Vale's council.

"I suppose there's little I can say that would dissuade them at the moment," said Councilwoman Gwenyth curtly. "For the time being, we can only wait and see what the Mibu have in store for us."

"Sir!" shouted the officer at the sensor station, "an unidentified aircraft is approaching."

"From where?" asked Ironwood.

"Twelve-o'clock," said the officer.

"Put it on screen," said Ironwood.

A holographic screen appeared over the window, showing the image of a silvery, dagger-shaped aircraft.

"That is the Mibu Clan's vessel," said Ozpin.

"The craft is not responding to any hails," declared the officer.

"The Mibu don't have much in the way of electronic communications," said Ozpin. "You'll have to flash them a signal using Basic Code."

"It appears that they're doing it already," said the officer.

Sure enough, from the bridge of the other vessel, which rose up near its rear, a single light, positioned on the ship's port side was flashing on and off in sequence, interspersing short flashes with longer ones.

"What are they saying?" asked Ironwood.

"Just a moment," said the officer, transcribing the message onto paper before reading it off. " _Delegates of the four Kingdoms, we of the Mibu Clan bid you welcome to our lands. We are here to serve as your escort to the Capital of Onmyo. Our representative requests permission to board._ "

"Hmm..." grunted Ironwood, mulling things over for a moment. "I'd rather not let one of them onto one of my ships."

"It is a matter of courtesy, James," said Ozpin.

"Fine," said Ironwood. "Signal our acceptance, and move us ahead of the formation to give them room to maneuver."

The crew did as they were bid, the ship accelerating slightly to put some distance between it and the other six warships following it. The Mibu vessel closed with them, before turning around and coming up alongside and a little above them.

"Can they even dock with us?" asked Nilam, frowning a she looked at the vessel.

"I don't think that will be necessary," said Radcliff with a chuckle. "Look."

A figure appeared on the upper observation deck of the Mibu ship and jumped, crossing the distance between their respective vessels easily. A short, young-looking girl landed lightly on the upper hull of the ship and turned to politely wave at them through the window.

"Open the hatch," said Ironwood.

The door opened and the girl made her way through, smiling pleasantly at them as she came to a stop, placed her hands together, and bowed to them.

"Greetings," she said in lilting tones, "I am Saisei, of the Mibu Clan's Goyosei. On behalf of my Clan, I bid you all welcome to our lands and extend our promise of hospitality to you."

"It is our pleasure to accept," said Ozpin, stepping forward and bowing slightly back. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Saisei."

"You as well, Ozpin-dono," said Saisei with a smile.

"So, we have permission to proceed then," said Ironwood impatiently.

Saisei's smile faded slightly. "There is one matter of contention that I wish to address, before we can allow you to proceed," she said. She tilted her head questioningly. "The number of vessels you have brought with you seems somewhat...excessive. I can understand one of these ships, but seven..."

"I am in charge of the delegation's security," said Ironwood firmly. "To that end, I have taken all appropriate precautions."

"You have our promise of good conduct while you are our guests," said Saisei. "Our lands are perfectly secure, I assure you."

Ironwood growled, deep down in his throat. " _I_ will be the one who determines whether or not such security is necessary. Is that understood?"

"James..." said Radcliff in a rumbling, warning tone.

Silence fell over the bridge and all eyes went to Saisei as she closed her own in thought. Everyone wondered just where things would go from here. Would Saisei insist and would Ironwood then try to force the issue? Nilam and Radcliff exchanged uneasy glances. Neither of them wanted to be drawn into a conflict on the basis of Ironwood's paranoia. Only Gwenyth looked relatively unbothered, watching everything cooly and calmly.

Saisei opened her eyes and sighed, spreading her arms wide as she shrugged. "Very well then," she said. "If you insist. It saddens me that you are unwilling to trust us with your safety. The Taishiro will be disappointed. However, if allowing your ships will truly make you feel better, then I suppose we have no choice but to permit it. You may proceed, General."

"A wise decision," said Ironwood, nodding calmly, his posture straightening slightly, shoulders rising as a sense of triumph filled him.

Saisei nodded. "However, I should inform you that we do not have the facilities to allow so many ships to land. They will have to remain airborne for the duration. Is that acceptable?"

"There will be no issue," said Ironwood.

"Very well then. I will return to our ship then, and we shall proceed ahead of you," said Saisei, giving them another bow. "Again, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to our home."

They opened the hatch for her, allowing her to again exit out onto the hull. From there, Saisei executed another leap, carrying her back to the Mibu Clan vessel, which then moved to settle directly ahead of the command ship as the formation continued their flight into the Mibu territory.

"Well, that went...better than I expected," said Nilam, glaring at Ironwood. "I can only hope that you won't brazenly insult our hosts at every turn of this conference."

"I will do what needs to be done," was all that Ironwood said.

The next sound was a low cough from Radcliff. The other delegates' eyes went to him, seeing him covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking slightly. He met their gazes and shook his head slightly, before heading to the door that would take them off the bridge. The other delegates, except for Ironwood, followed him.

As the door slid shut behind them, Radcliff finally uncovered his mouth and let out another round of booming laughter.

"You seem quite amused," said Gwenyth. "I had thought you wanted us to make a better impression on the Mibu. But it seems that James has already secured their submission."

"Submission nothing," said Radcliff with a grin. "That wasn't a gesture of submission. Did you hear the way she spoke or see how she acted? That girl was playing James like a fiddle."

"What do you mean?" asked Nilam.

"She stopped early enough that James didn't get a chance to try and force the issue," said Radcliff. "Because he didn't get a chance to insist on proceeding despite an order to stop, it didn't look like they were folding before the firepower of his ships. Instead, that Saisei girl acted as though James were a petulant child who refuses to go anywhere without his favorite blanket. It was a gesture of condescension."

"In other words, she brought it up to make a point that the Mibu are not intimidated by James' show of force," said Nilam thoughtfully. "They are sending a message that they are completely unconcerned by the presence of seven Atlesian warships in their territory, and intend to do what they will regardless."

"Exactly," said Radcliff, his grin widening. "Heh! It certainly shows that the Mibu aren't to be trifled with."

"You don't actually believe that they could stop this kind of firepower?" asked Gwenyth skeptically.

"Even if they can't, I admire their spirit for standing up to a show of force like this," said Radcliff.

"Still, spirit will count for nothing, if they do not have the strength to back it up," said Nilam.

"Strength the Mibu have, I can assure you," said Ozpin, an almost frighteningly chilly smile on his face.

"Oh ho! Did we miss the opening moves?" asked a boisterous old voice.

A man and a woman approached the group, coming up from down the corridor. The man who'd spoken was elderly in appearance, with tanned, wrinkled skin. His head was mostly bald, save for a small amount of white hair, near the back, which was tied into a topknot. Aside from that, he sported a bushy, white mustache, combined with a small beard growing just below his bottom lip. He was dressed in a white karate-gi, with a black belt tied around his waist. His brown eyes twinkled with mischief. His wrinkled skin was stretched over powerful, compact muscles that seemed to be cast from steel. Despite his clearly advanced age, he was far from being a doddering old man.

The woman couldn't have been more different. She was incredibly short, barely reaching four feet in height. That, combined with her smooth, flawless skin; and a pure, innocent-looking face, made it easy for her to be mistaken for a child. Her blonde hair drifted in her wake, looking like strands of spun gold, smooth and wavy. Her emerald-green eyes shined with an intelligence and strength of will that showed her true age. Her pale-green dress seemed to be woven from gossamer, drifting about her like mist as she walked.

"Ah yes, Pastoria...Ozma..." said Ozpin, adjusting his spectacles. "I'm afraid that you did miss our hosts greeting us."

"Ah, darn it," grumbled Pastora, stroking his small beard, "I was looking forward to seeing that."

"It can't be helped," said Ozma with a serene smile. "I have to admit, I'd much prefer to wait until our arrival. I'm eager to see how the Mibu have changed since we left them."

"Ah, that's right," said Radcliff. "I'd forgotten that you three Headmasters have a history with the Mibu.

"We know well the Mibu Clan's full strength," said Ozma, smiling back at him.

"After all, we studied that strength so that we could make it our own," added Pastoria with a low chuckle.

"Thus, we can say with complete assurance that the Mibu are not lacking in power, even when confronted with a threat like this," said Ozpin.

For some reason, Radcliff felt a cold sweat break out across his face as he watched the three Headmasters standing together. Even though there was no hostility in their behavior, he couldn't help but feel a sense of menace from the three of them, the sense that he was in the presence of an incredible strength. _It's easy to forget,_ he thought, _that these people are far older than they appear to be, even the Old Man of Shade. They may not look like it, but these three were instrumental in bringing the Great War to an end._

"Ho! It's been a while since the three of us have gotten together like this," said Pastoria with a laugh. "We should have a drink later."

"I would prefer tea," said Ozma tartly, sounding almost like a petulant child.

"I have some excellent coffee I can share," said Ozpin.

"Bah! You're both such lightweights," boasted Pastoria, throwing back his head and laughing. "I bet your livers have withered away into shriveled husks these past few decades. You both could use a good, stiff drink to loosen you up."

"You're far too loose for your own good," said Ozma irritably. "Doubtless, without your deputy, your Academy would have gone to shambles a long time ago."

"Now now," said Ozpin with a chuckle, "there's no need to criticize Pastoria's drinking habits. A man in his twilight should enjoy the time he has left."

"Quiet!" snapped Pastoria, glaring at Ozpin. "You're one to talk. It's amazing you have any taste left at all with that sludgy mud-water you drown your throat with!"

Ozpin seemed to adjust his spectacles so that they gleamed with reflected light, giving him an almost sinister appearance. "I do not need to defend myself from you," he said calmly. "A drunken lout like you can't grasp the complexity of flavor that comes from an excellent coffee, well-brewed."

The representatives of the three Kingdom Councils looked on with a mix of shock and amusement as the three Academy Headmasters proceeded to bicker with each other like children (an image that only suited one of them).

Radcliff chuckled and shook his head. "Truly, we are observing the reunion of dear friends." He glanced to the side and noticed that Gwenyth did not seem to be amused by the scene in front of her. Instead, she watched them with a tense expression, as though she expected them to turn and attack at any moment. "Something wrong?"

"It troubles me that the Academies that are supposed to serve our interests have such strong ties with the Mibu," said Gwenyth. "What do they stand to gain from this?"

Pastoria seemed to hear them and turned to grin at Gwenyth, showing a mouth full of perfect, white teeth that, once again, belied his apparent age (as old as he looked, it wouldn't have been amiss to see him missing a few). "I don't have any real agenda of my own," he said with a laugh. "I'm just here to escort our lovely Councilwoman." He turned his grin on Nilam, looking to all the world like an old lech. "A man like me needs to appreciate the scenery every now and then."

Nilam huffed and turned her head to the side, refusing to meet Pastoria's gaze.

"You've been spending too much time with Ironwood," she said, addressing her words to Gwenyth. "Only Atlas has that rotten policy of forcing its Academy and Huntsmen to serve the Kingdom's interests."

"That's right," agreed Radcliff. "The Huntsman's allegiance should be to humanity as a whole."

Gwenyth fixed her two fellow delegates with a scorning look. "So you have no concerns about the Academies' autonomy."

"Our Headmistress of Haven has never given us reason to doubt her," said Radcliff. "It isn't healthy for you to mistrust so much, Gwenyth."

"I have plenty of reason to distrust Shade's Headmaster," said Nilam, giving Pastoria a sour look. "But I can't deny that his Academy turns out excellent Huntsmen and Huntresses, who excel in protecting our people, both within the Kingdom and without."

Gwenyth frowned and fell silent, clearly not mollified by their arguments. Even Radcliff and Nilam had to admit that her suspicions weren't entirely without merit. The Academies, while ostensibly a part of their respective Kingdoms, were, in truth, politically autonomous entities. Within the confines of their campuses, they were practically miniature independent city-states. Likewise, the Huntsmen and Huntresses they turned out were taught to have no specific allegiance to any Kingdom or government unless they chose to do so. The fact that plenty such Huntsmen and Huntresses had gone astray over the years, turning their skills to criminal activities, only served to underline the fact that the Academies were far from a perfect institution.

And yet, the occasional Huntsman going bad didn't make two out of three of the delegates nearly as nervous as the idea of a Kingdom impressing their Huntsmen and Huntresses into their military. There was no one in that hallway, not even Gwenyth, who hadn't been unsettled by Ironwood's continuous efforts to build up Atlas' military strength. It was something that undermined the very principles Huntsmen and Huntresses were supposed to stand for.

Ozpin smiled at them. "If there is anything we stand to gain from this, it is the chance to train the next generation of humanity's protectors all the better."

"Yes," agreed Ozma. "With this, we will be able to overturn certain restrictions that have kept us from teaching our students to reach their fullest potential. Such stale measures only exist to serve specific commercial interests."

 _I see,_ thought Gwenyth, a bead of sweat running down her cheek.

Radcliff chuckled. "Well...one thing is for sure," he said. "Our visit to the Mibu is going to be anything but boring."

* * *

 **And so, meet the other two Academy headmasters, Ozma and Pastoria. Here we have yet another reminder that this was written well before Volume 4 had run its course, so Leo Lionheart had not yet been introduced, and, of course, this was _well_ before it was revealed that Ozpin's original name was Ozma. In my mind, I envisioned Shade and Haven being run by characters, who were an extension of the Wizard of Oz theme started by Ozpin and his associates. In my mind, the Headmasters ran the theme of Oz's rulers, past (Pastoria), present (Ozpin), and future (Ozma); with Ironwood and Atlas being the new kids on the block. Likewise, the heads of the Academies, and the Academies themselves, to a certain extent, continued on with those themes.**

 **In particular, I had the idea that each of the Academies had certain specialties, sort of like how colleges and universities in the real world might be known for particular programs of specialities. Beacon is the quintessential hero-school, renowned for turning out some of the strongest, and most skilled Huntsmen and Huntresses. Shade is the school for scholars and historians, those Huntsmen and Huntresses who take an interest in unlocking the secrets of Remnant's past, and brave the Grimm-infested wastelands to learn more about lost peoples and civilizations (additional headcanon was that Oobleck was a graduate of Shade). Haven is the Academy for those with a more humanitarian bent, for those who embrace the role of Huntsmen and Huntresses as the ones who bring aid and relief to those in danger. And, of course, Atlas winds up being the Academy for those most interested in applied technology.**

 **Of course, almost all of this has been shot to hell by canon, as the show progresses, but is canon for the purposes of this particular story.**


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49:**

"Ahh," sighed Yang as she slumped down into her seat at the table, "that was wonderful." She turned a mock-glare on the boy sitting next to her. "It makes me wish that a certain someone had told us about those baths earlier."

"I said I was sorry," protested Kyo. "Like I said, this Palace is just too damned huge for me to remember everything that's here."

"I'm still amazed you can just find your way around without getting lost," said Jaune. "It's a good thing we all have Huntsman training or we'd collapse from exhaustion from all the work it takes to go from Point A to Point B."

"And now you understand my parents' frustration," said Kyo with a laugh. "The other reason my father enjoys assassination attempts on his person is because he hopes it will destroy a portion of the Palace and give them a chance to condemn it. Sadly...that hasn't happened yet...though not for lack of trying."

His friends snorted at the idea.

"Um...not that this isn't fun and all," said Qrow, from where he slouched in his own chair, "but we should maybe talk about tomorrow. The delegation is arriving after all."

"I guess," said Ruby. She looked at Kyo. "What are we doing?"

"O-Kaa-san has asked for your attendance," said Kyo. "She also said that it would be best if you all dress as formally as you can manage. Apparently, you will be representing Beacon."

"Okay then," said Weiss. "Did everyone pack their formalwear?"

"You wouldn't stop nagging us until we did," muttered Nora rebelliously.

"And for good reason," said Weiss imperiously. "After all, we knew something was going to happen during our time here." Like Ruby, she turned to Kyo. "What about protocol?"

"Ah...on that..." Kyo paused, apparently trying to dredge up what his mother had told him.

"You are permitted to be looser," said Sora, coming up behind her son. Blake was with her.

Once she and the others had recovered, Weiss glared at Kyo's mother. "I swear you're going to give someone a heart attack one of these days."

Sora flicked her fan open to hide her mouth as she tittered. "You flatter me," she said.

"What do you mean, looser?" asked Ren.

"Well, there's no need to address us Taishiro with any particular formality," said Sora. "You owe us no particular allegiance, so you are not beholden to utilize the honorifics that our people use. So it is best that you address us as you usually do."

"Are you sure?" asked Weiss.

"Of course," said Sora. "It's what the delegates will be doing in any case. Now...as for my husband...it's best that you pretend he doesn't exist."

"Huh?" they all said at once.

Sora laughed again. "Of course, he will be in attendance," she assured them. "However, aside from greeting the delegation, he won't be doing anything. All other matters will be conducted by us Elders."

"I get the feeling you're doing this deliberately again," said Weiss, her eyes narrowing. Then it hit her. "You want to force the delegates to deal with you specifically. You want them to have to treat a faunus as a head of state and an equal...for everyone to see no less."

"Weiss!" protested Ruby.

"Don't worry," said Sora, lowering her fan, revealing a knowing smile. "It is exactly as Schnee-dono says. In a sense, we...or _I_ would be more accurate, perhaps...wish to show the world how the Mibu deal with faunus. You might even say we wish to rub their faces in it, force it down their throats. And the faunus of the various Kingdoms, when they see what the Mibu have accomplished, will be all the more motivated to fight for their political rights and representation."

"You could touch off another revolution if you're not careful," said Qrow dourly.

"More to the point, it shows that such coexistence is possible," said Sora, "which undermines the point of the White Fang, which will hamper their ability to recruit further members."

"That might be true," said Ren thoughtfully.

"It sounds like it might be a little more confrontational than necessary," observed Blake as she took a seat at the table.

"A certain degree of that is necessary," said Sora. "Our forward scouts say that the delegation has arrived, and General Ironwood insisted upon an escort of no less than seven of his warships."

A startled silence fell over the table as everyone's jaws dropped.

"Is he insane?" asked Weiss suddenly.

"Jimmy hasn't exactly been the steadiest fellow lately," said Qrow, looking uncharacteristically sober. "With that kind of firepower, he could turn your whole capital into a sea of fire with a single salvo. That's a whole division of his forces."

Sora nodded. "Which is why it is imperative that he learn that we are not intimidated by his weapons," she said simply.

"Uh...you're not?" asked Nora.

To their surprise, Sora laughed again. "Hardly," she said. "Our people are in no danger. I instructed Saisei to keep our protests to a minimum and let them in without undue fuss. Our objective is to show Ironwood just how impotent his power is."

"This is gonna be interesting to watch," muttered Qrow.

"I don't know if I can handle it," said Jaune.

"We'll be fine," said Ruby.

"It just sounds like you're borrowing an awful lot of trouble," said Jaune, looking pointedly at Sora.

"Indeed," said Sora. "However, one borrows with the objective of producing a profit. We shall borrow this trouble, and repay it with interest, in the form of progress. That is our main desire."

They all shared dubious looks across the table. "Well..." said Yang, turning back to Sora, "...good luck with that."

"Thank you," said Sora, nodding to them before addressing her son. "And Kyo..."

"Yes?" asked Kyo, looking up at his mother expectantly.

"I know this is sudden, but there is a change of plans. You will attend tomorrow's ceremony."

"Huh?" gasped Kyo, his eyes widening. "But I thought..."

Sora shook her head. "When you were an internationally wanted criminal, it is only natural that we do not wish to remind the world that you belong to us. However, now that your bounty has been rescinded in all but one of the four Kingdoms, and it has been revealed that it was instated under false pretenses, I think it would have an interesting impact to have you in attendance.

"You'll be standing with your father, so you won't have to worry about having any further duties than that."

"...Okay," said Kyo, sounding unsure of his mother's intentions, but agreeing all the same.

"Good," said Sora. "Then I shall see you all tomorrow. The delegation is projected to arrive at ten in the morning, so please be ready and at the throne room by that time. Brunch will be served shortly afterward, so you don't need to worry about breakfast."

They all nodded and Sora turned and took her leave. When she was gone, Weiss let out a sigh and slumped slightly. "I'm not looking forward to this anymore," she said.

"This festival of yours had better be worth it," said Yang, grinning at Kyo.

"I promise that it is," said Kyo. "Don't worry."

* * *

The next morning, Yang awoke to the sound of the shower running. Drowsily, she lifted her head up and checked the clock. It was a little before nine, giving them more than an hour to get ready. Yang frowned in disappointment. If Kyo had woken her up along with him, they could have showered together and maybe had some fun before they started their day. However, she supposed that doing that might take up more time than they intended. It was easy to underestimate how ridiculously huge and labyrinthine the Palace's layout was.

She got up and yawned stretching and using her Aura to form her right arm again. She'd taken to sleeping without it manifested again, mainly because Kyo would cup her stump when they slept, a feeling that Yang had grown extremely fond of.

As she got out from under the covers, the sound of water cut off. A couple minutes later, Kyo emerged, still damp. He grinned when he saw her.

"Morning," said Yang, smiling back.

"Ready for today?" asked Kyo.

"Not yet, obviously," Yang replied cheekily. "Give me a few minutes and I will be though."

"I look forward to it," said Kyo. He stepped aside to let her enter the bathroom and use the shower for herself.

When she emerged, wrapped in a towel, Yang gaped to see Kyo wearing something other than his typical black kimono. His kimono was still black, but with white trim around the collar and down the sides. Over it, he wore a pair of dark-blue hakama, tied shut at the ankles, so that only his sandals, with black tabi socks, were visible. Finally, over all that, he wore a white haori, decorated by crimson flames that ran up from the edges of the hem and sleeves, with the Mibu Clan's taijitu symbol decorating both sleeves, giving the impression that they were wreathed in flames.

"What is that?" asked Yang.

"Ah...this is the official uniform of the Crimson Cross Knight," said Kyo, looking over his own clothes with an expression of bemusement. "I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually had to wear this."

"That's a shame," said Yang, letting out a sultry growl. "It looks good on you. You should wear it more often."

"Well...it's a bit of a pain to get right," said Kyo with a sigh, looking over his ensemble. "So many pieces..." Then he looked up at her and grinned. "But I suppose, if it's for you, it's worth the effort."

"Thanks," said Yang teasingly, "so glad to know that I'm worth an effort."

Kyo laughed and kissed her. "You are worth a lot more than that," he said.

"Good," said Yang. Then she grabbed Kyo by the shoulders and steered him towards the door of their room. "Now, go wait outside while I get dressed."

"But there's nothing I haven't seen before," protested Kyo.

"As fun as it would be to give you a reverse-strip-show, I want to surprise you," said Yang, giving Kyo one final shove out the door. "Now, out!" She slid it shut behind him with a bang of finality.

Kyo sighed and folded his arms, waiting patiently as Yang got dressed. He heard the door open behind him, and turned to see a beaming Neo emerge, dressed in her usual clothes, her weaponized parasol resting over her shoulder. Kyo blinked and looked at her in confusion. "Not that that's a bad look for you, but I don't think that's what O-Kaa-san meant when she said to dress formally."

Neo blinked, her brown and pink eyes switching positions when she opened them again. A line of light crawled up her body. Now Neo was dressed in a white gown with the barest tint of pink to it. It was sleeveless, with straps that went over her shoulders, while the skirt was slit down one side, allowing Neo to show the silky skin of one leg to her advantage. Even her parasol had been changed into a delicate one of white lace that seemed too transparent to provide effective shade, and might even shred like tissue paper under the mildest breeze.

Kyo let out an impressed whistle at the dramatic change in Neo's appearance, which made her beam.

"Neo cheats," groused Nora petulantly as she came up the hallway behind Kyo.

"Her Semblance is refraction," explained Ren, joining her. "She simply bends the light around her to change her appearance."

Neo met Nora's sullen glare by blinking, her eye colors switching again, before cheekily sticking out her tongue at her teammate.

Kyo turned appreciative eyes over the pair. Nora was dressed in a vivid-pink, sleeveless qipao, with a red heart over her chest. Her hair was actually done up in a bun behind her head, held in place with a set of long, gold pins.

Ren, on the other hand, was dressed in a suit of forest-green, with a dark-blue shirt underneath his jacket and a dark-red tie to tie the whole ensemble together. For this occasion, he had pulled back his hair and bound it in a single tail behind his head.

The irregular rhythm of clicking heels met Kyo's ears, prompting him to turn around. He couldn't help but chuckle and grin as he saw Ruby making her way towards them, hanging onto Jaune's arm for extra balance as she took uncertain steps on a pair of high-heeled shoes. She wore a bright-red dress with a ruffled, pleated skirt, and additional ruffles along the thick straps over her shoulders, which left her arms bare, and also showed off a generous portion of her neck and collar, the hem rising just above the modest swell of her bust.

"You look lovely, Ruby," said Kyo.

"Thanks," said Ruby, taking another, hobbling step. "I wish Weiss would let me use better shoes though."

Jaune gently patted Ruby's hand with sympathy. He looked impressively sharp in a standard black suit, with a white shirt, and dark-blue tie. He'd actually combed his hair for a change, the normally spiky mop atop his head now smoothly combed back. Kyo tilted his head as he regarded it. The look didn't quite work for him.

"You'd get used to them if you'd just wear them more often," said Weiss as she approached. Unlike Ruby, she had no issue in her stiletto heels, walking with perfect poise and ease. Of all the people present, Weiss' clothes were the closest to the kind she normally wore. her top and shrug were unchanged and, instead of her shorter combat skirt, she instead wore a pale-blue skirt of roughly the same design, which ran all the way down to her ankles.

"I don't want to get used to them," protested Ruby. "They make my toes and ankles hurt."

Once again, Jaune made a sympathetic noise and patted the hand Ruby was using to cling to his arm for balance.

"It would be easier if you just picked out a nice pair of regular shoes for her," commented Blake as she exited her room. She wore a silky, black dress with a tight skirt that ended just below her knees, showing off her long, pale legs. The bodice seemed to consist of two pieces of fabric that crossed over her front, becoming a pair of straps that ran over her shoulders and down to meet the low back. Like most of the others, the dress left her arms bare.

"So we're waiting on Yang," said Nora, looking at the door to her and Kyo's room. "I thought she didn't like to waste a bunch of time primping."

"Well, there was no real hurry," said Kyo, scratching the back of his head. "So I saw no harm in letting her sleep in while I showered."

"She'd better not make us late," said Weiss with a huff.

"Relax, Ice Queen," said Yang, sliding open the door. "Geez! You get absolutely crazy whenever formal events are involved."

"Because _I'm_ the only one who seems to take them seriously," snapped Weiss, stomping her heel against the floor.

Yang merely smirked at Weiss' outburst and turned to look at Kyo, her smirk becoming a grin as she saw her boyfriend's hanging jaw. Yang had opted for a strapless dress. This was a lovely, lilac shade that matched the normal color of her eyes. The bodice tightly hugged her top, accentuating her figure. Like Neo's, the dress came with a long skirt with a slit down one side, allowing Yang to show off one of her sleek, powerful legs. Like she had on their last date, Yang had done up her hair behind her head, which highlighted the contours of her shoulders and neck.

"So," she said in a heavily flirtatious tone, "do you approve."

"Y-you look lovely," said Kyo, blushing heavily.

"I still think that dress borders on scandalous," said Weiss.

"Well it was a tossup between this and the kimono," said Yang, her grin widening. "And Kyo's already seen me in the kimono."

"Yang Xiao Long!" scolded Weiss, leaning forward and planting her fists against her hips as she glared at Yang. "You are here to greet the assembled delegates of the four Kingdoms, _not_ so you can flirt with your boyfriend."

Yang only grinned all the more widely and leaned back a little, pushing out her chest and stretching her leg through the slit in her skirt. "Hey, I'm a girl who excels in multitasking," she boasted. "I can do both."

"Perhaps a little less of the flirting," said Kyo with a slightly plaintive tone, his face beet-red. "It would be very unbecoming of me to stain my clothes with a nosebleed."

"Well, at least one of you has some sense," said Weiss with a huff.

"Whatever, Ice Queen," said Yang with a laugh. "Come on. Let's go."

They set off down the hall, heading for the throne room. As they did, they passed both Nigel and Hayate. Nigel, being Nigel, seemed completely unfazed by the girls' appearance. However, Hayate's eyes fixed on Weiss, and she met his gaze with a smile and a faint blush on her cheeks, pausing in front of him.

"You look great," he said.

"Thank you," Weiss said back.

"Now who's flirting?" asked Yang teasingly over her shoulder as the rest of the group waited for Weiss.

"Shut up!" snapped Weiss. However, she did give Hayate one last smile before moving to follow her friends down the hall.

Once again, the trip seemed longer than it should have been. However, they arrived with time to spare, despite Weiss' worries. Kyo shared one last kiss with Yang before climbing the steps to stand by his father's throne. There he stood, resting the end of his sheath against the floor as they all waited for the delegation to arrive.

Just a minute later, Kyoichiro and the Taishiro arrived. Kyoichiro took his seat on the throne, while Sora, Murasame, Makoto, and Haruka met at the base of the steps. The students from Beacon noticed that none of them seemed to have changed their clothes in the slightest from what they usually wore. They supposed it was only natural, given that the Taishiro's typical clothes also served as the uniform of their station. However, there was one thing that caught their attention.

The Taishiro, save for Haruka, were all armed. Makoto wore his two swords at his waist. One was a broad, curved blade that was shaped more like the kind one would expect to find on a naginata. The other was a small tanto. Murasame carried an ordinary katana, with a decorative guard styled to look like a lotus flower. Sora wore a large, broad blade that was easily a match for Nigel's Hakuya in size, though it narrowed to a graceful point, giving the blade a profile that resembled a falchion. Only Haruka carried no weapons, but stood at ease, her arms folded in front of her, showing off their powerful muscles.

Their appearance made Weiss swallow nervously. The Taishiro looked more as though they were decked out for battle than a conference. However, she recalled the news they'd heard yesterday. Ironwood had brought seven warships as an escort. No other Kingdom would have tolerated a supposedly peaceful delegation bringing that many warships into their territory. However, it seemed that the Taishiro were committed to meeting Ironwood's provocation head-on.

Beacon's students could only hope that this would be the limit of the escalation of matters.

* * *

"So this is their capital," observed Gwenyth as she stared at the image of the city down below. "How...quaint."

"For a place that is supposed to be the equivalent of a Kingdom capital, it is certainly...rustic in design," noted Nilam, though her expression seemed to indicate that she liked the look.

"Hmmm...It's very pleasant to look at," said Radcliff. "It seems the Mibu do quite well without most of our more modern conveniences." He frowned. "If they are so comfortable with this kind of life, there may not be as much of a market for more modern luxury goods here as I hoped."

"I don't doubt that the Mibu have some kind of demand that we can meet," said Nilam speculatively. "Even a completely self-sufficient people will will be interested in the things others have, which they don't. We just have to find the best ways to appeal to their interests."

"You're already looking ahead to trade agreements, I see," said Ironwood.

"Why shouldn't we?" asked Nilam. "The entire purpose of this meeting is to explore the future of our relationship with the Mibu Clan. So it is only natural to look into how we and they can benefit from such mutual arrangements."

"You speak as though a relationship with them is set in stone," said Ironwood. "That is far from certain."

"Somehow, I think it is more certain than you realize," said Ozpin, coming to join the three Council members.

"We'll see," said Ironwood.

"There's the Palace," observed Pastoria, coming to stand next to Ozpin, an amused grin on his face. "The place hasn't changed a bit."

"We should head for the transports," said Ozma. "We'll need them to touch down, if they don't have a place to land an entire warship." She threw a sour glare at Ironwood, who pretended not to notice.

"Yes, we should prepare to disembark," agreed Ozpin.

They left the bridge and made their way down to the hangar, where one of Atlas' armed transports awaited them. They were not alone. There were also two teams of students, one each from Haven and Shade Academies, along with Glynda, who had come along to manage the students' behavior, even though they weren't the students from her school. At present, they were decked out in their finest, much to Team SSSN's consternation, as the four boys tried their hardest not to look uncomfortable in their suits. Sun in particular was fiddling with his tie, having to stop every time Glynda turned her critical eyes on him. However, the girls of NDGO wore their dresses with comfortable ease, showcasing their beauty that drew appreciative gazes from the boys, though Sun pointedly did his utmost to minimize such glances.

There was one other person present. However, everyone there, save Ironwood, did their best to keep their eyes off him, not wanting to acknowledge his presence or attract his attention, if they could avoid it.

In the hangar, a brief argument broke out as Ironwood wanted to bring at least two squads of Jaegers to escort them. However, he was vetoed by nearly every other delegate in their company. Finally, though it was clear he was unhappy with it, Ironwood accepted their decision. However, they were accompanied by a single Jaeger, which was to serve as the camera, through which the rest of the world could watch their meeting.

The trip down was swift. Their transport was able to land next to the silvery Mibu airship on its landing pad. Saisei was waiting when they exited.

"I will now take you to meet our Elders and the King," she said, bowing politely to them.

"Please lead on," said Ozpin with a warm smile, looking around. The other Headmasters sported similar expressions. For them, in many ways, it was like coming home.

Their journey led them to the white-tiled courtyard outside the first of the Five Shining Gates. Keikoku stood before the first gate, his expression calm and serious, his three-pronged spear resting by his side.

"I am Keikoku of the Goyosei," he said, bowing low to the visitors. "On behalf of our people, I thank you for coming. I bid you welcome."

He turned and opened the gate, which opened with a suitably ominous rumble.

"They sure are putting on a show," muttered Sun to Neptune.

"Well...the General did just bring seven warships right into their territory," Neptune muttered back. "They don't want their thunder stolen that easily."

Saisei proceeded to show the group through each of the Five Gates, opening her own. At the others, one of the each of the Goyosei waited, with Taihaku cutting an imposing figure in front of the final gate. However, rather than greeting the delegation as formally as the previous members of the Goyosei had, Taihaku instead broke out into a happy smile and descended the steps from his gate, moving straight to the Headmasters.

"Ozpin, Ozma, Pastoria," he said, clasping Ozpin's hands firmly. "It's so good to see you all again."

"It has been a long time, Taihaku," said Ozpin with an equally warm smile as he returned the powerful man's grasp. "I see that the years have been kind to you."

"And they you," replied Taihaku with a laugh as he turned to clasp hands with Pastoria before stooping to hug Ozma, lifting her up off the ground in the process. "Welcome back, all of you."

"It is good to be back," said Ozma, after he let her back down. "However, perhaps we should save further pleasantries for later, after our more formal duties are completed."

"Of course," said Taihaku, bowing his head to Ozma's wisdom. He then turned to the other delegates and bowed. "I apologize for the lapse in my manners."

"Not at all," said Radcliff with a booming laugh. "It does us well to see old friends reunited."

Taihaku nodded. "In any case, it brings me great pleasure to welcome you to our home." He led them up the steps to his gate and gently pushed it open.

Unlike the other members of the Goyosei, who had remained at their gates, Taihaku joined Saisei in escorting the delegates through the Palace. As they made their way down the halls, the visitors couldn't help but be awed by the scope of the place.

Eventually, their journey came to an end and they found themselves standing in another courtyard, which lay before the massive, black form of the central keep, where the throne room was located.

"It certainly is grandiose," observed Radcliff, staring up at the structure.

Taihaku nodded to Saisei and the two of them stepped off to either side of the group. "Brace yourselves," he warned the delegates.

"Huh?" Sun blinked and looked back and forth among his teammates. "What does that mean?"

He got his answer sooner than he expected. A low rumbling sound filled the air, a sound so powerful that they could feel the ground beneath their feet vibrating. The eight students tensed automatically, their senses telling them that something was coming. They weren't the only ones.

The massive doors to the Palace keep were abruptly flung open, swinging outwards as a wave of pure Aura billowed out, washing over and around the group. Ties, suit jackets, and dress skirts flapped, as though being tossed about by a wind. The entire group of delegates fought to stand their ground against a powerful tide that threatened to sweep them away. Only the the three Headmasters seemed unfazed by the wave of Aura, standing strong against it, looking to all the world as though nothing untoward was happening.

" **Greetings!** " a woman's voice boomed out. " **Delegates of the four Kingdoms, Headmasters of the Huntsmen Academies, we, the Taishiro of the Mibu Clan, do bid you welcome!** "

Straining against the pressure, the three Council members in the lead of the group, along with Ironwood, strained to raise their eyes. As they did, they made out four silhouettes standing in the doorway. Gradually, the pressure of their combined Auras began to recede, allowing the group's vision to clear and for them to make out the figures of the Four Elders.

Of the four, it was the woman with feathered plumes in place of her hair that stepped forward. "It is an honor to meet you all," she said, bending her spine only slightly to bow to them. "I am Sora, head of the Taishiro. On behalf of my husband and liege, I offer you our greetings. Please do come inside."

"What was that all about?" asked Nilam, still shaking from the onslaught of Aura they had just endured.

Radcliff scratched his chin thoughtfully. "If I were to guess, I'd say that was tit for tat for Ironwood showing up with seven warships. It's their way of saying that if he wants a fight, he's not going to find them easy opponents."

"Doubtless," muttered Gwenyth darkly.

A shadow passed over the courtyard as the form of one of Ironwood's ships blotted out the sun overhead.

The delegates followed the Taishiro into the throne room, marveling at its scope. Walking down the carpet towards the steps that led up the dais, the group looked around, the students especially excited by the magnificence of the setting around them. However, their eyes were quickly drawn to the eight people lined up between the pillars near the base of the steps.

"Hey, it's Ruby and Juniper," said Sun with a grin, his eyes immediately going to Blake, who met his gaze squarely. Sun grinned wider and shot her a quick wink, having to hide a chuckle as she blushed furiously.

Likewise, Neptune's eyes quickly met Weiss' and the two of them stared at each other for the briefest of moments. However, unlike Blake, there was no dramatic reaction from Weiss, as she and Neptune watched each other. Both of them felt as though the spark that had been between them before was missing.

 _I guess long distance relationships don't work out for everyone,_ thought Neptune sadly. Perhaps he could talk to Weiss later, and see if there was a chance to rekindle what they had. But it was an iffy prospect at best. Still, Weiss did smile when she saw him. That was enough for now.

The girls of NDGO all smiled and traded waves with their counterparts from Beacon, having not seen them since that fateful Vytal Festival two years ago.

"YOU!"

Everyone's eyes went to Ironwood, who glared up the stairs, his face practically glowing with rage. Following his gaze up, they spotted the object of his ire, standing next to the throne. Demon Eyes Kyo smiled politely and raised his hand in a casual wave to Ironwood.

"We meet again, General," he said cheerfully.

"What is this criminal doing here?" demanded Ironwood.

The man sitting in the throne that Kyo stood next to shifted, drawing their attention to him. "This 'criminal' is my son and heir," he said, smiling benevolently as eyes the same luminous crimson as Kyo's fixed on Ironwood. "And, if I understand current affairs correctly, it appears that his criminal status has been rescinded in three out of four Kingdoms, due to certain...misunderstandings...concerning the instatement of his bounty in the first place."

Ironwood grit his teeth, his entire body quaking with anger. But he held his tongue, knowing that this was not the time or place to talk about his previous history with Kyo.

The man bowed his head to the assembled delegates and visiting students. "Greetings to you all," he said politely. "I am Mibu Kyoichiro, known here as the Crimson King, the...nominal...ruler of the Mibu Clan. I am glad to finally get the chance to meet you, though I shall have very little to do with the following proceedings."

"You don't intend to bother with this?" asked Nilam.

The King stood up and seemed to take a single step, vanishing from the top of the dais and appearing at its base in an instant, startling the delegates backwards. "As it stands, I hold very little real authority," he explained. "By and large, all true governance of the Clan is carried out by the Taishiro. As such, they will be the ones in charge of the conference. Consider me little more than an ornament."

"I see...a figurehead, hmm?" mused Radcliff, raising an eyebrow. "Most people in such positions tend to resent it more."

Kyoichiro chuckled. "I was the one who arranged for it to be so. Truth be told, I'm not suited to rule. I'm better off staying on the sidelines and looking after the children of our Clan. When it comes to matters of governance, my wife and her fellow Elders are more than capable."

"As such, I will be acting as the lead representative in the following talks," said Sora, stepping to stand slightly ahead of her husband. "I hope that our future discussions will prove productive."

All three Council members and Ironwood stared in shock at Sora, their expressions incredulous. There was an obvious reason for their difficulty in accepting this arrangement, one that they dared not give voice to. However, there was one person amongst the delegation who was not nearly so restrained.

"What manner of insult is this?" snapped a harsh voice, a white-suited man stepping forward to glare at Sora. "How dare a mongrel like you deign to dictate your terms to us?"

Weiss let out a small gasp, taking a quick step backwards. Ruby acted quickly to grab her hand, keeping Weiss from retreating too far. Luckily, her voice was not loud enough to attract her father's attention.

Sora's expression did not waver in the slightest as she met the angry gaze of Jacques Schnee. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she pulled out her fan, opening it up over her mouth. "You've brought along an interesting guest, General," she said in a cool tone. "I don't recall inviting this _eyesore_."

Behind the rest of the delegation, Sun feigned a wince and a grimace. "Ooh! Burn," he muttered softly, before snapping his mouth shut as he felt Glynda's eyes on him. He didn't notice it, but there was the barest trace of a smile on her lips before she returned her attention to the scene playing out in front of them.

"Mr. Schnee is a very important advisor and someone critical to Atlas' prosperity," said Ironwood firmly. "I decided to bring him along to consult."

"Then consult him at your leisure," said Sora. "However, if he is wise, he will remain silent in my presence, unless spoken to." She turned her eyes on the rest of the delegation. "Whether you like it or not, dealing with the Mibu means dealing with _me_. If you cannot accept that, then I'm afraid our negotiations are already at an end."

Radcliff was the first to react. He coughed and took a second to regain his composure. "Of course, I am willing to deal with you, Mrs. Sora," he said politely. "Please forgive our rudeness earlier. This is a situation that we are not accustomed to."

"Because the rulers of the Kingdoms are not accustomed to dealing with a faunus as an individual of equal stature," said Sora, closing her fan with a snap that echoed through the chamber. "I appreciate your candor, Councilman."

"Radcliff, please," said Radcliff with a smile. "I can tell we'll get along just fine."

"Indeed, Radcliff-dono," said Sora, nodding her head towards him.

"If Radcliff can handle something like this and I can't, then we of Vacuo would lose all face," said Nilam calmly. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Sora."

"Likewise, Nilam-dono," said Sora.

"Looks like things are turning around," noted Ruby as she and her friends looked on from the sidelines.

"Don't be too sure," said Blake. "After all, there are still some holdouts."

Their eyes turned to the representatives of the two other Kingdoms present. Both Ironwood and Gwenyth did not appear to be anywhere as happy with the current state of affairs as Radcliff and Nilam did. Gwenyth observed everything with a shrewd, calculating gaze, while Ironwood silently seethed, a condition that was made all the worse by the even more petulant expression of Jacques Schnee, standing behind him. Both of them glared angrily at Sora, who appeared to not even notice their gazes.

"So...what comes next?" asked Nilam. "Shall we begin our conference?"

"Not right away," said Sora, her welcoming smile back in place. "The actual conference is set to begin tomorrow. The remainder of today is to be spent on welcoming you all with the best hospitality we have to offer. I am sure that you are hungry after a walk through our absurdly large Palace. So please do us the honor of joining us for brunch."

"Ha!" barked Radcliff. "Welcoming us with food, eh. Now that's a proposition I can stand behind."

"Good," said Sora. "Today will be an excellent opportunity for us to become acquainted with each other. Allow me to start by introducing my colleagues." She introduced each of her fellow Taishiro, one by one. After that, she bade the entire group to follow her as she led them out a side door and down the hallway on the other side, bringing them into a large room, adjacent to the conference room where she'd met with Blake's parents the previous day.

Speaking of Blake's parents, they were already waiting in the room when the group arrived. Radcliff was the first to notice them. "Chief Ghira," he said, his eyes widening in surprise, "I was not expecting to find you here."

Ghira got up from his seat and walked over to greet the Mistrallian Councilman. The two of them were nearly identical in height and build, allowing them to look each other in the eyes without having to tilt their heads. "Councilman Radcliff," said Ghira with a slight smile on his face, "it is good to see you again."

"What is the Chief of Menagerie doing in a place like this?" asked Nilam.

"We've been finalizing our negotiations with the Mibu Clan," said Kali, coming over to join her husband.

"What negotiations?" asked Gwenyth sharply, butting into the conversation in a rather rude manner.

"The terms of Menagerie joining the Mibu Clan," said Ghira simply.

"What?!" shouted Ironwood, reeling back as though Ghira had struck him in the face. "What is the meaning of this?"

"It is exactly as you heard, General," said Sora, who had entered behind the delegation. "We have officially adopted Menagerie as a vassal state of our Clan."

"ABSURD!" roared Ironwood. "This is unacceptable!"

The representatives of the other Kingdoms took uncertain steps back from Ironwood. Even Gwenyth was looking askance at him.

"So good of you to voice your opinion," said Sora, once again deploying her fan to hide a smirk. "Now, if your acceptance was something we cared about in this matter, we would be glad that we now know where you stand."

"Chief Ghira, you realize there is no way we can permit this," said Ironwood, quickly turning to Blake's father.

"I don't call needing your permission for any decision that we make," said Ghira, his voice a low, angry growl. "Menagerie is not answerable to Atlas."

"I thought the faunus of Menagerie valued their independence," said Gwenyth cooly. "Do you really have so little pride that you'll join yourself to the first group to offer you a few handouts?"

"If that were the case, we would have probably allied ourselves with Vale years ago," said Kali tartly.

"The Mibu Clan have been powerful silent allies of ours for many years," declared Ghira. "It is their support that has enabled us to survive and thrive in a land that's two-thirds uninhabitable desert. By joining with them, we will have the capability to move beyond mere survival and gain strength of our own."

Ironwood whirled on Sora. "How dare you?" he snarled. "You did this in order to deliberately insult us."

Sora kept her fan up to hide the fact that her smirk was growing even wider. "Now now, General. If you really perceive us bringing Menagerie into our fold as such an insult, you must be more thin-skinned than I thought. Perhaps I overestimated you."

"Hmm..." Radcliff rubbed his chin. "Well, there's certainly no precedent for this. However, that also means there is no legitimate reason for us to oppose it. Chief Ghira has the right to do what he believes is best for his people, the same authority that any of us has. If he and the Mibu have come to this decision, free of coercion, then there's no reason for us to oppose it."

"I have to agree," said Nilam. "It's likely that this situation give rise to new opportunities for us to expand our trade with Menagerie, as well as the Mibu in general. At least we know that we have legitimate markets there."

Ironwood looked at Gwenyth. However, even she seemed swayed by what Radcliff and Nilam were saying. "For the time being, I suppose we should let them do as they please with regard for this."

Finally, Ironwood's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Fine," he said, his voice heavy with resignation. "However, there is a limit to what is acceptable. I intend to hold you to it, even if I must be...insistent."

Almost immediately, the level of tension in the room began to rise as nearly everyone clued in to Ironwood's implicit threat that, if he did not want to accept what Sora and the Mibu were doing, he would use his ships to ensure that they changed their decision.

However, Sora seemed unbothered by it, snapping her fan closed to reveal a sunny smile. "Excellent," she said in a cheerful voice. "Now, shall we proceed with brunch. I, for one, am famished."

The rest of the delegation, including the students, looked to one another. Finally, Sun shrugged. "Well, I'm starving," he said with a grin. His stomach let out a rumble to punctuate his statement, prompting laughter from his friends and even some of the Council members.

"Yes, we should remember that you kids are still growing," commented Radcliff as he made his way to the table and took a seat.

* * *

 **My choice in teams who accompanied their respective Headmasters is largely about personal appeal. I like SSSN and NDGO, even if they don't really have a huge impact on the story themselves.**


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50:**

There was no apparent method of organization behind the seating, as it seemed that everyone was free to sit where they liked. The table was completely round, so there was no "head" of the table for anyone to sit at. The visitors milled about in confusion for a moment before settling into seats.

Yang, naturally, sat next to Kyo, who chose to sit a few seats down from his mother and father, rather than right next to them. Ruby and Jaune found themselves sitting next to Murasame, while Ozpin sat on the Elder's other side.

Sun and Blake naturally sat together, both of them jumping in surprise when Ozma took the seat next to Sun, while Blake's parents took the seats next to her. Sun's happy grin at being able to sit next to the girlfriend he hadn't been able to see for months, except on a CCT screen, turned nervous as her father turned and fixed Sun with a suspicious glare. Blake sighed and gave her father an irritated look while her mother simply giggled in amusement.

Weiss kept her distance for the time being, trying to remain as far across the table as she could get from where her father was, at the moment. She didn't want to sit down until she was at least fairly certain that there wouldn't be a seat that Jacques could take next to her. She wasn't sure that her father had even noticed her yet. It was only a matter of time, but she wanted to put it off for as long as she could.

Neptune noticed Weiss' plight and looked to help her. However, they had both agreed some time ago that they should do nothing to suggest to Jacques that they were in any way together, something neither of them doubted he would disapprove of if he knew. Looking around, Neptune noticed that the girls of NDGO had yet to pick out their own seats, and he quickly went over to them and whispered to them for a few seconds. A moment later, Nebula and Gwen detached themselves from their team and went over to Weiss, who had finally seemed to settle on a chair. Much to Weiss' surprise, Haruka immediately picked the seat on her right, which left Nebula and Gwen to take the seats on her left. Weiss gave the girls a grateful look and they smiled in return before Weiss turned her eyes to Neptune and shared a smile with him as well.

Jacques finally seemed to notice his daughter, his eyes narrowing. He took half a step, as though to go over and order that someone vacate a seat next to her so that he could sit by her. However, he recoiled as Haruka turned a powerful glare on him that made him think better of it. Instead, he took a seat next to Ironwood, who had sat himself next to Gwenyth. The three of them took the seats next to Sora and Kyoichiro, looking distinctly uncomfortable with their position.

Sharing grins, Dew and Octavia of NDGO chose to sit next to Kyo. Makoto took the seat next to them, with Pastoria sitting down next to him. Finally, Sage, Scarlet, and Neptune all took three of the remaining seats, with Ren and Nora settling in next to them.

"Please, eat as much as you like," said Sora, gesturing to the fare positioned on the table. "There is plenty for everyone."

Yang fought back the urge to drool. The Mibu had outdone themselves this time, providing a wide variety of dishes. There was everything from pancakes, waffles, porridge, and other breakfast fare; along with heavier foods and salads for those who were interested in lunch food. They were arranged around the table so that everyone had access to nearly everything on their own. If they didn't, then it was usually within easy reach of the person next to them.

As they ate, they conversed with their neighbors. The students from different schools took the opportunity to catch up with one another in the time they had been apart, though every time Sun got a little too flirty with Blake, he found himself quailing under a glare from Ghira, much to Blake's consternation.

Kyo and Yang found themselves subjected to countless questions from Dew and Octavia about their relationship, making Kyo blush, while Yang happily filled them in on their history and excursions, though Yang wisely decided to save the racier details for a more private setting.

Before she even reached for the first bowl of strawberries, Ruby turned and cast a curious glance at Murasame. "Where's Penny?"

"Ah," said Murasame, actually looking slightly startled by the question. "I asked her to spend the day with Ciel-kun at Makoto's school. We've talked extensively about this, and the fact that she cannot attack the General while he is our guest. However, we decided that it is best to avoid confrontation while he is here. To that end, we are taking measures to avoid an unfortunate encounter while the General is present."

"Oh," said Ruby, looking down. She glanced across the table at where Ironwood sat stiffly with the Councilwoman from Vale and Weiss' father. He didn't seem particularly interested in conversing with Kyo's parents, instead choosing to confer quietly with Jacques more often than not. He also wasn't showing much interest in his meal, choosing very little and eating very slowly and carefully, as though he were tasting each bite for poison.

"By the way, allow me to congratulate you and Penny on her adoption," said Ozpin on Murasame's other side. "It gives me great pleasure to hear that she is well looked after."

Murasame chuckled. "And it gives me great pleasure to look after her," he said. "I understand she may have an interest in returning to your Academy, Ozpin."

"If that is her decision, we shall gladly accept her," said Ozpin.

"Do you two know each other?" asked Jaune, leaning forward so that he could address the two of them across Ruby, who was also looking at them expectantly.

"We know each other quite well," said Murasame.

"Murasame was one of my teachers when I was with the Mibu," commented Ozpin. "I learned a great deal from him, much of which continues to serve me to this day."

Ruby blinked and shared shocked looks with Jaune. Even though they knew about it now, it was easy to forget that Ozpin had been around since before the Great War, and that Murasame had apparently been around for even _longer_.

"Makoto was also one of their teachers," added Murasame, gesturing across the table at his colleague, who was chatting amiably with Pastoria. "He spent most of his time teaching Ozma the healing arts, which I'm told she uses extensively at her school."

"Within limits, of course," said Ozpin. "Due to the restrictions imposed upon us, we can't do anything that would draw our students' attention to the art of advanced Aura-manipulation."

"Hopefully that will change with this arrangement," said Murasame. "We have no intention of keeping our means a secret, particularly not from those who have the intent to learn them."

"I certainly hope so," said Ozpin.

Ruby and Jaune frowned, looking at one another. This whole affair had them feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Hunting and killing Grimm was one thing, chasing down an evil organization hellbent on bringing the Kingdoms crashing to the ground had been a lot more complex. But even _that_ paled in comparison to the confusing morass that was politics, where people who couldn't stand each other chatted like old friends, offering assurances and trading threats, often in the same breath. This was an arena they weren't prepared to compete in.

"You needn't worry about that," said Murasame, patting Ruby's arm. "You young ones should just worry about developing yourselves to the best of your abilities. Leave these dry, complicated matters to oldsters like us."

"You already have a mission of sorts here, Ms. Rose," added Ozpin, giving her a proud smile. "And, from what I can see, you are fulfilling it splendidly."

Ruby flushed at his praise. "Thank you, Professor."

* * *

After the meal concluded, the whole group was ushered out into a courtyard, this one consisting of several gardens, the theme of which seemed to be "green". Rather than colorful flowers, what was instead on display were all manner of bushes, trees, and other plants with leaves of various shapes and shades of green. Many of them were artfully shaped into elaborate forms, grown in a manner similar to bonsais. It gave the garden an easy, relaxed feeling, as the greenery served as a relaxing background to the social interactions taking place.

As soon as they were free to wander and socialize, Weiss sought out Murasame. Unlike Ruby, Jaune, and Yang, she'd had few dealings with the swordsmith since they had arrived. But she had questions that needed answering and she doubted that Haruka was willing to answer them.

"Excuse me," she said, coming up on Murasame as he chatted amiably with Pastoria.

"How can I help you, Weiss-dono?" asked Murasame as he turned to look at her. "You were addressing me, weren't you?"

"Yes," said Weiss. "I was wondering if we could talk later...I have questions that I hope you will be able to answer."

"Of course," said Murasame. "This affair is scheduled to continue for another hour or so, then we will adjourn and be free until dinner. You can come to my quarters during that time."

"Thank you," said Weiss.

Pastoria chuckled and looked Weiss over with a merry twinkle in his eyes. "There's no need to be polite with this old sap," he said, gesturing to Murasame. "He's a sucker for children in general. Why do you think he adopted your friend?"

Murasame laughed as well. "Well, I cannot deny a fondness for them. Still, I'm no match for our King in that regard. Were it up to him, I don't think he'd sit on that throne at all. He's perfectly happy spending every moment he can teaching our younger ones."

"Very true," agreed Pastoria with a cackle. "You can tell a lot about someone by how they look after their children." His smile faded slightly and he looked at Weiss with a much more serious expression. "On that note, there's someone here whose treatment of his children speaks volumes. I think you know _who_ I'm talking about, Ms. Schnee."

Weiss swallowed and nodded, then unconsciously looking over her shoulder, as though she expected her father to loom up behind her like some kind of specter.

Pastoria's expression softened. "Perhaps you had best stay with one of us. I don't think Old Man Schnee will come after you if he thinks he can't get you alone."

"Thank you," said Weiss. "But I won't spend my time here acting as though I'm afraid of him."

Murasame nodded. "But you _are_ afraid of him," he noted, his gaze seeming to penetrate into the recesses of Weiss' soul.

"...Yes," Weiss admitted after a moment's hesitation. "I'm very afraid of him. But I won't allow that fear to control me."

Murasame laid a hand on her forearm, his fingers barely brushing against the fabric of her sleeve. "Remember, you are a guest of Kyo and our Clan," he said. "Your father cannot change that. We will protect you."

"Thank you," said Weiss, giving him a grateful smile.

She moved on, feeling a bit better, though she still kept a wary eye out. Even if she refused to cower under the protection of an Elder or Academy Headmaster, that didn't mean she couldn't seek out company. Looking around, she spotted Neptune standing in one corner of the garden, talking animatedly with Neo of all people. Their eyes met and, just as quickly, they looked away from each other again. Weiss resolved to find some time to speak with him too...when her father wasn't around.

Over in another section of the garden, she saw Blake and Sun. The two of them were clearly trying to find a moment of privacy to better express their feelings with each other, after spending so much time apart. However, it seemed that Blake's father was not keen on giving them that chance right away, following them while throwing Sun glares that made the poor boy quail and shake. He probably would have clung to Blake for security, only stopped by the knowledge that doing so would probably only land him in even hotter water.

Weiss giggled and moved on, keeping a wary eye out for her father.

* * *

"I...uh...I think I need to go get a drink," said Sun, giving Blake a shaky grin. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay," said Blake, giving him the brightest smile she could manage under the circumstances. Sun smiled back, looked over her shoulder, and cringed at the look her father was giving him, before darting off down the path, which led to the pavilion in the center of the courtyard, where refreshments were stocked, along with seating for those who wished to rest in the shade.

As soon as Sun was out of earshot, Blake whirled on her father with an angry glare. "What are you doing, Dad?"

To her surprise, Ghira's severe expression faded, replaced by a smile. "Just making sure your boy understands his place in the grand scheme of things," he said.

"I thought you'd already given your approval, dear," said Kali.

Ghira's smile stretched into a grin. "I did. He's a good boy, when all is said and done, and he's exceptionally loyal, which I approve of."

"Then why are you harassing him like this?" demanded Blake.

To her surprise, Ghira threw back his head and laughed. "Because it's my solemn duty as your father and..." He grinned down at his daughter. "...it's fun to watch your boy squirm."

"Daaaaad..." groaned Blake, lowering her head, her cat ears drooping.

Kali rested a hand on Blake's arm. "Don't worry, dear," she said softly. "I won't let him keep it up the entire time. After this is over, you'll be able to spend plenty of time alone with him. We understand that the students that came with the delegation will be quartered with you and your friends. That should give the two of you plenty of time."

Blake sighed. "Fine. Please don't tease him too much, Dad."

Ghira chuckled and rested a hand on Blake's shoulders. "I promise," he said. "I may have not liked him when I first saw him, but he's more than proven himself to me."

Blake nodded, having to hide a happy smile from her parents.

* * *

"So it looks as though you've been improving," observed Ozpin as he smiled proudly at Yang, who was, naturally, with Kyo. "Did Murasame forge that for you?" he asked, glancing at the silver and gold armlet Yang now wore, a pleasant complement to the bracelet that graced her left wrist.

"Yeah," said Yang, with a grin. "I ended up helping him with it."

She and Kyo proceeded to describe the process by which Murasame had forged the gauntlet around her arm, shaping it to the projection of her Aura.

"That sounds like quite the ordeal," noted Ozpin.

"It had its rocky moments," said Yang, grinning as she brushed her fingers over the engraved surface of her armlet. "But it was totally worth it in the end."

"I am most pleased to hear that," said Ozpin.

"The difference in her fighting has been quite pronounced," said Kyo. "It's a good fit for her."

"I look forward to seeing it," said Ozpin. "Perhaps you can give us a demonstration before the conference is over."

"Maybe," said Yang, blushing slightly at the idea. Under normal circumstances, she would have been all to happy to show off the new skills and strength she'd acquired to the world. However, her humiliation at the previous Vytal Festival Tournament still stung, leaving Yang more than a little leery of doing a public demonstration.

Still, maybe she could have another bout with Penny. That had been fun. Or maybe she could take on Hayate and see what he was capable of. Who knew, she might even be able to give Nigel a run for his money, and pay him back for wrecking her prosthetic a couple months ago. The possibilities seemed endless and exciting.

"Have your other teammates been improving as well?" asked Ozpin.

"They've been working hard," said Yang. "They've all been getting advice from different people around here."

"I very much look forward to seeing the fruits of your hard work," said Ozpin.

* * *

Now that she had found a place of safety of sorts, Weiss allowed herself to relax a little. She now found herself with Ren and Nora, both of whom were talking with Ozma and Makoto. It surprised Weiss to learn that Ozma not only knew that Ren and Nora were orphans, but that they had been under the care of one of her orphanages for a time. In addition to being the Headmistress of Haven Academy, Ozma also managed a network of orphanages and foster homes throughout Mistral and across Anima.

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Weiss, raising her head up, realizing that Ozma had been speaking to her.

Ozma smiled indulgently. "I was just wondering if you are doing all right, Ms. Schnee," she said. "You seem somewhat distracted."

"Her father is here," said Ren. "That's plenty of reason for her to be distracted."

"Ah, yes," said Ozma her tone somewhat sour. "It's still unclear if James actually invited Jacques along, or if Jacques invited _himself,_ and James just didn't have the spine to tell him to stay put in Atlas." She rested a small, childlike hand on Weiss' arm. "If he gives you any trouble, just call out to any of us and we'll do everything we can."

"I understand," said Weiss, looking to Makoto, who likewise gave her an encouraging smile. "I've already been reminded that the Mibu will protect me while I'm their guest."

"As any proper host should," said Ozma. "You have grown into a fine young woman. If your father can't appreciate that, then it is his loss."

Weiss nodded and decided to move on, looking for a new group of conversation partners to join. She made her way along the paths through the courtyard, looking for someone else to talk to. Her eyes lit up when she spotted Ruby and Jaune, the two of them now locked in an animated conversation with Radcliff, the Councilman from Mistral, and Sora. She turned down the path that led their way, looking to join them.

"Here you are," growled an all too familiar angry voice behind her. A hand seized her arm in a grip like a steel vice.

Weiss turned around, her fear rising. Her first impulse was to struggle to yank her arm free of her father's grip. However, she stuffed her feelings of fear and panic down into her gut, keeping them from overrunning her. She still remembered that incident during the afterparty of her charity concert, when she had inadvertently summoned because of her runaway emotions. She refused to cause a similar incident here, where the people had been so unfailingly kind and helpful towards her.

"Father," said Weiss in a cold tone, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I finally find you after you ran off and humiliated me in front of my peers and I find you here," he growled. "Now you've fallen to consorting with these mongrels."

"The Mibu are hardly mongrels, father," said Weiss in a cold tone. "I've learned far more from them than I ever did from you. It also seems they know a bit more about _proper_ behavior than you do, seeing how you've been acting lately."

"These lying thieves have been actively undermining my company, attacking my profits, costing me millions, and I find you consorting with them," growled Jacques. "It is clear that it was a mistake to allow you to leave. When this is farce is over, you will return with me to Atlas, and I will take care of educating you properly."

"I will. _Not!_ " snapped Weiss, finally yanking her arm from her father's grip. "I have chosen my path, Father. You don't control me anymore."

"We'll just see about that," snarled Jacques, raising his arm, ready to backhand Weiss across the face.

Weiss automatically steeled herself for the blow, shifting her Aura to her cheek, tempering it to withstand the impact. When her father struck her, he would be in for a surprise. If she was lucky, maybe he would break his hand on her face.

But her preparation proved unnecessary. Before Jacques could even begin to swing his arm, a white form with shimmering plumes drifted between them, Sora seeming to move with the ease and grace of a cloud riding the breeze. Weiss stifled a gasp, not having even noticed her approach. There was more to it than just speed. She hadn't even sensed Sora's presence before she had slipped into Weiss' line of sight. It wasn't as though she was using Suppression either. Her Aura was plain for Weiss to see and feel, now that she had noticed her. Rather it was as though Sora had somehow slipped in, moving through the gaps in Weiss' own consciousness. From the way he flinched, Weiss realized that Sora's approach had caught her father just as off-guard.

Sora moved in between them, adjusting her path so that only Jacques was forced to stumble backwards to make room for her in the gap that suddenly appeared between him and his daughter.

"Schnee-san," said Sora in an icy tone, her fan out and opened over her mouth to hide an angry scowl, "already, you have strained the limits of our generosity by coming where you have not been invited, and spewing your bile in my domain. Now you dare to harass one of my honored guests. My patience with you is fast approaching its end."

"Out of my way, you filthy beast," snarled Jacques, his words and tone making Weiss gasp. "I have a right to do as I please with what is mine."

"That is very true," agreed Sora, her fan beginning to waver slightly, making Weiss tremble. She had never seen Kyo's mother this angry. She'd have felt less danger if the volcano the Palace was built onto the side of were in imminent danger of eruption. "A person has a right to do as they wish with their property. However, being one's daughter does not make her your property."

Jacques snorted. "I suppose you would say the same for the mongrels you stole from my mines."

"I have no idea about what you are suggesting," said Sora, "save for the fact that it seems your corporation appears to practice slavery, which is not something we of the Mibu can condone. I will be sure to consider that when it comes time to determine our relationship with Atlas."

"There will be _no_ relationship with Atlas!" snapped Jacques. "We will never have dealings with a nation where humans willingly answer to a filthy faunus _bitch!_ "

Weiss gasped in horror, taking a step backwards, the feeling of danger multiplying. Around her, silence had fallen as all eyes and ears turned towards the confrontation between her father and Sora. She took an unconscious step back, certain that her father had just signed his death warrant. While she had come to despise him over the years, that didn't mean that she wanted him dead.

"Is that so?" asked Sora, her tone polite, but the look in her eyes anything but. "Then perhaps we should excuse the Atlesian representatives from the remainder of this conference, or does Schnee-san not speak for you, General?"

"Jacques," said Ironwood, approaching at a hurried walk, "that is enough."

"I agree," said Jacques harshly, turning his glare on Ironwood now. "We have played along with this little farce of treating these backwoods peasants as though they are equal to us truly civilized Kingdoms. Hurry up and bring these beasts to _heel_."

Ironwood was pale, clearly not liking the fact that Jacques was trying to dictate terms for his Kingdom. What was more, he obviously felt the same sense of danger that Weiss did. On top of that, as the one who effectively governed Atlas, now that he had forced the Council to cede the majority of its authority to him, Ironwood could not allow himself to be bossed around by Jacques in front of representatives from the other Kingdoms.

Sora waited patiently, keeping her comments to herself, waiting for Ironwood's response.

"Jacques, need I remind you that you are not in charge here," said Ironwood. "If you cannot hold your tongue, then I will ask you to see yourself back to the ship."

Jacques lips pulled back, baring his gritted teeth as he glared at Ironwood. "Fine," he snarled, "if you want to play nice with these savages, so be it." He whipped his head back around to glare past Sora at Weiss. "However, if I am going, I am taking my daughter with me. I refuse to leave her in the clutches of these beasts."

"That is not your decision to make, Schnee-san," said Sora calmly.

"Weiss! Get over here, now!" snapped Jacques.

"No," said Weiss.

"You insolent brat," he snarled, stepping forward, only to find Sora still staying between them. "Out of my way," he said, glaring at Sora. "I will make you move if I have to."

"No, you will not," said Sora calmly, lowering her fan, keeping her face angled the tiniest bit upward as she rolled her eyes downward to look at him.

"Get out of my way," growled Jacques.

Weiss shifted nervously. In truth, her father had no skill at combat. He had married into the Schnee Family. His primary contributions had been his shrewd business skills, which had allowed the SDC to dominate the marketplace for years. However, he had no combat training, and his Aura wasn't even unlocked. Despite that, he had a powerful personality, which, combined with his financial clout, made him the kind of person few defied openly.

Naturally, Sora was one of those few. She merely raised her eyebrow at him. "That is not how you make people bend to your will, Schnee-san. This is..."

A rumbling, like distant thunder, rolled through the air. Sora's body seemed to glow white, shedding off streams of different colors around her. Weiss could feel Sora's Aura surging outward, the entirety of its strength directed at the man in front of her. Abruptly, Jacques' body sagged, beginning to collapse as though he was suddenly burdened with an immense weight. He strained to look up at Sora, grunting and straining, barely able to even breathe. He had intended to spit out words of anger and defiance. But they all died upon his tongue at the sight of the pure fury that filled Sora's eyes. It suffused her Aura, crushing down on him, threatening to strangle him and crush the life from his body.

" **On. Your. Knees.** " said Sora, the power of her Aura and will redoubling. With a choking groan, Jacques collapsed down onto his knees, before the weight bore down once again, bending him over so that he had to brace his hands against the ground to keep his face from being forced down, his head hanging low. Sora's Aura now trapped him in a pose of forced supplication.

Finally, the power of Sora's Aura relented. Jacques gasped for breath, hacking and coughing, unable to rise up off his hands and knees, his head still down as he fought to fill his lungs once again.

"Your apology is accepted, Schnee-san," said Sora, looking down at him contemptuously. "Thus, I have allowed you to live. However, you are now banned from these grounds, and anywhere else within our lands. You will be returned to Ironwood's ship. If you set foot anywhere in our territory without my personal...express...permission, your life will be forfeit."

Jacques coughed once more and finally raised his head to glare at Sora, rage and hatred burning in his gaze at the humiliation he had just been subjected to. However, Sora already seemed done with him. "Dougal...see him out," she said simply.

"At once," said Dougal, suddenly appearing behind Jacques, having risen up out the man's own shadow. Before Jacques could say a single word, Dougal gripped his shoulder and the two of them sank back into Jacques' shadow, vanishing without a trace.

"What did you do with him?" demanded Ironwood, looking to Sora.

"I enforced my decision," said Sora. "Dougal will have left him aboard your ship within a minute or so. Feel free to check with them if you wish."

Sora now turned her attention to Weiss, who took a nervous step back. However, all the anger was gone from Sora's gaze, replaced by a warm smile, full of concern for the girl in front of her. "Weiss-dono, are you all right?"

"Y-yes," said Weiss, bowing her head slightly. "I'm fine."

She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. Weiss looked up just as Sora pulled her into a gentle hug. "You have nothing to fear from that man, so long as you are with us," she said softly, so that only Weiss could hear. "We will protect you."

"Thank you," said Weiss, leaning into the embrace.

* * *

Not far away, Jaune and Ruby watched the whole exchange between Sora and Jacques with baited breath. Both of them let out a simultaneous sigh of relief, once Weiss' father had been forcibly evicted from the premises. "Glad that's over," said Jaune.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby.

They both jumped slightly as the sound of someone's heavy tread came up behind them. Looking over, the saw that they had been joined by Radcliff. "Oho," he said, rubbing his chin, combing his fingers through his beard. "What a formidable woman Mrs. Sora is."

"Yeah, she's something all right," agreed Jaune. "She brought him to his knees with just her Aura."

Radcliff chuckled. "It's not just that. She manipulated the entire situation to get an additional edge over Atlas."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"The inclusion of Jacques in our party was an addition she wasn't expecting. However, she made it work to her advantage," explained Radcliff. "By allowing a confrontation between him and his daughter to occur, she gave herself the opportunity to intervene on your friend's behalf, which makes her appear the compassionate benefactor and protector. She knew how Jacques would react to a faunus actively opposing him, so she acted with the aim of having him make a scene. Naturally, that forced James to intervene. Now James has been shown to have trouble reining in Jacques at a function he shouldn't even have _been_ at, which will make people question whether or not Atlas is actually run by James, or if he is just Jacques' puppet, and whether James is speaking for Atlas' interests...or the SDC's."

Ruby swallowed hard, looking at Sora in a new, frightening light.

Radcliff continued. "Then Mrs. Sora demonstrated her own dominance by subduing Jacques and ordering him out. Doing it like that gives the impression that she was acting to help James save face, thus putting him in her debt to a certain extent, when she reined in the person that he couldn't. And, finally, there's the message she sent by sending Jacques directly back to the ship, assuming that her underling actually managed it." Radcliff's smile faltered for a moment, as his eyes took in the shaken expression on Ironwood's face as he lowered his scroll, having just finished checking the validity of Sora's claim. "And, from the looks of it, he did. That means that one of the Mibu just successfully set someone inside of one of Ironwood's airships, with no one being the wiser." He gestured to the Jaeger, which stood off to one side of the courtyard, and had been recording _everything_. "And the whole world just saw it."

Both Ruby and Jaune shivered at that revelation. They could understand the message being sent by that, another quiet warning by Sora, in response to the absurd amount of firepower that Ironwood had brought with him. Dougal had delivered Jacques back to Ironwood's command ship, casually penetrating the amassed firepower, sophisticated sensors, and superb security of what was, essentially, a flying fortress, showing James that his vessels were nowhere near as impregnable as he thought they were.

What made them even more nervous was the things it revealed about Kyo's mother. They had seen her hospitable nature, her willingness to help them grow stronger, along with her willingness to trust them with critical knowledge about the Mibu Clan. She had shown them every courtesy, and treated them with all the warmth and affection she had shown her own son. But this was a side to Sora they weren't as familiar with. This was a cool, calculating, manipulator, a politician who carefully twisted people's words and actions to suit her needs and intentions. Jaune supposed that this was the persona of Sora, as the true ruler of the Mibu Clan, the woman who had worked her way to become the head of the Taishiro and who, with every action, showed that she deserved that important position.

"Hmm...there's no mistake," said Radcliff. "We've been dancing to her tune this whole time. I'd best not underestimate her."

"Yeah...good luck with that," said Ruby wryly.

Radcliff burst into laughter at her words.

* * *

Weiss sighed and sagged into a seat in the shade of the pavilion, the loss of tension, the feeling of the adrenaline draining away, left her body and shivering mess. She needed a few minutes just to recover from that affair. It had been brief and terrifying. But now it was over. She could only hope that she wouldn't have to deal with her father again while she was here.

"That was intense," said Neptune as the blue-haired boy settled into the seat next to her, covering Weiss' hand with his own. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine," said Weiss, taking a deep breath, and taking a good look at Neptune for the first time since he'd arrived. She smiled at finally being able to speak to him. However, at the same time, she realized that the warm, fluttery feeling in her heart that she used to get at his nearness was gone. In its place was a warm affection, a feeling of friendship for the young man. But the romantic spark between them seemed to have fizzled out. From the look in Neptune's eyes, she could tell that he'd felt it too.

"I guess we couldn't make it work the way Blake and Sun did, huh?" asked Neptune in a wry tone.

"I suppose not," said Weiss, feeling guilty. Part of her wondered if it was her fault. If she hadn't met Hayate and started spending time with him, getting to know him, developing feelings for him, perhaps she would still be able to look at Neptune the way she used to, to want to feel his arms around her, and his lips against hers in the brief, chaste kisses they had once shared.

However, the rest of her reminded her that those feelings had grown cold quite some time ago. She'd held onto the hope that seeing Neptune in person again would rekindle those feelings. But it hadn't worked.

She felt Neptune's hand squeeze her own. "For what it's worth, I don't regret what we had," he said. "It was great while it lasted."

Weiss nodded. "We can still be friends, right?" she asked.

"Of course we can," said Neptune with a grin. "That's why I'm here. I'm your friend, trying help you after you've just had a tough last few minutes."

Weiss giggled and relaxed, leaning her head against Neptune's shoulder. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Come on," said Neptune, grinning as he stood up, pulling Weiss to her feet. "Let's ditch this joint."

Weiss sighed. Technically, they had a responsibility to act as the representatives of their respective Academies. However, she could also use a walk to clear her head. She was sure that Dougal or someone would find them before long and direct them back to the guest quarters.

* * *

After the incident with Weiss' father, Sora waited less than fifteen minutes before calling an end to the period of mingling. The delegates were guided to the sections of the Palace where they would be spending the night to rest and refresh themselves. They would be free to have dinner in the courtyard of their quarters, and have time to rest and confer, before the actual conference began the next day. Ironwood, suspicious and paranoid as ever, opted to return to the ship, while the remaining members of the delegation, even Gwenyth, chose to avail themselves of the Mibu's hospitality.

The students, on the other hand, were guided to the guest quarters where Kyo was already staying with the members of RWBY and JNPR.

Finally free from the watchful and mock-wrathful gaze of Blake's father, Sun was finally free to wrap his arms around Blake. Before she could offer more than a token protest, he swept her up and began to carry her along. Blake rolled her eyes playfully before smiling and kissing Sun on the cheek. Their fellow students observed the interaction between them with laughs and giggles. Blake's friends were especially happy to see her and Sun enjoying each other's company.

* * *

"You're back," observed Hayate, looking up from a book as Weiss and Neptune entered the pavilion.

"Yes, we are," said Weiss, sitting down in a chair, while Neptune took the one next to her.

"Everything all right?" asked Hayate.

"My father was there," said Weiss softly.

"Oh..." said Hayate, his eyebrows going up slightly. "I guess that makes it a _really_ good thing I didn't go."

"Uh...Weiss...who's this?" asked Neptune, looking at Hayate in confusion.

Weiss sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Neptune, this is Hayate. You've probably heard more about him as the Lightning Lord."

Neptune's jaw dropped and he gaped unashamedly at Hayate. "What? Really? This guy?"

"Yep," said Hayate.

Neptune looked back and forth between Weiss and Hayate. His expression of confusion melted into one of amusement. "I see," he said with a chuckle.

"You see what?" asked Weiss, looking at Neptune with genuine bemusement.

"Let me borrow her for a second," said Neptune with a wink to Hayate.

Before Weiss could protest, Neptune had pulled her out of her chair and then led her out of the pavilion. Hayate remained where he was, blinking in confusion and staring at the space where the two of them had been only a second before. "Okay..."

Neptune pulled Weiss back down the hall until he was fairly certain they were out of earshot before letting go of Weiss.

"Neptune...I..." Weiss wasn't entirely sure of what to say. She realized that Neptune had apparently already noticed something between her and the young faunus.

Neptune grinned. "Look, I'm not mad," he said. "We both know things kinda fizzled out between us a long time ago. I don't blame you." He sighed and looked to the side.

"Neptune..." Weiss raised a hand and gently held it to his cheek, turning his head so that he was looking at her again.

"I don't think you really need my permission for this," said Neptune. "But I just wanted to say that I'm okay with it."

"But I'm not even sure about this," said Weiss, wrapping her arms around herself. "The way I feel..."

"Hey, you like him, I can tell," said Neptune. "Sure, he's a little on the young side. But I'm guessing he's a good guy." He let out a small laugh. "Though it's gonna be tricky making that work. Not only is he a faunus, but he's someone who's dedicated himself to being the biggest thorn in your dad's side."

Weiss nodded at that. It was something she hadn't really considered before, though she should have. Hayate and her father were practically mortal enemies...or at least mortal from her father's viewpoint. Given the opportunity, Weiss didn't doubt that her father wouldn't hesitate to have Hayate killed. If she entered into a relationship with him and it came to light to her father, it would likely burn any bridges she had left with her family and company. Weiss still had to wonder if Hayate was worth that. There was no way Jacques would accept her as the heir to the SDC if she took that step.

"I think it's up to you," said Neptune. "But...if you decide that it's worth a shot, I'm behind you all the way."

"Thank you," said Weiss, smiling at him. She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "We tried our best. I'm grateful for that."

"Me too," said Neptune, smiling back.

* * *

"It would seem that things are going well," observed Kyoichiro as he and his wife made their way down the hall towards their own rooms, followed by the other three members of the Taishiro.

"More or less," agreed Sora. "Things are going according to plan. The presence of Schnee-san was an unpleasant surprise. However, that turned out to work to our advantage." She sighed. "At this point, things are going a little _too_ well."

"What makes you say that?" asked Makoto.

"Right now, if we do everything perfectly, without stumbling, we will sow the seeds of serious problems that we will reap in the future," said Sora. "Even agreeing to at least some settlements that are disadvantageous to us will only seem as part of the plan to those observing from the outside."

"What do we require then?" asked Murasame, his eyes narrowing.

"We need to stumble," said Sora. "Sadly, if we stumble on our own, then it will only seem as though we feigned it for the sake of lowering the other Kingdoms' guards. We need a genuinely unforeseen circumstance."

Murasame frowned. "You wish to present us as vulnerable to the outsiders."

"Just less than perfect," said Sora. "Right now, everything we do is just manipulation. We need an intervention from outside."

"Surely you aren't saying you want someone in the delegation to do that," said Murasame, a trace of anger making its way into his voice. "If that's the case, we might as well allow Ironwood to start firing on our capital."

"Of course not," said Sora. "Fortunately, we have determined enemies, enemies whom I hope will not miss this opportunity that we have given them to sow chaos, and try to advance their own agenda."

"You are hoping that the Twelve act during the conference?" asked Makoto incredulously.

"If they do, I believe that it will work out to our advantage," said Sora cryptically. "Is it so strange...to have faith in one's enemies?"

"No," said Kyoichiro, a smile playing over his lips, "not at all."

* * *

 **Trolling Jacques is always so satisfying. The guy's a total douchebag. One might even say that he's this story's Prince Humperdink, with "humiliations galore" in store for him. Of course, he's still a threat in his own way.**

 **Sora is one of my favorite characters, mainly because she has so many facets. She's Kyo's mother, a genuinely caring and loving person, but also a skilled politician; someone who knows her way around the game. So, even though she's doing it for the best of reasons, she still has the capacity to be shrewd, cunning, and manipulative.**


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51:**

"Hey! We're back," announced Yang, as she and the rest of the students strolled into the courtyard pavilion adjacent to the guest quarters.

Weiss, Neptune, and Hayate looked up from their seats. After finishing her conversation with Neptune, Weiss had taken him over to properly introduce him to Hayate. Both boys had apparently decided they were okay with each other, neither of them showing any signs of hostility. Instead, they had taken to chatting, Neptune actually showing a surprising amount of interest in Hayate's activities, particularly how he had been helping the faunus of Atlas. Weiss had been a bit uncomfortable at first, since her father's actions had been a part of the topic as a matter of course. However, she too was interested in the particulars of the operation the Mibu had used to support and help the faunus that Hayate rescued.

"Looks like you guys are hitting it off really well," noted Yang, grinning to see Weiss so comfortable with her ex-boyfriend and a boy she had been showing a considerable amount of interest in lately.

"It's been nice," said Neptune. He groaned and stretched. "So, is all the social stuff over for the day?"

"Yes," said Kyo. "That means we're free to change out of these clothes."

"Finally!" exclaimed Ruby, tottering off to her and Jaune's room, leaning on her boyfriend's arm the whole way.

"I guess we should change too," said Weiss, glancing at Neptune, who nodded. "We have a little time before dinner, right?"

"Going somewhere?" asked Yang.

"I wanted to visit Murasame," said Weiss. "I need to talk to him about something."

"Oh...Want us to come with you?"" asked Yang.

"If you want," said Weiss. "I just received something interesting and I wanted to ask him about it."

"Oh...?" Yang tilted her head.

"What did you get?" asked Kyo.

"I'll show you," said Weiss, getting up.

Most of the others had already gone to their rooms to change. The visiting students from both Haven and Vacuo had been assigned their own rooms and their luggage had already been deposited in each. Blake was not surprised to see that Sun's luggage had been brought into her room, suspecting that her parents might have had something to do with the arrangement, though she didn't complain either.

Weiss led Yang, Kyo, Neptune, and Hayate back to her room, where she showed them the small, fist-sized Etheric Core Crystal in its box.

"Wow! Haruka-sama actually gave you one of these?" asked Kyo, examining the crystal as best he could without touching it.

"Sort of," said Weiss. "I just came back one day to find it here with a note from her saying that something was wrong with it, so she'd just give to me. Do you have any idea?"

"I haven't the slightest," admitted Kyo. "The crystals are a field I've hardly studied at all. I don't know anything more than the absolute basics of them. The only oddity I can think of is that Haruka-sama gave you one at all. She typically guards them quite zealously. It's hard for me to imagine her parting with one that wasn't going to be put to use for the Clan, even if it is a flawed specimen, much less giving one to an outsider."

"Uh...so what is this thing?" asked Neptune. "It doesn't look like a Dust crystal."

The others exchanged glances, remembering that the students that had just arrived knew nothing about the Mibu Clan's Etheric Energy technology, though, presumably, the whole world would learn about it over the course of the conference.

Weiss and the others had to take a few minutes to explain the basics of Etheric Energy to Neptune, though they were only able to give him a brief rundown, repeating what they had heard from Saisei and what Weiss had heard from Haruka. Once they finished, Neptune sat dumbly on the bed. "Wow...this is a lot to take in," he admitted. "This could completely change the way the world works."

The others nodded. They had all found themselves pondering the ways in which the propagation of this power source could completely change the shape of the world and its current reliance on Dust technology.

"So you want Murasame to look at this?" asked Kyo. "Why him?"

"Well, from the way Haruka just sent it to me like this, I get the feeling she isn't interested in telling me why," said Weiss. "Hayate says that Murasame would be the next best choice as far as people to ask go."

Hayate nodded. Kyo also nodded in agreement with that idea. "Murasame-sama may not specialize in the crystals or their creation, but I do understand that he knows quite a bit about them."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" asked Yang. "Let's go get changed and ask him."

"Should I just stay here?" asked Neptune as Yang pulled Kyo out.

"You can if you want," said Weiss. "I don't want you to feel obligated to have to go everywhere with me."

"I'm really curious about these crystals too," said Neptune, once again examining the one Weiss had gotten.

"Well, I'll see if we can get someone to show you where they're made as well," said Weiss.

"That'd be great," said Neptune.

* * *

By this point, Yang had been to and from Murasame's quarters enough times that she was able to lead the group herself, with minimal guidance from Kyo. Neptune looked appreciatively baffled by the layout of the Palace complex, though he kept quiet as they moved along. When they finally left the complex of hallways and arrived at the meadow before Murasame's house, Neptune was looking considerably dizzy.

"Would it kill them to put up some signs or a directory of some kind?" he asked.

"That has been proposed before," said Kyo, "and struck down. Sadly, some of our Clan are quite proud of how hard it is to find your way around the Palace. I won't name names..." He sighed. "I think O-Kaa-san and Tou-san are eager to import outsider technology, as some of it is well suited to navigation."

"Yeah, you could outfit this place with wi-fi, input the schematics into a program, and set up an app to navigate," said Neptune. "That wouldn't be too hard to set up."

When Kyo knocked, the door was answered by Penny, whose face lit up when she saw everyone there. "Hi!" she said eagerly. "Papa said you'd be coming sometime this evening."

"What the-?" Neptune yelped and jumped back, actually falling backwards off the raised porch of the house.

"Oops," said Yang, blinking in surprise at the reaction. "We forgot to tell him about Penny."

Penny quickly dropped over the side of the porch to land next to Neptune. "Are you all right?" she asked, bending over him, innocent concern on her face.

"Y-y-y-you're supposed to be d-dead, aren't you?" asked Neptune, staring up at her with wide eyes.

Penny blinked in confusion for a second. "Oh! That..." She smiled radiantly. "Kyo saved me, and the Mibu made a new body for me. Now I'm a real person like you, the squishy kind."

Yang couldn't help but giggle at Penny's use of Ruby's descriptor for what used to set them apart.

Neptune sat up, still staring in awe at Penny. After a second, he rallied and managed a grin. "Well, you were always a real person," he said, reaching up and gently prodding her cheek with a finger. "So...this is an organic body now."

"Yep," said Penny, giggling as Neptune gently poked her. Then, slowly, Neptune switched, gently cupping her cheek. Penny began to blush, suddenly feeling very strange as he continued to look at her.

"Uh...Neptune?" asked Weiss, watching them with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

Neptune froze, blinking for a second, then jumped up with his second yelp of the evening. "Oh my God! Sorry!"

Penny couldn't help but giggle at his antics. "It's all right," she said, standing up as well. "Come on, Papa's waiting for you all."

She led them inside, where Murasame waited patiently, his serene smile in place.

"Now then," he said, looking straight at Weiss, "how can I be of assistance."

Weiss took a deep breath. "The other day, Saisei took me and Hayate to see the crystal vats. We met Haruka there, and she showed us around."

Murasame nodded. "And...?" he prompted.

Weiss set the box on the floor and in front of her. "Yesterday, after our meeting with Blake's parents, we came back to our rooms and I found _this_ in mine." She opened it, displaying the Etheric Core Crystal.

Murasame's eyes widened and he leaned forward. "It was just sitting there...like this?" he asked.

Weiss nodded. "There was a note from Haruka. She said that there was some sort of defect or something with the crystal. Since she didn't have any use for it, she sent it to me."

Murasame frowned and carefully picked up the crystal from its padded nest, turning it in his hands and examining it. He was silent for several minutes, examining the crystal from every conceivable angle. "That's odd..."

"What is?" asked Weiss.

"As far as I can tell, there is no defect that I can see," said Murasame. "This is a flawless specimen. It's young, of course. Now that it's been removed from the vat, there's no further growth possible, even if you were to place it back in one. However, there is no defect that I can find. It appears to be perfectly functional."

"Then why would Haruka send it to me?" asked Weiss.

"Hmm..." Murasame looked away from the crystal and at Weiss. "Is there anything unusual that you can connect to your experience with this crystal in particular?"

"Well..." Weiss hesitated, then explained the mysterious sensations that she had when she had looked at the crystal, the way she felt drawn to it, which was how she had been able to tell it was the same crystal that she had seen in the vats.

When she finished, Murasame looked considerably less confused. "Aha!" he said. "That explains it. You inadvertently bonded with it."

"What does that mean?" asked Weiss.

"Remember, Etheric crystals, and the energy they produce, are extremely responsive to Aura," said Murasame. "They are shaped, sculpted, and nurtured by Aura, from the moment they are seeded within the vats. Because of that, they become attuned to the presence of Aura. A person can bond with a particular crystal, making it so that it responds to their Aura in particular."

"So... _I_ was the defect then," said Weiss, feeling mortified by the idea. Even without touching the crystal, she'd apparently tainted it in some fashion.

"No! No!" said Murasame quickly, raising his hand to forestall her fears. "You didn't do anything wrong. Believe me, Haruka would have let you know if you had. She is very protective of her creations, the Core Crystals in particular. They are as much her children as the blades I forge are mine. There's no way she would allow them to come to harm through careless meddling."

"But what about the bonding then?" asked Yang.

"It's a fairly common occurrence, actually," said Murasame. "The crystals will bond to individual workers manning the vats. The bond can be...reset...in a sense, quite easily. But Haruka has found it useful, because it allows the workers to better feel the crystals and guide their growth, which reduces the instance of defects emerging and minimizes the chance of errors."

"So...there's nothing wrong with it?" asked Weiss.

"At least nothing that I can sense," said Murasame. "It seems unlikely. Haruka would never allow a flawed crystal to leave her vats, unless she believed that the flaw gave it some unique or special quality. That is the only possibility I can think of."

"So she lied?" asked Weiss.

"More or less," said Murasame with a shrug.

"Then why send it to me and why lie about it?" asked Weiss.

"Haruka probably noticed that the crystal had bonded to you," said Murasame. "She probably decided that it might be something that would prove useful to you, so she decided to send it to you. She lied about it having a defect because she's shy like that."

"Shy?" asked Weiss.

Murasame chuckled. "Haruka is probably one of the most awkward people I've ever known," he said. "She's perfectly fine when it comes to talking shop. However, when it comes to more regular forms of socializing, she's hopeless."

Weiss remembered how Haruka had sat next to her during brunch. She'd gotten the impression that the Eder had done so to help protect Weiss from her father. But she hadn't said a word during the meal. Weiss had tried on a couple of occasions to start up a conversation, which were met with curt, one word responses that led Weiss to believe that leaving Haruka alone was the wiser course, and had decided to take up conversing with the two girls from NDGO on her other side. After that, she couldn't even recall seeing Haruka at the social event in the courtyard.

"I can see your point," she said. "But why would she want to help me? I thought she hated outsiders."

Murasame laughed. "Haruka doesn't hate outsiders," he said. "She's completely neutral in regard to them."

"Huh...But wasn't she the most stubborn opponent of the Opening?" asked Kyo in surprise.

"Because that's the duty assigned to her other position within the Taishiro," said Murasame with a chuckle. "Haruka is the official Dissenter of the Taishiro."

"Dissenter?" Penny canted her head at Murasame's words. "What's that?"

"When the Taishiro are in total agreement with one another, it is Haruka's official duty to dissent, to attack our reasoning, to undermine our arguments, to point out every single flaw and folly that she can," explained Murasame.

"Why in the world would anyone make that an official duty?" asked Yang.

"Because it's all too easy to arrive at a consensus at times," said Murasame. "An idea can seem wonderful on the surface, when it is a truly flawed thing that doesn't hold up under detailed examination. Haruka's work ensures that we are made to fully examine any course of action that we decide upon, to ensure that we have undertaken it with full consideration of the advantages and risks it represents. It isn't all that often that we need to make use of her station like this, as it is rare for us to all be in agreement right off the bat. But, when it happens, Haruka executes her duty to the fullest. That she held out as long as she did is a testament to her dedication."

"Wow," said Yang. "But I bet that looks weird to everyone else if they don't understand it."

"It can," said Murasame. "Because her position as the Taishiro's Dissenter hasn't been publicly disclosed, her behavior makes her seem contrary, untrusting, and confrontational. But she carries it out with impressive zeal, largely because it is a position that Sora created for her."

"Mother did?" asked Kyo.

Murasame nodded. "After Sora, Haruka is the youngest Taishiro. When Sora became the head of the Taishiro, she created the position and entrusted it to Haruka, because she believed that Haruka was the one who could best fulfill it. Because of that, Haruka is the member of the Taishiro most deeply loyal to Sora."

"Wow...that's kinda neat," said Yang.

"So then...how can I use this?" asked Weiss, gesturing to the crystal that Murasame still held.

"Hmm..." Murasame once again began turning the crystal in his grip, examining it. "It's hard to say. The primary purpose of the Core Crystals is to convert Etheric Energy into electricity. However, that is carried out through the use of a special array that handles the conversion. The actual energy that the crystal produces, in its raw form, has some very interesting properties."

"What kind of properties?" asked Weiss.

"It is highly responsive to Aura," said Murasame. "With use of Aura, it can be converted into a variety of forces and effects without the assistance of the conversion crystal types that are typically needed."

"Then why use conversion crystals at all?" asked Weiss.

"Because such conversion can only be done _through_ Aura," said Murasame. "Converting the energy into electricity is the only way it can be used to expand and maintain the effects without having a person maintain it constantly. Imagine someone doing that on the airship that brought you here. They would have had to manually maintain the effect for the entire four-day trip."

"Oh…" said Weiss. She hadn't thought of that. "So maybe...I could use it...with my weapon?" she asked, her eyes going to the hilt of Myrtenaser. "Would that be the right thing to do?"

"I would say that it's not wrong," said Murasame. "We Mibu have no moral qualms about the power of our crystals being weaponized. When we introduce the technology to the rest of Remnant at large, we expect it to be only a matter of time. We simply haven't seen the need to do it ourselves."

"So it would be okay for me to do that?" asked Weiss.

"Perhaps," said Murasame. "I believe that it says something that this was the idea you immediately came to."

Weiss looked down, feeling slightly ashamed of herself.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," said Murasame. "You are a Huntress, after all. It's only natural that your first thoughts would go towards using the crystal to further that goal. I cannot say that it is a bad idea." His eyes focused on Myrtenaster. "May I see it?"

Weiss drew her blade and handed it over to Murasame, who began to inspect it, turning it over in his hands. "This is a fine weapon," he said, "very well made...but..."

"I guess it's like mine," said Yang, holding up her left arm.

"Very similar, yes," agreed Murasame. "Which doesn't mean that the potential doesn't exist."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"Something like this is most definitely more familiar to me than Xiao Long-dono's kind of weapon," said Murasame. "I know nothing about the components that utilize Dust. However, the blade itself...that is something I can work with."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Weiss.

"I'd have review the materials I have concerning Haruka's crystals," said Murasame. "But I believe it is within the realm of possibility to integrate the crystal into your blade, so that you might be able to employ its power to fight."

"But I only just got it!" protested Weiss. "I don't have even the vaguest idea of how to use it."

"But you have time to find out," said Murasame. "I need time to go over the materials I have and work out how such a modification is possible. There's certainly no rush. I'll be slowed up by the conference. You'll have plenty of time to explore how to use the crystal."

"What if you go through all that trouble and I decide not to use it like that?" asked Weiss. "I don't want you to waste your time on my account."

"It would hardly be a waste, Schnee-dono," said Murasame with a chuckle. "It's something that would be worth researching for its own sake. Now that the idea is in my mind, it's made me immensely curious."

"Well, if you're sure..." said Weiss uncertainly.

"I am," said Murasame with a smile. He handed Myrtenaster back to Weiss, and she sheathed it as he returned the crystal to its box and Weiss closed the lid. "Take your time with it," he suggested. "Get to know it, and its capabilities, and decide how you wish to apply them."

"All right," said Weiss. "Thank you for your advice."

* * *

"YOU'RE JUST GOING TO SIT THERE AND DO NOTHING?" roared Jacques, his face practically crimson with fury. "After that faunus witch humiliated us, you're just going to sit back and pretend nothing happened?"

"I told you _not_ to act out," said Ironwood. "By doing so, you undermined my authority in front of representatives of the other three Kingdoms, to say nothing of those who are watching the broadcast. You've practically handed the Mibu the upper hand in negotiations."

"Hang the negotiations!" snapped Jacques. "These backwoods savages stole away my workers, out from under your nose no less. Because of them, I've lost millions of lien and consumers across the globe are losing confidence in the SDC, because I've had to raise our prices to compensate."

"You think I don't realize that?" demanded Ironwood. "If those fools had just stayed put, rather than letting some fool terrorist's honeyed words sway them, we wouldn't have this problem."

"It just goes to show you can't trust the faunus," said Jacques. "They talk about loyalty and equal treatment. But they crack under the slightest pressure, and turn to bite the hand that feeds them without reservation. That's why you can't allow that woman to dictate terms. She'll maneuver us until her fangs are right at our throats."

"I have no intention of allowing that to happen," said Ironwood. "But, in order to do this right, I need to maintain Atlas' face in front of the other Kingdoms. That means doing things their way for now. Unfortunately, that also means that you will have to stay on the ship from now on. The Mibu have made their terms clear."

Jacques snorted. "If I go down with a pair of the new Paladins and a platoon of Jaegers, we'll see just what their terms are worth."

"No," said Ironwood. "That will just be playing into their hands. Stay. Put." He turned and headed for the stateroom door. "If you make it necessary, I will order you confined to quarters for the duration. Don't force my hand." The door slid shut behind him.

Jacques growled and settled into his chair. "Only if you don't force mine," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

"Well, that was interesting," said Neptune as he, Weiss, Yang, and Kyo made their way back to the guest quarters. Penny was accompanying them so that they would be able to reintroduce her to the other visiting students. After seeing Neptune's reaction, they had decided that it was best to just get it over with.

"Yeah," said Weiss, considering the box she carried under one arm. Even though she didn't want to jump to conclusions and recklessly modify her weapon, she was already beginning to think about how Myrtenaster's design could be modified to incorporate the Etheric Crystal. _I'd probably have to discard the Dust assembly. Attaching it anywhere else would make it too bulky. But..._ She was reluctant to remove the Dust chambers from her weapon. After all, they had been a major part of her final vision of Myrtenaster.

But was that vision applicable to her anymore? She had designed Myrtenaster to showcase her mastery in the usage of Dust, to prove her worth as the heir of the SDC. But now...she felt as though her dependency on Dust just held her back. In recent months, she had seen so much of what a person could accomplish without Dust. The more she looked at it, the more it felt like a crutch, something that kept her from truly excelling. More importantly, it felt like a tether that kept her from breaking out of her father's control.

At the same time though, switching over to using Etheric Energy made Weiss feel like she would be traveling down a road she couldn't turn back from. There was no way her father would accept her as an heir, if she abandoned Dust for this new power source. Even worse, he would probably see it as her aligning with the Mibu, though Weiss had no intention of doing so. Either way, it would be a betrayal, as far as he was concerned. Weiss didn't doubt that the inheritance would go to Whitley then.

It wasn't often that Weiss had thought of her youngest brother. Neither she nor Winter had gotten on all that well with him, primarily because, of the three of them, he seemed the one most at home in the Schnee manor. Even from an extremely young age, Whitely had mastered the art of being evasive, to the point where it was virtually impossible for anyone to tell what he was thinking. He was cunning and manipulative, and neither Weiss nor Winter could ever fully understand what lay behind that smiling mask of his. He was most definitely the favored child, even though Weiss was currently the one in line to inherit the family business, probably because he was the one best able to adapt to the conditions of the Schnee family's home, able to thrive, even in the presence of their father, unlike Weiss and Winter, who had gone through the effort of getting away from it as best as they possibly could.

Weiss shook her head, trying to dislodge those thoughts. This wasn't the time or place to worry about such things. Right now, she needed to focus on what she should do from here. At least she had something she could work on in the meantime. Even without Murasame's advice, she had intended to experiment with the crystal, if only to fully understand its capabilities. She would need to understand those, one way or another. The Mibu clearly intended to debut their crystals as a competitor to Dust-based technology, which, if Weiss did take over the SDC, would mean the crystals would be _her_ company's competitors as well. At the very least, she intended to build an understanding of what that entailed.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Hayate brushed his fingers against the back of her free hand. She flinched sharply and looked at him abruptly. Hayate had said nothing throughout their meeting with Murasame, simply waiting in the background, to the point that Weiss had almost forgotten that he was there at all.

"Sorry," said Hayate, apologizing for startling her. "You looked like you had a lot on your mind."

Weiss hesitated, then took a breath to relax herself. "I guess I do," she said. "Maybe I'm overthinking things. There's a lot I have to think about, when it comes to this, though."

Hayate nodded. "I can understand that," he said.

Weiss looked around, wondering if the others were worried about her too. However, they all seemed to be wrapped up in their own conversations. Kyo and Yang were chatting happily with each other as they walked ahead of everyone else. In the meantime, Penny and Neptune brought up the rear, both of them talking about potential modifications to Neptune's weapon. Weiss had to stifle a giggle at that. Given Penny's cheerful nature, it was easy to forget her background as an android, and that she had a large amount of technical knowledge, which she seemed to have carried over with her, when her Aura was transferred into its new body.

"So you'll be practicing with that?" asked Hayate, pointing at the box.

"I guess," said Weiss. "I honestly have no idea where to begin though."

"Well...probably the best thing to do is just to start with what you already know," said Hayate. "Try using your Aura to manipulate its energy as though it were Dust."

"What type of Dust though?" asked Weiss. Each type of Dust had different properties and responded differently to manipulation. It had taken Weiss years to get the art down for each of the varieties she typically wielded.

Hayate shrugged. "You should probably just start to experiment and find out," he said. "However, since Etheric Energy is...well...energy...it probably stands to reason that you should start with the Dust types that produce energy, rather than matter, like fire or lightning. Aside from that, you should probably try inputting it into your glyphs and see what happens."

"That makes sense," said Weiss.

"Actually...when it comes to glyphs, I have a question," said Hayate.

"What is it?"

"You've always used the same ones, haven't you?" he asked.

"Of course," said Weiss, "although I only picked up summoning more recently."

"Have you ever tried to create your own glyphs?" asked Hayate.

Weiss stopped, blinking in surprise, before she had to start walking again to keep Neptune or Penny from bumping into her from behind. "N-no," she said. "I've never even thought about it. The Schnee hereditary Semblance has always consisted of those three patterns: propulsion, time dilation, and summoning. Those are the components of our family's Semblance. I don't think anyone has ever even conceived of the idea."

"Really?" asked Hayate. "That strikes me as odd. I'd always thought they'd been crafted by someone in your family's past."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"When it comes to a Semblance, it's always some sort of power," said Hayate, "like Yang's recoil effect, Ruby's speed, Neo's refraction, or Nora's electricity absorption. However, not only does your family's Semblance have specific designs for its effects, but it also employs three of them. Furthermore, based on how you use them, there are numerous potential permutations to how you can apply it."

"I..." Weiss had never really considered it.

"For example, during our sparring matches, I noticed that you can turn a propulsion glyph black and reverse its effects, so that it pulls, rather than pushes," said Hayate. "Have you ever tried applying that to your other glyphs and their effects? For example, what if you used that on your time dilation glyph?"

Weiss blinked. She'd never considered that before. She' always used time dilation as an enhancer, to speed up herself or an ally. What if she reversed it and applied it to an enemy? Could she slow a faster opponent down?

"Not to mention that almost no other Semblance is hereditary," added Hayate. "A Semblance, at least according to common logic in the wider world, is shaped completely by a person's individual nature. It isn't something that's passed down through blood."

"That's..." Weiss honestly didn't know what to say. She had always believed that the Schnee Family Semblance was like that because that was what she had been taught all her life. She had been taught the shape of her family's glyphs with the expectation that that was how they should look, and the effects that they should have. But now that she thought about it...

"If you ask me, I don't think your family's Semblance is a Semblance at all," said Hayate.

"Then what is it?" asked Weiss.

"Isn't it obvious?" inquired Hayate. "It's a Manifestation, like my lightning or Keikoku's fire. You were taught how to use it, made to produce certain forms with certain effects, which makes it a type of school, like Kyo's _Mumyo Jinpu_ or Kaito's _Mumyo Saigyo_. Someone in the Schnee Family's past must have developed that Manifestation and taught it to his or her successors. Over time, the family forgot its origins and began to regard it as a Semblance, one that was passed down through their family line, because the techniques of that Manifestation were taught only within the family."

"But our family has no ties to the Mibu!" protested Weiss.

Hayate shrugged. "That's hardly a prerequisite," he said. "The Mibu are definitely the main practitioners of that kind of advanced Aura-manipulation, but they've never had a monopoly on it. Nigel mastered Manifestation well before we met him. Kyo just arranged for him to get the tool that would allow him to best apply it…and Nigel was self-taught."

"So you're saying that what I've been doing all along is what we've been trying to learn here?" asked Weiss incredulously. "How could we have ever forgotten something so important? If my Semblance really is a kind of Manifestation, why would we ever come to think of it as a Semblance?"

Hayate shrugged again. "There could be any number of possible reasons why," he said. "At least one that comes to me off the top of my head is that someone, sometime, got the idea to actively suppress the knowledge of your family's Manifestation, and label it as a Semblance instead…mainly because of your family's association with a certain critical product."

Weiss blinked, shocked by the notion, even though it made sense. Further developing Manifestation, as she had seen with the Mibu, allowed for the development of abilities that matched, or even surpassed, even the greatest applications of Dust-tech and Dustweaving. However, Dust was her family's trade. If they continued to develop abilities that only made them less dependent on their signature product, they would undermine the very source of their prosperity.

"In any case," continued Hayate, "if what I think is true, then that means you've already developed a Manifestation, which means you can take it even further."

"How?" asked Weiss.

"By creating your own glyphs," said Hayate.

"I…could do that?" asked Weiss, mystified by the idea. "I have no idea how to even begin."

"Well…I have a few," said Hayate. "I'll show you when we get back."

Unconsciously, Weiss began to walk a bit faster, eager to see what Hayate had come up with.

* * *

When they got back to the guest quarters, Hayate led Weiss to a small alcove within the section, where another common area of sorts had been set up. It wasn't a courtyard, just a section of open space between rooms; where a table, chairs, and a couple couches had been set up. Weiss sat at the table, while Hayate went to retrieve a few things, returning with paper and pencils.

"Do me a favor and draw out all the glyphs you use," said Hayate.

Weiss nodded and did as she was told. First, she drew the snowflake glyph that she used most frequently, the propulsion glyph. Then she drew the clock-faced time dilation glyph. Finally, she drew the sword-wheel of the summoning glyph.

"So these are your three main glyphs," said Hayate, looking them over.

Weiss nodded. "How do you think I can create my own?" she asked.

Hayate grinned. "Well, the time dilation and summoning ones look like they would make sense, but I wonder what a snowflake has to do with pushing things."

"Um..." It seemed like a nonsensical tangent, but Hayate's question made a certain amount of sense. The design of the other two glyphs appeared to correspond, either directly or indirectly with their purpose. The clock-face of her time dilation glyph corresponded to time, in her case, speeding it up for whoever was affected by it. The summoning glyph made sense in a symbolic way, as Weiss' summons served as her metaphorical sword against her foes. However, there wasn't really anything about a snowflake that equated with pushing or propelling something.

"Therein lies the key," said Hayate. "It does that, even though its shape is not evocative of such an effect, because you were taught to associate that power with that effect, and that association became natural for you."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"Hmm...Let me see if I can come up with a good analogy," said Hayate, thinking for a minute. Then his eyes lit up. "Aha!" He grinned, then set out a fresh sheet of paper and drew a single line on it. "What is this?"

"A line..." said Weiss, wondering what he was getting at.

Hayate nodded. "That's right. And this...?" He drew a second line, which met the end of the other line at an angle, so that the two of them formed a wedge on the paper.

"A chevron...I guess," said Weiss.

Hayate nodded and drew a third line, partway up the chevron, bridging the gap between the two lines. "And this...?"

"The letter, A," said Weiss simply.

"Wrong!" said Hayate, speaking so sharply that Weiss nearly jumped out of her seat. "It's a triangle with legs!"

"H-huh, but..." Weiss blinked completely confused by the point of this.

Hayate grinned again. "This is just a collection of three lines on paper. When I set them out individually, they were just some shape. Put them together and you suddenly saw a letter. But do you remember a time when this would have just been another bunch of lines on paper to you?"

"You mean before I learned to read?" asked Weiss.

Hayate nodded.

"I...can't remember that," admitted Weiss.

"You've done it so much, and for so long, that it's become natural to you," said Hayate. "Now you can't look at this collection of lines without seeing the letter, A. The association is automatic. The same with other letters. You learned to associate them with particular sets of sounds, then to combine those symbols representing sounds to form more complex sounds, called words. Then you started doing that automatically too."

Weiss nodded.

"What about this?" asked Hayate, inscribing a character, lines meeting at angles on the page, forming a shape that was completely unrecognizable.

"I have no idea," said Weiss. "That's the Mibu's Old Tongue, right?"

"That's right," said Hayate. "Their writing system is called kanji. It's a logographic writing system, where a symbol like this represents a word or concept."

Weiss nodded.

"This symbol means 'strength,'" said Hayate. "It's one of the few I've learned here. I admit that I don't know a lot about their old language, so I only know a few symbols, like this one. But, to you, it's just a collection of lines, right?"

"Yes," agreed Weiss.

"But any Mibu learned in the old tongue would be able to read it automatically," said Hayate, "because they've learned to associate that shape and collection of lines with a particular set of sounds and meaning."

"But what does this all have to do with my glyphs?" asked Weiss.

"Simply put, your glyphs operate on the same logic," said Hayate. He pointed to the snowflake glyph Weiss had drawn. "There's nothing about this glyph that suggests propulsion. But it does so _because_ that's what you learned it was for, and came to associate that with its effect, until it became automatic to your mind. You learned to 'read' glyphs, to associate their shape with a particular meaning and function, just as you learned how to read letters and words."

"Oh!" Weiss sat back in her seat, her eyes wide at the implications behind what Hayate had just told her. Her mind was catapulted back to her days of being tutored by her mother and Winter in the various Schnee glyphs. Even more recently, during the last Vytal Festival, she remembered Winter's efforts to instruct her in using the summoning glyphs. As far as she knew, none of her friends had needed to be instructed in their Semblances in such a manner. "So then...to make my own glyphs, I just have to design an image and associate it with a specific effect."

"Pretty much," said Hayate. "I mean, the range of abilities your glyph shows that, overall, your 'school's' potential is pretty broad. However, I suspect that, like your basic glyphs themselves, they fall within three particular categories..." He pointed to the snowflake glyph. "...the evocation of force..." His finger moved to the time dilation glyph. "...temporal distortion..." Then his finger moved to the summoning glyph. "...and the creation of artificial constructs from your Aura."

"That makes sense," said Weiss. She found herself actually smiling eagerly. "So...I can probably diversify the potential effects even further if I apply the crystal's Etheric Energy to them."

"That's right," said Hayate. "Although, to start, we should just apply Etheric Energy to your current set of glyphs and see what happens. Then we can begin experimenting with applying different effects and creating new glyphs to diversify your abilities."

Weiss nodded. Her heart was beating faster. She was eager to begin trying right away. It had been a long time since she'd felt so completely enthusiastic about her training. Even when Jaune had talked her into going back into training under Ozpin, she'd been doing it from a sense of obligation, obligation to herself as well as her friends of course, but obligation all the same. But now, she found herself truly wanting to experiment, and see the full potential of what she could create if she pushed the limits of her abilities, practicing what she had already learned and taking it to a new level.

"Unfortunately, it's getting late," said Hayate. "We'll probably have to wait until tomorrow to start with this."

"That's all right," said Weiss, smiling widely.

"I guess we should get back to the others," said Hayate. "It's almost dinnertime, I think."

They stood up, Hayate collecting the sheets of paper he and Weiss had been drawing on. Before they could start walking, Weiss abruptly seized Hayate in a hug. "Thank you for everything," she said, kissing his cheek.

Hayate blushed furiously, rubbing his cheek where Weiss' lips had been a second earlier. "I-it's n-not a problem," he stammered, his awkward behavior, after being so assured earlier, making Weiss giggle.

They made their way slowly in the direction of the courtyard. "I've been meaning to ask," said Weiss, "why have you been doing so much to help me?"

"I don't really know for sure," admitted Hayate. "I've seen you on television screens from time to time. I remember seeing a couple of your concerts and watching you fight in the Vytal Festival Tournament." He gave her a shy smile. "I really liked your singing."

Now it was Weiss' turn to blush. "Thanks," she said shyly.

"But I noticed that your songs always seemed kind of sad," said Hayate. "That...or angry."

Weiss blinked, her heart skipping a beat. She'd had people constantly praise her for her singing, for the beauty of her voice, for the brilliance of her compositions. They had all said countless things, but never _those_ things, even though it should have been incredibly obvious. It seemed that most people were too afraid of her father to bring up how much her songs referred to the rift between them, and the negative effects he had on her life.

"I'd built up the SDC in my head as some kind of monolith," said Hayate. "I assumed that you were all the same, that you were all for exploiting the faunus, doing whatever it took to maximize your profits, even if it meant exploiting others. But, when I saw you up on stage, singing, I couldn't see that in you." His cheeks turned pink. "And I thought you were really pretty."

"Thank you," said Weiss.

"But, basically, I thought you reminded me of myself," said Hayate. "You had so much anger and sadness, but you didn't know what to do with it, so you let it out through your songs, or channeled it into your fighting."

"You were like that too?" asked Weiss.

Hayate nodded. "I was born in a small village in the north of Anima. We were a mixed settlement of humans and faunus, but there never seemed to be any sense of conflict between us. We didn't have a lot, but it was more than enough to suit our needs. We were well situated, which made it easy to keep the Grimm out without beefing up our defenses too much." He sighed despondently. "I guess that's what made us such an appealing target for the bandits."

"You were attacked by bandits?" said Weiss, the bottom dropping out of her stomach.

Hayate closed his eyes and nodded. "They came in the night. The few fighters we had tried to protect us. They held out for a while, because the same natural barriers that kept the Grimm out helped us keep the bandits out. But they were persistent and clever. By the time day broke, they had found a way into the village and began to ransack the town. They killed anybody who resisted and set fire to everything that would burn." He shivered. "I was too young to understand much about it. It seemed like they were doing it all just for the sake of killing and rampaging, for the sheer love of destruction. They were worse monsters than the Grimm."

Weiss paused. Grabbing Hayate by the shoulders, she hugged him from behind, pulling him against her chest and resting her chin on top his head.

Hayate barely seemed to notice. "Of course, then the Grimm came. Our defenses had been wrecked, our defenders killed by the bandits. There was nothing to hold them back anymore. They swarmed in and started killing everyone. It was total chaos. The Grimm killed villagers and bandits alike. Bandits killed villagers, and villagers killed bandits. I think the bandits may have started turning on each other at some point...Everything just stopped making sense..."

Weiss hugged him a little tighter.

"Then Kyo and Sasame showed up," said Hayate. "They annihilated the Grimm. The bandits attacked them and died as well. I remember seeing them fight." His eyes became misty. "It was amazing. It was like they were a force of nature, and no one or nothing could stop them. By that point, I was the only villager left..."

* * *

 _"Well, what do we have here?" said Kyo, peering around a set of boards leaning up against the side of the burnt out husk of a building. "I've found a survivor."_

 _A tiny boy with short, silver hair crouched behind the boards, brandishing the knife at Kyo, a look of quiet fury on his face._

 _"Is he hurt?" asked Sasame, peeking around the boards herself. Her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp at the sight of him and the myriad cuts and bruises that covered his body. "Oh, you poor thing. Come out and I'll see to those wounds."_

 _The childlike girl reached towards the boy, only for him to slash at her fingers with the knife. The blade bit deep, nearly severing one of them. But the cut vanished almost instantly, making him reel back in surprise._

 _"Sorry, I'm not that easy to hurt," said the girl, beaming at him. "Won't you come out? I promise we won't hurt you."_

 _The only response she got was a soft growl as the boy brandished the knife again. "I think there are some things you can't heal so easily," said Kyo. He gently pushed Sasame back. Then, in a sudden motion, he pulled the boards away, throwing them aside and exposing the boy. The boy flinched, but didn't lower his knife or try to run. Instead, he continued to level it at Kyo and Sasame with dark determination._

 _"This is no good," said Sasame, resting her hands on her hips, her fox-tail lashing in the air behind her. "He's lost everyone. There's no one else left in the village, nothing for him to take solace in." She sighed. "At the same time, we've already killed all the bandits and Grimm responsible. There's no one left for him to take revenge on either. At this rate, all that anger and sadness is just going to build up inside him. He'll be a ticking time bomb."_

 _"Perhaps we should simply end his suffering," said Kyo, beginning to draw his sword._

 _The boy responded by snarling and holding up his knife, his arms shaking from a combination of nerves and exhaustion._

 _"Oh..." said Kyo, a smile appearing on his face. "It appears you're not quite ready to die then. You have strength." He slid the sword back into its sheath, and he turned to Sasame. "Let's take him with us."_

 _"What?" yelped Sasame._

 _Kyo had already turned back to the boy. "If you come with us, you can become strong. You can gain the strength to change the world, to do something with the anger and sadness raging inside you, rather than drowning in it. Come with us and find your purpose."_

 _Kyo stretched out his hand, holding it for the boy to take. The boy stared at the hand uncertainly, not sure what to do. The knife in his grip began to shake, its point wavering. Kyo merely waited, keeping his hand outstretched, meeting the boy's eyes, refusing to let his gaze to slip away._

 _Finally, the knife clattered to the ground and a small set of fingers closed around Kyo's own._

* * *

 **A lot of things to cover about this chapter. First and foremost, the bit about Haruka being the Dissenter of the Taishiro was inspired by the book, _World War Z_ , and its accompanying film. In _World War Z_ (tho book, at least), Israel manages to get through the zombie apocalypse by being the first country to take the threat of zombies seriously. And, even then, they initially didn't. However, thanks to the concept of the "Eighth Man" (I think that's what it was. It's been a while since I've read the book or seen the movie.) where, in their intelligence community, if the other seven people in the room are in agreement, then it's the eighth man's duty to disagree, they manage to learn about, then address the growing zombie crisis, and save their country. That was the kind of role I had in mind for Haruka, when I thought about her position in the Taishiro. It's more flavor-text than anything else, but something I thought would make a good addition to the backdrop of the story.**

 **The concept behind Hayate's interpretation of Weiss' Semblance is actually based on something I'd come up for an original work I'd been planning, namely creating a system of magic based on the idea of essentially creating your own language, whereby you create your own letters, which have meaning, which then combine to become words, sentences, and so-on, with their overall meaning being the spells that are formed. Said story has never been written, largely because I have yet to come up with an actual plot for said magic to be used in. So I decided to put it to use in this one.**

 **Hayate's history has some parallels to Akira, from the original _Samurai Deeper Kyo_. In the original manga series, Kyo (not the Kyo in this stories, but the original one) found Akira in a destroyed town...maybe one that Kyo destroyed himself, it's not all that clear, really, and basically adopts Akira into his retinue. What follows isn't of much interest to anyone but other SDK fans. I personally came to the conclusion that Kyo _wasn't_ behind the destruction of Akira's hometown, but that Akira and his family might well have been targets of a religious purge, namely because Akira and his family were Kirishitan (the Japanese term for Christians). You can actually see that in Akira's actions through the series. Quite a few of Akira's higher-tier attacks reference crosses, Heaven, and Hell. His ultimate attack uses the image of Mary, the mother of Jesus herself. At one point, he even references the story of the Tower of Babel, which most Japanese people at the time would know nothing about. So my interpretation of Akira's background was that he and his family were part of a Japanese Christian community, which were subsequently purged, with Kyo wandering in in the aftermath, and finding and adopting him.**


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52:**

Weiss was silent for a long moment, after Hayate finished his story. Hayate felt her arms tighten around him as her body trembled slightly. Then he heard a sniffling sound. "Why are you crying?"

"Why _wouldn't_ I cry?" asked Weiss. "I never imagined that you went through something like that."

"Why would you?" asked Hayate, raising an eyebrow. "It's only natural to not know someone else's history, right off the bat. There's nothing there that you were obligated to know."

"But...even so..." said Weiss. " _Someone_ should be able to cry for you. Have you ever cried for yourself."

"Not really," said Hayate. "I've gotten...detached from those memories. For the most part, I've forgotten what it was like. I don't even miss what I've lost...except for little things."

"Little things?"

Hayate looked down. "Like the sound of my mom's voice...or what my dad's face looked like...I can't remember those anymore, and I wish that I'd tried harder."

"I'm sorry," said Weiss.

Hayate sighed. "I'm not. Kyo and Sasame became my family. They were practically my parents, or elder siblings at least. Sasame taught me how to read and write. Kyo taught me how to use my Aura and trained me relentlessly. Sasame would always heal me when I got hurt. She'd even hold me at night, when I had nightmares about what happened to my village. Then we met Nigel, which was a bit like getting a big brother...or a little brother, considering the way he acts most of the time."

That last part made Weiss giggle.

"Kyo even gave me my name," said Hayate. "In the Old Tongue, it means 'the sound of wind.' I can't even remember what name I used to have anymore. Then they brought me back here for a while, and Murasame gave me my sword."

"How old were you?" asked Weiss.

"A little over eight," said Hayate.

Weiss hugged him all the tighter. "So when you were talking about me...?"

"I saw you, and heard you sing," said Hayate. "You always seemed lost, confused, angry, maybe all those at once. That was how I felt for those first couple years, after Kyo and Sasame took me with them. I was gaining all this strength, but I just had no idea what to do with it. Then, a few years back, Kyo disbanded us and we went our separate ways."

"How could he leave you like that?" asked Weiss.

Hayate snorted. "He was doing me a favor. It was supposed to be because Sasame had to go back to the Mibu and assume her station as Saisei, but I think it was for me too. I had nothing. So I'd latched onto Kyo and the others as the sole purpose of my existence. Disbanding us like that forced me to confront what I _really_ wanted to do with my life, what I wanted to hold onto. I was angry at first, but I soon realized why he'd done that. After that, I wandered for a while. I experienced the plight of the faunus throughout much of the world first-hand. I thought about fighting for them. I even considered joining the White Fang for a time."

Weiss felt a chill go down through her spine. If Hayate had joined the White Fang, then there was every chance that he would have been drawn into Salem's schemes, and the first meeting between them would have been as enemies. Weiss had experienced Hayate's strength and skill first-hand in their sparring matches. And, even then, she knew he wasn't using his full strength. He was the Lightning Lord, the terrorist who had thwarted every effort by the Schnee Dust Company and the Atlesian military to kill or capture him, freeing captive faunus by the hundreds or thousands, and then guiding them through the wilderness to safety. If he had turned that strength and skill to the White Fang's or, worse, Salem's ends, she had a feeling things could have turned out _very_ differently.

Hayate continued, apparently oblivious to Weiss' reaction to what he'd just said. "But I decided I didn't like the way the White Fang were doing things, so I did what I could on my own. I found faunus settlements and helped to protect them from the Grimm or human attackers. I went to places where humans were enslaving faunus and freed them. Then, after the big conflict last year, I went up to Solitas and wound up spending most of my time freeing the faunus interned by Ironwood and Schnee. That's how I decided to use my strength."

He turned his head around so he could get a glimpse of Weiss' face. "But you still have that look in your eyes. If anything, you seem even more confused about what you want to do now."

Weiss smiled and pressed her face into Hayate's hair. "You're not wrong," she admitted. "I've been thinking about this a lot. But the more I think about it, the more confusing things seem."

"Then maybe you should stop thinking about it for a while," said Hayate.

"Huh?"

He smiled. "Don't think about what you might or might not want to do. For now, just focus on the things right in front of you, the things you want to do in the immediate moment. See where that leads you, then pull back and see if that gives you a better picture of what you want to do with your life. That's what worked for me."

Weiss smiled. "I think that might be a good idea." She tightened her arms around Hayate and kissed the back of his head. "Thank you."

* * *

The next morning, the students were largely free to do as they wished. However, the adults, the Council Members from the four Kingdoms, as well as the Headmasters of the Academies, met in the conference room, where Sora had finalized her agreements with Ghira and Kali. Sora and the other three members of the Taishiro sat together. Across from her, Radcliff, Nilam, Gwenyth, and Ironwood all sat together. Occupying another section of seats were the three Academy Headmasters, Ozpin sitting between Ozma and Pastoria. Kyoichiro was nowhere to be seen.

"I trust everyone enjoyed their breakfasts," said Sora pleasantly. She and her fellows had left their weapons behind for the conference, not needing to to make the same demonstration they had upon the delegation's arrival.

"It was splendid," said Nilam pleasantly. "I take it your agricultural products will be among your primary exports."

"That is the plan," said Sora. "Currently, we are easily able to clear land for farming, and our crops have been modified to be quite productive."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Ironwood tersely. "No one has yet agreed that we can allow the Mibu to publicly declare themselves."

"Ah...you seem to be under the misconception that we _require_ your agreement for that, General," said Sora airily. "That matter has already been decided upon. What is left is to determine our relationship with the other Kingdoms."

"That is not acceptable," said Ironwood. "In the current world, the emergence of a new faction threatens instability and will create chaos. We need to preserve order."

"I think what you fear is that we will threaten the status quo," said Murasame simply. "I think you might be concerned about the impact of the world finding out that there is a Kingdom that is led by a faunus, one where humans and faunus can live together peacefully, where the latter are not oppressed in any fashion, and feel no need to fight against the former."

"You would like to present that image, wouldn't you?" snarled Ironwood, leaning across the table. "Perhaps you would like to lure more faunus out of their Kingdoms so that you can bolster your own population, like you did with ours."

"Perhaps that wouldn't have been an issue if you treated them with an iota of consideration," said Makoto calmly, picking up a cup of tea and sipping it. "I have treated the faunus who have fled Atlas, and seen the mark of your Kingdom's regard for them. If you wish to encourage your countrymen, regardless of species, to be loyal to your Kingdom, then you should start by treating them as real citizens, instead of herding them into pens like criminals or animals...or both."

"We did what was necessary," said Ironwood firmly. "The violence perpetrated by the White Fang is out of control. We needed to maintain order, to ensure that their agents did not infiltrate our Kingdom to cause further chaos."

"Oh..." Sora raised an eyebrow. "And have your methods shown any success? Has the incidence of White Fang attacks fallen any?"

Ironwood grunted, scowling. In truth, the number of White Fang attacks upon Atlas and its settlements had only increased. Not only that, but their intensity had increased as well. Despite the strict monitoring of the faunus population, plenty of White Fang agents seemed to slip through the cracks to afflict atrocities upon the human populace.

"So it seems that you've been busy to no purpose then," said Sora. "It's no wonder that those faunus decided that they would be happier elsewhere."

"Action needed to be taken!" snapped Ironwood, slamming his fist, thankfully his left, on the table, making the cups, tea, and coffee pots on it jump. "The people needed to see their leaders doing _something_ , not just sitting back and waiting for the enemy's next strike."

"That's unwise." This time, it was not one of the Mibu that had spoken, but Nilam, who calmly picked up her cup of tea from the table and took a sip. "Many a time, a leader seeking to come off as decisive, and give the appearance of being quick to take action, has only made matters worse by acting in haste, resorting to grandstanding actions that simply exist for the sake of appearance."

"Are you telling me you wouldn't do the same, if your nation wasn't under constant attack by terrorists?" demanded Ironwood, turning to glare at the Councilwoman from Vacuo.

"It might be hard for me to say," said Nilam. "The White Fang are nowhere near as persistent in their attacks upon our Kingdom. Perhaps that is because our human population has a better relationship with faunus than most other Kingdoms do. It's based upon a foundation of mutual respect for those who are able to survive our environment, which is harsh upon all alike. Because of that, and because we don't try ridiculous moves like segregating the faunus population, White Fang attacks have a tendency to harm our faunus just as often as they harm our humans, which does not improve their standing among the people they claim to fight for."

She narrowed her eyes, giving Ironwood a look that was just shy of a glare. "You, however, are practically a one man White Fang propaganda machine. You do more to incite faunus to join them than any number of pamphlets, rallies, or incendiary speeches ever could. And that's not even factoring in Mr. Schnee and his doings. Together, the two of you make a perfect diumverate for faunus to rally against. One of you oppresses them harshly for the sake of maintaining the illusion of decisiveness, while the other then exploits that oppression to the fullest in order to line his own pockets."

"Enough," growled Ironwood. "We didn't come here to discuss domestic policy. This conference is supposed to be about what to do with the Mibu."

"I think you're mistaken in that respect," rumbled Radcliff. "It is true that we are gathered here to assess the future of our relationship with the Mibu, but anytime we leaders of the Kingdoms can get together is a perfect opportunity to review our relationships with each other. Right now, Nilam has argued an excellent point that Atlas' treatment of the faunus has proved to be a serious threat to our citizens' security, by serving as a rallying cry for the White Fang."

"And what have you done?" asked Gwenyth skeptically. "Can Mistral claim to treat its faunus population as well as Vacuo has?"

"That we can't," said Radcliff. "Unfortunately, we are not fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to be stuck with a naturally hostile environment that fosters a mutual respect, save for the same environmental factor that plagues us all. However, we've made a start with our recent reforms, and we've had impressive success in combating the White Fang as well. Casualties caused by White Fang terrorism have been reduced by forty-eight percent since we started applying new strategies."

"That much?" It seemed that Radcliff's claim had hooked the interest of Vale's Councilwoman. "What did you do?"

"Well, the reforms did a good job in helping reduce overall recruitment," said Radcliff, leaning back in his seat. "But our best results have come from actively integrating faunus into our police and intelligence agencies."

"You'd trust faunus with enforcing the law and protecting your citizens?" asked Ironwood, outraged. "How do you know you haven't been infiltrated? They're in a perfect position to completely undermine your agencies!"

"Just the opposite," said Radcliff in a relaxed tone. "The faunus we've recruited have proven invaluable for infiltrating White Fang cells, obtaining intelligence on planned attacks, and evidence we can use to arrest the actual perpetrators. What's more, the faunus are encouraged by the trust we place in them, which reduces the draw of the White Fang's rhetoric even further."

"You'll come to regret this foolishness, mark my words," said Ironwood, folding his arms and closing his eyes stubbornly.

"I'll consider them duly marked," replied Radcliff dismissively. "As far as I and the rest of Mistral's Council are concerned, the results speak for themselves. In any case, we're preparing to take the next step. It's fortunate that we're all here together, because this does involve Atlas to a certain extent."

Ironwood stiffened and glared at Radcliff. "What have you done?"

"Our reforms were established to affirm the faunus' civil rights," explained Radcliff, pulling out a sheaf of papers. "That includes making it illegal to discriminate against them in the workplace, and making it a requirement to ensure that any working environment, whether it consists of a majority of humans or faunus or an even distribution of both, is up to our national safety standards. We will be conducting regular intensive inspections of workplaces to ensure that our regulations are being followed. As a part of that, we've closed the loopholes that might allow foreign-owned companies to get away with such lapses."

"What?" snapped Ironwood, his eyes widening.

"Naturally, that means we will be looking over the SDC-owned mines within Mistral's territory _very_ carefully," said Radcliff. "In the event that they are found noncompliant, depending on the severity of the violations, Jacques could find himself and his company faced with very stiff fines, or even have the right to operate within our Kingdom's territory revoked, in which case, the Dust deposits will be auctioned off to companies with better records of compliance."

"My...that's quite interesting," said Nilam.

"Well, we can't let Vacuo get ahead of us, now can we?" said Radcliff with a grin.

"Is there any chance I might get a copy of your legislation regarding that?" asked Nilam with interest.

"Of course, I brought copies for everyone," said Radcliff with a chuckle, splitting the sheaf into multiple packets, and handing them to the other Council members present, even passing a copy across the table to Sora, who accepted them with a smile. Radcliff turned his grin on Ironwood next. "I've even brought enough copies that you could give one to Jacques, since he was nice enough to come here himself. He deserves to know what's coming. Consider it a grace period for him to clean up his act."

Ironwood took the copy of Mistral's legislation in his right hand, the papers crumpling in his grip. Nilam was already looking over them with a keen interest. It was likely that Vacuo wouldn't be long in enacting similar legislation, probably even edging their legislation to favor the seizure of property belonging to non-compliant companies, with even _less_ of a grace period for companies to adjust their policies. Thanks to the Kingdom's turbulent history, the majority of companies operating in Vacuo were foreign-owned. Besides being a PR coup with the faunus, legislation like this would give them a chance to seize assets and distribute them to domestic companies, reducing the control of foreign interests.

"I suppose it's worth considering," said Gwenyth, paging through her copy. Despite Vale's current close ties to Atlas, not even Vale's Councilwoman was immune to the allure of increasing her Kingdom's own wealth, and reducing possible foreign influence.

Sora smiled indulgently, resting her elbows on the table and meshing her fingers together, so that she could rest her chin over them. "There, you see, General?" she said. "The Mibu are already a positive influence upon the world, and we've barely even gotten past the opening remarks of this conference."

Ironwood growled, tightening his grip and further crumpling the papers in his grasp.

* * *

"So...how do we start?" asked Hayate, sitting with his legs crossed on the stone tiles.

They were currently in the very same practice yard where Weiss had been sparring with Hayate, a few days before.

"Um...let me see..." Weiss pulled out a small notebook and began flipping through its pages.

"What's that?" asked Hayate, squinting at the book.

"A cheat sheet," said Weiss, "or instruction manual. Murasame sent it to me this morning. He translated, condensed, and organized the information Haruka gave the other Elders regarding the crystals to create some notes to help me work out how to actually use it."

"Okay..." said Hayate.

"All right, it says that I use the crystal as a conduit for my Aura, just like I would for a weapon," said Weiss, already hefting the crystal in her left hand. She closed her eyes and her body began to shine, producing a pale-blue outline, enclosing the crystal in her hand. Gradually, the light began to intensify around the crystal.

As Hayate watched, the crystal itself began to glow, shedding light of its own. The light was primarily white, but shimmering with pearlescent colors.

"Wow..." said Weiss, not opening her eyes.

"How's it feel?" asked Hayate.

"Different," said Weiss. "It's like having someone else's Aura mixing with my own. But it doesn't feel wrong. It feels like I can control it quite naturally."

"That's good," said Hayate. "So how about trying it with one of your glyphs."

"I was getting to that," said Weiss. A white, snowflake glyph appeared beneath her feet. Like the light around the crystal, the glyph too shimmered with pearlescent color.

Abruptly, Weiss shot upward like an arrow with a terrified yelp. Hayate's eyes widened and he immediately got up, watching as she continued to rise. It wasn't just that the glyph's effect was more powerful than she'd been expecting. The glyph was still there, on the ground, seeming to continue raising her up, despite the distance between her and it.

Hayate leapt onto the glyph, combining his leg-strength with its force to shoot upward at a speed that let him catch up to Weiss as she continued to rise higher and higher.

"Cut it off!" he shouted as he got closer. "It's gonna keep pushing you up unless you shut it down!"

Weiss grunted and squeezed her eyes shut. After another second of concentration, the glyph on the ground below shattered into countless specks of light. Weiss reached the apex of her ascent and began to fall, landing in Hayate's outstretched arms as his momentum carried him up to meet her. The two of them began to fall towards the ground, which was a lot farther below than Weiss liked. In her current state, the last thing on her mind was a landing strategy.

Keeping his left arm arm around her shoulders and holding her tightly, Hayate reached down with his right hand and drew his sword. He extended it downward, and a bolt of shimmering, green and white energy descended, exploding against the stones of the practice yard in a shower of sparks. He returned the sword to its sheath and hooked his right arm under Weiss' legs. Weiss heard a hum coming from Hayate's sandaled feet, and looked down to see that the same greenish light was shining from them, matching the glow that now seemed to infuse the ground below.

Their fall gradually slowed, to the point where Hayate was able to absorb the remainder of their downward momentum by sinking into a crouch as his feet hit the ground.

"Magnetic levitation," said Weiss breathlessly, realizing what Hayate had just done.

"It's a handy trick to have," said Hayate, setting Weiss onto her feet, keeping a hand on her arm to help keep her steady. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," said Weiss, letting out a relieved breath. "That startled me."

"Was it really that much more powerful?" asked Hayate.

"A little," said Weiss. "What threw me off was how both the glyph and its effect remained in place."

She held up a finger and a tiny snowflake glyph, no more than six inches across, appeared in the air over it. Like the one that had launched her into the sky, this one too shimmered with faint colors. Weiss lowered her hand, leaving the glyph there, spinning on its own.

"It's incredible," whispered Weiss, her voice laden with awe.

"What did it do?" asked Hayate.

"I'm not expending any extra Aura to keep that glyph maintained," said Weiss. "The crystal is maintaining it all on its own. It's like it's stabilizing my glyphs, giving them a sort of permanence." The glyph shattered. "I had to shut it down myself."

"Huh..." said Hayate, turning his head as he stared at the space where the glyph had been. "So it makes your glyphs into a quasi-physical construct that maintains its own existence, without your will...that's interesting."

Weiss nodded. "And it's giving me some ideas," she said, a smile spreading across her face. "Stand back."

Hayate stepped back, looking at Weiss nervously.

She smiled at him. "Don't worry," she said. "I think I have a better grip of how much power to use."

"Be careful," said Hayate.

Weiss nodded. Another glyph appeared beneath her feet. This time, she rose slowly and smoothly up into the air, coming to a stop some ten meters up, and there she remained. The glyph also remained, continuing to spin silently on the ground below her.

"Now that's impressive," said Hayate with a whistle.

Weiss lifted one leg and extended it forward, as though stepping across midair. A new glyph, adjacent to the first one, appeared on the ground, supporting Weiss as she moved forward. The first one she'd created vanished, and she continued moving forward, creating more glyphs in sequence, making a pathway for herself that allowed her to walk on thin air as though it were solid ground.

"Wow," said Hayate softly.

As Weiss continued her walk, she created another glyph. However, this one flickered, then shattered, taking its neighbor, the one keeping her up, along with it. Weiss let out a startled "Eep!" as she began to fall. However, Hayate darted beneath her, catching her gently in his arms, before she could hit the ground.

Weiss blushed furiously, but relaxed after a moment. "Thank you," she said as Hayate set her on her feet again.

"I guess it's a good thing I came out here with you," said Hayate with a grin.

"It is," agreed Weiss, kissing his cheek impulsively, making both of them blush. Shaking off her embarrassment, Weiss turned her attention to the crystal. "It's...dark."

"Dark?" asked Hayate.

"I can't feel anything from it anymore," said Weiss, frowning, her eyes narrowing. "I didn't break it, did I?" For a second, there was a look of panic on her face at the idea. However, it relaxed a second later. "No! There it is. I can feel the energy again. But...just a little."

"You must have expended its power then," said Hayate, borrowing her notes, which she'd dropped on the ground the first time she'd accidentally launched herself heavenwards. "According to Murasame's notes, the crystal can only convert so much power over a given period of time. The more you use it, the more that amount increases, but it takes time and continuous use to build up the crystal's output."

"I see," said Weiss, staring at the crystal in her hand. She smiled. "I'm beginning to like this more and more. I just had a wonderful idea."

"What kind of idea?" asked Hayate.

"An idea for trying to create a new glyph," said Weiss. "I wondered what sort of glyphs I might try to make, but now I have one envisioned."

"Is it something for what you were just doing, something to make you float?" asked Hayate.

"Even better," said Weiss eagerly, "something to make me fly."

* * *

"Now then, concerning what we have the option to contribute to the world," said Sora as the conference shifted topics, "there are two primary things we would like to offer."

"You mean besides your exports?" asked Gwenyth.

"Of course," said Makoto. "While we will be settling matters regarding tariffs and taxes on trade later on, the matter of what is exported and imported shall fall to our citizens. Naturally, it's the demand of the consumers that will determine the markets. We can give you suggestions regarding that, but it will largely be up to the producers and consumers on both sides of the relationship."

"Of course," said Nilam, nodding sagely.

"We will also need to deal with the issue of currency," said Murasame. "Under the current circumstances, the best approach is probably to switch from our currency to lien to match the other Kingdoms. However, doing so too suddenly would cause issues with our economy. We'll need to have a plan to transition in place. In the meantime, we'll need to properly calculate the exchange rate."

"Understandable," said Radcliff. "We can take care of that later, of course. We'll probably need to wait until after the conference with that. All of us will have to consult with our Kingdoms' respective trade and commerce commissions, and negotiate with yours once we've established proper channels of communication."

"Of course," said Sora.

"And just what is it that the Mibu think that they have to offer the world?" asked Ironwood with acidic skepticism. "Your technological level is nothing short of pathetic. What innovations could you have that we haven't already obtained?"

"James..." rumbled Radcliff in a warning tone.

"Now now," said Sora with a small laugh, spreading her fan to cover the lower half of her face. "Though his phrasing of it is rather crass, it is a legitimate question he is posing. The first one we will discuss is, I believe, the reason the esteemed Headmasters of your Academies are in attendance today."

"Nonsense," said Ozpin, sipping down yet another mug of coffee, which the attendants continued to refill every time he drained it. "We are here because we were invited as well."

Pastoria chuckled and scratched at his own beard. "Which isn't to say that we don't have a vested interest in this conference and its outcome. We are here hoping that we can finally obtain certain permissions that we have been seeking, regarding what we may teach our students."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ironwood, his eyes narrowing.

"I believe you are all too familiar with the topic, General," said Sora, lowering her fan to reveal the small smile she had in place. "We wish for the advanced Aura techniques that the Mibu utilize to be permitted to be taught in your Huntsmen Academies."

"Nonsense!" snapped Ironwood. "What you are suggesting is just so much superstitious nonsense that will take valuable time from learning methods and techniques that truly matter."

"Really? Superstition?" Murasame raised an amused eyebrow. "Did our little demonstration yesterday seem like superstition to you?"

"It is well known that those of the Mibu Clan are born with advanced abilities," said Ironwood evasively.

"Hardly," said Sora. "It is true that those born of Mibu blood tend to show a high affinity for Aura control. However, that is just as likely to be a product of the environment in which they are raised as it is genetic."

"We are still working on building an understanding of that," added Makoto.

"And if that were all there were to it, then what of me?" asked Sora. Folding her fan all the way and lowering it below the table. "I was born outside the Clan, without a drop of Mibu blood. Yet I have grown to a level where I have been granted the title of Head of the Taishiro. I can assure you that my skill in politics was hardly the only reason I was permitted to assume this position. And, of course, Schnee-san was treated to an effective demonstration of my strength yesterday, which you all saw."

"And is your own strength really that impressive within the larger context of the Mibu?" asked Radcliff, his voice colored by genuine curiosity, not contempt or dismissiveness.

"It is," said Makoto. "She is considered equal in strength to the Crimson King himself, possessing power that surpasses our own. As the previous head of the Taishiro, I acknowledged her strength personally."

Sora focused her gaze on Ironwood. "I understand my wayward son gave one of your precious Mobile Brigades quite a thrashing."

Ironwood growled and flushed crimson.

Sora used her fan to mute a giggle at his reaction. "I imagine it would surprise you to learn that _I_ am still quite capable of thrashing _him_. I can even arrange a demonstration later on, if you wish."

His hands shaking, Ironwood paled.

"Yes," said Sora softly. "Kyo is strong. But he is also _young_. He has much growing still to do. This is the essence of the power that we have obtained through coming to understand the fullest strength of our Auras, and nurturing that strength."

She turned her gaze upon the other leaders. "Imagine if the Huntsmen and Huntresses defending your people were able to tap into that strength. Imagine the Grimm being nothing more than errant sparks to be brushed away. We have expanded across the width and breadth of this continent, and the Grimm are naught but a minor eyesore to us. All that we owe to our mastery of Aura control and the arts that have developed as a result of it. The General scoffed at our limited level of technological development, but the security we feel in our own strength is because of that mastery, which led us to feel no need to develop our technology further."

"And what is the opinion of those tasked with training our protectors?" asked Nilam, looking to the Headmasters.

Ozma toyed with her teacup idly. "It is no small thing that we ask for," she said. "It would completely change the dynamic of how our students are raised, all the way back down through Combat School. However, the results would be equally dramatic. This knowledge, long forbidden to the Kingdoms, has applications both on and off the battlefield, in places you could scarcely imagine." She turned her eyes on Makoto. "Isn't that right, Makoto-sensei?"

Makoto chuckled. "It is as you say." He pulled out a packet of papers, dividing them out, and distributing them to members of the delegation. "This is a full list of the diseases, disabilities, and other ailments that we have developed cures and treatments for over the years. All of this is possible through mastery of our Auras, which allows us to heal people by interacting with their own life force."

The visiting Council members of the Kingdoms looked through the list with wide eyes. Their expressions startled.

"Why is it that we have not been informed of this before?" asked Gwenyth tartly as she lowered her copy. "As a physician, I would have assumed your dedication to the health of all people would be paramount to ensure that we knew about this long ago. Yet you have sat on this knowledge for how long...decades...centuries...? I assume you did so in order to improve your leverage specifically for this moment."

"Hardly," said Makoto, barely fazed by Gwenyth's accusation. "I would never willingly stint on sharing such knowledge. We have tried to make this sort of thing available to you in the past. I even permitted one of the finest students I have ever trained in the healing arts to go out and share our collective knowledge with you." He smiled and inclined his head towards Ozma, who actually blushed like a bashful schoolgirl, being praised for the first time. He turned his gaze back to Gwenyth, his expression sterner. "But I understand that such entreaties were soundly rejected, back during the first Vytal Conference."

"And why was that?" asked Nilam. "Surely none of us would have turned away such potential boons without good reason."

"The reason lies in the terms, with which the Academies and their curriculums were developed," said Ozpin. "Such healing is only possible through the use of techniques in Aura control, which we were banned from passing on to our students at the behest of...certain interests." He turned his eyes on Ironwood, who had been curiously silent.

"Ah, I see," said Radcliff. "If such methods were propagated, they would lessen Huntsmen and Huntresses' dependency on Dust, which would lower the profits of the Dust industry."

"But it seems to me that it would make them more capable in the field," mused Nilam. "Quite a few of the casualties suffered by Huntsmen in Vacuo come from our difficulty in ensuring supply throughout the region, as the terrain hinders distribution. If they were less dependent on Dust, they could operate for longer and farther away from our supply routes and sources."

Gwenyth frowned, her eyes narrowing slightly. "It seems to me that there might be worth in reconsidering the terms by which the Academies abide."

"You can't be serious?!" shouted Ironwood, thumping the table with his left hand again. "What you propose could completely upend our economies!"

"Upend _your_ economy, you mean," said Nilam, turning a sour gaze on Ironwood. "After all, the primary provider of Dust for all four Kingdoms is the Schnee Dust Company. Practically no one else is able to lay claim to any deposits of worth, and those that do are, more often than not, snapped up in hostile takeovers that Mr. Schnee orchestrates. At this point, he practically has a monopoly, controlling the distribution of even the Dust that is mined within the borders of our own Kingdoms."

"It would certainly do for the rest of us to get the opportunity to obtain some further financial independence, out from under Jacques' thumb," said Radcliff. He laughed merrily. "Relax, James. There'll still be plenty of demand for Dust when all is said and done."

"Indeed," said Ozpin. "Mastering Aura control on the level of the Mibu warriors requires years of training, not to mention a high level of dedication by the students of such a craft. The Mibu themselves do not have a large standing force because of how much time and effort must be spent on raising their fighters."

"In other words, it's the perfect thing for Huntsmen and Huntresses," said Gwenyth. "But the Kingdom militaries, which must train large numbers of soldiers quickly, will be reliant on methods that make better use of technology than such intensive methods of training. There might be a slight drop in dependency on Dust, but it will not vanish."

"Well, it seems to me that we've established sufficient reasons to review the arrangements we have with our Academies," said Radcliff, frowning at Ironwood. "Of course, as the Headmaster of your own Kingdom's Academy, you are free to run things as you see fit. But I can't help but wonder if you'll wind up left in the dust when all is said and done."

"The only ones who will be left in the dust are those who put their faith in archaic and outdated notions!" snapped Ironwood. "Atlas is at the forefront of technological development and our power is more than a match for old superstitions. Outside, in the very sky over our heads, lie seven perfect examples of our technological achievements." He glared at Sora, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "I can arrange a _demonstration_ of their superiority if you wish."

Radcliff and Nilam gaped openly at Ironwood, while Gwenyth looked sharply at him, her skin going pale.

However, Sora didn't even flinch. "I'm sure that would be worth seeing," she said. "It always helps to get a proper comparison." She flicked her fan open idly and once again used it to screen the lower half of her face to hide a smirk. "But, if I recall properly, my son already provided us with such a comparison, General. Granted, amongst the Mibu, he's an extreme example of the potential capabilities of our Aura mastery. Only us Taishiro and his father exceed his strength. However, it certainly shows that there is more to our techniques than mere superstition."

Nearly everyone was stunned into silence by Sora's reaction. Only her fellow Elders seemed unsurprised by what she had just said.

Pastoria pursed his lips, and let out a nearly silent whistle of admiration that was audible only to his immediate neighbors.

Ozpin rested his elbows on the table and folded his hands in front of his face, doing much the same thing with his meshed fingers that Sora did with her fan, using them to hide his mouth as he smiled. _Well now...this head of the Taishiro certainly doesn't lack for nerve,_ he thought.

"We can continue discussing the particulars of amending policy regarding the Academies a little later," said Sora. "I think most of us can agree that it is definitely a matter worth coming back to, and achieving a final decision on. That said, we'll move onto the second thing we of the Mibu Clan wish to offer the world."

Ironwood stifled a groan, leaning forward and pressing his hands against his face. Radcliff couldn't keep down a series of chuckles and Nilam had to cover her mouth to hide a giggle.

 _She plays General Ironwood like a fiddle,_ thought Nilam. _She treats with the rest of us like equals and shows us all due respect, but toys with Ironwood and plays him for a fool._ Her eyes narrowed. _She is, most definitely, someone we don't want for an enemy._

Sora inclined her head towards Haruka, who had remained silent for the entire discussion. Now Haruka produced documents of her own. "The other thing that we seek to offer to the world is a new power source," said Haruka, "one that we find, in many ways, to be superior to Dust, which will hopefully be an aid to your Kingdoms' technological development."

"What?!" snapped Ironwood, his head coming up and his eyes going wide.

"In the course of our history, we have discovered a new kind of energy," said Haruka, speaking as though she were reciting from a script and ignoring Ironwood's outburst. "At present, we believe the energy's nature to be extra-planar in origin. Several centuries ago, we discovered that this energy interacted with certain minerals and substances, which converted it into energy that engaged with our physical world. We spent several decades testing these substances, amalgamating them, until we ended up developing a crystalline device that converts what we call Etheric Energy into a form that we were able to tap into."

"Impossible!" snapped Ironwood.

"And what does this Etheric Energy do?" asked Radcliff, deciding to take a cue from the Mibu, and talk as though Ironwood hadn't said anything at all. "How is it applicable?"

"You've already seen its application," replied Haruka stiffly, looking at Radcliff as she answered his question. "The vessel that escorted you into our territory is propelled by harnessed Etheric Energy. We have expanded the application and discovered several varied functions by applying further catalysts to produce other forms of its energy."

"I assume that means all the typical things," said Nilam. "Aside from flight, I'm guessing that you've been working to apply it towards things like weapons and defensive fields."

"We haven't bothered experimenting with weapons," said Haruka. "But, yes, we have developed defensive fields and discovered a most important quality."

"What is that?" asked Radcliff.

"Etheric Energy repels the Grimm," said Haruka. "Our newest settlements are protected by Etheric fields. Against actual attack, they offer no more protection than a sheet of paper. But the Grimm are generally repelled from an area enclosed by an Etheric shield."

"Ridiculous!" yelled Ironwood. "These are outright lies! No such power could possibly exist."

"Really, General," said Sora. "I thought you would know better. If we were trying to fool you with lies, I would like to think that we would come up with more believable ones. However, I can understand your skepticism. Fortunately, it will not be hard for us to supply you with proof."

"You'll demonstrate this for us?" asked Gwenyth, leaning forward, her eyes lighting up.

Even Nilam and Radcliff couldn't hide their fascination, their eyes alight with the idea of a system that would keep the Grimm away from their settlements, without the need of hard-to-construct perimeter walls and expensive defensive emplacements.

"We'll do better than demonstrate," said Sora, nodding again towards Haruka, who distributed the documents she produced to the assembled delegates. "We have a gift for you all, something we've been planning since before we arranged this little conference.

"As you can see in the documents we've given you, Etheric Energy is harnessed through the use of a Core Crystal, which converts it into useable form. Our studies thus far have shown Etheric Energy to be practically omnipresent and, to the extent of our knowledge, functionally limitless in quantity."

"How can you be sure?" asked Radcliff skeptically.

"We discovered Etheric Energy by stumbling upon the means to observe it," said Haruka. "In studying it, we have been experimenting with using high conversion in limited areas to try and deplete supply within a small area, in order to test the limits of its availability. However, we were unable to make any noticeable change in its concentration. To the best of our knowledge, if it is a finite energy source, its overall limit appears to be on par with that of solar energy."

"In other words, if there is a limit, it won't be one that we can reach until billions of years have passed," noted Radcliff.

Haruka nodded.

Sora continued her earlier speech. "As I was saying, the Core Crystals convert the energy into a useable form. We have designed arrays that convert that form into electricity, which we can then channel into other conversion-type crystals to generate the forces we've been talking about, such as flight and shields.

"Rather than simply demonstrate the capabilities of our crystals, we will be providing you with a very special gift. Each Kingdom here will receive from us a pair of of our Etheric Core Crystals for study and experimentation. Along with them, we will provide at least two of each type of conversion crystal we have currently developed, so that you can test their capabilities for yourselves. We will be distributing one to the Kingdom Council and one to each Kingdom's Academy."

"Only two?" asked Ironwood. "I was sure the Mibu had more generosity than that."

Sora giggled. "Suddenly you're quite greedy, General. Our Core Crystals are currently grown through a painstaking process that requires a century to complete. At this point, mass production simply is not possible, and makes each Core Crystal produced priceless. I believe that this is more than generous."

"So we are free to do as we wish with these crystals you've given us?" inquired Radcliff. "No stipulations?"

"None," said Sora. "Do whatever you please with them, even if that is simple letting them lie in some vault to collect dust. It is my hope that you will study them thoroughly and develop an even further understanding of their capabilities."

"Hmmm…." Radcliff looked at Sora intently, evidently thinking things over very carefully. Then he favored her with an approving smile. "Very well. I think I understand what you're really after here. I look forward to letting my Kingdom's scientists loose on this technology."

Ozpin shot a glance at Ironwood, expecting some kind of further outburst from him. In today's discussions alone, the Mibu had dropped not one, but two bombshells that were deliberately targeted at undermining the Kingdoms' reliance on the Dust industry, which undermined the Schnee Dust Company's power and, through them, Atlas' power. The commercial, military, and social order that Ironwood relied upon, had tried to impress directly and indirectly upon the rest of the world, and supported almost unconditionally, was being targeted.

However, it appeared that Ironwood was at the limit of even _his_ capacity for anger. Instead, his head was bowed, his eyes fixed upon the documents in front of him, although he didn't seem to actually be reading their contents. However, Ozpin knew for a fact that Ironwood was a long way from being beaten and that this conflict of words and ideas had only just begun.

* * *

 **It's pretty hard, doing this at home. Our dog is a seventy-pound lap-dog, who demands constant attention. He's currently lounging next to my chair, as I write this, looking at me like, "Why are you playing with that stupid thing? Keep scratching me."**

 **That aside...I love trolling Ironwood. It's always so much fun to come up with ways to yank the rug out from under him.**


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53:**

The conference continued for a while longer as they discussed the implications of Etheric technology, and Haruka filled them in on the particulars. It concluded with a promise by Haruka to show them the crystal vats at a later date. Ironwood appeared to have run out of outbursts for the day and remained in a sullen silence for the rest of the conference. Finally, Sora called an end to it for the day, freeing everyone to return to their quarters to rest and relax.

Haruka was the first one out of the room. The delegates were led out by attendants through one door, leading them back to their quarters and, in Ironwood's case, back to where he could be shuttled up to his command ship. The Taishiro left through a separate door to return to their own quarters.

Haruka walked a short distance down the hall, before coming to a sudden stop. Turning to a wall, she suddenly doubled over, pressing a hand up against it to support herself as she let out a loud sigh. "That was scary," she moaned.

Coming up behind Haruka, Sora enfolded her colleague in a hug. "That was very well done. You did an excellent job. I'm so proud of you."

"I don't like Ironwood," complained Haruka. "He makes me nervous."

"Nearly everyone makes you nervous," commented Murasame wryly as he and Makoto reached them as well.

"Hush," said Sora, giving the other two Elders a mild glare. "You know how stressful it is for her to speak in public like that. The General most certainly was _not_ helping matters."

"Of course not," said Makoto. He rested a hand on Haruka's outstretched arm. "You were a credit to us today. We are grateful for your hard work."

Sora gently pulled Haruka away from the wall. "I know it's hard for you," she said, meeting Haruka's violet eyes. "But this will help you build your confidence. Even if you are never truly comfortable in settings like that, practice like this will at least help you pretend to be. Even if you aren't confident in your ability to speak with strangers, you should have the confidence in the work that you do and the knowledge you possess. All you simply need to do is distribute that knowledge to others. Think of these people as students at one of your lectures."

"…Okay," said Haruka hesitantly.

Sora smiled and raised her hands to slowly push back Haruka's hood, revealing a head covered in long, smooth locks of dark-brown hair. A pair of light-brown raccoon ears extended from the top of her head, revealing her true nature. Her skin was beautifully smooth, her cheeks rounded just enough to given them a full look without looking babyish. If there was one word that could describe Haruka's face, it would have to be "cute."

"I really wish you could show this face to everyone, you know," said Sora, gently brushing her fingers across Haruka's cheek. "I always feel that the people who see you are cheated by not getting to see what a lovely girl you are."

"I can't help it," said Haruka, ducking her head. "I can't talk to strange people without my hood."

"I know, dear," said Sora. "But, no matter what, I'm going to continue trying to help you come out of your shell. You need to be confident in your strength as one of us."

She paused, thinking for a minute. "I know!" she said abruptly. "You should spend some time with the visiting students…at least one or two of them."

"Huh?" said Haruka, blinking at the sudden suggestion.

Sora beamed, clearly thrilled with her own idea. "Yes! That's perfect. Youngsters like them are much easier to feel confident around. You should spend some time with a few of them…perhaps Weiss-dono. You seem particularly fond of her."

"Tha-that's…" Haruka stammered, not sure what to say to that.

"Well, we can talk about that later," said Sora, taking Haruka's muscular arm. "For now, let's get some rest. You'll have to face the delegates again tomorrow, so take it easy for now."

"All right," said Haruka reluctantly, allowing Sora to lead her down the hall.

Makoto and Murasame watched from behind, the two of them smiling in fond amusement at the sight. "Watching them, it's always hard to remember which of them is actually older," said Murasame.

"Very true," agreed Makoto.

* * *

"What an interesting discussion that proved to be," declared Radcliff as he and the other delegates made their way back to the quarters they had been given.

"What do you make of the Mibu's 'gift,' to us?" asked Nilam, looking at him curiously.

"It's _very_ interesting," said Radcliff. "Mrs. Sora proclaims the Mibu Clan's lack of interest in our modern technology, yet from what we've seen they've actually demonstrated a keen interest in the things we have that they don't."

"I noticed," said Nilam.

"What do you mean?" inquired Gwenyth.

"They designed their own airship," said Radcliff. "Though they are clearly adamant about not using Dust, it seems that they are determined to obtain many of the luxuries our Kingdoms enjoy through technology of their own."

"In other words, they want airships like us, and conveniences like the ones that we have, but ones that are based in this Etheric Energy of theirs, rather than Dust," said Nilam.

"Oh," said Gwenyth. "And why do you think they have gifted us with samples of this technology and notes on its design then?"

"Because they are hoping we can help them to skip several steps," said Radcliff. "With the power issue solved, airships are relatively simple things. However, more complex technologies, like the ones we have, require more complex components, things like microcircuitry, the capacity to store data in electronic form, the formation of computational apparatuses, and the development of programs."

"They gave us the keys to their technology, hoping that we will apply it to our own," said Nilam. "They want us to adapt our Dust-based technology to this new Etheric Energy, then turn and sell it back to them, so that they can, in turn, steal the secrets behind its function so that they can produce that level of technology for themselves."

"But what does that mean they are aiming for in the end?" asked Gwenyth.

Radcliff grinned. "If I had to hazard a guess, what they ultimately want is to acquire the means to make their voices heard by the world."

"Communication technology," mused Nilam. "That makes sense. They want to be able to compile and access data like we do, as well as communicate with their outlying settlements, to develop a reliable and effective network of communication across their continent, as well as with the other Kingdoms."

"In other words, their move in giving us those crystals is altruistic on the surface," said Radcliff. "They are gifting us with the means to free ourselves from the tyranny of Jacques' Dust monopoly and obtain further financial independence, as well as a source of power that is more sustainable than Dust. But beneath that, it's motivated by a greedy desire to have us develop technology for their use, that they can then turn around and learn to produce for themselves. It seems that the Mibu, or at least Ms. Sora, are quite greedy indeed."

"I should have known," muttered Gwenyth.

"I like it," said Radcliff with a laugh. "If it were a purely altruistic maneuver, then I don't think we could stop being suspicious of it. But greed we can understand perfectly well. It's the perfect basis for establishing a relationship of give and take."

"I agree," said Nilam. "It also makes it apparent what Ms. Sora's ultimate aim for this conference is."

"Communication…" said Gwenyth. "She wants the CCT then."

"Most likely, she wants the Mibu to have a tower of their own, not merely a relay," said Nilam. "That explains why she has been baiting Ironwood so much. She's deliberately agitating him and suggesting things in such a way as to threaten Atlas' dominance in technology and the military to keep him from realizing the the _true_ leverage Atlas actually has over them."

Radcliff grinned, stroking his beard. "Except, now _we_ realize it. All it takes is one remark from any of us and James would know exactly what cards to play to oppose anything that Sora or the other Mibu propose, or he could simply be stubborn and refuse to provide them a tower, which would essentially silence them, no matter what they try to do."

"And will you do that?" asked Ozma as she and the other Headmasters brought up the rear of the group.

"I don't intend to," said Radcliff. "But we can use the suggestion of it to win a few provisions of our own. It's _our_ leverage now."

"I'm thinking that might have been Mrs. Sora's intention from the very beginning," said Nilam.

"She wants us to have leverage over her?" asked Gwenyth in disbelief.

"To a certain extent," said Nilam. "She realizes that if everything goes her way, then it could be dangerous in the long run. It would look as though we are simply doing as the Mibu wish. She used subtle hints to help us to become aware of her true aims in order to give us something to work with in order to win provisions of our own."

"That way it truly allows the Mibu to deal with us as equals," said Radcliff. "They have leverage over us, and we have leverage over them." He chuckled. "Except that this means it all still goes according to her plan in the end. What a frightening woman she is."

"At least she knows how to be productive," commented Nilam with a giggle of her own.

"Yes," agreed Ozpin. "I'm looking forward to seeing what tomorrow's round of discussions will bring."

"I think we all are," said Pastoria with a laugh, "except for James, of course."

* * *

"Perhaps you ought to just hand the Mibu the keys to Atlas, the way you're carrying on," taunted Jacques as Ironwood sagged into the chair behind his desk, massaging his temples. "You only made a fool of yourself at today's talks."

"Not as much of a fool as you made of yourself yesterday," Ironwood retorted.

"It's folly trying to deal with these fools as equals," growled Jacques, walking to the window, staring down at the city of Onmyo below. "Just tell them clearly what they should do and, if they refuse to abide by your will, demonstrate our power by leveling one or two blocks of their precious city. I'm sure that they will be more amenable then."

"You're advocating a direct attack on a civilian population," said Ironwood. "The other Kingdoms won't stand for it."

"What civilians?" snapped Jacques. "All I see are scum who pretend at being civilized. Down there, in that city, are probably some of those faunus mutts who should be back in Atlas, mining my Dust. Letting the Mibu do as they please has cost me millions, if not billions of lien. And now Mistral has the gall to suggest this!"

Jacques held up the papers containing the information on Mistral's reforms and slapped them down on the desk in front of Ironwood. "This is petty jealousy and appeasement, nothing more. The other Kingdoms are threatened by my success. They want to supplant me and turn my mines over to businesses that will offer them greater profit. And they get to pretend that they care about the faunus at the same time."

"You think I don't realize that?" asked Ironwood.

"Then why do you sit on your hands and do nothing?" demanded Jacques. "With Atlas' current strength, we have no need to abide by the rules set by the fool Councils in those other Kingdoms. All we need to do is brandish our might and _make_ them see things our way. We can start by making an example of these Mibu fools."

Ironwood frowned, his eyes narrowing. He had grown increasingly agitated with the way the other Kingdoms were doing things. He disliked the fact that his efforts to make the world safer had only been repaid with mistrust and derision. Old friends like Ozpin and Glynda no longer stood beside him. Others actively sought to undermine him. His Kingdom was bearing the brunt of the White Fang's aggression, yet, when he took measures to protect his people, the leaders of the other Kingdoms had the gall to criticize him for it.

And now, the Mibu were emerging, acting as a visible rallying point for all those who opposed him. Ironwood had to admit the temptation to simply order his ships to open fire and remove this determined thorn from his side was enticing. However, simply doing that would be crossing a line that would erase any hope of solidifying a cooperative alliance with the other Kingdoms. Sora was not helping matters by failing to clue into his hints regarding the superior position his forces held. Perhaps he would need to be more direct in tomorrow's discussions.

"Enough," said Ironwood, lifting his head and glaring at Jacques. "I will decide how to do things here. I will do what I must to keep Atlas safe. But I will do it _my_ way, not yours."

"Fine!" snapped Jacques, turning to stride out the door. "Do it your way. But don't come crying to me when the Mibu and the other Kingdoms make a fool of you yet again."

The door slid shut behind him, leaving Ironwood alone in his office...or so it seemed.

Slender, yet powerful, fingers descended on his shoulders, each one pressing down and moving in slow, circular motions massaging them, easing away the stiffness and tension that had built up over the course of the day. "My my," whispered a feminine voice in his ear, "Jacques was certainly in a tizzy."

"He's always agitated lately," said Ironwood, leaning back in his seat with a sigh of relief. "I can't exactly blame him, with all the setbacks he's suffered."

"Yes," whispered the soft, musical voice in his ear, "but his concerns are paltry compared to yours. He is nothing but a trained dog. He may bark and growl to gain attention. But all you need do is make sure that he performs the tricks he's trained to do, and reward him properly for good behavior, and he will always return to you, wagging and begging."

Glittering motes of varicolored light danced in front of Ironwood's eyes. "Yes," he said, his expression growing slack and his eyes gazing over. "But what should I do about the Mibu?"

"What you have always done," whispered the voice. "Order must be maintained. The conference is stuffed with ungrateful fools, who resent you for your importance as the world's primary protector. They have seen how hard you have worked for the sake of the people, to secure their future. They cannot hope to match your accomplishments, so they seek to tear you down and drop you to their level. Before this conference is over, you may yet have to remind them of the strength they lack, in comparison to your Kingdom. When that time comes, show them the results of your tireless efforts to make Atlas strong."

"But when should I?" asked Ironwood.

"At the moment you can stand no more of this farce," said the voice. "The Mibu grow arrogant in their behavior. When their arrogance reaches its peak is the best time to knock them down." A lilting giggle filled the air. "But worry not. Now is not the time to concern yourself with such stressful matters. You've worked very hard and deserve some well-earned relaxation. Come now, close your eyes and listen to Haira's song. I've prepared a very special lullaby, just for you."

* * *

Somewhere in the world, somewhere where humans or faunus have yet to establish a foothold in the harsh, unforgiving wilderness, there is a place of darkness. There is a tunnel that leads into the depths of the earth. It was dug, not to find Dust, metal, or some other precious resource, but to create that place of darkness, a vast cavern, lit by sickly purple, crystalline growths, jutting up from the floor like malignant bushes or descending from the cavern's ceiling like grotesque chandeliers. The light they produced was feeble, throwing flickering shadows across the cavern, barely holding the darkness back as it threatened to close in around the cavern's occupants like a suffocating fog.

The tunnel was the only entrance or exit to the cavern. On the far end of the chamber from the tunnel mouth, the floor dipped down, a depression forming at the far end, where the curving walls of the ceiling descended to meet the floor.

The extreme of the depression was defined by a round pool, like a large bath. It was filled with a dark, oily, tar-like liquid. It was thick and viscous, making low-pitched, unsettling sounds as it shifted and rippled; as though small, unthinkable things writhed just beneath its surface. The pool was fed by several channels that ran along the floor, all the way to the outer edges of the chamber, a continuous stream of more of that black fluid running through those channels to feed the pool, which, despite the constant supply of fluid and no form of drainage, never seemed to overflow.

Situated around the pool were stalagmites, carved from smooth, ebony stone. They were arrayed in a semicircular formation, so that no one of them was farther away from the pool than the others. They rested between the channels carved in the floor, like screws resting between the spokes of a wheel.

There were twelve of them.

At the moment, only seven of them were occupied by dark figures, using the stalagmites like seats.

"The latest report from Haira indicates that General Ironwood is under control," said one of them, his muscular arms folded across his chest as he spoke in a low, deep voice. "It is difficult to account for the Mibu's goals at the moment, as communication with Shatora is rare, by necessity."

"Well, Shatora can't afford to speak carelessly," commented a much more slender and graceful-looking figure on the next seat over. "The position is critical to ensure that we have someone within the Mibu."

"Hmph!" snorted a portly figure at one end of the cavern. "Shatora is just afraid, if you ask me. The Mibu have grown lax and slothful."

"You're one to talk, Bikara," commented an elderly voice, originating from a rather average-sized person, his left eye glowing red in the darkness.

"Nobody asked you, Kubira," growled the portly Bikara. Bikara turned his gaze to the muscular figure near the center of the arranged seats. "Indara, can I eat him?"

"You may not," said Indara. "Kubira's work has been instrumental in preparing the Master's next vessel. He has earned his place amongst us."

"We cannot afford to fight amongst ourselves," added the graceful man next to Indara. "Our last battle with the Mibu has already depleted our numbers considerably. Santera is not yet complete, and we have yet to replace Antera."

"On that note, our last communication with Shatora mentioned potential replacement for Antera," added Indara, turning back to the pool. "Although, that was some time ago."

"Shatora has more important things to worry about than recruitment," remarked a soft, sibilant voice from another seat, the figure there seeming to flicker and dissolve, before reappearing, like an image on a screen with poor reception. "Let _me_ find a new Antera. I have time and, unlike Shatora, I can move freely."

"Hmm..." Indara rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Your thoughts, Master," he said, directing his gaze towards the pool.

On the far side of the pool, a human-shaped figure lounged at the edge, casually resting one arm over the side of it, resting on the small border of stone between the pool and the wall, his posture like that of a tourist bathing in a hot spring. In this dark, shadowy room, where the figure sat was where the shadows were at their deepest and darkness, his features nearly impossible to make out. His face was all but invisible, save for the blazing red eyes, which burned like lamps out of his head. The eye on the left seemed larger, burning brighter than the one on the right.

The Master of this gathering was silent for a moment, almost as though he hadn't heard Indara's question. Finally, his burning gaze fixed on Indara. "How are Mekira and Shindara progressing?"

Indara flinched at the unexpected question, but didn't dare challenge it. "They are in position. Shatora's last communique indicates that the way has been opened. We should be able to secure our objective with little trouble."

"Good," said the Master. "Let us place our trust in Shatora for now then. If a suitable candidate for the next Antera has been found, then there is no need for us to seek for one elsewhere, Makora. We are not in such dire straits that fully rebuilding our numbers has the highest priority. We can fulfill our goals, even if our number is lacking. Once my strength has returned, and I am able to move again, it won't matter how many the Junishinsho are. My strength alone will be enough."

"As you say, Nobunaga-sama," said Indara, bowing his head.

Bikara let out a snorting, gurgling giggle. "If that is the case, can I eat Kubira...and Mikira, when she gets back...and Shindara and Basara? All these newcomers irritate me. If they're an annoyance, I may as well eat them."

"No," said Oda Nobunaga. "They are your comrades. Kubira and Mekira have more than proved their worth by providing me with my current vessel." He lifted his other arm out of the fluid, watching it as the sticky, viscous liquid flowed away, back down into the pool, in gradually thinning ribbons. "This substance feels as though that witch, Salem, pulled it from the essence of my own soul and made it matter. There is only _one_ thing in this world that could be a more fitting vessel for me, and Shatora is working hard to acquire it."

"Then we can finally stop skulking about in the shadows," said the slender figure. "I grow tired of this dingy hole in the ground. My blades thirst for blood and battle."

"As do I," conceded Nobunaga with a nod to the graceful man. "You have done well as the protector of this place, Ajira. I promise you that the time will be soon upon us when you may be turned loose upon our enemies."

"I look forward to that, Nobunaga-sama," said Ajira, bowing his head. "Are you in agreement, Basara? You've been rather quiet, of late."

"Ah yes," said Bikara with another gurgling chuckle. "Basara used to be such a big talker. Then Shindara had to bail him out, after he thought he could kill the Crimson King. Can I eat him?"

"You may not," said Nobunaga firmly, in a warning tone, silencing Bikara's mirth, snuffing it out like a candle. "Keep your gluttony under control. At this point, you are the most disposable one here."

"Yes, My Lord," said Bikara, bowing his head.

Nobunaga's burning gaze slowly drifted to Basara on his seat, looking over the tall young man with short, red hair, and a pair of curving horns that emerged over his forehead. He wore a black overcoat, decorated in red with the stylized design of a wilting flower. His eyes were covered by a white mask that looked as though it had been carved from bone. "Have your wounds healed, Basara?"

"Yes," said Adam Taurus, now Basara of the Junishinsho. "They have been healed for several weeks now. Have you orders? I can support Cin-Mekira and Shindara in their efforts."

"I have chosen to dispatch Santera instead," said Nobunaga. "Though she is only about forty-percent complete, by my estimation, this is an excellent opportunity to test her capabilities."

"The silly child acted out and got spanked," teased Bikara. "Now you're just sitting in the corner."

Adam growled and spat off to his side. The gob of spittle landed near the edge of one of the channels.

The response was instant. The edge of a blade appeared at his throat. A pair of powerful hands clamped down on either side of his head. His right arm was seized in a crushing grip. And something was inserted into his chest, seeming to pass through it without actually inflicting any damage, but allowing him to feel its touch, as chill fingers wrapped around his heart.

Indara stood behind Adam, his powerful hands now gripping Adam's skull from either side in a grip that could crush it with just a little more force. Ajira had drawn a short sword, and now held its edge to his throat, while Bikara held his forearm with pudgy fingers, grinding the bones together. Makora stood directly in front of him, his arm seeming to phase right through Adam's chest. They had all moved with blinding speed, closing in around Adam before he could even begin to react.

"Know your place, Basara," rumbled Indara, his voice quaking with fury.. "You are lucky you did not get a little farther or you would already be dead."

Bikara let out another gurgling chuckle. "Maybe I should tear off your sword-arm as punishment for your stupidity. Then you'd be useless to Nobunaga-sama, and he'd let me eat you."

Adam growled, his lips pulling back to bare his teeth.

" **Enough.** " Nobunaga's voice made the entire cavern shake, dislodging loose stones from above, causing them to fall to the floor with a small clatter. "Release him."

They let go of Adam and stepped away. A second later, they had returned to their seats as though nothing had happened.

Nobunaga shifted in the pool, his black, shadowy form making sickening sounds as the liquid around him shifted. "Basara, you were permitted to attack the Crimson King, so that you might learn your limits. Your fangs were not able to reach him."

Adam's grip tightened around the grip of his weapon, which he kept at his side.

"I can smell your bloodlust, your hatred," continued Nobunaga. "It is very much like my own. You once fought for a righteous cause. But, after killing and killing, you have come to the same realization that I have. Righteousness is a farce, a sham. All that matters in the world is _power_. Those with power _create_ right. That bloodlust of yours is power. You must contain it, concentrate it, temper it like the steel of your blade. Then, when the time is right, you will unleash it upon the objects of your hatred."

The liquid shifted once again as Nobunaga stood up. A few steps had taken him out of it. His naked body was human in shape, black skin covering tight, powerful musculature. However, his face was still a black void, from which to fiery-red eyes glared balefully. He walked with firm confidence, his feet making wet slaps against the floor, leaving oozing, black footprints in their wake as he made the short walk to Adam's seat.

Adam shifted nervously, and stood up as Nobunaga approached him. "I did not make you one of the Junishinsho because you are of particular use," Nobunaga said. "You are strong, but I can find, or make, stronger tools. The White Fang are useful for sowing chaos, but not particularly necessary for my plans. Unlike Mekira or Kubira, you were not brought into my fold because you serve a special purpose."

Nobunaga's right hand rose up, and came to rest on Adam's shoulder. "I made you Basara because, in you, I see myself. Of all the Junishinsho, you are the one most akin to me. When we rise and take this world, when we put those who stand against us to the sword, I want you to do so by my side."

Adam shivered, but not from cold and fear. Nobunaga's touch, and then his words, sent shivers of excitement that set his blood to rising. His entire body quivered in anticipation and, in his mind's eye, he could see the slaughter to come. Then he remembered Nobunaga's advice from before and took a breath, drawing the excitement into himself, drawing into his core, where he bottled it away with his rage and hatred, to condense, to intensify, to finally be turned upon this hated world. Adam's shivers slowed, then ceased.

Basara of the Junishinsho looked upon Oda Nobunaga, standing tall and looking right up into those fiery eyes. "As you will it, Nobunaga-sama!" he proclaimed in the crisp voice of a determined soldier.

"Good," said Nobunaga, releasing Basara's shoulder and turning to stalk back to the pool. He entered it and sank back down onto his seat within the ebony, tar-like substance with a sigh.

"Hmm...we may have underestimated Basara," mused Indara.

"He'll do, I suppose," said Ajira.

Bikara groaned and slumped down in his own seat. "Aww...now I'll never get to eat him."

* * *

Night fell over the Onmyo Palace, the last rays of light reflecting off the white hulls of the Atlesian warships drifting overhead. As the shadow of the mountain stretched across the Palace and the city beyond, a shadow of another sort moved towards the first of the five gates that guarded the entry into the Palace.

The woman moved with surefooted, catlike grace, stepping silently across the stone tiles of the courtyard outside the first gate. The gate itself, having fulfilled its ceremonial purpose when the delegation from the Kingdoms had entered, stood open. The woman turned her gaze, a single, fiery-orange eye glancing upward to take in the sight of the steel doors, before she stole past it in a blur.

In the light, she would have been a figure of beauty, with slender limbs, an impressive bust, and full hips, all accentuated by the skintight suit of black fabric that she wore. Just the sight of her would have set most men to panting and drooling. The natural, dancer's grace with which she moved would have only heightened her appeal all the more. Her suit was cut so that her right arm was sleeveless, with a long glove that extended down to, but did not cover, her fingers. Her left arm was completely enclosed in its sleeve, which included a full-fingered glove at the end.

She carefully looked around the yard in the space between the first gate and the second, the quiet, forest-like arrangement of trees casting shadows that could have hidden any number of ambushers. However, she saw no movement, so she moved on. Her shoulder-length, wavy, raven tresses streamed behind her as she moved, displaying the sole visible flaw that marred her beauty. Her left eye was gone, the entire left side of her face covered with an angry rust-red scar that looked very much like a burn mark or a brand.

However, the lack of one of her eyes didn't seem to slow the woman down, as she made her way across the narrow stone path between the second gate and the third, keeping her wary eye on the abyss below. As she moved, the woman failed to notice that the first gate closed silently behind her. As she passed through the third gate, the second one closed as well.

The woman found herself in another tiled courtyard, this one with fountains on either side, decorated with the spirals of rising and descending dragons. Water streamed from their mouths, the tinkling sound adding a pleasant ambience that went unnoticed by the woman, the entirety of her attention on the fourth gate in front of her.

She was halfway across the courtyard, when the steel doors ahead of her slammed shut with a loud bang. Instantly, she whirled around, only to see the gate she'd just come through slam shut as well. As the booming echoes of the gates closing dissipated in the night, the woman's ears picked up another sound, a whistle from something descending from above.

She jumped aside, just as a long, three-pointed spear slammed into the ground where she had been standing, its blade biting into the tiles. The woman landed on her shoulder, going into a graceful roll that brought her back up onto her feet. Swirling lines of fire trailed from her hands, resolving into twin dao-swords of black glass, as she settled into a crouch, ready for anything.

A young man with spiky blonde hair, dressed in a yellow kimono landed on the butt of the spear, balancing effortlessly on it. "Hey," he said cheerfully, "so one of you bastards came after all. We've been expecting you, Mekira...or one of you, at least."

Cinder Fall, now Mekira of the Junishinsho, bared her teeth in a silent growl and took a cautious step back from the young man.

"Playing the sexy, silent type, huh?" asked Keikoku with a roguish grin. A quick kicking movement of his feet dislodged the blade of his spear from the ground, sending it spinning upwards as he dropped down, catching it by the shaft and draping it over his shoulders at the same time that he landed. "That works for me. Thought you'd saunter on in here and do whatever you wanted, with no one the wiser, eh?"

Cinder took another step back, her wary eye searching the borders of the courtyard.

"Yeah, the others are here," said Keikoku with a small laugh.

He hefted the spear from his shoulders, spinning it like an oversized baton in one hand, before settling into a crouch of his own, grasping the shaft with both hands and leveling the blade at Cinder. "I hear you're pretty handy with fire, especially now that you're one of the Maidens. Come on! You and me! Let's see whose fire burns hotter!"

Cinder, seeing no other path of escape, instead chose to face the opponent in front of her. She charged forward, her swords raised. Keikoku grinned wildly and lunged forward, his body seeming to shoot forward, like an arrow from a bow, the silver gleam of his spear's blade shining ahead of him, meeting Cinder's swords with a ringing clash.

* * *

"Huh?" Yang stirred, gently pulling out of Kyo's arms and rubbing her eyes sleepily as she realized that someone was knocking on the door of their room. "Who is it?"

"It's me," came Saisei's voice from the other side.

"What is it?" asked Kyo, raising his head to look over Yang's shoulder.

"Please get dressed and armed," said Saisei. "We have an intruder at the gates."

"Who?" asked Kyo.

There was an uncomfortable pause. "Mekira."

"What?" Yang shot upright, nearly throwing the covers completely off the bed, her eyes wide, sleep forgotten.

"Are you sure?" asked Kyo.

"Yes," said Saisei. "Keikoku and the other Goyosei have intercepted her. Please get ready and we will head out presently."

Yang was already shedding her pajamas and reaching for her fighting clothes, while Kyo quickly dressed in his kimono. They could hear Sasei moving on to the next door down.

In just a few minutes, they scrambled out into the hall, quickly being joined, not only by the other members of RWBY and JNNR, but the NDGO and SSSN as well. Despite the seriousness of the news, Yang couldn't quite keep a small grin on her face as she saw Blake and Sun emerge from their room together, in such a hurry that Blake hadn't even bothered to put on her bow.

The door to Ruby and Jaune's room slid open with such force that it was nearly ripped out of its frame as Ruby leapt out into the hall, followed by a stumbling Jaune. "Let's hurry!" said Ruby, her silver eyes shining in a manner similar to Kyo's. Quiet, intense fury rolled off of her in waves.

Yang silently admired Saisei's cunning in making sure that Ruby and Jaune were notified last. Over the time they'd all spent here, Saisei had learned a great deal about the battle with Salem, and the very _personal_ vendetta that Ruby and Jaune had with Cinder. If Ruby had been one of the first people she notified, then Ruby would have been left stewing in the hall while the others got ready, her temper flaring, possibly inciting her to run off on her own. By saving her for last, Saisei had kept Ruby's patience from being tried.

"Of course," said Saisei. "Things being what they are, we'll take the most direct route. Follow me."

Hayate and Nigel were both waiting a little farther down the hallway, both of them dressed and ready for battle. However, Saisei stopped as she reached them and looked pointedly at the young faunus. "You need to stay here," she said.

"But-" protested Hayate.

"No," said Saisei. "I'm not sure if the delegation is being notified about this. We can't take the risk that they might see you there. You have to stay here."

Hayate let out a long sigh and sagged in defeat. "Fine."

"I'm sorry," said Saisei, resting a hand on his shoulder. She then resumed running past, along with the others, Nigel joining them. Weiss came to a stop by Hayate.

"I wish you could come," she said softly.

"Just be careful," said Hayate. "I've never fought any of the Twelve, but, from what Saisei's told me, things are never what they seem with them."

"We will," promised Weiss, letting out a small sigh of her own and looking down the hall after her friends. "Ruby is the one we really need to be worried about."

"Go on," said Hayate with a smile. "You don't want to get left behind."

Weiss nodded and took off after the others at a run.

They had expected Saisei to lead them through the hallways. However, they discovered that by "most direct route," Saisei actually meant it somewhat literally. Reaching the end of the hallway, where a series of windows looked out over other sections of the Palace, Saisei didn't turn, but instead jumped to the sill, then out into the open air in a leap that carried her to the roof of another part of the Palace.

"Now that's the way to go!" cheered Yang as she and the others followed suit, jumping out the window and taking to the roofs of the Palace.

Despite her own natural speed, Ruby was surprised to see that Saisei was more than able to set an impressive pace, one that didn't leave Ruby chafing at how slow they could have been moving. At the same time, it was just slow enough for the group to stay together as they ran. Even Jaune, the slowest of them when it came to moving like this, was able to keep up. In the past, he wouldn't have been able to even dream of running like this. But now he was able to make the leaps necessary to jump from roof to roof with ease.

Ruby's eyes narrowed as they continued. Cinder had vanished during the fight with Salem, leaving her and Jaune with no opportunity to avenge Pyrrha's death. For over a year, she had seemingly vanished from the face of the earth, leaving no trace of her presence, despite the sheer number of people looking for her. _But why is she here now?_ wondered Ruby.

She decided that she would get the chance to find out...by asking Cinder in person...right before impaling her on Crescent Rose's blade.

* * *

Keikoku's spear met Cinder's swords, their respective blades ringing. Cinder was pushed back by the force of the strike. Keikoku immediately capitalized on the opportunity offered to him by surging forward, leading with a rapid series of thrusts, the spear moving with such speed that it seemed to be in multiple places at once.

Cinder's two blades worked in tandem as she backpedaled, fending off Keikoku's strikes flawlessly. Despite the apparent advantage her opponent held, Cinder's expression was cool and composed. As Keikoku lunged forward, unleashing an especially powerful thrust, Cinder crossed her blades to intercept the center-point of Keikoku's spear. The attack sent her flying backwards.

Cinder went into a backflip, keeping her hold on her swords, even as she landed on her hands and pushed off. She repeated the motion three times before vaulting up off the ground, bringing the handles of her two blades together so that the swords became a black bow. Cinder drew back the string that suddenly materialized, three arrows forming from what seemed to be clouds of ash that emerged from thin air. She loosed them straight at Keikoku's chest.

Keikoku responded by spinning his spear in front of him, the rapidly moving shaft deflecting the arrows, which were knocked in three different directions, plunging into the ground, piercing the stone tiles effortlessly.

"Come on!" protested Keikoku. "Surely you can do better than that!" He grinned ferociously. "If you need to get warmed up, I'll help with that."

A golden spark jumped from the tip of his spear, then the entire head burst into flames, swirling around the trident-shaped blade like a maelstrom.

" _Hinotama!_ " Keikoku thrust the spear forward, spinning it in his grip so that the blade rotated. The flames spun about like a cyclone, before bursting into three orbs of red and orange flame that roared as they surged at Cinder. She bared her teeth, splitting her bow up into its component swords. She crossed them in front of her again. The fireballs that Keikoku had just launched struck, glancing off a glowing red barrier that appeared at the point of each impact. Like Cinder's arrows, they too slammed into the ground. However, the fireballs exploded when they hit, shattering the stone tiles, sending dust and dirt into the air.

Cinder let out a small grunt of anger as she was pelted with shrapnel from all sides. All of it deflected off a barrier that appeared at the point of each impact, but she was clearly not happy with the outcome. All around her, the flames that Keikoku had launched continued to burn, despite not having any combustible material to keep them alight.

"You're gonna be in trouble if you treat my flames as ordinary ones," said Keikoku with a grin. He blurred and vanished, appearing in a flash behind Cinder, spear at the ready.

This time, he swept the blade at her like a halberd, slashing her with the broad head of the weapon. Cinder caught his attack with an upraised sword, deflecting it to the side, darting in to slash at his midsection. Keikoku caught the strike with the shaft of his spear, spinning around to swing the blade at her again. As he did, the blade burst into flames, leaving a trail of fire as he swept it at her.

Cinder jumped back, just barely missing being grazed by the flames trailing from Keikoku's spear. Keikoku continued the arc of his swing, spinning the spear up and around so that he swung it again, straight down at Cinder. She jumped back, but then had to immediately cross her swords and brace herself as a wave of flame washed out from Keikoku's spear, splashing over her guard, the hungry tongues licking at her barrier intently. Cinder growled again and flung her arms apart, her Aura exploded out around her, casting the flames aside.

As she did, Keikoku closed with her again, his spearhead still alight as he continued to thrust and slashed at her. Cinder once again fought defensively, deflecting his strikes, but trying to attack when she got the chance. The two of them danced about, moving amongst the fires that Keikoku had set, Keikoku's spear lighting even more fires with each missed strike. As she did, she missed the faintly glowing, thread-like line trailing from one of the outer prongs of Keikoku's spearhead.

As Cinder fell back from the latest onslaught, her back hit something solid, startling her. She flinched and looked over her shoulder in confusion. There shouldn't have been a wall there. As she did, she realized that she had made the mistake of taking her eyes off her opponent. Whipping her head back around, she raised both her blades, expecting Keikoku not to miss this lapse in her attention.

However, Keikoku had fallen back, rather than advancing. As he did, he swept his spear out in front of him. The flames had extinguished, allowing Cinder to clearly see the glowing line trailing from its blade like a length of string. Her eye widened as she looked around and saw an entire network of such lines hovering in the air around her, connecting together, almost like a spider's web.

Keikoku swept his spear so that its line intersected yet another of the many lines he had left in the air around their fight. In an instant, the lines formed a barrier, solid planes of force appearing between them, filling in the spaces, looking almost like the facets of a gem. Keikoku was outside the barrier and had sealed Cinder within.

At first, Cinder had thought he was trying to capture her. However, the barrier didn't seem all that strong. The Aura necessary to enclose a fair-sized space like this would have to be substantial, especially in this form. This was a barrier she could break without much effort, if she put her mind to it.

Then Cinder realized that Keikoku had sealed her in along with the fires he had set. A horrified grimace washed across her face as she realized what was happening now. The flames were rapidly burning all of the oxygen within the barrier, threatening her with asphyxiation. Already, the air was getting hard to breathe. Turning, Cinder immediately faced the section of the barrier she was closest to, the one she had backed up against, striking with all her might. The barrier cracked and shattered like glass, a hole forming, air pouring in.

"Whoops!" That was all she was able to hear Keikoku say, before Cinder's world was swallowed by flames.

" _Kaho Enbu!_ "

The flames within the barrier had already burned down, due to consuming most of the oxygen. Suddenly refreshed by the flow of fresh air from the hole that Cinder had knocked within the barrier, they burst back into furious life in a textbook example of the backdraft effect. The flames surged and roared like thunder, their power contained and focused by the remainder of the barrier before it crumbled away, leaving nothing but a blazing inferno in its wake.

"Well...that could have been more interesting," said Keikoku in a bored tone as he began to walk away.

A keening wail filled the air, making Keikoku stop. Slowly, he turned and looked back at the fire. Wind had come from somewhere, sweeping around the flames, drawing them up into a blazing cyclone, venting them upwards into the sky. Then, a flash erupted out from the center of the cyclone, the flame scattering and vanishing. In their place was Cinder, hovering in the air. Fire streamed from the outside corner of her eye as she glared balefully at Keikoku, her outstretched hands calling flames of their own. Even more flames danced through the air around her like swirling leaves.

From this perspective, Cinder seemed like a wrathful god, passing judgment on an arrogant sinner. It was a sight to inspire terror. Yet...Keikoku instead grinned.

"Finally!" he shouted, whipping the spear around him through a series of rapid spins and passes before settling into a combat stance, holding it to the side with the blade ahead of him, but angled slightly down. "It's about time you got serious!" He looked straight up, meeting her angry gaze. "Now...come! Show me what the Fall Maiden can do."

* * *

 **The bad guys are making their move. Once again, clarification time comes around. This was written back during Volume 4, where it had been revealed that Cinder had been pretty badly scarred by Ruby's Silver Eyes, but the full extent of the damage had not been revealed, nor the fact that her right arm had been replaced by a Grimm one. So Cinder's arm is still flesh and blood in this continuity, but definitely not unscathed.**


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54:**

Ruby's eyes widened, and she gasped as she saw the swirling column of flame rise into the night sky.

"What the hell is that?" demanded Neptune, as he and the other members of Sun's team rushed along in the wake of RWBY, JNPR, Kyo, and Saisei, with NDGO following behind them.

"If I had to guess, I would say that it's Mekira, tapping into her power as the Fall Maiden," said Saisei, a grin appearing on her face. "Keikoku must have made her angry."

A strange sensation passed over them, the air changing, as though they had suddenly lost a great deal of altitude, followed by a sensation that felt like their ears equalizing.

"What was that?" asked Qrow, abruptly appearing next to Ruby.

"That was the fourth barrier falling," said Saisei, her tone less jovial now. "Keikoku and Mekira are about to have a much larger audience than we intended."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked in confusion.

* * *

As defensive emplacements, the walls into which the Five Shining Gates had been set were somewhat lacking, namely by virtue of their coverage. They only walled off a small section of the Palace in the direction facing the city. While, technically, the volcano behind the Palace served as a natural barrier in its own right, the volcano's sides could rather easily be skirted by some intrepid individual, allowing them to come at the Palace from either of the flanks not guarded by the walls. Therefore, infiltrating the Onmyo Palace should have been rather easy...or so it would seem to outsiders. The Mibu themselves did little to disabuse that notion, content to tell visitors that the gates were largely ceremonial in their function, and that the Palace's protection primarily fell to the Imperial Guards and whichever of the Goyosei were present at the time.

In truth, the rest of the Palace complex was protected by a series of wards that veiled the entire space around it. The wards utilized the same techniques and methods employed by Haruka to guard the door to her workshop. However, they had been established over the course of years, with dozens of people working and feeding Aura into them in order to make them self-sustaining. Their only opening, where an intruder could possibly hope to pass through without setting them off, was none other than the gates set into the walls that were the wards' anchors. Their presence was subtle, almost like a suggestion in the mind of those who approached them. Those who were not aware of their existence found themselves unconsciously skirting them...to the one place where they could get through.

Thus, the wards themselves were designed to funnel intruders through the Five Shining Gates, where they would have slip under the watchful vigilance of the Goyosei in order to pass into the Palace undetected.

The other function the wards had was producing a barrier that extended up to cover the sky above the Palace, veiling its grounds from direct surveillance, which was how Weiss had been able to train with Hayate, without alerting the Atlesian warships above to his presence, despite the area they had been training in being in the open. Not even the most advanced sensors on Ironwood's ships could pierce through the veil of security that guarded the Palace and those staying there.

The final aspect of the wards was that they were layered. Each one was anchored to one of the five walls that protected the Palace, thus extending its protection to the whole complex. Bringing down the barrier anchored by one gate wasn't enough to bring down the entire network of barriers protecting the Palace. However, it did open up the area in front of the fourth gate to the view of outsiders...Cinder's battle with Keikoku now being open for all to see...including those overhead.

* * *

"Report!" snapped Ironwood, striding onto the bridge. "What just happened?"

"Sensors picked up an anomaly from the Palace," reported one of the officers, saluting crisply as Ironwood approached him. "A column of flame was observed rising up from the area ahead of the fourth gate."

"Anything else?" asked Ironwood.

"Well...now we can see what's happening down there," said the officer.

Ironwood nodded. He'd been perplexed by how the sensors and cameras had been unable to pick up anything taking place on the Palace grounds below. He had originally put it down to interference from the volcano. However, it appeared now that something else was at work. He refused to believe that the Mibu's Aura manipulation could enable them to hide such a wide area from his ships' cameras.

"What's going on down there?" asked Ironwood.

"Bringing it up on screen now," reported the officer.

Ironwood turned his attention to the screen and gasped. "Queen!"

"Confirming the identity of Cinder Fall," reported the officer, also looking up at the screen.

It displayed Cinder in all her fiery glory, as she hovered above the courtyard between the gates, gazing down at the young member of the Five Stars who faced her. Ironwood recalled that his name was Keikoku. The area around them, below Cinder in particular, showed the damage of battle, cracked and shattered tiles, blackened by flames, smoke and sparks rising from where fires still smoldered.

"What is she doing here?" muttered Ironwood.

"Instructions, Sir?" asked another of the officers.

"Move us into position," said Ironwood. "We can't miss this chance. Order all available weapons to train on Queen."

"Sir, aside from the person fighting her, we're picking up possible signatures of others in the vicinity," reported the sensor officer. "If we fire-"

"Silence!" snapped Ironwood. "Killing Queen is the highest priority. We can't allow this opportunity to pass. We'll hit her with everything we've got, and give her no chance to fight back. Transmit the orders to the other ships. We'll set up a concentrated barrage."

"Roger," said the officer, after a moment's hesitation. "Moving ship into position...transmitting orders..."

"Tell your ships to stay where they are, General," ordered a cold voice from behind Ironwood. A second later, he felt the chill of steel up against his neck. His eyes glanced down and he saw the ebony blade of a sword, which looked as though it had been formed from pure shadow, pressed up against his jugular. "You will _not_ fire on our people."

Carefully turning his head, Ironwood saw the black-wrapped figure of Dougal standing behind him.

"This is interference!" growled Ironwood. "How dare you protect-"

"We are not protecting the woman you call Cinder," said Dougal. "Keikoku is fighting her now. We do not require your interference."

Ironwood growled, his eyes shining furiously. The synchronized click of metal soles on the deck-plates of the bridge announced the arrival of several ranks of Knights as they dispersed to train their weapons on Dougal from a variety of angles. However, the black-garbed faunus appeared to pay them no mind, instead focusing on his contest of wills with Ironwood.

"If this were Atlesian territory, would you tolerate the interference of outsiders in your security?" asked Dougal.

"Of course not," said Ironwood. "But this is different. We do not recognize any treaty with the Mibu. We are not required to abide by the conventions of the current Vytal Treaty. We will do as we please to destroy the enemy of our world."

"If you try, it will not end well for you," said Dougal. "Look outside."

Ironwood slowly turned his eyes to the bridge windows, which looked out over the upper hull of the ship. Standing atop it, all the way at the bow end, his dreadlocks dancing in the wind, was Chinmei, grinning, an almost savage expression on his face as their eyes met.

Dougal inclined his head in the faintest of nods.

Abruptly, the nose of the warship pitched downwards. Alarms screeched across the bridge as screen flashed with red warnings. Crew members fought to keep their positions as they were threatened with being tossed about the bridge. A few failed, losing their holds and being thrown into consoles, their cries of pain punctuated by the snap of breaking bones.

"Pitch angle decreasing drastically!" shouted one of the officers. "Cause is unknown. Compensating with bow lifters...increasing output!"

On the deck in front of them, Chinmei's feet seemed to sink into the plates of the outer hull. Despite the crew pushing the forward lifters into redline levels, the warship continued to pitch downwards, as though some invisible force were pressing it down from the sky.

"Call off your ships," said Dougal, his position and, consequently, Ironwood's, not shifting the slightest, despite the increasingly dramatic angle of the bridge.

"Cancel orders!" snapped Ironwood. "Form a picket around the Palace."

"Acknowledged!" shouted an officer back.

Dougal met Chinmei's eyes and nodded again. Chinmei's grin widened and the force pressing down the bow released abruptly, causing the warship's angle to pitch upwards suddenly. Several members of the crew who had managed to keep their feet during the initial event were suddenly thrown off their feet by this second change. It took another minute of work to steady the ship again as the crew fought to regain the vessel's balance.

"That is acceptable," declared Dougal. "Mind your place here, General. You are in _our_ lands and you will abide by _our_ rules." He vanished before the crew or any of the Knights could try to apprehend him. Chinmei disappeared off the outer hull as well.

"We'll see about that," growled Ironwood, his face crimsoning with fury.

* * *

Cinder stared down at Keikoku, who met her gaze, not seeming intimidated in the slightest by the display of raw power and fury that was the power of the Fall Maiden. Instead, he grinned, looking like an eager child, ready to play an exciting game.

Cinder let out a hoarse growl, baring her teeth, her eye narrowing as she swept her right arm at Keikoku in a contemptuous gesture. The flames that danced in the air around her descended like comets at the young man, who merely observed their approach, his grin not wavering. At the last second, he jumped upwards as the fireballs impacted the ground where he had been standing. Keikoku shot upwards, riding the pressure wave of the explosions, coming up to Cinder's level.

A jet of flame fired from the butt end of Keikoku's spear, propelling it, and him, at Cinder, adding speed and power as he thrust the blade at her. Raising a hand, Cinder intercepted the tip of Keikoku's spear with a glowing barrier. However, the tip only stopped the thrust for a second before a spark of light erupted from the blade and the spear pierced through the barrier. Cinder was forced to slip to the side to avoid being skewered by the spear. As he flew past her, Keikoku spun the shaft in his grip, bringing the spear up and around in a downwards slash aimed at Cinder's head, a wave of flames trailing from the blade.

Fiery light flashed from Cinder's hands as she swept them upwards, once again manifesting in a pair of blades formed from black glass. They crossed to intercept the spear. The clash between them released an explosion of flames and Aura, which forced them apart. Because of the angle of the strike, Cinder was thrown downwards, going into a flip and landing on her feet, her heels skidding across the ground, throwing up streams of orange sparks as she did so. In the meantime, Keikoku was knocked even higher into the air.

Bringing the pommels of her swords back together, Cinder once again formed them into the bow, drawing back the string, another arrow materializing in place as she took aim at Keikoku.

Up above, Keikoku drew back his spear, reversing his grip on it so that he now held it like a javelin. Flames erupted from the tip and base of the blade, wreathing around the blade and shaft in a swirling maelstrom of fire. Another flame jetted out of the butt end. " _Kaguzuchi!_ " Keikoku hurled the weapon, the swirling flame engulfing the spear as it flew down at Cinder like a rocket, the whole thing spinning like a drill, transforming it into a miniature tornado of fire as Cinder fired her arrow.

The two attacks met, and the arrow shattered into minuscule black fragments, swirling around with the flames, seeming to wind their way around and past the spear, before forming together behind it, reassembling back into an arrow and continuing its flight as before, lancing through the air, straight for Keikoku's chest.

"Yipes!" shouted Keikoku, twisting his body to the side. However, he now had no leverage to change his direction in the air. But, by twisting his body, he brought his foot up and kicked the shaft of the arrow, just behind the head, knocking it off course and sending it spinning away through the night.

On the other side, Cinder dropped her bow and brought up both her hands, fiery-red light flashing out from them as she met the incoming spear and the fire enshrouding it with another barrier. The spear struck, the flames exploding outwards with a roar, completely shattering the earth where Cinder had been standing. The spear itself was sent spinning back almost along the same course it had come in on, tumbling end over end.

Keikoku landed on the ground and casually stretched out his right hand, the spear's shaft thudding neatly into it. Immediately, he transitioned to resting it against his shoulder, the blade resting above and behind him as he observed his handiwork.

The smoke and flames that had swallowed Cinder exploded outward as the red flash of her own Aura snuffed them out like candles. The flames streaming from the corner of her eye increased in size and intensity as Cinder glared at Keikoku with even greater fury than before. Keikoku's only response was to grin and level his spear at her once more.

The ash and debris drifting in the air around Cinder swirled together, congealing to form countless shards of glass, their forms veined with molten light. Cinder gestured at Keikoku, and they shot forth at him in a barrage. Keikoku spun his spear in front of him, intercepting the incoming shards, which shattered and exploded, surrounding him with dozens of flashes of light that all but cut him off from view. As the barrage ended, Keikoku rushed forward, charging straight through the smoke and lingering flames.

Cinder raised her right hand, an orb of fire igniting over it before she thrust it at Keikoku, the fireball becoming a jet of flame that threatened to slam into him. Keikoku sidestepped without losing his forward momentum. Cinder formed another flame in the palm of her left hand and launched another jet of fire at Keikoku, who ducked under it. She followed up by firing another jet from her right. Keikoku leapt up into the air, jumping over the line of the attack as he raised his own spear to strike, flames streaming from its edges and tip.

Cinder raised her hands up, flames of her own blossoming up from where they met, a wave of fire surging up towards Keikoku as he thrust his spear down.

" _Shakuran Entei!_ " A wave of flame erupted from the blade of Keikoku's spear, meeting Cinder's flames head-on. The two attacks clashed against each other with a furious roar, seeming to strain against each other for a fraction of a second before exploding outwards. Keikoku was flung up and back, going into a backflip and landing on his feet, which skidded across the ground as he fought to control his momentum. His clothes were slightly singed now, trailing faint wisps of smoke.

Cinder shot out from the conflagration, taking two steps before shooting up into the air, coming into a hover just a couple of meters off the ground as she raised her hands over her head. Swirling flames converged in the air above them, forming into an orb of pure, fiery light easily a meter across, its light intensifying as she fixed Keikoku with one final glare. Then she swung her arms down, bringing the sphere of flame along with them, launching a massive jet of fire straight at Keikoku.

Keikoku's eyes widened as he saw the massive fireball and the column of flame behind it coming at him. "Whoa!" He dropped into a crouch and thrust the blade of his spear straight into the ground, a wall of flames erupting up like a curtain in front of him, just as Cinder's attack impacted. There was a deafening roar and Cinder's strike plowed a trench across the floor of the courtyard tiles, leaving a trail of molten earth in its wake, and slamming into the fountain on one side, the stone dragons shattering into pieces and the water boiling away into steam, as her attack finally exploded.

Cinder dropped to the earth, landing on her feet and breathing hard. Her head dipped so that her hair veiled her face as she fought to control her breath. Lifting her head up again, she gazed upon the cloud of smoke and steam that marked her opponent's grave, her lips curling up in a triumphant smile.

"Cinder!"

That smile vanished in an instant at the sound of that hated voice. Standing upright again, Cinder whipped her head around to glare at the girl in the red hood and cape, who had just landed on the edge of the courtyard, right by the gate. She was accompanied by several other people that Cinder recognized as the members of her team, and several other students from Beacon and the other Academies.

The two of them stared at each other, their eyes blazing with mutual hatred. There was no taunting sneer on Cinder's face, only raw fury as she gazed at the girl who had horribly maimed her. Ruby returned the favor with a vigor, the Silver Eyes that had once left Cinder barely alive flashing murderously as she glared at the woman who had killed one of her dearest friends.

There was another flicker of motion, and Cinder saw the fox-tailed figure of Saisei touch down next to Ruby. "Well now, Mekira," she said in a taunting tone, "nothing to say for yourself?"

Kyo, who had landed next to Yang, grinned. "If I recall what the girls told us, Ruby's power severely injured her. Apparently, her voice hasn't been working properly since."

Cinder's lips curled back, baring her teeth.

Ruby mimicked the expression, pulling out Crescent Rose, the scythe unfolding to its full, deadly length as she raised it, taking a step forward. However, she was stopped by Saisei's tail, which she gently held her across her abdomen.

"Please stay put," said Saisei pleasantly. "This is still Keikoku's fight. He'll be most upset if you interrupt him."

"But..." Ruby blinked, her anger fading, replaced with concern as she turned a worried look on the space where Cinder's attack had exploded, the flames still burning brightly.

Cinder too turned to look, her sense of triumph fading at Saisei's seeming lack of concern for her friend and comrade. As she did, she saw the other members of the Goyosei standing around the edge the courtyard, all of them looking amused and entertained.

There was flicker of motion at the edge of Ruby's vision, and she saw that Shinrei had come to stand next to her. "That woman's not worth your time," said Shinrei, resting a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Leave the garbage disposal to us."

"But is he really okay?" asked Ruby.

"He's fine," said Shinrei dismissively. Then he cupped his hand around his mouth. "But he is ruining my courtyard, the bastard!"

"That fountain was gaudy anyway!" Keikoku's voice shouted back from out of the flames.

Cinder's eye widened and she took an uncertain step back, her mouth opening in surprise as the smoke dispersed to reveal a wall of flames that had gouged a line in the ground in a shallow V-shape in front of Keikoku, who was still crouched down, the tip of his spear planted firmly in the tip of the V.

"Jerk gets to fight her and messes up _my_ courtyard," muttered Shinrei petulantly.

"Why aren't you fighting her?" asked Yang. "It's your gate, isn't it?"

"Once we saw her coming, the plan was to catch her at the fourth gate," replied Shinrei. "Taihaku and Saisei opted out, but the rest of us wanted a crack at her, so we had to decide who actually got to fight her, since they decided that the fact it was my gate wasn't a good enough reason."

"How did you decide?" asked Jaune.

"Rock Paper Scissors," said Shinrei matter-of-factly, oblivious to the incredulous expressions directed at him by all the visiting students.

Cinder also looked at Shinrei in disbelief, unable to accept that her enemies were treating her so blithely. She directed a glare at Shinrei before turning it on Keikoku, who had finally risen up, pulling his spear out of the ground.

"Well, she's not worth treating with respect," said Kyo, his sheathed sword resting in the crook of his folded arms. "But there's no need to hold back either." He cupped a hand around his mouth and shouted, "Show her your killing colors, Keikoku!"

Keikoku's head dipped slightly, so that his eyes were hidden behind his bangs. At Kyo's words, a positively _bloodthirsty_ grin appeared on his face. He pricked the tip of his index finger with the tip of his spear, planting the weapon at his side, before smearing the blood on the tips of his other fingers. Raising his hands to his face, Keikoku pressed his bloody fingers against his cheeks and drew them back, drawing crimson stripes along his cheeks and down his neck.

Lowering his hands, Keikoku lifted his head to look at Cinder. She flinched back as the bloodlust completely infused his eyes, which almost seemed to glow as the sensation of his Aura intensified. What happened next surprised the watchers even more, as the orange and black-striped sash around his waist unwrapped itself, extending behind him and revealing itself to be a tail.

"He's a tiger-faunus!" gasped Blake.

"That's right," said Kyo and Saisei in unison, both of them seeming confused by the observation.

"Why was he hiding that tail if there's no discrimination?" asked Sun.

"He wasn't hiding it," said Kyo. "Everyone can see it at anytime."

"Yeah, but..." Sun's mouth worked as he wanted to explain it, but he gave up.

"It's Keikoku's habit," said Saisei. "When he's in a relaxed state, he keeps the tail wrapped around his waist. But when his blood is up and he's looking for the kill..." She gestured towards the young man with the tail now extending out behind him.

"What's with the blood stripes?" asked Yang, watching as Keikoku took up his spear again, holding it casually by his side. The blood stripes on his face and neck, along with the tail stretching out behind him, gave him an even more savage, animalistic look.

"It's a technique called _Chikewai_ ," said Kyo.

Saisei looked to Weiss with a smile. "Remember the wards on Haruka's door?" she asked.

Weiss nodded.

" _Chikewai_ operates on similar principles," said Saisei, "only, instead of inscribing them on an object, the user instead paints the marks on their own body, with their blood, which serves as a conduit for their Aura. It triggers an intense boost in strength that allows them to fight harder and faster, at the cost of burning through their stamina more quickly."

"Keikoku only puts them on when he's going in for the kill," said Kyo plainly, grinning at Cinder.

Cinder glared at Kyo, before returning her attention to Keikoku. She flinched under the intensity of his gaze, taking an uncertain step back. Flames emerged from the blade of Keikoku's spear, spreading down to blanket the entire shaft of the weapon. More flames emerged from around Keikoku, completely wreathing his body in a thin layer of fire.

"If that was you fighting seriously, then I guess the Fall Maiden's power isn't worth all that much," said Keikoku in an amused voice, "at least...not to someone like you."

Cinder growled, showing her teeth again.

"Upset?" asked Keikoku with a chuckle. "This is just the difference between someone who tempers and nurtures their strength through will and effort, versus a simple thief, who _stole_ what power she has."

Cinder raised her hands from her sides, orange light flashing out of them and manifesting into swords of black glass, which she raised in preparation to strike.

Keikoku charged straight at her. Rather than thrusting the spear, he raised it overhead and swung it down at her. Cinder met him head-on, sweeping one blade upwards to meet his attack. Both weapons trailed massive waves of flame, which surged against each other as their weapons clashed. They strained for a second before Keikoku's flames swallowed Cinder's and slammed her back, smashing her body against the ground as his fires seared her clothes and skin. Cinder bounced up, riding the rebound and backflipping back onto her feet. As she rose up, she caught a flicker of motion off to one side and whirled around as Keikoku appeared behind her.

She was surprised by his proximity, much too close to bring his spear into play. Capitalizing on her advantage, Cinder swept her sword up immediately, planning to cleave him in two at the torso. Keikoku almost casually raised his right arm, catching Cinder's sword.

Cinder nearly dropped the blade. The flames that wreathed Keikoku's body were like a solid wall, every bit as impenetrable as the barrier she defended with. The jolt of impact sent a sharp stab of pain up her arm as she jumped back from Keikoku.

"Pretty much what I expected," said Keikoku almost contemptuously. He lashed out with his spear before Cinder could escape his reach. Cinder met it with her swinging blade. Both weapons surged with fire, and the flames clashed.

Again, Cinder was sent flying away, her swords knocked out of her hands. She landed on her back, flipping over onto her feet, keeping in a crouch, her feet sliding across the ground, bleeding off her excess momentum. As she did, she plunged the fingers of her right hand into the ground. The dirt and shattered tiles turned bright-red as heat spread from her fingers, leaving a wide trail of molten earth in her wake. Ashes and embers rose up from it, swirling and congealing into countless shards of glass with glowing lines. Coming to a stop, Cinder stood up, sweeping her left arm forward, launching a hail of projectiles at her foe.

Keikoku didn't even bother trying to dodge or block them. Instead, he stood comfortably at ease, as the shards of glass shattered and exploded against the wall of fire covering his body. Cinder stared at him, aghast.

Keikoku's eyes narrowed and he jumped back a few more paces. As he did, the fire covering his spear flowed out towards the tip, intensifying, concentrating.

Over by the gate, Ruby and the others sweated as they watched. The clashing flames unleashed by the two fighters, but especially Keikoku, had raised the ambient temperature by an incredible amount. Even though they were well out of the way of the battle, the temperature of their surroundings was incredible, feeling less like a temperate evening and more like midday in the middle of Vacuo's desert, hotter even.

Weiss in particular was feeling the heat. She'd grown used to Saunos' warmer environment rather easily, since it wasn't as extreme as certain other parts of the world. But, as a native of Atlas, she was accustomed to Solitas' intense winters and general, year-round, chill. The intensity of the heat unleashed by Keikoku was almost overwhelming to her and she sweated profusely. However, what truly made her uncomfortable was the memory of Kyo's battle with Farran Smith.

Farran had sprayed Kyo down with gelatinous burning Dust, and Kyo had laughed it off effortlessly, claiming to have experienced hotter. Now she understood why. The flames Farran had created with his Dust couldn't even touch the heat blossoming out from the end of Keikoku's spear now. _This is the Fire of the Goyosei...This is what the Mibu can do!_

The students of RWBY and JNNR remembered Keikoku, Shinrei, and Chinmei all greeting Kyo on his arrival. The trio had jumped enthusiastically into a fight against him, trading blows with incredible speeds. Keikoku's flames had been amazing at that time too. But, for the first time, they got to see what it looked like when he fought, heart and soul, to kill his opponent.

It was even harder for Nora, as she'd sparred with Keikoku multiple times in the past few days, and had gotten a taste of his fire, up close and personal. But, while those flames had burned, the fire Keikoku was currently readying far surpassed them in intensity. She was sure that, if that blast of flames hit Cinder, not even her ashes would be leftover.

" _Maoen!_ " The flames exploded out from the blade of Keikoku's spear, a massive, surging comet of fire that far surpassed the powerful attack Cinder had used against him earlier. The intensity of its heat was overwhelming. Cinder thrust both her hands out in front of her, her burning-red barrier flashing into being as the flames struck. The force behind them drove her back, melting the ground beneath them as they washed against the barrier, splashing around Cinder from all sides. She was quickly driven back until she wound up slamming into the edge of the other fountain in the courtyard, smashing its side and spilling the water it contained, which sizzled and boiled as the flames evaporated all of it instantly.

"Aw! Come on!" protested Shinrei in outrage.

Keikoku came to a stop, relaxing his stance. The flames covering his body dissipated and he watched with narrowed eyes as the steam covered the space where Cinder was. Gradually, it dispersed on the wind, leaving behind Cinder.

She had definitely seen better days. She was gasping for breath, her face dripping with sweat. The fingerless glove covering her right hand and arm had been burned away almost completely, as well as the glove and the sleeve that covered her left arm, revealing the ugly scars that ran up and down its length. Her hair was frazzled and singed, the left side of her face, along with the ruinous scar that covered it, was also visible. Her entire body rose up, then sagged back down, with each breath she took. The look in her sole remaining eye was still defiant, as was the scowl on her face. But it was clear she was at the end of her rope and the limit of her power.

"Unbelievable," whispered Nebula, NDGO's leader, watching the fight with stunned awe. "That's the Fall Maiden...and he's _crushing_ her."

"It's awesome," agreed Dew.

"Well, it's like Keikoku said," commented Shinrei. "To get stronger, she went and stole someone else's power. However great the Maiden's strength might be, it can't compare to the power that you cultivate and build for yourself."

"The Maiden's power is great," observed Saisei. "But its limit is intrinsic and absolute, without the capacity to increase it through further training and development. A skilled user can tap into more of the power than an unskilled one, and use it more effectively. But once they reach that limit, they can go no further with it. Mekira is skilled with the Maiden's power, there's no question. But she has reached the limit...while Keikoku has plenty more to give."

"There's more?!" exclaimed Scarlet, one of Sun and Neptune's teammates.

"Oh yeah!" Chinmei spoke, making Scarlet and the other member of Team SSSN, Sage, jump in surprise, as he hadn't been there a moment ago. No one was sure where he'd come from. "Take a look. Keikoku's going for the finisher."

As they watched, Keikoku still held his spear casually, now looking at Cinder with critical eyes. "As the Fall Maiden, you presumably channel the power of nature itself. I've heard that the Maidens are basically the incarnation of the seasons." He grinned. "But people, humans and faunus, we have the power to surpass nature. I'll show you now." Flames bloomed around the blade of his spear, swirling lazily. "In nature, the hotter fire gets, the lighter its color, going from red to orange to yellow to blue to white." He grinned. "But beyond that, there's an even hotter flame, one hotter than even the hottest, whitest flame nature can produce."

The swirling flames covering his spearhead suddenly collapsed in on themselves. The light they emitted vanished, but not because Keikoku had dismissed them. Instead, the flames had changed, turning a pitch-black color. As they did, the heat they emitted intensified several times over, making the air around Keikoku ripple and swirl. Cinder's jaw dropped, defiance fleeing, replaced by an expression of utter horror as she found herself unable to look away.

"These are the flames of Hell," said Keikoku as he moved the spear, inscribing an arc above and around him with the blade. As he did, orbs of fire detached themselves from the black flame burning on the end of his spear, hanging in the air, hovering like evil spirits. "They will obliterate every last trace of you from the world of the living."

Cinder took a frightened step back, only to bump into the damaged fountain again. Her eye was locked on Keikoku, watching as his Aura swelled up around him, assuming a dark shape behind him, a demonic figure with spreading, bat-like wings, and clawed hands on the end of outstretched arms. Twelve orbs of black flame hovered in the air around him.

"Now! Taste the Demon's Breath!" shouted Keikoku. The orbs streamed in to swirl around his spear once more before he swept it in a wide, sideways arc in front of him. " _Lucifer Kourin!_ " Twelve black, burning comets erupted from his spear, rushing at Cinder, who gasped and raised her hands again, throwing all her remaining strength into the barrier she summoned.

These flames didn't drive her back. Instead, they slammed into her barrier and began burning their way into it, cracks, like glass, forming across the glowing wall Cinder had created to defend herself. She held her ground, the tiles at her feet cracking and breaking from the pressure bearing down on her. Then, with a shattering sound, her barrier gave way, and the black flames struck home. Cinder's mouth opened and a hoarse, gravelly scream erupted her throat as her body was consumed, and an explosion of ebony fire consumed her, annihilating what remained of the fountain she was next to in the process.

Watching the battle, Ruby clenched her sweat-drenched hands around the shaft of her scythe. Watching Cinder get thrashed so badly should have been elating. But all Ruby felt was frustration. Cinder was _her_ enemy, her and Jaune's. _They_ should have been the ones to fight Cinder. That was what she was feeling, even if she realized that Cinder had plenty of other enemies, one of whom was watching the fight with an uncharacteristically dispassionate gaze, her mismatched eyes almost dead as she stared at where Cinder had been standing with an expression of utter contempt and disdain.

Roman Torchwick might have been an unrepentant thief and scoundrel, but he had also been the closest thing Neo had had to a family for most of her life. However, to Cinder, Roman had been a pawn, just a disposable asset. As such, despite all he had done to make her plan for the Fall of Beacon a success, Cinder had left him for the Grimm without a second thought, left him and expected Neo to continue serving her, despite what Neo had lost, no doubt expecting to dispose of Neo the moment she ceased to be an asset as well.

Now Cinder had been unceremoniously crushed by one of their new friends. She had once been so confident, so smug, so secure in her new status as the Fall Maiden. But now, her opponent had smashed that confidence to shreds…and Cinder along with it. Neo found this development satisfying on a visceral level.

Slowly, the smoke began to clear, revealing Cinder.

"Well, I'll be damned," said Shinrei. "She's _still_ there. She's hardier than we thought."

"And she's alive," observed Saisei. "Like a cockroach, that one."

Keikoku's smile was gone. Instead, all he wore was a serious frown as he approached Cinder's unmoving form. She was slumped down onto her knees, her legs spread carelessly to either side, her head bowed so that her hair, now tattered and burnt, hid her face from view. Her skintight outfit was torn and burned away in several places, revealing the scars Ruby's Silver Eyes had once left on her, and new burns in other places. Blood dripped from countless tiny cuts. Cinder looked like a corpse, only the tiny motions of her shoulders betraying the fact that she was still breathing.

Keikoku came to a stop just a couple feet away from Cinder, looking down at her, watching for any sign that she was faking, that her apparent helplessness was just a ruse to draw him in. For a moment, it seemed that her suspicions were valid as Cinder slowly and shakily raised her head. However, it soon became clear that her condition was genuine, as Keikoku's eyes met Cinder's glazed one. She was barely conscious, staring up at him, needing all of her strength just to lift her head, not even possessing enough energy to muster up an expression of anger or defiance.

Wordlessly, Keikoku raised his spear in his right hand, holding it in a reverse grip so that he just had to thrust downwards to pierce Cinder's chest. Cinder didn't even flinch, her eye locked with Keikoku's.

A tiny hum reached Keikoku's ears. It was accompanied by a faint whistling noise of the kind that he had heard plenty of times before…namely because he was usually the one responsible for that noise, when he hurled his spear like a javelin. Realizing the direction of the noise, Keikoku looked up.

Half a dozen black ribbons lanced down out of the sky, piercing through his body with shocking ease, punching straight though him and going on to pierce through the ground. A second later, the ribbons flexed, whipping through Keikoku's body and slicing it to pieces with edges that were apparently sharper than razors.

Ruby opened her mouth to scream, but cut herself off when she saw that the pieces of Keikoku's body had dissolved into flames, which dissipated quickly in the wind. Her eyes took a second to find the real Keikoku as he had jumped straight back from where he had left his fire-double to take the hit in his place. The ribbons, flexing and bending, but never tangling with one another, slashed at him in a maelstrom of razor edges, cutting perfect, clean lines through the ground as they tried to surround Keikoku and slice him into pieces. However, dodging swiftly, Keikoku managed to avoid being ensnared and dismembered, leaping clear of the attack.

More black, this time swirling like a dense cloud of windblown dust, descended from above, condensing in the space in front of Cinder as the black ribbons contracted into it, before resolving into the the form of a person wearing a hooded black cloak.

Keikoku, having escaped death, landed, skidding across the ground as he drew back his spear. Ebony flames erupted from the blade, swirling up and around the shaft in a tight, cyclonic motion as Keikoku levered the blade back. " _Kuroi Kaguzuchi!_ " He hurled the spear, setting it to spinning like a drill, making the black flames revolve all the faster around it until it was a miniature tornado of swirling black fire, flying right at Cinder's new defender.

The new combatant's black cape swirled up, forming a spinning barrier that seemed to enfold the spear and the flames it carried, like a black cyclone of its own. From within the whirling mass of black dust and flames came the clang of metal on metal and Keikoku's spear was ricocheted back out, tumbling through the air and back into Keikoku's outstretched hand. The new assailant was driven back, feet plowing furrows in the earth from the force of impact, though they didn't seem injured by the strike.

"Who the Hell is that?" demanded Shinrei. "That attack has the highest penetrating power of anything Keikoku can do. I've never seen anything bounce it off like that."

From where he had been standing, having watched the fight in its entirety, Taihaku narrowed his eyes, his keen gaze inspecting the new arrival and scrutinizing every detail. "Hmm…"

The black retracted back to form the cape once more. The new arrival was a girl, which was all anyone could really determine. The only visible portion of her body was her chin, mouth, along with a petite nose, which was all that was visible beneath the hood of her black cloak, which made her look like a black-dressed Ruby Rose, albeit a fair bit taller. Her cloak enclosed her entire body, all the way to her feet, its hem gliding across the ground so well that it didn't even show the motion of her legs when she walked.

"S-S-Santera…" rasped Cinder, her voice wet and choked, barely audible. The damage she'd taken from Ruby well over a year ago had never fully healed, and it was clear that all the damage Keikoku had done had not helped matters.

"Santera?" Chinmei's eyes widened and his body tensed. "Didn't we just kill the last one. They found a replacement already?"

"They who?" asked Gwen from NDGO, eying him suspiciously.

"We'll get to that in a little while," commented Chika crossly, not wanting to start an in-depth discussion while the fight was ongoing.

Out on the battlefield, for the first time, Keikoku's expression betrayed some uncertainty. This new arrival was unsettling. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about her that set his nerves on edge. It wasn't just her strange method of fighting, her cloak apparently able to change its shape, and form lethal tendrils that could cut through stone and earth, not to mention flesh and bone, like butter. There was something else, some other quality about this new arrival that made him extremely wary, far more wary than Cinder, with the full power of the Fall Maiden, ever had.

A roar, a sound like a massive waterfall or the raging rapids of a mighty river, filled the air as four azure dragons flew, winding around the new arrival, before swirling in towards her, their fangs bared.

The girl didn't even move. Instead, her cloak burst into furious motion, black ribbons whipping out to slice through the dragons with ease, cutting them into pieces so that their forms dropped to the ground, splashing into simple water before fading.

Keikoku looked over as Shinrei landed next to him, more water swirling around the dark-blue, crystalline, oar-shaped halberd he wielded. "Who said you could butt in?" asked Keikoku.

"Hey, you got Mekira," said Shinrei with a smirk. "Let me have the new girl."

"Hmph…" Keikoku snorted and jerked his head to the side, wearing a petulant expression.

Shinrei let out a light snort at his friend's behavior, before focusing his attention on the new opponent. He couldn't see Santera's eyes, but he could feel her invisible gaze coming from beneath that cowl.

The two of them burst into motion at the same time. Shinrei leapt forward, charging straight for his opponent. Santera surged forward to meet him, the motion of her feet and legs hidden by the cloak, so she seemed to glide across the ground in a ghost-like manner as she closed with him.

The pair met almost exactly halfway between them. Santera's body went into a spin, the edges of her cape whirling out, extending and dividing to form more of those black ribbons that slashed outwards at Shinrei, their edges humming as they flexed and bent, coming at him from angles and directions that would have been impossible for any ordinary blade. Shinrei's response was to rapidly spin his halberd about his body, the dark-blue weapon becoming a blur, ringing fiercely as it met the black, razor-edged tendrils, knocking them away, though they quickly doubled back or flexed so that new sections of them could strike at him.

The tendrils were deadly weapons. Every inch of their length was razor sharp, and they could bend and flex in manners that no regular weapon could, ensuring that, no matter how close or far their target was, it was still within the tendrils' optimum range. Furthermore, their edges seemed impossibly sharp, cutting through almost everything in their path, as though it were less than paper, splitting perfect lines in the ground, their cuts almost impossibly clean.

At least Shinrei's weapon was up to the task of deflecting them. The blade and the shaft of his halberd were reinforced with his Aura. However, each impact made his hands buzz. After over a minute of dodging and parrying, the vibrations were making his fingers numb. Still, Shinrei fought on, dancing gracefully through the swarm of tendrils, working his way ever closer to the whirling dervish that was their source and surrounded his opponent.

Finally, Shinrei came into reach, lunging out to strike. The blade of his weapon struck Santera's cloak, and bounced away with a ringing sound, leaving Shinrei with the feeling that he'd just struck a steel plate. Shinrei grunted and jumped away before even more tendrils converged on his position, the black ribbons seeming to slice his body to pieces, before it dissolved into a construct of water.

The severed sections of water began to move on their own, exploding outward, as shimmering dragons lunged out at Santera. At this proximity, dodging was much more difficult. However, Santera's cloak exploded into a mass of razor-edged tendrils that sliced the dragons to ribbons.

In the meantime, Shinrei had danced back, spinning his halberd rapidly, a swirling vortex of water forming around it before he swept it out and up at Santera. " _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu: Suima Bakuryusen!_ " A spiraling vortex of water, filled with flying dragons launched through the air at Santera, circling around her and coming at her from all directions. Once again, Santera's cloak exploded into a mass of tendrils, meeting the dragons and effortlessly cutting through them.

No one noticed that Keikoku had leapt clear of the floor, his jump taking him up to the raised edge of the courtyard, where the others were watching.

As Santera slashed the last of the dragon heads to pieces, she stopped, realizing she had lost sight of Shinrei. Her mouth opened slightly and she spun around to see Shinrei behind her. Santera tried to move to put herself back between Shinrei and Cinder, but Shinrei struck first.

" _Suiha Ryujin!_ " Swinging the blade of his weapon straight downwards, Shinrei unleashed a wave of water that rose up over Santera, azure dragons leaping out of it like salmon climbing river falls. The wave crested overhead and descended on Santera, whose tendrils massed together to counter it. The water crashed down, meeting Santera's tendrils and scattering. However, the torrent didn't stop. Instead, the water's volume expanded, sweeping out where it landed like a flood, washing out to swallow Cinder and Santera both.

Santera struggled to get free, but her entire body, cloak and all, was held firm by coils that wrapped around it like steel cables. Cinder was in even worse straits. Not only was she being held immobile, but the swirling currents of the water tore at her body, pulling at her wounds, drawing out her blood and threatening to rip them open even wider. Cinder groaned in pain and struggled feebly, but was unable to move so much as an inch.

Shinrei casually rose up until he was standing on the surface of the artificial lake he had conjured, his arms folded, a stern expression on his face as he stared down at the two intruders. "Now I've got you," he said.

"And he gives _me_ grief for wrecking his courtyard," muttered Keikoku irritably as he landed next to Nora, making her giggle.

Shinrei stood over Santera, lifting his halberd, preparing to deliver the final blow. Then he seemed to slip. "Whoa! What the-?"

The water was swirling around, not in the currents that Shinrei had directed, but like it was circling the mouth of a drain. Its level rapidly fell as the onlookers watched in amazement. The water was sucked into a swirling, black and red vortex that had appeared in the middle of the courtyard, vanishing down to the last drop.

Shinrei landed on the ground, stumbling from being thrown off balance by the sudden change. As he did, a figure of black and bright crimson launched out from the vortex, slashing at him with a blood-red blade.

Shinrei barely managed to raise his halberd, catching the attack on the shaft. But the force of the blow knocked him back. As he stumbled to regain his footing, his new opponent rushed in, swinging that blood-red sword in a series of slashes that Shinrei managed to catch with the blade of his own weapon before successfully disengaging by leaping backwards.

As Shinrei landed, his attacker slammed her sword back into its sheath and positioned herself between Shinrei and Cinder, Santera joining her.

"You!" shouted Chika, her eyes wide with anger.

The woman did not acknowledge her, her gaze focused solely upon Shinrei. She was dressed in a short, red and black dress, its hem barely extending down past her waist, leaving her creamy-white legs clearly visible. A tuft of feathers hung from the belt around her waist and several necklaces were draped around her neck. Messy black hair streamed down past her shoulders. However, her most distinctive feature was the full-faced white and red mask, which looked like it might belong on one of the Creatures of Grimm. It lent her an eerie, inhuman air.

"What? Another one?" asked Shinrei, his voice flush with exasperation. "They're multiplying like rabbits."

The sound of a shot echoed through the air, and what looked like a golden star ascended into the night. Yang Xiao Long came back down, descending like a glowing meteor, the shining steel of her new, right gauntlet leading the way.

The masked woman skipped back as Yang slammed a fist into the ground where she had been standing, clipping her mask in the process. The impact of Yang's punch unleashed a rippling shockwave along the ground, that the woman then had to leap back to avoid. She landed next to Cinder and Santera, the latter having picked up the former, wrapping Cinder in the folds of her black cloak.

"There you are," snarled Yang, standing upright, her Crimson Eyes blazing as waves of golden heat and light rolled off her body. "All this time...looking for you...and I find you with _her_."

The woman's mask cracked, then split in two, the broken halves falling to the ground. They revealed a face that was almost identical to Yang's own, albeit older looking. There was also a cruel glint to the woman's eyes, the same Crimson Eyes that Yang and Kyo possessed.

"Hello, Mother," said Yang.

"I figured you would find your way here sooner or later," said Raven Branwen, Yang's biological mother and the first wife of her father. "You're foolish. The Mibu are not to be trusted."

"Says the woman who threw her lot in with the Demon King of the Sixth Circle," said Kyo, appearing behind the trio of women. "Hello, Raven. It's been a while. It would have been a lot easier if you had let me introduce you."

"As if you could be trusted either," said Raven, turning to glare at Kyo. "I have the answers that I need now, and I didn't need to grovel before your father to get them."

"I doubt he would have asked for groveling," said Kyo with a chuckle.

"I thought you had at least some standards," commented Qrow, coming to stand next to his niece. "I didn't think you'd fall so far as to join up with Cinder of all people."

"I don't particularly care about her," said Raven dismissively. "It wouldn't really have mattered to me if she died here."

"Yeah...that's the Raven I know," said Qrow in a weary tone.

"Still, she was able to cause quite the ruckus," noted Kyo. "I'm sure she allowed you to complete your _real_ objective quite easily."

Raven huffed quietly, but her eyes clicked to the long, narrow, cloth-wrapped bundle that was slung over her shoulder. A faint dripping sound drew their eyes to the ground at her side, seeing droplets of blood falling from the sheath she carried in her left hand, the blood evidently coming from a cut somewhere on her palm.

"It looks as though you've been helping yourself to some of our things," noted Kyo. "I would ask that you leave them here before departing."

"And if I don't?" asked Raven, one corner of her mouth turning upwards.

Kyo smiled just as crookedly back at her. "Then we cannot permit you to depart."

In a flash, the other members of the Goyosei, as well as Chika, were surrounding her. After them, the visiting students from the Academies quickly moved to reinforce the encirclement.

Raven closed her eyes, letting out a soft breath before looking at Yang. "If you stay with that boy, he will lead you to sorrow."

Yang glared at her mother. "I get the feeling that more of my sorrows come from being related to you."

To her surprise, Raven actually smiled and chuckled at that. "Well...you're probably not wrong," she said softly. Then her eyes opened and she met Yang's glare with a determined stare. "Still, there are things that I must do, and I cannot allow anyone to interfere, including my foolish daughter."

She swept her sword out from its sheath. The blade's length nearly doubled as soon as it cleared. Raven brought it around and down in a vertical slash behind her, a wave of black and red trailing from the blade, cutting a rift through space, creating another swirling, red and black portal.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Shinrei starting forward as Santera carried Cinder towards the portal.

Raven slammed her blade back into the sheath. Some mechanism clicked within as the weapon cycled through several blades, their forms visible through a window in the sheath's side. Raven drew forth her sword again, the red blade having been replaced with one of pure white, sweeping it around in a sideways slash straight off the draw. A swirling, white forcefield appeared around her and the other two, enclosing them in a cylindrical barrier.

Tenro rang, and then blazed like a star, as Kyo drew it forth, bringing it down in a powerful, one-handed slash. Taihaku and Chika assaulted the barrier with similar attacks, their own swords shining as well. Much to everyone's surprise, Jaune also joined, pulling his sword from its sheath, a bell-like chime issuing as it shined and he brought it down. Their four blades each cleaved through the barrier, slicing through it like paper. The barrier shattered. But its appearance had cost them precious time. The only thing visible was the remnant of Raven's portal as it shrank in on itself and vanished.

Silence fell over the courtyard. Kyo slowly, deliberately, slid his sword back into its sheath. When he finished, he took a deep breath and slowly let it out before speaking again. "Well, that could have gone better."

* * *

 **Drinking game time...take a sip whenever the words "flames" or "fire" is used in this chapter. Pacing yourself is important.**

 **Yeah...that's the issue with writing a battle between two fire-users. Those two words get thrown around...a lot.**

 **Anywho, back to things I wrote that were jossed by canon, after I wrote them...So Raven's Semblance does not work the way it does in the actual series, as the part about her having to bond with someone to create a portal to them wasn't revealed. I also tied it specifically to her sword, when she's using the red blade.**


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55:**

"This is outrageous!" thundered Ironwood, slamming his left fist into the table, making the cups and pots on it jump and clatter, more than a few of the vessels spilling at least some of the liquid they contained.

"Thank you for expressing your agitation," said Sora icily, her fan spread across her face at an angle as she watched him with narrowed eyes. "However, I would prefer it if you did not continue to use our table as a percussion instrument. I would hope that you were beyond such childish behavior."

Ironwood's right hand, which gripped the edge of the table, squeezed tighter and made it creak, then crack as the prosthetic fingers threatened to crush the wood. "After what happened last night, you dare to make jokes?"

Sora closed her fan with a snap, revealing lips curled up in a pleasant smile, though her eyes remained narrowed. "If not now, when?"

"If it wasn't for your interference, our greatest enemy would have been disposed of," said Ironwood.

"If not for our interference, your ships would have placed our Palace under concentrated fire, with my own warriors in the target zone, a barrage you sought to initiate without so much as a 'by your leave.'"

"Time was of the essence," said Ironwood. "It was imperative that we kill Queen before she got a chance to get away."

"Must you insist on such an inane name?" asked Sora with a sigh. "She is no longer a member of Salem's group, which makes it rather pointless to keep referring to her like that. You might as well call her Cinder and be done with it."

"Old habits die hard," commented Ozpin, taking a sip from his mug.

The air around the table was filled with a tension that had not been there the previous day, even during Ironwood's most intense outbursts. Even Radcliff and Nilam were reserved, silently watching the exchange between Ironwood and Sora, neither of them yet seeing any point to jumping into the conversation. Gwenyth observed the proceedings with a quiet steadiness, carefully weighing all the information being spoken before coming to any conclusions.

"What you did was clear interference in the execution of justice," said Ironwood. "And, because of that, a dangerous criminal escaped from us last night."

"And what _you_ almost did was a clear act of aggression against us," replied Sora nonchalantly. "I will acknowledge our failure to apprehend or kill that woman. But I believe you all understand what I mean when I say that a ruler's duty is to their nation and their people first, which means I will take action to protect them from you, General, even if you believe you are carrying out justice against a heinous criminal."

"It's certainly understandable," said Radcliff. "I would never let anything similar happen, if we were in Mistral, and our people were the ones in the line of fire."

"It's the same for me," said Nilam.

"I can't argue with that," agreed Gwenyth.

"That said," said Radcliff, looking at Ironwood. "I suppose you're free to blow as many of your own people to Hell as you like to eliminate the target, if that's what really suits your fancy. But don't expect anyone to laud you for it."

"Queen-Cinder has already proven far too dangerous to face using conventional tactics," said Ironwood. "We must be prepared for some level of sacrifice if we are to truly defeat her."

"If defeating her were our only concern now," said Radcliff, scratching his chin. He looked at Sora and smiled. "Whatever the outcome, you can't say that last night's events weren't a ringing endorsement of the Mibu Clan's power."

"Indeed," said Pastoria with a hearty chuckle. "All the power of the Fall Maiden at her disposal, and your warrior crushed her."

After the conflict with Salem, the nature of the Maidens had become known to the Kingdom Councils, though all of them had signed a pact declaring that they would not seek the Maidens or their power, which was the only reason a discussion of this matter could take place at all with these particular people in attendance. Given the sensitive nature of this meeting, it was one of the few that would not be broadcast.

"I was amazed to think that someone could manage that," said Nilam.

"To be honest, it was something of a gamble," said Sora. "We have little knowledge about the power of the Maidens. Much of it was conjecture, based upon observation."

"You had no desire of the power for yourself?" asked Ozpin.

"We considered it. However we decided to observe past Maidens, in order to better understand the nature of their power," said Sora. "Obtaining it would certainly be a simple matter, if you can identify who the current Maiden is. Cinder demonstrated that it can be done and subduing one can be accomplished, despite how much power they wield."

"But do you have a trick like the one Cinder had?" asked Qrow, who was sitting in on the discussion today.

"It is not necessarily required," said Sora. "As you are all aware, the primary candidate to receive the Maiden's power is the last person on her mind when she dies. In a violent situation, the assailant is usually the last person on the victim's mind. If you meet all the other requirements to inherit the power, then there's a better than fifty-percent chance that it will be yours."

"Then why did Cinder use that little creepy creature when she stole the power from Amber?" wondered Qrow.

"There are a number of possibilities," said Ozma. "The first is that Cinder, for one reason or another, did not meet the qualifications to inherit the Maiden's power in the normal way. She might have been too old, for example. The other possibility would be that she did it that way to avoid Amber's failsafe."

"Failsafe?" asked Gwenyth, leaning forward.

"If I were in possession of a power that I knew others wanted, and might use violent means to attain," explained Ozma, "and if I knew that the first candidate to receive it was the last person on my mind at the moment of my death, I would pick a person that I would want to inherit the power, if I died. I would then condition myself, so that that person came to mind whenever I was faced with the possibility of my death."

"It isn't even all that hard to pull a mental trick like that off," said Qrow, clueing in to what Ozma was getting at. "Even better, if you stick with the same person, no matter how much time passes, and that person doesn't meet the qualifications anymore, then the power just goes to someone else completely at random, which makes it even harder for the assailant to track down."

"Admittedly, that being the case, it is possible for such an attempt to fail, though I suppose there are ways to circumvent it," said Sora. "However, we determined that we had no particular use for the Maidens' powers and decided to leave them be."

"So you have no idea where the Maidens come from?" asked Nilam. "I don't suppose you might have an inkling of who the Old Man in the _Tale of the Four Seasons_ is."

Sora giggled. "If you are trying to imply that the Old Man in the story might have been a Mibu, I am afraid I find that doubtful." She sighed and shrugged. "Granted, amongst many of the old-timers of our Clan, there are those who would happily champion the idea. Some of them think the Mibu are responsible for nearly everything we have in the world today. They've even gone so far as to claim that the Mibu created Dust, or even the faunus."

"So there is no precedent for such power within the Mibu Clan?" said Radcliff.

"There is," said Sora, "but not in the way you might think."

"Hmm...?" Radcliff raised an eyebrow.

"In the history of our research, our Clan has encountered individuals who possess powers that we cannot quantify according to the logic by which we typically understand our powers, such as Aura. They possess abilities or qualities that appear to operate according to different principles. The Mibu refer to such people as Shamans."

"Shamans?" Ironwood raised an eyebrow. "That's a rather superstitious term."

"It's fitting when you think about it," said Sora. "In far-ancient times, when people still lived in tribes, as nomads or small groups of hunter-gatherers, there were those who appeared who did not conform to the regular standards of behavior as understood by their society.

"There were people who heard voices that were not their own, that no one else around them could hear. Others were gripped by sudden episodes of excitement, or went into intense seizures for no understandable reason. The people around them believed that the voices these individuals heard were those of spirits, or that the spasming individual was serving as a conduit for some higher power. They made these people into shamans, guides of the tribe and venerated them, looking to them for guidance and wisdom.

"Nowadays, we have a clearer understanding of the forces at play. The concept of something such as schizophrenia or epilepsy did not exist back then. But that did not mean that the conditions themselves did not exist, until those terms were created. People suffered from such conditions long before we had names to put to them. In a sense, the Shamans I refer to now are the same. They possess abilities, qualities, or suffer from conditions that we do not yet fully understand. In the past, the Mibu made the study of such people a high priority."

"But not anymore?" asked Gwenyth.

"Only if it pertains to something that concerns us," said Sora, "such as if such a person poses a particular threat or if their ability might be useful to us in a substantial way. Though, in the latter case, we try to weigh the individual will of the shaman in question. I understand that, long ago, our Clan did not have such scruples."

"All well and good," said Ironwood. "But we've strayed from the original topic."

"Only marginally," said Radcliff. "This has proven informative." He chuckled. "In some ways, it makes me happy to realize that there are still such marvels that exist in our world."

"I suppose that's one way to put it," said Ironwood. "Another is to say that there exist uncertain factors that can upset the balance we've worked so hard to preserve." He glared pointedly at Sora.

"I suppose," said Sora with a titter. "And I'm guessing you consider us such a factor, General."

"You might say that," said Ironwood.

"What troubles me is the timing of all this," said Gwenyth. "Does anyone else find it the least bit suspicious that, after having disappeared without a trace for over a year, Cinder has suddenly reappeared in Mibu territory, in the midst of this conference?"

"It actually doesn't surprise me all that much," said Pastoria. "In an event such as this, where outsiders have been welcomed into an isolated society for the first time, it is a time of heightened tensions, a time where the people guarding an area can be distracted by the larger affairs going on and miss things they might not otherwise. That's probably the same reason Cinder's plan for the Fall of Beacon revolved around the Vytal Festival."

"That's right," agreed Ozma, giving Ironwood a wry smile, "despite someone's best efforts and confidence in their overwhelming strength."

Ironwood grunted.

"You can have as many guns as you like," added Pastoria. "But if you haven't a clue where to point them, then you might as well not have any at all, and all the shots you take will be shots in the dark."

"That's enough," said Ozpin quietly, looking pointedly at his colleagues. "We did not come here to dredge up old affairs."

"What bothers me even more is that Cinder is not operating alone," said Nilam. She placed her scroll on the table, which allowed it to project an image up overhead. Ironwood had given them all a recording of last night's battle, as seen from his warship. The playback was frozen on the image of the two women that had come to Cinder's aid. "I don't know about the one in the black cloak. But the other woman, the one who'd been wearing a mask, is familiar."

"That would be Raven," said Qrow sourly, "my sister."

"So your sister has sold her services to the enemy," said Gwenyth. "Isn't she supposed to be on our side?"

"Nope," said Qrow. "The only side Raven's ever been on is her own. She might have sent tidbits my way from time to time, but that was back when we shared a mutual enemy. She doesn't talk to me unless she's after something that benefits her, in the short or long run."

"A mercenary then," said Radcliff.

"Of a sort," said Qrow. "Raven and I didn't have what you could call a normal upbringing. We were born to a bandit tribe. Raiding settlements and preying on those weaker than us was our bread and butter growing up. Through a series of...complicated...circumstances, we wound up at Beacon."

"That much we are aware of," said Ozpin.

Qrow nodded. "I liked it there, thought Raven did too. She certainly took a liking to her teammate. After we graduated, she and Tai didn't waste any time getting married and getting busy. But then, after Yang was born, she just took off. She went back to our old tribe and took it over."

"And you didn't go with her?" asked Sora.

"By then I'd come to see them in a different light," said Qrow. "They were a bunch of thieves and murders who spent their time taking what other people had made through their sweat and blood because they didn't want to go through the trouble of building a home for themselves. It was easier than creating their own settlement and making a real life. They tried to justify it through some 'the strong live and the weak die' bull. That attitude came around to bite them in the ass when it was their turn to be the weak ones."

"So they're dead?" said Radcliff.

Qrow nodded. "It happened during the fight with Salem. Raven had gone off on her own to look into something or fight in her own way. She was doing that a lot. She may have been a bandit, but she understood that letting Salem win would have destroyed everything. Even if her tribe survived, they would have died out because there'd be no one left for them to prey on. Can't pluck those fat, juicy plums if some madwoman burns down the whole tree, can you?"

"Very true," said Nilam. "What happened?"

Qrow smirked. "While Raven was away, the rest of her tribe found this nice little village that had plenty of plunder to go around. The villagers had even lowered their guard, thanks to the fact that they were throwing a festival. Unfortunately, what the bandits didn't realize was that the village was hosting a special guest."

"Oh...I see," said Sora with a note of amusement in her voice. "So Kyo was there."

"Yep, slaughtered the lot of them," said Qrow. "When Raven got back and found out that it was her people's turn to be the weak ones, she didn't take it well."

"People like that usually don't," commented Ozma sourly. "The logic of the strong surviving is usually only endorsed by one when they are amongst the strong. When they're the ones who are weak, suddenly the philosophy loses its appeal."

"I find it odd though," said Sora. "Kyo met with your sister recently, but he didn't mention any hostility on her part...at least, not until last night."

Qrow shrugged. "Hard to say what's going on," he said. "I haven't been in touch with her for a while. Kyo talked to her more recently than I did."

"Do we have any idea what her intentions were?" asked Ozpin.

"We have a notion," said Murasame. "While Keikoku was fighting Cinder, it appears that Raven used her portals to infiltrate deep into the Palace and steal an important item from our vaults."

"What item?" asked Ironwood.

"That is classified, I'm afraid," said Murasame.

"Don't be foolish!" snapped Ironwood. "If it's important enough that Raven decided to team up with Cinder of all people, we need to know exactly what this is about."

"Nonsense, James," said Radcliff sharply. "You've done similar things in the past. There are secrets that each nation needs to keep." He turned a stern gaze on Sora. "We may not like it, and the information that you refuse to share now may wind up costing us in the future. Are you prepared for that eventuality?"

"I hope so," said Sora. "As it stands, there are some things we will have to share with certain individuals here. However, that can wait for the time being."

"This leaves us with one last matter concerning what happened last night," said Ozpin. "What about this third individual...the one named...Santera?"

Qrow's eyes narrowed and he directed a quiet, questioning look at Sora, who narrowed her eyes back and shook her head by the tiniest of margins.

"She's certainly dangerous, that's for sure," said Murasame. "Her weapon is extremely adaptable, capable of changing form at will, with a high degree of control over all the forms it can take. It has high offensive and defensive capabilities."

"Have you found out anything?" asked Nilam.

Sora and the other Taishiro turned to the other guest at the conference, besides Qrow, who had remained silent up to that point. Taihaku had been standing back, behind the Elders. Now he stepped forward. "We have very little to go on at the moment," he said. "I looked through the site of the battle, but found very little. At first, when I examined the cuts her weapon left in the ground, I thought it had left some kind of residue."

"I'm guessing it wasn't that," said Qrow.

Taihaku shook his head slowly. "Just iron-sand. In some regions, it's a primary source of iron for steel, and was probably simply something leftover from whatever process forged that weapon."

"Well, that doesn't give us much to go on," muttered Qrow.

"The only other information I have comes from Shinrei's observations," said Taihaku. "He's the one who participated the most extensively in combat against Santera."

"What is it?" asked Sora.

"As a practitioner of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , Shinrei has trained extensively to sense and respond to the rhythms of enemies," explained Taihaku. "He uses that sensitivity to read their movements and anticipate their actions. However, he said that Santera had no such rhythm. What was more, he could not sense her breath or any other indicators that would have helped him adapt to her fighting style." He frowned darkly. "Shinrei compared it to fighting an enemy that was already dead."

"Strange indeed," mused Ozpin. "We are sure to encounter this...Santera...in the future. I suppose we had best treat her with extreme caution."

"Given the circumstances, and when it comes to the sheer volume of unknown variables, it is probably best to consider her more dangerous than Cinder for the time being," said Taihaku.

A tense hush fell over the table as everyone processed this information. Ironwood, in particular, seemed especially upset, clenching his fingers tightly, glaring suspiciously across the table at Sora.

* * *

A red and black swirling portal opened up in the darkness. Raven and Santera emerged from it, Santera still cradling Cinder's unconscious body. Raven looked around the cavern, seeing the other members of the Junishinsho waiting at their seats, their master still lounging in the pool of black liquid. "We have returned," she said, stepping towards the pool.

"Welcome back, Shindara," said Nobunaga. "I trust that your mission went well."

"Well enough," said Raven, kneeling at the edge of the pool. "I was able to acquire that which you sought."

She pulled the cloth bundle that had been slung over her back off and set it on the cavern floor, then carefully unrolled it partway. Resting on the cloth was the blade of a katana, gleaming silver in the faint lights that provided the only illumination the cavern had to offer.

"Ahhhhhh..." Nobunaga let out a leisurely sigh, an ecstatic sound, like someone relaxing after a long day of brutally hard work. "At last...It's been so long." He reached out with black fingers to trace the hamon of the blade. "The Mibu are many things: proud, foolish, dangerous...but I cannot fault their eye for quality. Despite your connection to me, it seems that their Blademasters could never bring themselves to destroy you, such is their eye for quality. Because of that, it ensures that you return to my hand once again, my beloved Samonji."

His gaze moved up to Raven's face. "You have done well, Shindara. However, I sense that you are withholding something from me. What else have you liberated from the Mibu vaults?"

Raven felt a massive figure loom behind her. "Do not try to hide anything from Nobunaga-sama...or I shall strike your head from your shoulders," rumbled Indara.

Raven hesitated, then unrolled the bundle the rest of the way, revealing what else it contained.

"Aha," said Nobunaga, a trace of humor in his voice. "You have a discerning eye, Shindara. That is a fine asset...if you can master it."

"Master..." said Indara hesitantly.

"I have no use for it, Indara," said Nobunaga. "If Shindara desires it, it is hers. She will have to work hard to tame it. It possesses a most potent bite, as I'm sure you noticed." Nobunaga looked to Raven's left hand, which was wrapped in a bandage. Even with her Aura, the shallow wound seemed to stubbornly resist healing.

"Thank you, Nobunaga-sama," said Raven, lowering her head.

"Take my sword," commanded Nobunaga. "Ready it for my use. My strength grows, and the day is near when I will exercise it against the world."

"As you wish," said Raven, rolling the bundle back up and picking up the whole thing.

As she turned and walked away from the pool, Raven passed Santera, who still held Cinder in the folds of her cloak. An almost dainty hand, attached to a slender, but muscular arm, stretched out from within the cloak to catch Raven's shoulder. Raven looked sharply at Santera, whose lips moved in speech, but no sound emerging.

"What does Santera say?" asked Indara.

"She's asking about Mekira," said Raven.

"Can I eat her?" asked Bikara, his voice underlined by the wet sound of slobber escaping his mouth. "She's all nice and seared on the outside, but I bet she's still nice and juicy on the inside. I want her while she's still medium-rare, not well-done."

Nobunaga appeared not to hear Bikara's words. Instead, he looked straight at Indara. "Take Mekira and see to her wounds," said Nobunaga. "She has served us well."

"As you wish," said Indara reluctantly, before turning to Santera. "Give her to me."

Santera nodded and held up Cinder's body, which Bikara took in his own arms. He turned and carried her from the chamber, following in Raven's wake.

"Now...come here, Santera," said Nobunaga, raising a hand and beckoning the black-cloaked girl forward.

Santera did as she was bid and came to the edge of the pool, sinking down and kneeling before Nobunaga, bowing her head to him.

"You have performed exceptionally well, especially considering that the process is not yet complete," said Nobunaga, reaching up with a hand and gently stroking her cheek. "If this is what you can accomplish at your current level, by the time the process is finished, you will be the finest weapon in my arsenal."

Santera said and did nothing, not responding to Nobunaga's words at all.

"Hmm...Refining her will shall be my first priority," said Nobunaga. "Go and rest, Santera. We shall continue shortly."

Santera rose up and followed Indara and Raven from the chamber.

Nobunaga leaned back against the edge of the pool with a satisfied sigh. "All goes well," he said. "Now, all we need is for Shatora to finish.

"Seasons pass...years pass...So long as Heaven and Earth have need, I shall always return."

* * *

"How do you feel?" asked Kyo. "Did you sleep all right?"

"Yeah," said Yang, wrapping her arms around Kyo and pulling their naked bodies closer together, "thanks to you."

"I'm glad," said Kyo. "After seeing your mother again under circumstances like that, I figured that your sleep might be troubled."

That made Yang giggle. "Well, you certainly made sure it wouldn't. You went and wore me out."

"I guess it's a lot to think about," said Kyo.

"I don't know if there's anything to think about," said Yang. "If this Nobunaga guy really is how you've described him, then if my mother's joined him, I won't make any excuses for her." Yang's smile disappeared. "If she's decided to work for the kind of person that Cinder would follow, then she's an enemy, plain and simple, and I won't hesitate to bring her down if I see her again."

"I understand," said Kyo.

"I'm just glad Dad wasn't here for this," added Yang. "I think it would kill him to see my mother working with Cinder."

Kyo nodded. "So...do you want to rest some more, or are you ready to get up."

"I think I've had enough sleep," said Yang, sitting up, pulling out of Kyo's arms and stretching languidly. "I'm not going to spend my day moping just because my mother's gone and done something stupid."

"A wise decision," said Kyo with a chuckle.

Given the events of the previous night, Kyo and Yang had decided to sleep in. In fact, most of the students were still resting, having had a troubled sleep after the events of the night before. The sudden reappearance of Cinder had brought painful memories to the surface, as all the students currently in the Palace had been present for the Fall of Beacon, which Cinder had engineered.

At least two of them had taken her sudden appearance and escape harder than the rest.

"Do you think Ruby and Jaune are okay?" asked Yang.

"Well, we can check on them," said Kyo.

Yang nodded and the two of them moved to get cleaned up and get dressed for the day.

A few minutes later, Yang slid open the door to Jaune and Ruby's room a crack and peeked in. Ruby was curled up in Jaune's arms, the two of them wrapped in a tangle of sheets. In the faint light, Yang could still see the tracks tears had left on both their faces. It had apparently been a hard night for both of them. But it seemed that the fact they had each other was helping to mitigate their distress.

Yang slid the door back shut as quietly as she could before smiling at Kyo. "Let's leave them for now."

They went out to the courtyard for breakfast, surprised to see that the members of NDGO and SSSN, with the exception of Sun, were already out and sitting in the pavilion, chatting amiably as they ate.

"Well, it's good to see that you're all doing well," observed Kyo pleasantly as he and Yang took their seats at the table.

"Morning, sleepy heads," said Nebula Violette, NDGO's leader, with a toss of her dark-purple hair. "You're certainly late this morning."

"It was a rough night," said Yang.

"Sure it was," commented Dew Gayle, her violet eyes sparkling with mischief. "I'm guessing your boyfriend made it _plenty_ rough for you."

Yang laughed, while Kyo blushed. "I wouldn't say that," she replied. "Kyo's a real sweetheart under the covers...though he's not lacking in the energy department."

"Y-Yang!" stammered Kyo, while the other girls tittered and Sage, Scarlet, and Neptune all gave him flat, jealous looks.

"So...anyway...what was all that about last night?" asked Nebula, her expression sobering. "I get the feeling you people know Cinder well enough, and not in a good way."

"There was something else," said Gwen Darcy, NDGO's curly, black-haired member. "You people kept calling her by a different name."

"It was...Me...Mek-something," said Octavia Ember, twirling a lock of her brick-red hair around a finger in an idle motion.

"Mekira," supplied Scarlet David, frowning at them, his one visible green eye giving Kyo a suspicious look. "That's what you called her."

"That is our name for her, yes," admitted Kyo.

"And that other woman, the one in the mask..." Sage gave Yang a curious look. "...Your mother...?"

"Unfortunately, yeah," said Yang with a sigh.

"What about the third one?" asked Neptune. "Santera, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," said Gwen, her eyes narrowing. "From the way you were talking, those were some kind of legacy names, like they were part of some kind of organization or something. Just what is going on?"

Yang and Kyo traded uneasy glances, neither of them certain just how much they could or could not say about the larger issues going on.

"You might as well give them the basics," said Saisei, entering the pavilion. "However, I must warn you all that you shouldn't repeat any of this to the Council members present at the conference."

"What about our Headmasters?" asked Nebula.

Saisei pursed her lips. "We were planning on briefing them, sooner or later, when we can arrange to separate them from the other delegates. At this point, we are still uncertain as to whether or not to include the General."

"I don't blame you," said Neptune coldly. "We all heard what Ironwood did to Penny." The members of SSSN and NDGO all nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure how much we should trust that guy."

"Be that as it may, Ironwood is both the premier authority in Atlas _and_ the Headmaster of Atlas Academy," said Saisei. "Given the circumstances, we have an obligation to let him know if the people under his care are at risk."

"Are they?" asked Dew.

Saisei's expression was grave. "With this enemy, _everyone_ is at risk."

"Well that sounds familiar," muttered Sage glumly.

"Let me go head and explain," said Saisei. "This will take some doing, as I have to explain the context behind it."

"Uh...should we wait for the others?" asked Scarlet.

"They already know," said Kyo.

"Except for Sun," Yang pointed out.

"We can fill him in later," said Kyo.

"I'm here now," announced Sun, dropping down from the roof of the pavilion and hanging from its edge by his tail. His sudden arrival made Yang and the girls from NDGO yelp and jump in surprise, though Sun's teammates didn't react at all, as they were all too used to his antics by now.

"Impressive," said Saisei. "I didn't sense his approach."

"Me neither," added Kyo, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh, I'm good at that sort of thing," said Sun with a cocky grin. Swinging back and forth, he released his tail's hold on the roof edge and executed a perfect flip over the table, turning so that he landed perfectly in the seat next to Neptune with ease.

"Where's Blake?" asked Yang.

"Still asleep," said Sun. "She was seriously twitchy last night. I think seeing Cinder again rattled her." He sighed. "At least it wasn't Adam."

"True enough," said Yang.

"So...anyway, what's all this about?" asked Sun, looking to Saisei.

Sighing, Saisei flashed her glance around at the others seated at the table and the scenery as though daring someone, anyone, even fate itself, to interrupt her again. Finally, she let out a breath and began to talk. "It began a long time ago..."

She related an abridged story about the ancient Mibu Clan and their previous arrogance, the creation of Nobunaga, while not bringing up the nature of the Clan's origins or the true nature of Kyo and his father. Yang listened with interest, even though she'd heard all this before, mainly because she had been worried about how to tell their friends from the other Academies about Nobunaga and the Junishinsho without bringing up anything that might draw connections to the True Mibu.

"So...what happened to this Nobunaga guy?" asked Sun as Saisei finished the story. "If these...uh...Twelve people...are active, then does that mean he's back in action?"

"Perhaps, though I doubt it," said Saisei. "The Twelve serve mainly as his generals, extensions of his will. As powerful and deadly as he is, Nobunaga is but one person. If he seeks conquest, he must enlist those who can spread his authority and facilitate his rule. Ideally, the Twelve are meant to gather followers of their own, create forces through which to enact their will, and use that to build Nobunaga's empire.

"However, as the conflict with our Clan stretched across generations, Nobunaga required the Twelve to serve an additional purpose. They facilitate his continuation by finding new hosts for his soul and transferring his soul into its new vessel. Depending on the state of the body that Nobunaga is leaving behind, it can be a lengthy process."

"What state was his body left in last time?" asked Neptune.

"Kyo's father beheaded him," said Saisei flatly.

"The dude can seriously come back from that?" asked Sun.

Saisei nodded grimly. "The Junishinsho have been able to restore him using so much as a scrap of flesh. Whatever the ancient generations of our clan did to his soul, it rendered Nobunaga's hold on the world of the living nearly _unbreakable_."

"The only bright side to this is that Nobunaga's abilities are limited by his vessel," said Kyo. "There are few people in this world with the strength of body to host his evil soul. As such, most vessels limit the amount of strength he can wield before they begin to break down under the strain."

"Which is why the Junishinsho are tasked with finding him the best vessels they can," said Saisei.

"So what were they doing here?" asked Sun.

Saisei pursed her lips. "It appears that Mekira and Santera were meant to serve as distractions," she said.

"For my mother," muttered Yang darkly.

Saisei nodded. "If I'm not mistaken, she appears to have taken the mantle of Shindara," said Saisei.

"Shindara..." muttered Yang.

"Her ability is quite dangerous," said Saisei. "She penetrated our most secure location without raising a single alarm. That ability of hers allows her to move from point to point without crossing the intervening space, at least, not on the physical plane. Perhaps it might be something akin to Dougal's Shadow Arts, but we actually know how to counter those. She might not have even needed the distraction."

"Maybe," said Yang with a frown. "What did she do?"

"She stole an important artifact from Murasame-sama's vault," said Saisei.

"What was it?" asked Gwen.

"The last time our Clan crossed paths with Nobunaga, Kyo's father successfully beheaded him, and we killed several of the Junishinsho," explained Saisei, "including the previous Mekira, Santera, and Shindara. There were others that we killed, but we know little about their replacements, if Nobunaga has completely filled his roster yet. The surviving Junishinsho retreated with Nobunaga's head, but Kyo's father successfully claimed a different prize."

"Well..." prodded Octavia.

"It was Nobunaga's sword, called Samonji," said Saisei. "Murasame-sama kept it down in his vault for safekeeping, but also because he couldn't bring himself to destroy it."

"Murasame-sama gets sentimental like that," said Kyo with a sigh. "Nobunaga's sword was not of Mibu make, but it was a fine blade all the same. Murasame prefers not to destroy weapons needlessly."

"Sounds like that came back to bite you in the ass," muttered Dew sardonically.

"You're not wrong," said Saisei with a sigh. "However, that has worrying implications."

"What implications?" asked Scarlet.

"If he has sent his minions to reclaim his sword for him, then it means that Nobunaga's new vessel is nearly ready," said Saisei. "Sending the Junishinsho out like that comes with severe risks. There's the possibility they could be killed or captured, or that we might even learn the location of his current lair, find it, and strike him down before he's ready to face us. He knew we wouldn't destroy his sword, so he allowed us to keep it. If he had the Junishinsho recover it, it must mean that he is ready to take it up again."

"That sounds like a pretty serious situation," said Nebula, her olive skin lightening by quite a few shades.

"Given our current circumstances, it's the worst possible situation," lamented Saisei.

"Because of the conference?" asked Yang.

Saisei nodded. "This has the potential to seriously disrupt our ability to strike a balance with the Kingdoms. Worse still, the world is still recovering from Salem's efforts to bring about its downfall. News of this getting out could cause the very chaos that the General is so worried about."

"Geez," muttered Sun. "And here I thought this was gonna be a fun trip."

"Well, there's no reason to worry overly much at this point," said Saisei. "We have no notion of when and where Nobunaga will strike. We might be wrong about how close he is to rising. Unfortunately, we have to wait for his move. We're as prepared as we can be at this moment."

"I don't think we are," said Nebula. "That guy...what was his name again?"

"You mean Keikoku?" asked Kyo.

Nebula nodded. "He crushed Cinder. But she's the Fall Maiden. He had nothing but his Aura. He wasn't even using Dust. How did he do that?"

"Training," replied Saisei cheerfully.

"Seriously?" asked Dew skeptically.

Saisei nodded with a beaming smile. "Granted, he's been cultivating his Aura from a young age. Very few people are dedicated enough to reach the level of the Goyosei. He is very close to the pinnacle of what we Mibu are capable of."

"And what's the pinnacle?" asked Octavia.

"Well..." Abruptly, Saisei switched her gaze to Kyo. "...Now that it's come up, Kyo, your mother has said that she'd like a match with you."

To Yang's amazement, Kyo's face lit up and he leaned forward eagerly. "Really? I didn't think she'd want to do it while the conference is in session."

"On the contrary," answered Saisei, her tail wagging. "She says that it's important to for the delegates to see the reality of the Mibu's strength. Since you made such a potent impression by destroying the General's brigade, she figured it was a good way to cement their respect for us."

"In other words, she wants to thrash me in front of the delegates," said Kyo.

"Precisely," said Saisei cheerfully.

Yang frowned as she saw Kyo's eyes narrow. "Is that so…?"

"Pretty much," chirped Saisei.

Yang felt worry rise within her. "Kyo..."

"Oh it's fine," said Kyo, his smile returning. "O-Kaa-san and I do this all the time."

"So...it's what...like a practice match or something?" asked Sun. "You're not fighting your own mom for real, right?"

"Of course we fight for real," said Kyo, as though it were the most sensible thing in the world. "Is there any other way to do it?"

"Your mom is crazy strong, right?" asked Yang. She didn't like the implication that Kyo's mother simply wanted to beat him down.

"One of the strongest," said Kyo. "She's considered Tou-san's equal."

Thinking about the sampling of Kyoichiro's power she'd gotten the other day, Yang shivered.

"So...how often do you do this?" asked Gwen.

"A lot," said Kyo simply.

"And have you ever won any matches?" Dew wanted to know.

"Hmm...Now that's a good question," said Kyo evasively.

"Don't lie," said Saisei with a teasing smirk as she drifted behind Kyo. "You've lost what...five-hundred matches in a row?"

"It was four-hundred and eighty-nine!" snapped Kyo, his irritable response making the girls giggle.

"See, he remembers," said Saisei, drifting over next to Yang with a laugh of her own.

Kyo sighed. "Oh well," he said. "When does she want to do it?"

"She's set the match for two in the afternoon," said Saisei. "It's a good thing you managed to wake up before noon, or she'd think you ran away with your tail between your legs."

"I'd never do that," protested Kyo.

"So he says," Saisei stage-whispered to Yang, making her laugh again. She grinned at Kyo. "Go and wake the rest of your friends and let them know. It'd be a shame for them to miss this."

"Oh fine," said Kyo in resignation.

* * *

"A match?" asked Ciel, her eyes wide as she and Shinrei made their way through the halls of the Palace. The rest of Makoto's students were following a short distance behind them, Aya and Takeshi stifling laughs at the sight of Yumiko silently fuming as she watched Shinrei and Ciel talk with each other.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "You got to meet Kyo on our date. What did you think of him?"

"Well, he has a pleasant personality," said Ciel. "But I can't say how strong he is. He destroyed General Ironwood's Seventh Mobile Brigade by himself, which means that he's very powerful. But there's a difference between hearing about it and seeing it for yourself."

"Well...remember how I got as strong as I did?" asked Shinrei.

"Yes," said Ciel. "You fought someone a lot stronger than you and lost every time...Wait! That was Kyo?"

"Yep," said Shinrei, with a chuckle. "Me, Keikoku, Chinmei, Chika; we've all fought Kyo dozens of times and, every time, he's crushed us without fail. To us, Kyo is our ultimate, possibly unreachable goal."

"I see..." said Ciel, her brow furrowing. She had seen Shinrei's strength first-hand, seen him wipe out a swarm of around forty Grimm with effortless ease. Someone who could defeat that kind of strength, over and over again, without fail, was someone worthy of the utmost respect. She could understand how someone like that might have been strong enough to destroy Ironwood's brigade.

"Then what about this fight?" she asked.

Shinrei's grin widened. "Well, what Kyo is to us, Kyo's mother is to him."

"Really?" asked Ciel, her eyes going wide.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "They've been having matches since Kyo first picked up the sword. Sora-sama's crushed him every single time."

"That's right," commented Chinmei, dropping in from above, seemingly out of nowhere, making Ciel yelp and stumble at his sudden appearance. "You remember how it used to be?"

"Wha-what do you mean?" asked Ciel, trying to recover from her shock.

"Well, their matches used to measure in milliseconds," said Shinrei with a grin.

"Try nanoseconds," said Chinmei. "It was a major accomplishment when Kyo managed to get past Sora-sama's opening move. That was after...what...seventy matches, I think?"

"Somewhere around there," said Shinrei.

"She doesn't go easy on him?" asked Ciel.

"Just enough to make sure she doesn't kill him," said Shinrei. "Otherwise, she goes for the gusto and takes him down as quickly and effectively as she can."

"Why?" asked Ciel. "I mean...he can't learn all that much if the match is over too quickly for him to use his own strength."

"Well...it's not actually for training," said Shinrei. "Keep in mind, Kyo asks for these matches even more than Sora-sama proposes them. It's an insult if she doesn't face him seriously."

"Oh..." said Ciel.

"Which isn't to say that there's nothing for him to glean from them," said Chinmei. "That's how you keep talented guys like him from getting full of themselves. People with talent are the toughest to teach."

"I thought they were the easiest," said Ciel.

"Sure...in the short term," said Chinmei. "But, in the long run, a guy with talent is gonna have a lot harder time than someone who doesn't have talent and learned to persevere."

"Kyo's talent is insane," said Shinrei. "Even back when we were just kids, he was dominating full-grown adults, even though quite a few of them were out to actually kill him. He dominated _us_ every time we ever tried to fight him too."

"When someone's that talented, it's hard to properly motivate them," said Chinmei. "Even worse, the more they win, the harder it'll be when they lose down the road."

"What do you mean?" asked Ciel.

"Everyone hits their wall sooner or later," said Shinrei. "Sometimes it's a guy who beats you in a fight. For others, it's some technique they just don't get, even though they learned all the ones before that one easily. Everyone hits some kind of limit, something that trips them up or knocks them on their butt."

"For a guy without talent, it's no problem," said Chinmei. "He's been hitting those kinds of walls from the very beginning. If he's stuck with it, then he has perseverance, something that's worth more than any amount of talent. He's used to hitting those walls and can get back up again afterwards, no problem."

"But a guy with talent probably hasn't experienced an ounce of the hardship that someone without talent has," said Shinrei. "The first time he hits his wall, odds are he's gonna hit it _hard_. A lot of talented people have been broken by that moment, the moment they encounter that situation where their talent suddenly can't take them any further. That's the deciding moment, when people with talent, the born winners, become losers."

"Uh huh," agreed Chinmei. "That's why Sora-sama always thrashes Kyo so thoroughly. Aside from giving him a goal to chase after, she's also been giving a born winner like him a continuous taste of loss."

"That keeps him from experiencing that breaking moment a lot of talented people encounter," said Shinrei. "Sora-sama always told us _'In order to be a true winner, you must first have the heart of a loser. True strength isn't the ability to never lose, but the ability to get up and continue trying.'_ "

"Wow," said Ciel.

"In any case, it was a long time ago that Kyo couldn't last a full second against Sora-sama," said Shinrei. "Nowadays, their fights get pretty damn spectacular. That's why we've brought everyone to the ring, so that you all get a chance to see what it looks like when the top members of the Mibu throw down."

"Thank you," said Ciel, her heartbeat speeding up. She was excited to see just how strong Demon Eyes Kyo could be. She wanted to see the strength that had destroyed Ironwood's brigade. Now she would have that chance.

* * *

 **Yeah, so the background in this AU is that several secrets kept under wraps by Ozpin and his "Secret Circle," have become more broadly known by at least a few others. The Councils know about the Maidens, but have signed agreements not to do anything with or to them, so long as they don't become a threat. Likewise, NDGO and SSSN were in on the Noodle Incident that was the war against Salem, and know about the Maidens too, part of the reason why they were brought on this little trip in the first place.**


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56:**

"I wasn't expecting you to propose a match out of the blue like this," said Kyo as he faced his mother in the very same ring where Penny and Yang had fought the other day. There was no trace of the damage from that fight. The crater had been filled in, and the broken tiles replaced. It was as though the battle had never happened.

"I could say quite the opposite," commented Sora cheerfully, flicking open her fan and using it to screen her smile as she looked over her son. "You normally challenge me first thing, every time you get back. But you've been home for over a week now, and you haven't asked for a single bout. Afraid to get beaten in front of your girlfriend?"

"Of course not," said Kyo confidently. "I just thought you were too busy with the Opening."

"I'm never too busy for my son," said Sora.

"Besides," said Kyo, "you shouldn't assume that you'll beat me. _This_ time, I'm going to win."

Sora kept her fan up as she laughed. "You say that every time, dear."

"This time, it's true," said Kyo confidently.

"You say that every time too," commented Sora.

Outside the ring, Yang swallowed nervously as she watched Kyo face down Sora. They were both smiling cheerfully and talking, almost as though there was nothing going on. Yet the air around them was filled with a crackling tension that put her nerves on edge. This was no ordinary situation. The knuckles over her left hand turned white as she tightened her grip on the railing.

"Wow, this is way more intense than his fight with Nigel," commented Nora as she and Ren came up to stand to Yang's right. "They haven't even started yet."

"It promises to be quite the battle," added Ren.

"Yeah," agreed Yang. She turned her eyes to the rest of the audience. All four teams of visiting students were present, clustered to one side of the ring. The visiting delegates from the Kingdoms stood on the side of the ring across from them. The other members of the Taishiro had taken positions around other sections of the ring. Penny was standing next to Murasame, throwing the occasional glare Ironwood's way, though her father's hand on her arm seemed to be doing an effective job of keeping her from trying to kill the General. Nigel was standing next to Saisei, while Hayate was nowhere to be seen, probably to avoid being spotted by Ironwood. To Yang's surprise, she saw the various members of the Goyosei, each of them near a gathering of younger people in rather plain clothes.

"Who are they?" asked Yang. Her eyes zeroed in on the group clustered around Shinrei, where she saw Ciel with him.

"They are the students of the various schools of the Mibu Clan," explained Kyo's father, coming to join Yang at the railing, Ren and Nora scooting aside a little to make room for him. "They study the respective elemental styles affiliated with each of the Goyosei."

"Where are the ones from Saisei's school?" asked Ren, noticing that no such gathering was near Saisei.

"Saisei's fellow students are mostly students of the healing arts," said Kyoichiro. "Even though they make for fine entertainment, battles like this one don't really play to their interests, unless one of them is studying the Wood school."

"Oh…" said Ren.

"So you think watching your wife pound your son into the ground is entertainment?" asked Yang, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Kyoichiro.

"Of course," said Kyoichiro with a chuckle, "particularly because there's nothing that makes them happier."

 _Kyo's happy with this?_ wondered Yang, looking down at the arena. It seemed odd to her. Sure, Kyo was a hardcore fighter who loved a serious battle, especially if his life was on the line. However, the idea that his opponent was his own mother...

Yang had had training bouts with her father ever since she was little, when she'd begun to learn his particular fighting style. His method of teaching was intense, but they'd never fought seriously, and Yang would never think of fighting her father to the degree that she had to put their lives on the line.

Shifting nervously, Yang leaned forward, anxious for what was to come.

Tenro sang as Kyo drew it forth. Sora tucked her fan into her sash and rested her hand on the hilt of her sword, broad and long, tapering to a graceful point. It was easily the same length and width as Nigel's Hakuya. Even though it was still sheathed, with Sora's hand resting on the hilt, ready to draw, the sword exuded an Aura of tension.

"Are you ready?" asked Sora.

"I am," said Kyo.

"Then try not to die," said Sora plainly.

Kyo vanished in a blur. The reason was immediately apparent as the space he had been standing in was suddenly hit with several crescents of light that came at it from several directions at once. Much to the observers' surprise, each crescent was a different color of the spectrum. No one had even seen Sora move.

In fact, Sora remained in the same spot she'd been standing before. Her blade was now unsheathed. Kyo reappeared behind her, bringing his sword down at her head with blinding speed. However, Sora raised her own weapon to block without even looking at him. Kyo's sword glanced off with an echoing clang.

Now that she had raised it, Sora's blade was clearly visible to the onlookers. It was one of the most ornate weapons anyone had ever seen. The silvery steel was highlighted by a gold inlay that ran from the tip along the center of the blade, curving around seven gems set into the blade, starting with red near the tip, then going to orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, all seven oval gems, each at least two inches in length and an inch in width, glittering and flickering, the light playing off their countless finely-cut facets.

"It's beautiful!" gasped Ruby. "It's like a rainbow."

"Indeed," said Kyoichiro. "In fact, its name is Niji, which is our Old Tongue's word for rainbow. Murasame forged it for her. it's one of his finest creations."

"Wait a moment!" said Weiss, narrowing her eyes and leaning forward to get a closer look at Sora's blade. "Those aren't Dust crystals!" Given the gems' vibrant colors and the light they gave off, that had been her first impression. However, upon closer examination, she realized that they really were ordinary gemstones.

"That's correct," said Kyoichiro. "At the tip is pyrope. After that comes a spessartine, then beryl, peridot, topaz, sapphire, and spinel at the base."

"That's one expensive-sounding sword," commented Nora, her head spinning at the price of all those gems.

In Remnant, the mineral that attracted everyone's attention was Dust, in all its myriad varieties. After that were metals, particularly iron, titanium, and aluminum, along with more precious metals, like gold, silver, and platinum, most of which were coveted for their potential uses in electronics. The existence of the Grimm and the constant threat they represented relegated most gemstones to somewhere near the bottom of the ladder in terms of materials which were prioritized by prospectors and miners. Only diamonds and other such hard minerals, which had potential uses for combat or industrial purposes, were sought after.

Because of that, naturally-occurring gemstones were usually mostly found as byproducts of Dust mining, which made them rare and, consequently, absurdly expensive. Only people with the level of wealth sported by the likes of the Schnee family could afford such rarities. Fortunately for the rest of Remnant's populace, the advances in materials science had allowed for the synthesizing of artificial gems in a wide variety of colors, lusters, and shapes, many of which were more appealing than those that occurred naturally. Still, because of their scarcity, owning a natural gem, particularly a high-quality one, was considered a mark of status by the elite of the world. To see seven such gems, particularly ones of such large size, fine quality, and clarity embedded in that one sword was remarkable, to say the least.

"It's odd..." mused Weiss. "From everything I've seen since we came here, the Mibu Clan's artistic aesthetic tends more towards minimalism and understatement than such a bold display."

"Well, my wife did come from the outside," said Kyoichiro. "Sora is fond of colorful things. Perhaps her faunus traits have something to do with that. However, those gems are not merely for decoration."

"What do you mean?" asked Ren.

"You'll see," said Kyoichiro.

As they had been talking, Kyo had attacked furiously, his blade seeming to multiply, sometimes only visible as a silvery flash through the air. However, Sora seemed to evade his every attack without the slightest effort, often not seeming to even move at all, giving the appearance that the majority of Kyo's slashes were just slightly off-target. Only the swirling motions of her colorful plumes betrayed the fact that she was moving at all.

In a flash, Kyo was behind Sora again, swinging sideways at her. Sora positioned her blade to catch his slash effortlessly. At the same time, a second image of her appeared to split off slightly, spinning in place, slashing at Kyo with a completely different sword. The shocking thing was that the Sora that had caught Kyo's attack was tinted red, along with her blade, the pyrope near the tip gleaming brightly. The one that turned to attack Kyo was tinted orange, the spessartine shining.

Kyo jumped back, moving with such speed that he briefly seemed to be in two places at once. However, when he came to a stop again, his kimono dropped slightly, a horizontal cut crossing his front, with a thin line of blood leaking from his abdomen.

There was no time for him to worry about that though. Sora appeared in three places behind and to either side of him, tinted yellow, green, and blue respectively, their respective colored gems shining as their blades descended towards him. Kyo and the Soras vanished in a cloud of dust and shattered tiles.

"Kyo!" shouted Yang, leaning forward.

"How on earth is she doing that?" demanded Weiss. "That's not any regular duplication Semblance."

"It's Sora's speciality," said Kyoichiro. "Her power is Light. In this particular case, it is light as speed."

"So she's super-fast?" asked Jaune.

"It is speed _beyond_ speed," said Kyoichiro, "swiftness to such an extent that the very laws of time and space begin to break down and phenomena that would otherwise be impossible are within her power. It is the phenomenon known as Multidimensional Refraction."

Down below, Kyo emerged from the cloud, moving so fast he was practically a blur. He landed, his sandals skidding across the arena floor. Indigo and violet Soras appeared in front of him, their blades hemming him in. They were abruptly joined by the red and orange Soras, all but surrounding Kyo, their swords slashing at him from all sides.

Kyo somehow danced between their strikes, his body becoming a blur once more. His blade flashed, batting away the blows he could not hope to avoid. With one, powerful slash, Kyo struck back at all four Soras, knocking them away, their bodies vanishing. However, the yellow, green, and blue Soras appeared around him at a distance in a triangular formation, their blades raised.

Each sword blazed with light that matched the color that tinted that particular Sora, three blades of light fanning out to either side so that each Sora was raising seven blades. The students from Beacon gasped as they recognized the finishing move Nigel had used against Kyo in their match, but repeated three times over, oriented so that Kyo was hemmed in from multiple directions.

" _San-Shoku no Mai!_ " The three Soras struck, and twenty-one blades of pure light converged on Kyo from three directions, carving their way through the ground, threatening to cut him to pieces.

Yang's eyes widened and her hands flew to her mouth. She was certain she was just about to watch Kyo die.

However, Kyo grinned widely. Tenro rang and blazed with light that matched, than surpassed the crescents of light that converged on him. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Suzaku!_ "

The light from Kyo's sword blazed brilliantly, seeming to wash out his form entirely as it swept downwards. Wings of red flame swept outwards, scattering Sora's attacks like autumn leaves. The crescents of light shattered on contact as a massive red bird of fire took to the skies.

Amongst the spectators, Ironwood's face lost all color, and his breath hitched, his eyes going wide with horror.

The onlookers were breathless, and not merely from amazement. It was as though that gigantic red bird had swallowed all the air around it, even to the extent of pulling the air out from the lungs of everyone in the vicinity. Its wings grew and spread, slicing through the three Soras that encircled it, cutting them down with ease. It took to the air, its shadow seeming to cover half the arena as it surged forwards. Ahead of it, the other four Soras appeared, their swords raised to attack it. However, they too were cut down with ease as the red bird continued onwards. All seven Soras appeared in front of it, seeming to fade and merge together, revealing the original Sora, standing firm with her sword raised.

Sora met the bird head-on, her sword meeting its beak with an impact that rocked the earth. The ground split at the point of their clash, Sora's sword turning pure white and seeming to extend in size and power. Finally, Sora and the bird were swallowed by the light, which swelled to blinding intensity. When it faded, she and the bird had moved past one another, now back to back. The bird's feathers seemed to melt away in the breeze, revealing Kyo, who staggered forward a few more steps, before stabbing his sword into the ground to remain upright.

Smiling, Sora turned to face Kyo, hefting her sword and holding the massive blade out to the side. However, her body abruptly seized up, leaving her unable to move, or even to breathe. Kyo vanished from in front of her, and a shadow passed across the sun. The onlookers' eyes turned upwards to see that the bird of red flame had returned, now sweeping across the sky, high above the arena. The bird's flight arced, and it descended in a steep dive towards Sora.

Yang's breath hitched and her heart hammered furiously. She could feel the powerful killing intent behind that attack, all of which was directed at Kyo's mother. She had never seen anything like this before. The bird rushed down at Sora and passed her with a crimson flash, revealing Kyo, a pair of red wings extending from his back as the shockwave of his attack split the earth in his wake, leaving a black crevasse in the midst of the broken white tiles. At its beginning was Sora, her body toppling over, cut in pieces from several vertical slashes.

"What was that?" gasped Yang.

"That was one of the Four Secrets of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ ," explained Kyoichiro. "Its name is _Suzaku._ "

"Four Secrets...?" Yang frowned. She'd heard that term before. Then it hit her. Ozpin had mentioned them after Kyo's fight with Nigel, having apparently used one of them to defeat Nigel.

"The _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ is divided into four separate disciplines," said Kyoichiro. "They are _Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu,_ and _Seiryu_. The _Mizuchi_ you've undoubtedly seen Kyo use before is a technique of the _Seiryu_ discipline. The names of the four disciplines are also the names of each discipline's ultimate technique. They are unsurpassed in power, representing the ultimate strength of the school of the Divine Wind."

"I thought Sora beat him that first time though," observed Nora.

"She did, technically," said Kyoichiro. "However, the _Suzaku_ is not such a simple thing to defeat. The _Suzaku_ is a phoenix, a bird of fire that is reborn from its own ashes. Even cut down, it will rise again and again from defeat to strike true. The first blow paralyzes the enemy, the second cuts them down without mercy."

Across the arena from them, Ironwood's hands and arms shook as he gripped the railing, his skin completely pale. He had seen that technique before. Kyo had used it to cut down his warships, dropping them from the sky. In their own fight, Kyo had turned that technique on him. The trauma of that moment had burned the shape of that bird of fire into his body and mind.

Kyo grunted and took two steps forward...before several arcs of blood erupted from cuts that appeared all over his body, as though by magic. The Sora he had cut down had vanished. Suddenly, she was there in front of him, unscathed. There was no sign of movement, it was as though she had been there all along. She drew back her sword and, with a click and the grating sound of metal sliding against metal, its shape changed. The edge of the blade slid forward, taking the red jewel with it, followed by a second blade, whose outline matched the first one perfectly, taking the orange jewel with it, continuing on until seven blades had opened up like a massive fan of steel and gold, each individual blade attached to one of the jewels embedded in the weapon.

In its open form, Sora slashed at Kyo, swinging the massive, unwieldy-looking weapon with incredible ease and grace. A crescent of pure white rushed at Kyo, who raised his sword to catch it. As he did, Tenro's blade shined with an eerie, blue light. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Aohi!_ "

However, the force of Sora's strike drove him back, his feet crushing the tiled floor of the arena, forming two shallow trenches as he was forced backwards until he slammed into the arena wall. As he was driven back, his sword left a series of glittering motes of golden light in a trail that hung in the air. Abruptly, they flashed brilliantly, like a chain of soundless firecrackers. Their light forced Sora to close her eyes.

Amidst all the wind stirred up by her last clash with her son, Sora felt the faintest of breezes wind its way through, tugging at the sleeve of her kimono. She felt a presence at her back and spun around. At the last second, she jumped away rapidly, feeling a faint chill that bit through her kimono and into her shoulder.

Sora came to a stop, bleeding from a shallow cut on her shoulder. "Well now," she said, "I wasn't expecting you to use the _Suzaku_ as a feint."

"Thank you," said Kyo cheerfully, hefting his sword for another attack. "It would have been better if it had worked."

"Whatever else, you are my son," said Sora. "I know your sword better than anyone else." The pair of them clashed again, their blades flashing and clanging off of one another.

"So what was that attack?" asked Yang. "I've never seen it before." The second Kyo had hit the wall, the flash of light emitted from the sparks his sword had released had momentarily distracted her. However, she had seen a flash of blue, and a birdlike silhouette had appeared behind Sora, striking at her with blinding speed.

Kyoichiro smiled. "That is a technique of the _Suzaku_ discipline, _Aohi_. Its name is actually short for _Aosaginohi,_ the blue heron fire. The glowing, blue heron's breath releases a heatless flame that is carried away by the wind, and it appears and disappears in an instant. When the flash from your sword's sparks blinds the enemy, close the distance between you soundlessly and cut them down without hesitation. It's a technique that requires delicacy and finesse, something that is a bit unusual for most practitioners of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_."

"You mean if he'd landed that he would've killed his mother?" asked Ruby, horrified.

"Possibly," said Kyoichiro. "Even caught off-guard, Sora is not so weak as to allow herself to felled so easily."

"How can they do this?" demanded Jaune. "They're mother and son, aren't they? Don't they care about each other at all?"

"Of course they do," said Kyoichiro. "This is how they _express_ their care for one another."

"What?" gasped Nora.

"Why not look closer," suggested Kyoichiro, "and see the feelings that are on display."

Yang leaned in to look more closely as Kyo and Sora danced back and forth across the ring, their swords blurs of steel and color, sparks flying from their clashing Auras. It reminded her of Kyo's fight with Nigel, the way they were moving, circling one another, advancing forward, then falling back. At the moment, they appeared completely even. But she could see that Sora wasn't nearly as hard-pressed as Kyo.

However, Kyo didn't seem daunted at all. In fact, Yang was amazed to see the most joyous smile she'd ever seen on his face. It was an expression of excitement and pure happiness. Sora met that expression with one of sincere affection.

"Odd as it may seem, this ring, this situation, is where the two of them are able to truly open their hearts to one another," said Kyoichiro.

"Why?" asked Yang.

"Unfortunately, the differences between them at times make it awkward for the two of them to truly express their feelings to each other," said Kyoichiro. "Sora is calculating, careful, and always thinking of matters large and small. Kyo is earnest, whimsical, and, while not thoughtless, certainly not as detail-oriented as his mother."

"Yeah, I can see that," said Yang with a giggle. Even as she did, little details came to the fore, the rare gestures of affection between Kyo and his mother, the fact that he lived in a different part of the Palace entirely, and spent much of the year away from his homeland. Now that she thought about it, there was a genuine distance between Kyo and his mother.

"The differences between them make it hard to express themselves to each other in most normal settings," said Kyoichiro. "But out there, Kyo is free to express himself the way he knows best, and it is a setting where Sora is better equipped to understand him. Each time he swings his sword, Kyo shows her how much he has grown. Every time she meets his blade, Sora shows how proud of him she is. They have difficulty expressing themselves to each other with mere words and gestures. But here, they express themselves with their sweat, the spark, their blood. They open their souls with each other and speak to the fullest."

Yang smiled and watched the match with renewed interest. They wielded swords against each other, unleashing techniques that could have killed the other if they landed. They walked along the razor-thin margin between life and death. But Yang could clearly see the image of a loving mother playing with her adoring son. They both looked as though there was nowhere else they'd rather be.

Kyo's sword swept through the empty space where Sora had been standing. She had dodged back, moving easily halfway across the width of the ring to stand in the open ground. She raised her sword above her head, passing the palm of her hand along its length. As it did, the jewels burst, one by one, into blazing life, the light shining from them making rainbows flare in the air around her.

Kyo had not pursued Sora. Instead, he'd adopted a new stance, raising his sword up so that the handle was held off to the side of his head, the blade extending out in front of him, edge upwards, parallel to the ground. Tenro blazed to life, its ring almost deafening.

Sora brought her sword down, holding her right arm across her body, so that the sword's blade extended off to her left. The blade opened up into its fan configuration once more, and the light from the jewels intensified.

Mother and son faced each other, their Auras surging, pressing against one another, straining, even across this distance. The floor at their feet cracked. Small chunks of broken tile danced and bounced, as though tossed about by an earthquake. The air grew heavy and warm, the entirety of the arena's atmosphere seeming to be drawn to Kyo's blade, while Sora's blade filled the space with swirling, dancing light.

"This is going to be the final blow," said Kyoichiro.

Yang swallowed, her hands clenching the railing as she leaned forward, her gaze locked on Kyo, afraid to even blink, lest she miss the instant he strike.

Then, at some unspoken signal, the two of them burst into motion simultaneously.

" _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Suzaku!_ " The light from Kyo's sword swallowed him, merging with his Aura, as the red bird of fire spread its wings once again, flying across the ring at Sora.

Sora's smile widened and she swept her weapon across her body, swinging it as though it were a massive fan. The seven blades shined to the point that they appeared to have been forged of solid light, rather than steel. " _Fenghuang!_ " Like Kyo, her Aura spread wings and became a bird. This was a bird of vivid color, its tails stretching behind it like chains of jewels, its wings like feathered rainbows. It swept across the arena in a spectacle of color and light.

The two attacks met midway with a deafening roar and a burst of light that was utterly blinding.

"Oh no! NOT AGAIN!" Yang heard Jaune yelp as she ducked her head to shield her face from the blast, raising her right arm, her gauntlet snapping into place and deflecting the brunt of the explosion.

When the sound and light faded, Yang slowly raised her head, looking nervously down into the ring. Kyo and Sora weren't visible, the two of them concealed by the massive plume of dust that billowed above the ring. Now that the air felt calmer, Yang guessed that the match was over, as she couldn't feel the combatants' Auras any longer. Licking her lips, she retracted her gauntlet and reached out with her right arm, letting it Extend down into the plume. There she felt her Aura brush up against two others and heaved a sigh of relief. Kyo and Sora were both still alive, though the dust and debris made it difficult for her to confirm their condition.

"I-is it over?" asked Weiss, cringing as she rose up out of the crouch that had allowed her to weather the blast.

"Yep," said Yang. "Can't tell who won though."

Gradually, the dust dispersed, revealing Kyo...sitting on the ground, with his mother's blade hovering at his neck, the edge just barely breaking the skin as he stared right into her eyes.

"It would seem as though Sora is the winner," said Kyoichiro with a chuckle, "again."

The two of them were at the bottom of another crater. It wasn't as deep or as wide as the one Yang and Penny had left when they clashed, but Yang had the feeling that it spoke more to the difference in the nature of their attacks, as opposed to their power. Crevices ran across the entire ring, crisscrossing directly between Kyo and Sora, the force of their blows biting so deep into the ground that they vanished into darkness. Now that the dust had disappeared, Yang was free to look around the ring and assess the condition of the other spectators.

The Taishiro, of course, were unfazed, as were the Goyosei. The students who had come to watch the match were all trying to recover from the shockwave unleashed by that last attack, which had knocked many of them off their feet. Yang smiled and giggled, as she watched Shinrei carefully helped Ciel to stand upright, a struggle that she shared with many of her fellow students.

The delegates, with the exception of the three Headmasters from Beacon, Haven, and Shade, were awestruck. Nilam hadn't even begun to try and stand up. Radcliff was grinning exultantly. Gwenyth had gotten up as quickly as she could, and was now staring down into the ring, her jaw hanging slack. Ironwood's skin was utterly pale, and he stared at Kyo with a disturbing combination of fear and anger.

 _I don't think watching this has made him feel any better,_ thought Yang as she watched the General.

"I guess that's my cue," said Saisei, calmly vaulting over the railing and down into the ring. Not far away, Yang saw Makoto also jump down. Now that she took a closer look, she realized that both combatants were injured. Sora's body was covered in myriad shallow cuts. Kyo, on the other hand, was bleeding heavily from a long gash running diagonally from his right shoulder, down to his left hip. The wound appeared to not have been too deep, but his blood was beginning to pool around his legs as it ran down his body, soaking his kimono in the process.

Unable to contain herself, Yang jumped over the railing, ignoring the shouts of her friends and rushed to Kyo in Saisei's wake.

Makoto was the first to reach the pair. He brushed past Sora without so much as looking at her. The only sign that he'd noticed her at all was his hand brushing against her arm. There was a slight flair of light, and all of Sora's cuts closed in seconds. Makoto moved on and crouched down next to Kyo as Sora lowered her sword, then sheathed it.

Saisei reached them and knelt by Kyo's other side, raising her hands up, her Aura making them shine as she held them out to Kyo's body. Kyo's wounds began to close. The shallow cuts that covered his body vanished first. But the larger wound across his chest closed more slowly.

Yang reached Kyo's side and knelt as close to him as she could without interfering with Saisei's work. "Geez! You scared me."

"Sorry about that," said Kyo.

"No you're not," scoffed Yang with a light chuckle.

"I suppose not," admitted Kyo. "I was having too much fun."

"I could see that," said Yang wryly.

Kyo sighed and dropped his head. "And I almost had her too."

"I would dispute that," said Sora, drawing her fan again and using it to hide her smile. "I will admit that your willingness to use the _Suzaku_ as a feint and executing _Aohi_ effectively are worth acknowledging. But you still have a long ways to go."

"We'll see about that," said Kyo.

Yang saw Sora's eyes narrow and knew that, behind the fan, her smile was widening. "Oh, and one last thing..."

"Yeah?" asked Kyo, looking confused.

Sora lowered her fan, revealing a positively superior-looking smirk on her face. "That's four-hundred and ninety losses for you now, right Kyo?"

Yang's eyes widened as she couldn't remember ever seeing the surly, frustrated look on Kyo's face. Then, to her absolute shock, he produced a memo pad from...somewhere...and perfunctorily flipped it open, pulled a pen out of...somewhere...and began to quickly scribble something onto one of those pages.

Looking up, Yang was flabbergasted to see Sora doing exactly the same thing, chuckling triumphantly. "Another mark in the win column," she noted. "Just look at that white in the loss column. Still no marks to mar that pristine expanse."

"Shut up! I'll beat you next time," protested Kyo.

"You say that every time, dear," Sora taunted back.

"This time it's true," said Kyo.

"You say that every time too," said Sora with another chuckle, while Kyo growled under his breath. Yang and Saisei both laughed, while Makoto looked on with amused chuckles, the two of them continuing to heal Kyo's body.

* * *

"You okay?" asked Shinrei as he brushed dust off Ciel's shoulders.

"I'll be all right," said Ciel, slapping at her hakama, grimacing as clouds of dust rose off them. All around them, the other students of Makoto's dojo were doing much the same with themselves or each other.

"I forgot to warn you that their fights can get pretty...intense," said Shinrei, grinning as he looked down at the crater that Sora and Kyo had left in the ring. "Sooner or later, this arena isn't gonna be enough for the two of them, and we'll have to set up their matches elsewhere."

"I was expecting something...longer," said Ciel, looking down at the arena.

"Well, sometimes the matches are longer, others are shorter," said Shinrei. "They didn't get the chance to use all the moves in their repertoires and that ended a little quicker than the last one. That doesn't necessarily mean that one or the other was dramatically stronger or weaker because of it."

"Really?" asked Ciel.

Shinrei had moved to gently brushing the dust from her hair as he spoke. "From what I saw, it looked like Sora decided to go for broke before long. I think she was spooked by that hit Kyo almost got in on her. It ended with her win, but it was a lot closer than the last time they fought. I remember when Kyo had to work his ass off just to land a scratch on her."

Ciel looked out into the ring, mystified. "So that's Kyo."

"That it is," said Shinrei with a grin.

Ciel looked up at him. "What?"

"Nothing," said Shinrei elusively. "So, you liked that, huh."

"It was amazing," said Ciel. "No wonder you admire Kyo so mu-YEEEK!" Ciel's voice was cut off by a startled shriek and a loud splash as she was suddenly doused with a substantial volume of water from above, as though someone had dumped a bucket onto her head.

"If you want to get cleaned off, Ciel-kun, that's how you do it," said Yumiko in a superior tone, smirking triumphantly at the wet and sputtering Ciel.

"Yu-Yumiko-senpai!" protested Ciel, dripping wet, her clothes soaked all the way through.

Takeshi leaned towards Miyu, an amused smile on his face. "Somebody's jealous," he whispered. Miyu giggled her agreement.

"Well, she's not wrong," said Shinrei with a chuckle, resting a hand on Ciel's shoulder. In just a few seconds, her clothes and skin were rapidly drying as Shinrei removed the water from her body, leaving a slight chill behind as it took some of her body heat with it, but leaving her feeling much cleaner after the fact. The mass of water hovered over his hand before, with a flick of his wrist, he sent it falling into the arena below, where it splashed across the tiles. "There, all better."

Ciel sighed in relief while Yumiko silently fumed behind her, Ciel's friends stifling snickers.

A second later, Ciel felt a much more bitter chill than Yumiko's water, like someone had driven a shard of ice straight down her spine. Whipping her head around, Ciel paled when she realized the source of that ominous sensation.

General James Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas Academy, and effective leader of Atlas itself, was looking straight at her. Their eyes met, and Ciel could see an ice-cold fury in them. His expression was tightly controlled, a small frown being the only indication of his displeasure. However, the sheer rage in his eyes alone was more than enough to make up for it. Ciel shivered and took a nervous step back from the railing, wondering if she could hide behind Shinrei, or even fall back to blend in amongst her friends and fellow students. However, it was too late for that now. Ironwood had marked her.

 _I let my guard down,_ thought Ciel. With everything that had happened over the past few months, Atlas Academy and all the trials she'd endured there, before she'd defected, seemed like a distant memory. Secure in the place she had made for herself amongst the Mibu, Ciel had allowed herself to relax too much, not worrying when Ironwood's ships had soared over the city and the Palace, not thinking that Ironwood would even bother with a single ex-student who had probably been presumed dead, and he probably hadn't bothered to think about since.

Except, in a sense, Ciel realized that, if it wasn't for her, Penny probably wouldn't have escaped Atlas. She might not have met Kyo and, consequently, escaped Ironwood's clutches. All of that, she suspected, Ironwood would be more than happy to lay at her feet, if given the chance. He had drawn out her remaining time at Atlas Academy, in an effort to make her final days there as painful and humiliating as possible, sending her and a Specialist out on a mission that he felt was unlikely to succeed, possibly because he hoped she might get killed in the process, which he had probably assumed when she and Sienna hadn't returned. But now that he saw her, she got the impression that Ironwood was angrier than ever, possibly because he believed that she had humiliated him by escaping to the Mibu.

Grimacing, Ciel forced herself to wrench her gaze away from Ironwood. She could still feel his eyes on her, but she took solace in the fact that Shinrei was standing next to her. Apparently sensing her unease, he rested a hand over hers. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yes," said Ciel after a moment. "I'm fine."

Shinrei nodded, but continued to keep his hand on hers, following her former line of sight, where he saw that Ironwood was still watching her. Frowning, he began to lead Ciel away from the edge of the arena and back into the midst of the other students. He cast one last look over his shoulder at Ironwood before leading the group back out the way they'd come.

A smattering of applause from the spectators followed Kyo, as Yang helped him hobble out of the arena, while Makoto and Sora went back to speak with the delegates once more. Yang couldn't help but hide a grin as she and Kyo made their way down the hallway. Lately, she had been the one needing his help to get around, more often than not. It was nice to reverse their roles at least once in a while.

"So...was it worth it?" asked Yang as they approached the hallway.

"It was," said Kyo. "You saw, didn't you? O-Kaa-san is the strongest." His grin was so innocent and excited that Yang couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, that's for sure," she said. _I had to pick the weirdest boyfriend imaginable,_ she reflected. _But I'm glad that he and his mom really love each other._

A minute later, they were joined by all their friends, swarming around them and expressing their congratulations for a battle well-fought, though many of them also offered teasing consolations for Kyo's loss. Having seen his previous fights, it had been hard for any of them to imagine an opponent that could defeat him, much less thrash him as thoroughly as Sora had. The students visiting from Haven and Shade were eager to hear and learn more about the Mibu Clan's techniques, instruction Kyo was more than happy to help them obtain, advising them on which of his friends and comrades could best answer their inquiries or guide their development.

 _It's going to be a busy few days,_ thought Yang as she listened to the back and forth of the conversations around her.

* * *

"A very impressive demonstration, Mrs. Sora," said Nilam, nodding politely as Sora met them in the hallway outside the arena.

"Ha!" barked Radcliff. "That's one way to put it. I was enthralled. So that is what the pinnacle of the Mibu Clan's combat arts are capable of. No wonder you're so confident."

"Thank you," said Sora, bowing her head to their praise. "I am glad that I was able to show you the extent of our ability."

"You've mentioned before that the Mibu Clan has several different schools of combat," said Gwenyth. "Which school was that."

"My own," said Sora. "It has no name presently, as I am the only practitioner of it."

"Meaning you don't teach it to your students?" asked Radcliff.

"Not really," said Sora. "I have no personal students. It was a style of combat I created for myself, the basis of which I developed while traveling the world with my eventual husband. I further developed the style, which prompted Murasame to forge a sword to suit my particular skills, which prompted me to refine it even further, until it reached its current form. Even now, I wouldn't call it complete, as I continue to further develop my art."

"Very impressive dedication," observed Ozpin.

Sora nodded. "What you outsiders call Semblance, we call Manifestation, the development of our Aura to manifest physical effects in the world around us. Unlike what you perceive about Semblances, we have learned to develop and shape our own in accordance to our wills. This often takes the form of various formal schools that teach specific groups of techniques or specialize in particular forms of manifestation.

"Because Aura is a manifestation of one's soul, the Manifestations of individuals, even within the same school, will often show deviations with respect to their personal inclinations. For example, the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ has a particular default weapon. However, both Shinrei and Makoto wield different weapons, because that is what suits them personally. Furthermore, their techniques include permutations that are not formally taught within that school because they developed those techniques _by_ themselves and _for_ themselves."

"Very interesting," said Gwenyth, scratching her chin. "Once again, this is definitely an approach to development better suited to the Academies, rather than military applications."

"It might seem a little disorganized," said Pastoria. "It might complicate things at the developmental level, when students are developing their general combat abilities. The Combat Schools might wind up supplanted by various martial schools in order to better develop the students' Manifestations. Otherwise, once the techniques spread, there might also be provisions for experienced Hunstsmen and Huntresses to take on apprentices to school them in particular types of Manifestation."

"These changes won't be easy to implement right away," noted Nilam.

"It is something we'll probably have to do gradually," said Ozma.

"Hmm...Anything to add, James?" inquired Radcliff, looking to Ironwood who had been uncharacteristically silent, not making any surly or scoffing remarks regarding the information that Sora had shared with them.

Ironwood jolted, as though startled, apparently too deep in thought to follow the conversation. "N-no...There's nothing for me to say now."

"Really?" asked Sora, her eyes narrowing.

Ironwood coughed and appeared to be trying to refocus his thoughts. "Anyway, are there any further discussions scheduled for today?" he asked.

"Not that we had planned," said Sora. "Granted, our agenda was shifted by last night's events. However, we can easily pick up where we left off tomorrow."

"Very good," said Ironwood nodding. "If that's the case, then I shall be returning to my ship. I have certain matters to see to."

"Of course," said Sora. "Have a pleasant evening, General."

Ironwood turned and marched stiffly away, an attendant moving to show him the way out. "I plan to," he muttered softly to himself.

* * *

 **I said Ciel's storyline would have an important role in the story, and now we see the point where the past and present storylines really intersect. The fun is just beginning too.**

 **I suspect fans of a certain anime/manga series might find Kyo and Sora's interactions in this chapter a bit familiar. It was kind of spur of the moment for me. I thought it was a good fit for showing the dynamic of their relationship. Kyo and Sora can be affectionate with each other, but that's just scratching the surface of their relationship. So this was meant to show how the two of them really "converse" with each other.**


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter 57:**

"Sir!" The officers and other crew members snapped to attention as Ironwood arrived on the bridge of his command ship.

"At ease," said Ironwood, moving to the sensor officer. "Run a facial recognition scan on everyone entering and leaving the Palace. Have the other ships perform a full sweep of the upperclass district for the next twenty-four hours."

"Sir?" The sensor officer blinked in confusion. "Are we looking for someone specific?"

"Just run our scans through the personnel archives of Atlas Academy, including all current and former students," said Ironwood.

"Very well, sir," said the sensor officer, saluting smartly before turning back to his work. The communications officer turned to relay Ironwood's orders to the rest of the ships. In the meantime, Ironwood stared out the bridge windows, looking across the upper deck of his command ship. He was absolutely certain of what he had seen at the match. Milling about, amongst the spectators, he had seen a familiar face, none other than Ciel Soleil, the traitor who had helped Penny to escape Atlas. It was thanks to her that Ironwood was in this predicament now.

 _I should have dealt with her promptly,_ thought Ironwood, gritting his teeth. He had held off expelling and arresting Ciel, instead making it known that she was no longer welcome as a student at Atlas Academy. He had wanted to impress upon her the gravity of her misdeeds before dispensing her _real_ punishment.

Then that mission trying to locate the escaped faunus had come up and Ironwood had seen a perfect opportunity. He figured there was every chance that Ciel wouldn't come back from that mission, even if the Specialist she had been assigned to did. It was unlikely that a second-year student had what it took to brave the chilling northern reaches of Solitas, even colder, harsher, and more unforgiving than the portion of the continent where Mantle and, subsequently, Atlas had been formed. If she died out there, it would save him the trouble of dealing with her later on.

So he hadn't been surprised when she didn't return, though he was disappointed that Specialist Caldwell hadn't returned either. The loss of a Specialist, even one as unremarkable as Sienna, was always a blow. It also meant that the mission had been a failure, which had earned him no end to hours lost listening to Jacques rant on about what the Lightning Lord's escapades were costing him.

But if Ciel was alive, then that meant she had defected to the Mibu. Ironwood's left hand clenched into a fist, tightening until it was shaking as rage surged through him. Rather than own up to her crimes and face the consequences like a true soldier, that girl had dared to flee into the protection of another nation and hide away from him. It was desertion, the ultimate expression of cowardice in the face of the enemy. She had been sent out to track down escaped fugitives but had ended up joining them as well.

 _I should have figured that I couldn't expect anything else from someone who'd already proved capable of treason,_ he thought grimly.

But now he had seen her. Now his ships, equipped with the most advanced sensors and scanning technology known to man, were looking for her. The Mibu Clan's population, even here, in their capital city, was sparse compared to the density of the populations in the Kingdoms, particularly Atlas. She wouldn't remain hidden for long. When he knew where she was, Ironwood would dispense the justice she so richly deserved. Ciel would face the consequences of her actions, one way or another.

So it was that, even though his anger still surged through him, Ironwood also felt a sense of triumph rise up within him. This was what he needed, the damning proof that the Mibu weren't merely destabilizing the peace that the Kingdoms had worked so hard to establish, but were actively working to undermine them. They were harboring fugitives and criminals, giving them a place to hide from the forces of justice that pursued them. With this, he could show the other delegates just what deceitful scum the Mibu were. Then he'd be free to do what was necessary to rein them in.

* * *

"I see," said Makoto, lowering his tea cup back to the floor, setting it down. "So the General spotted you at this afternoon's match."

"Yes," said Ciel, lowering her head, barely able to take a sip from her own cup.

"I thought so," said Shinrei, reaching over to rest a hand over hers as she let it lay atop her knee. "You looked like you'd seen a ghost."

"More like she'd seen a vengeful spirit," commented Makoto slightly wryly. "What was your assessment, Shinrei?"

"The General looked like he was ready to blow," said Shinrei. "I half-expected him to try and do something right then and there. It's a lot more control than I expected from the guy who's been shooting his mouth off during the conference."

"It seems he can be patient when he wants to be," said Makoto, taking another sip from his cup. "Although he apparently prefers to waste his patience on settling grudges, rather than more productive matters."

"What do you think he's going to do?" asked Shinrei.

"Perhaps we should defer to the one who has had more dealings with him than us," said Makoto, looking at Ciel, who was beginning to look physically ill.

Shinrei hadn't missed a detail about what had happened at the arena. After leading the students back to their quarters at Makoto's school, he had taken Ciel to see Makoto himself, and make sure that they had an idea about what to do, which was why they were now in Makoto's room, talking over the tea that the Elder had prepared.

Ciel's hands shook as she took the cup, threatening to spill the liquid within. It was delicious. Makoto's tea always was, possibly because of his mastery of water and the medicinal arts, which could be applied to extracting the most flavorful components from steeping tea, without taking the more bitter compounds with them. However, in her current state, her throat was threatening to close in on itself, making it hard for her to even swallow. The rage she had seen in Ironwood's eyes had shaken her to her core, as well as the possible implications if he came for her now. What would happen to the Mibu, her friends, her fellow students? What if the Opening, Sora's efforts, fell apart because of her?

A slender, graceful hand entered into her vision, resting over the cup in her hands and gently pushing it downwards, prompting her to set it down. Next, Makoto's hand rose up to her forehead, pressing against it. His touch felt blissfully cool to Ciel, the sensation spreading in a soothing wave throughout her body, causing muscles to unknot and her throat to loosen. Her trembles receded, then stopped entirely.

"Be at ease," said Makoto gently. His hand slipped up over her forehead, brushing through her bangs, then up over the top of her head and down the back, the gesture calming and reassuring. "You need not fear."

"But what if I ruin everything?" asked Ciel quickly. "You've all worked hard. But Ironwood could use this to rally the other Kingdoms against the Mibu."

"He could try," said Makoto, "but I imagine that it would be rather more difficult than he imagines. You needn't worry. Sora's vision is clearer than that."

"Clearer...?" Ciel tilted her head in confusion.

"In martial arts, the saying is 'Eyes first, legs second, courage third, power last,'" said Makoto.

"What is that?" asked Ciel.

"It's a proverb that relates to the philosophy of combat," said Shinrei, taking Ciel's hand again. "Power refers to strength, your ability to exert force in battle. That applies to both your muscles and your Aura. But power is trumped by courage, your will, your capacity to draw out your strength and actually apply it. A fighter who has both power and courage is trumped by one who who also has mastered their legs and feet, through which reach and distance and, as a result, the battle itself can be controlled. However, someone who has all of that will still lose to someone who has that and the eyes, by which we mean the ability to see the flow of battle and direct their legs, courage, and power."

"Such a philosophy can be useful in many other matters," said Makoto, "such as politics. On a national scale, power could be said to refer to military might or economic clout, the forces by which you can use to express your strength with other nations. Courage is represented by the determination and willingness to use those assets to their fullest. Legs are your ability to move your forces or distribute your resources to properly utilize those assets against a political opponent. Finally, eyes is your ability to see the wider picture and make the proper decisions regarding them."

He smiled confidently at Ciel. "The reason I ceded the position of head of the Taishiro to Sora was that she has the finest eyes I have ever seen. She has a remarkable clarity of vision that goes far beyond anything I or any of the other Elders are capable of. She has complete mastery of uncertainty."

"I...I don't get it," said Ciel, feeling that a lot of this conversation was going over her head.

"Most leaders would seek to _increase_ their control," said Makoto. "The general philosophy, the one I followed when I led the Taishiro, is that maintaining control and eliminating uncertain variables is the key to success. The more control you have, the better able you are to follow your plans through to completion. The more complicated your plan, the more difficult it becomes, because the more variables there are and the greater a chance there is that any one of them might go wrong, and cause the entire endeavor to fail."

"All right," said Ciel.

"But Sora's philosophy is different," said Makoto. "While she doesn't devolve to anarchy, she also builds her plans to be inherently flexible, guidelines to achieving her goal. Rather than trying to avoid uncertainty or unexpected circumstances, she deliberately entices them, even when they might be a setback or even jeopardize her plans in their entirety, because she has the remarkable skill to spot opportunity, opportunities that would not exist unless such unexpected situations were allowed to occur."

"It's just like fighting a match," said Shinrei. "If you want to win against a strong adversary, you can't avoid risk. You have to take chances, gamble, then use your skill to spot and exploit the opportunities that emerge to claim victory."

"I see," said Ciel.

"So don't worry about damaging our agenda," said Makoto. "We will look for opportunity in even the most difficult circumstances and use it to move forward in ways that we wouldn't have been able to otherwise."

"O-okay," said Ciel.

"So, what do you think the General will do?" asked Makoto.

Feeling more at ease now, Ciel was able to take up her cup and take a long sip from it. "It's hard to say," she said. "I can't be certain how he'll behave exactly. He'd been growing more and more erratic at the time that I left. If I had to guess, right now he sees himself as being in the middle of enemy territory."

"That certainly fits how he's been acting," noted Makoto. "He's refused quarters with the rest of the delegates. When deliberations have ended for the day, he returns to his ship and holes himself up behind his weapons, his androids, and his security systems. On every journey to and from the conference room, his mannerisms are as though he is moving amidst a battlefield, well behind enemy lines."

Ciel nodded. "If I had to guess, I'd say that, if he's able to locate me, he'll try to have me arrested."

"In other words, he'd deploy his forces on our soil," muttered Makoto. "Our patience with his antics is already wearing thin."

"Do you think he'd use a substantial force?" asked Shinrei.

"Possibly," said Ciel. "He'd probably use a squad, if not a platoon of Knights, or even Jaegers, for backup. It depends on how much resistance he expects. Of course...his warships are also here, so I don't think it would be hard for him to arrange to have one overhead for further air support."

"I see," said Makoto. "I'll need to inform Sora about this development and see what she wants to do."

"What should I do?" asked Ciel.

"Nothing," said Makoto simply.

"Huh?" Ciel blinked in confusion.

"By which I mean, go about your days as you normally do," said Makoto. "There is no need to disrupt your routine."

"But-"

"You are _not_ a wanted criminal in our lands," said Makoto. "You have done nothing that requires censure or any restriction of your actions. Amongst the Mibu, you are a citizen of good standing. If the General finds you and chooses to come for you, then, regardless of Sora's plans, we will protect you with all our strength."

"You're one of us now," said Shinrei, giving Ciel's hand a squeeze. "This is your home, where you belong. A temperamental blowhard from another Kingdom can't change that."

Ciel sniffled and leaned against Shinrei, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Thank you," she said.

"Hey, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I let some jerk just snatch away the girl I love?" asked Shinrei with a chuckle.

"A poor one indeed," said Makoto with a smirk as he sipped his tea. "Then I will leave the practical side of matters in your hands."

"Sure thing," said Shinrei with a grin. "If that guy tries to come here, I'll send him packing."

"Be gentle," said Makoto. "You may be as savage as you wish with the androids. But the General cannot come to serious harm, unless Sora allows it." He raised his eyes. "But if he tries to enter the battle himself, use your own discretion."

"Sure thing, Sensei," said Shinrei, bowing his head.

Ciel raised a hesitant hand.

"What is it?" asked Makoto.

"Well, I'm not sure it would come to this," said Ciel, "but there is one other thing that the General might try..."

* * *

"If we are talking about establishing a proper relationship, we also need to consider the matter of extradition," said Ironwood, surprisingly taking the lead in the next day's discussion. "Our Kingdoms have special treaties in place to ensure that criminals cannot hide simply by crossing borders. If the Mibu truly propose to join the world stage, then you cannot be an exception to that. I doubt that even you would want your lands to become a haven for criminals fleeing justice."

"You make an excellent point," said Sora, once again screening the lower half of her face with her fan. "Perhaps we should examine the basis on what your current extradition arrangements are based on. From there, we can build the groundwork of any extradition treaty."

"Our current treaties are based on the severity of the crimes, as well as conditions within the Kingdom where the criminal act was committed," commented Nilam, glancing sidelong at Ironwood with a suspicious expression. "We also consider the nature of the requesting Kingdom's justice system."

"Do you now?" asked Sora, lowering her fan.

"Hmm." Radcliff hummed his agreement and nodded, his arms crossed. "Certain Kingdoms regard justice as more punitive than reformatory. Because of that, minor criminals have often crossed borders to escape long-term punitive measures in order to secure better lives for themselves."

"Something that is quite foolish to allow," said Ironwood. "They simply go on to commit crimes in other Kingdoms."

"I would say it's rather the opposite," said Radcliff. "Post-imprisonment penalties are used to continue punishing the criminal, even after his sentence has ended, inhibiting his ability to support himself through normal means, which has the result of driving them back to crime."

"Naturally, there are crimes so heinous that it is virtually impossible to believe that reforming the criminal is possible, or even deserved," said Nilam. "Some people don't deserve second chances. However, the severity of such crimes is a matter of debate, even within our Kingdoms."

"And, of course," said Radcliff, raising an eyebrow at Ironwood, "there are provisions protecting those who have committed political crimes in the country requesting extradition."

"It's naive," said Ironwood. "Sheltering terrorists and rebels within your territories will only result in the flames of civil conflict being fanned in your Kingdom." His eyes narrowed. "It also allows those who aim to destroy our Kingdoms to plot their downfall from other Kingdoms without repercussion."

"We've been over this before, James," said Radcliff. "We base our decisions based on whether or not they are actively rebelling against your Kingdom from within our borders, or if you simply wish to silence a voice of dissent against your government. So far, it has always proven to be the latter."

"They are an active threat!" snapped James. "Those fools stir up discord and discontent, which disturb the populace, which then draws the Grimm. If we are to preserve order, or even the very existence of our Kingdoms, we must maintain control!"

"You mistake _oppression_ for control!" Radcliff snapped back. "You crush down voices of dissent and discontent, which only causes those feelings to fester and intensify as you practically hand them justification for their complaints. That causes far more problems than allowing people to voice their complaints and dealing with them in a rational manner."

Gwenyth tapped her cheek. "Our Kingdoms have provisions for the Freedom of Speech for a reason, James. I understand you have suspended such provisions in Atlas. Even I have to say that it has been to your detriment."

Sora and the Taishiro listened quietly as Ironwood and the delegates from the other Kingdoms argued over issues of justice, abstaining from chiming in unless they felt they had something important to say. The topic wandered well away from the topic of extradition as the various delegates used the conference as an opportunity to assess the laws and regulations of the other Kingdoms. Ozpin, Ozma, and Pastoria also held their tongues, not wanting to highlight the politically independent nature of the Academies at this delicate stage. This was an issue that the Kingdoms would need to work out for themselves.

* * *

"Well, that was interesting," said Sora, tapping her closed fan against her chin as she and the other Taishiro left the conference room. The discussion had concluded without anything being finalized, naturally. "It's a good thing you warned me about the General's...fixation...on your student."

Makoto nodded. "He was also seeking to structure an extradition treaty in such a way that it would allow him to force the return of the faunus refugees to Atlas," he noted.

Mursame huffed irritably. "It would appear that the General can be clever when he wants to be. It's a shame that he would choose an issue like this. I keep hoping that he will show us some hidden depth, some kind of evidence that there is more to him than the belligerent dictator, crushing people beneath his heel in the name of 'order' and 'unity.' But he only proves himself to be more and more shallow with each discussion."

"It makes me pity him," said Sora with a sigh.

"Pity?" Murasame looked at her incredulously.

"He is a man with high aspirations," said Sora. "He wants to protect the people, not just the people of his own country, but _all_ people. To that end, he has heavily invested himself in his efforts to do so. The conflict with Salem has chiseled away much of the man he once was, as he was confronted by loss after loss, many of which occurred in spite of, or even _because_ of, his best efforts. He is a simple man with simple ambitions, who has been mired in a complex world. He desires to make the world as simple as those ambitions in order to effectively carry them out."

"Hence why he sidelined his own Kingdom's Council," mused Makoto, "and why he continues to make efforts to extend his reach into other Kingdoms."

"He's a benevolent dictator," said Sora. "Or rather...he sees himself as one."

"There's nothing benevolent about him," muttered Murasame. "A dictatorship is never truly benevolent."

"I disagree," said Makoto. "If you think about it, many times in our history, the Mibu Clan has been a dictatorship of sorts. When the Crimson King chooses to be an active political force, and uses his position to rule, rather than sitting back and delegating governance to the Taishiro, he is essentially a dictator."

"If he didn't choose to just be a teacher, if he chose to be a ruler," mused Haruka softly, "our current King could easily override any of our decisions or choose to make them all himself. We would be beholden simply to carry out his will, regardless of our own feelings on the matter."

"Well, Sora wouldn't," said Murasame with a chuckle.

"Of course," said Sora, "which is the reason my husband knows he does not have the disposition of a ruler, which is why he entrusts us with the burden of ruling the Mibu. But Makoto is right. Our Clan has been a dictatorship in the past on many occasions."

"The issue is that a dictator, regardless of however benevolent his intentions may be, is always trying to steer his nation in the direction of his ideal view of it," said Makoto. "If the ruler and the ruled have differing views on what constitutes an ideal nation, then friction naturally results.

"A _truly_ benevolent dictator is willing to listen to the voices of the the people and accept compromises, even if that means that his nation falls somewhat short of his ideal view of it, if that is what truly allows the people to thrive. A dictator who merely _thinks_ that he is benevolent will simply silence those voices of protest and move ahead regardless. I think it goes without saying which kind the General is."

"Of course," said Sora. "That is why I pity him. Ironwood's ideal view of the world is one where everyone is protected. However, people require far more than just protection and safety. Submission guarantees safety, which is a balm for a time. But, sooner or later, people realize what they have lost in exchange."

"Well, at least it was a productive discussion," noted Makoto. "At this point, I don't think it will be difficult to form a block with the other three Kingdoms. It appears that their patience with Atlas has been growing short."

"Yes," agreed Sora. "We need to be careful though. I think the other delegates have clued in to our true aims regarding Atlas. We do not seek its destruction after all. I don't even believe it would be wholly necessary to depose the General."

"We'll see," said Murasame.

"In any case, we'll just watch how things proceed from here," said Makoto.

* * *

"Anything to report?" asked Ironwood as he arrived on the bridge of his command ship.

"We have a positive match," declared the sensor officer, standing at attention.

Only the faintest twitch at the corners of his mouth betrayed Ironwood's suppressed smile. "Go ahead."

"While conducting facial recognition scans, we did find an individual who registered on our database." The officer tapped a command into his terminal and a picture appeared, projected on the window that looked out over the hull of the ship. "Ciel Soleil, student of Atlas Academy, listed as MIA, presumed dead, on her last known mission."

"So I was right," muttered Ironwood. "What is her location?"

The image of Ciel's face was replaced with a picture of a sprawling compound as seen from above. "She was spotted entering and leaving this building," explained the officer. "Based on the activity going on within it, we believe it to be a martial arts school of some sort."

"I see," said Ironwood, tapping his chin. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Have Specialist Cerny and Specialist Greenberg report to me in my office. I have a mission for them."

* * *

Seeing as it was Saturday, Sora had declared that the conference would be suspended for the next day, essentially giving both themselves and the delegates a day off on Sunday. Provisions had been made to give the delegates an opportunity to explore the Palace or even visit the city. Ironwood, naturally, was not taking advantage of either offer. Instead, he had bigger plans for that day.

As he settled behind his desk, he looked at the screen set into its surface. Once again, there was a litany of demands from Jacques, who was insisting on speaking to him again. Not wanting to waste valuable time listening to Jacques' absurd rants and demands, Ironwood dismissed them with a rote response, remarking on being unavailable, due to his busy schedule. Instead, Ironwood turned his attention to more important and immediate matters.

Talking extradition with the Mibu had largely been fruitless, as the discussion had quickly switched gears to the other participating Kingdoms talking about their own extradition treaties with Atlas. Even then, Ironwood realized it was a rather pointless endeavor in the short term. He still had no intention of recognizing the Mibu as their own Kingdom. More to the point, even if he had, he couldn't have applied for Ciel's extradition until well after such a treaty had been finalized. He was willing to wait in order to reclaim the faunus fugitives who had abandoned their nation. However, seizing a traitor was of more immediate importance.

Unfortunately, the Mibu were clearly not willing to be generous in their allowances, all but ensuring that any request Ironwood made for Ciel's extradition would be denied in short order. This simply meant that he would have to turn to more drastic methods, methods that he had employed before to successfully wrangle criminal scum who had tried to hide from justice by fleeing to other Kingdoms.

The door opened and the two Atlesian Specialists he had summoned marched through, standing sharply at attention before his desk. These two were the best covert Specialists in the military. They were experts at off-the-books operations, like the one they would be undertaking now.

"Specialist Piper Cerny, reporting," said the woman. She had a rather young-looking face that belied her actual age, her skin smooth and toned, tanned by exposure to harsh conditions. Her true age and experience were expressed by the cold look in her dark-blue eyes. Her long, black hair was tied into twin tails that ran down behind her shoulders, all the way to her waist. She was dressed in a tight, white suit that emphasized the modest curves of her body, though it was hidden beneath a black overcoat with muted, silver designs embroidered into it. Though he couldn't see it, he knew the back of her jacket was embroidered with the cogwheel sigil of Atlas. Her hands were covered by thin gloves that ran up the sleeves of her jacket to her elbows.

"Specialist Meinrad Greenberg, reporting," said the man. His short hair was a faded, blonde color that, despite its length, almost always looked wind-tossed and tangled. He met Ironwood's gaze with a pair of vivid, emerald-colored eyes. Unlike his companion, his complexion was fair. He was dressed in a classic, Atlesian Military uniform. However, like Piper, he wore a black overcoat with the same silver designs.

These two were Specialists who specialized in covert operations. Their skill-sets were geared towards stealth and precision, though their combat abilities were not insubstantial either. To Ironwood, they, like the late Farran Smith, represented the pinnacle of what Atlesian Specialists should strive to be; dedicated soldiers, who put their loyalty to Atlas first and foremost, who would do whatever it took to fulfill their duty.

"At ease," said Ironwood, prompting the two of them to relax slightly. "I have a special mission for you both."

They said nothing, waiting for his instructions.

"During the course of yesterday's...match in the Palace, I glimpsed an individual I was not expecting to see," said Ironwood, placing his scroll on the surface of the desk, allowing it to interface with the room's holographic projection system. It brought up a portrait, along with the personal stats of the person in question. "Later facial scans of the local populace by our ships confirmed her presence. This is Ciel Soleil, formerly a student of Atlas Academy."

"What is she doing here?" asked Piper.

"She presumably defected," said Ironwood. "She committed treason by enabling the escape of the advanced, experimental, Aura-generating android unit, Penny Polendina. Because of her actions we lost an important scientific development, something that will be virtually impossible to reproduce, now that the scientist who created her is dead."

"That is quite grave," commented Meinrad. "How is it that she managed to escape and make it here? Someone suspected of treason should have been arrested on the spot."

"Because she was a student of Atlas Academy, I allowed her a certain degree of freedom," said Ironwood, steepling his fingers and resting his chin on them. "Because her fellow students were aware of her crimes, she was being subjected to the social ramifications of her actions. As things were, she had no hope of advancing to her next year at the Academy. Upon her expulsion, she would have been arrested and formally tried."

Both Piper and Meinrad nodded curtly, as though this were a perfectly natural process. Ironwood continued. "During this time, I decided to put her to at least some use by having her accompany Specialist Sienna Caldwell on a mission to locate the faunus who had escaped from their relocation camps. Neither of them returned, which led to them both being listed as Missing In Action."

"But now, Ms. Soleil shows up here," mused Piper. "What about Specialist Caldwell?"

"No traces have been found of her," said Ironwood. "However, it is clear that, in the course of that mission, Ciel Soleil deserted and defected to the Mibu Clan, crossing over to this continent and making her way to their capital, here. She was present at the Palace during yesterday's combat demonstration and is apparently housed in the capital's upper-class district, which implies that she is receiving very favorable treatment from the Mibu, probably because she has traded vital intelligence on our military forces in exchange for preferential treatment."

A low growl rose in Meinrad's throat at that. "Insolent brat," he muttered.

Ironwood nodded his agreement. "Because of the circumstances surrounding her disappearance on that particular mission, and her reappearance here, apprehending her and extracting what information she has to give may allow us to link the Mibu to the actions of the Lightning Lord in Atlas. We will have proof that the Mibu have been assisting a known terrorist and saboteur, who has been actively undermining our efforts to maintain order in Atlas. If we can do that, we can show the other Kingdoms the Mibu's true colors, and finally put an end to these farcical negotiations, once and for all."

"So then, what are our orders?" asked Piper.

"I am sending the two of you down to launch a covert extraction operation to recover Ciel Soleil from her current place of residence," explained Ironwood. "Once you do, you will bring her back here for imprisonment and interrogation. At this point, the means are up to your discretion, so long as they remain discrete. The Mibu have clearly been trying to turn the other Kingdoms against us, and the discovery of this operation before it has fulfilled its objective will give them an opportunity to do so.

"The Mibu have instituted a rest day from the conference tomorrow, so that gives us time. I want Ciel Soleil's extraction completed before zero-hundred hours, Monday, so that we have time to complete her interrogation and bring our findings before the conference. You have the remainder of tonight and tomorrow to scout the area and develop your operational plan. Are there any questions?"

"No, Sir," said Piper and Meinrad crisply.

"Good," said Ironwood. "Dismissed."

The two of them saluted and turned sharply about, and marched out of the office. When the door closed behind them, Ironwood sighed and lowered his head so that his forehead was now resting against his folded hands.

Two sets of slender, yet powerful fingers wrapped around his neck from behind, massaging the muscles and inducing them to relax. "You work so hard, General," whispered the silky, feminine voice. "You are wise to employ such careful measures."

"If they are caught, it means that we shall have to resort to force," said Ironwood. "Though I care little about the Mibu, should that come to pass, it will certainly hurt our standing with the other Kingdoms."

"If it comes to that, it can't be helped," said the voice. "The Mibu cannot be allowed to rise to the world stage. They are a nest of vipers that will sink their fangs into all who seek to deal with them as equals. They will not rest until they stand unopposed, and the rest of the world bows before their will." The fingers moved down to his shoulders.

"Still, it is best to make sure that we deal with them in a manner that does not upset the other Kingdoms," said Ironwood. "Time and again, I have spoken of the serious threat the Mibu Clan represents, but they continue to scoff and refuse to trust the evidence I have submitted."

"It is unfortunate," said the voice. "It is best if someone like you, who holds the world's best interests at heart, were to take the lead in this matter. In all honesty, it would be better if the Kingdoms deferred to your expertise in _all_ matters. In that case, this is perhaps the best turn of affairs."

"How so?" asked Ironwood.

"By showing you fellow delegates the Mibu Clan's true colors, you can also persuade them to realize the limits of their judgment. They would be made to understand the value of your work. Subjugating the Mibu will be a suitable demonstration that you are the appropriate expert on the safety of the world, the protection of humanity. They will realize the importance of your strength and come to rely on it. Of course, if they remain stubborn, then you can simply demonstrate your strength to them in a more _direct_ manner. What is important is that order is preserved and that the threat of extremists is dealt with."

"As always, your advice is sound," acknowledged Ironwood.

"Of course," replied the voice. "Your interests are the world's interests, General. Haira would never lead you astray."

* * *

As evening fell, Ciel was hard at work, training with her fellow students in the hall. Since her victory against Yumiko, their practice sessions had grown. Thanks to her diligence, Ciel had already been advanced to the level of the students her own age, now lining up with Takeshi and Miyu. At first, she was afraid that it would upset Aya and Yuuto, but the two of them had simply told her that she had earned it. Though they had been practicing the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ longer than her, they were still building up their physiques, something Ciel had already done, thanks to her Huntress training.

Which wasn't to say that Yuuto and Aya weren't advancing quickly as well. They were already learning new katas earlier than they normally would have, had they not been participating in the evening practice sessions, something that had enticed their other year-mates to join, in order to not be left behind. The older students had joined in too, leery of allowing younger students to overtake them because they had become complacent.

It made Ciel happy that she had been able to make a positive impact on her new home. The atmosphere was much warmer and more welcoming than it had been when she had first come here. Every day, she found herself trading advice with her year-mates and helping younger students, even as the older students gave her pointers on how to improve her own work. Even Yumiko, though she still remained firm as Ciel's "rival-in-love" for Shinrei, had become much more friendly and accommodating, happy to give Ciel advice on things she found difficult and even soliciting Ciel's advice when it came to the Rhythm Arts, the very style that Ciel had once used to defeat her.

It made Ciel happy. In the few months she had been here, this school had come to feel more like home than the stark hallways and barracks of Atlas Academy ever had. Back there, everything had been so carefully regimented that it always felt hard for Ciel to actually hold a conversation with her fellow students. Meals had been quiet, and the free time they had between class and bed was typically used for quiet studying, with the staff or even the older students cracking down if there was too much frivolous chitchat.

Wrapping up their evening practice session, the students chatted eagerly about their plans for Sunday as they cleaned the hall and made their way back to the dorms.

"Are you going on another date with Shinrei-sama?" asked Aya eagerly, popping out from behind Ciel, grinning mischievously along with her question.

Though Ciel couldn't see it with her eyes, she could practically feel the rise in tension in the air as Yumiko twitched and stiffened, knowing that that reaction had been exactly what Aya had been gunning for. For such an innocent-seeming girl, Aya had developed quite the wicked streak in the past month or so.

"We haven't made any plans to," said Ciel, now feeling the tension lessen as Yumiko relaxed again.

"That's good," commented Takeshi.

"Huh? Why?" Ciel looked at him in confusion.

Her friend grinned in response. "Every time you and Shinrei-sama go out on a date, we have to break out the steel cables." Ciel felt Yumiko flinch behind her. "Plain hemp rope doesn't cut it anymore."

Ciel wondered if she ought to say something, but figured it was better to hold her tongue. The last thing Yumiko would want was to be defended by her "rival." Instead, Ciel settled for a discrete elbow to Takeshi's side, prompting him to grunt, while Miyu descended on Aya from behind and proceeded to grind her fist into Aya's scalp, eliciting distressed, but still adorable, squeals from the younger girl as she fought to escape her senpai's grip.

Ciel couldn't help but giggle at her friends' antics. "Like I said, we haven't made any plans for tomorrow."

"In that case, we should have a picnic!" declared Aya, finally struggling free of Miyu's hold. "The weather's going to be perfect."

"Well, now that you've said that, it'll probably rain tomorrow," commented Yuuto, joining them.

"No it won't," Aya shot back irritably. "The predictions say the weather is going to be perfect tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me," said Takeshi with a laugh. "I know a place down in the city that sells great bentos."

"We can visit the fields near the agricultural district," supplied Miyu. "They're perfect for picnics."

Ciel blinked, momentarily taken aback by the level of enthusiasm in Miyu's voice. Looking at her friend, Ciel was shocked to see a Miyu's eyes practically sparkling with excitement.

"Miyu loves picnics and bentos," Takeshi whispered to Ciel teasingly, making her giggle.

"It'll be so much fun!" cheered Aya. "We can play games and talk and watch clouds."

"We can do all that here," said Yuuto, ever the wet blanket. "Besides, I bet the clouds'll mostly look like outsider warships...oh...wait..." He glared sourly at the winged shadow drifting overhead, eclipsing the stars and plunging their courtyard into a momentary darkness before it passed by, gliding nearly silently on its Dust-powered engines.

Ciel frowned as she stared up at it. She wasn't sure if it was Ironwood's command ship, as the vessels looked virtually identical to all but the closest examination. These were the latest models of the Atlesian Seraphim-class warships that had become the backbone of their fleet since the days of the war against Salem. From the lectures she'd attended back in the Academy, she knew that their surveillance systems could execute detailed scans of over a thousand people per minute, from an altitude of several-hundred meters. For all she knew, that number had increased in the time she'd been away from Atlas, the warships probably having gone through innumerable upgrades in the meantime, or simply replaced with newer models.

She felt hands on her shoulders and was surprised to find that Yumiko had come up behind her and was gently squeezing her shoulders in a reassuring gesture. "A picnic sounds like a fine idea she commented. We should bring everybody."

"That sounds good," said Ciel.

"Your friends from the other Academies are staying at the Palace, right?" asked Yumiko, prompting Ciel to nod. "We should invite them too. After all, it's supposed to be a day off from the conference."

"That would be wonderful," said Ciel blissfully.

"I'll get a messenger to send the invitations," said Yumiko, releasing Ciel and darting off.

"Didn't know she was a fan of picnics," mused Takeshi, watching her go.

Ciel said nothing, instead raising her hands up to her shoulders, gently resting them against the spots where Yumiko had been gripping them. She closed her eyes and smiled at the warm feeling that filled her.

* * *

The difficulty with surveilling a site like Makoto's school from ground level was that it was positioned atop a broad hill. Furthermore, the upperclass district of Onmyo consisted of largely open space, broken by the occasional grove of trees that might serve as an elevated vantage point. The school was almost literally the tallest object in its own vicinity. The nearest trees grew downslope from it, which meant that, while their tallest branches rose up above the level of the compound itself, the angle was shallow, which would keep an observer from being able to peer down past the walls and into the courtyard.

Fortunately, such issues were not beyond the limitations of the very best Atlesian technology had to offer. Tiny spherical orbs, barely an inch across and pitch-black in color, darted through the night air like silent insects, their Dust-powered lifters making no noise at all as they came over the walls and flew directly over the courtyard at a height of just a few meters, their own shadows completely hidden by the shadow of the Atlesian warship passing above.

" _Target sighted,_ " remarked Piper. There was no screen upon which to observe through the cameras of the minuscule drones. Instead, her irises appeared to spin slightly, tiny lights winking in and out as the images were relayed through her cybernetic contacts and projected directly onto her retinas. Even when speaking, she wasn't actually using her voice, but communicating directly, via electronic signal, with her partner, allowing them to converse without making a single actual sound.

" _Security measures?_ " asked Meinrad in the same manner from beside her, the two of them crouched on a branch, hidden within the foliage of one of the trees.

" _None detected,_ " said Piper. " _No anomalous electronic emissions present. There's no sign of any surveillance equipment of any kind. General Ironwood was right. These people may as well be from the Stone Age._ "

" _Don't underestimate them,_ " admonished Meinrad. " _Their level of Aura mastery is supposed to be well above the norm, even by Specialist standards. They may have methods of detection we are not familiar with. Are there any unusual Aura readings?_ "

" _Just continuous low-level emissions,_ " commented Piper. " _It's what we'd expect from an environment similar to a Combat School in purpose._ "

" _Anything else to report?_ " asked Meinrad.

" _Nothing yet,_ " replied Piper. " _I'm commencing the mapping of the compound. I will locate the target's quarters and determine the optimal routes for infiltration and exfiltration._ "

Meinrad nodded silently and settled in to wait for his companion. They had executed several missions of this nature, infiltrating foreign Kingdoms and extracting dangerous terrorists in hiding, or rebels spreading seditious missives. They had even captured high-level members of the White Fang right out of the middle of their encampments.

Tonight, they would gather intelligence about their target, her location, the people around her. They would continue observations throughout the day to the best of their abilities. Then, tomorrow night, they would commence with the extraction. Ironwood had given them well over twenty-four hours to complete their objective. Compared to their usual work, it was absurdly generous.

Before Sunday was over, Ciel Soleil would be back in Atlesian custody and ready to pay for her crimes.

* * *

 **So, of our two new characters, Piper is the one to talk about, since I put a degree of thought into her that her overall role in the story doesn't really warrant, seeing as her she exists in her present incarnation primarily for the sake of a pun. See if you can figure it out.**


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58:**

"So then Jaune takes off his old breastplate and there it is," said Ruby, "a cute little bunny rabbit, just right there, in the middle of his hoodie!"

Aya rolled onto her back, kicking her legs as she laughed gayly.

"You're never gonna get tired of telling that story, are you?" grumbled Jaune from where he was sitting, next to his girlfriend, in the shade of an impressive oak tree.

"Nope," said Ruby simply, giving Jaune an impish grin before darting in to peck his cheek.

"That reminds me of when we learned that Yuuto sleeps with a teddy bear," said Aya, sitting back up and wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Hey!" snapped Yuuto, while Ruby and the other nearby girls cooed and awed.

Jaune patted the younger boy's shoulder in sympathy. "They're girls," he said. "You're just gonna have to learn to live with it."

Yuuto muttered petulantly under his breath and glowered at the ground, though both Jaune and Ruby noticed he didn't dare throw a glare at Aya.

Yang laughed as she flopped down on her back, lying in the grass and staring up at the open sky. "This was a great idea," she said. From this angle, she couldn't even see the Atlesian warships hogging the sky over the capital and the Palace. Her smile widened as Kyo lay down next to her, the two of them basking in the calm amidst the energetic chatter of Ciel's fellow students.

The students of Makoto's school had led them out into a park to the north of the city itself, where the modest urban architecture gave way to more rural surroundings, before transitioning altogether to the fields and orchards that fed the region.

Here, in this quiet park, they were able to enjoy the scenery without being distracted by the military presence Ironwood had brought with him. The visiting students from the Academies mingled freely with the students of Makoto's school, talking animatedly with each other and learning a great deal about one another, as Makoto's students traded information on Aura control for knowledge of the advanced technology used by the outside world. Even if the Mibu students had no intention of applying said technology to their own fighting styles, they were immensely curious about the the technology the outsiders used. It was a relaxed, easygoing exchange of information, not colored by any kind of prejudice.

Looking over, Yang grinned as she saw a small group of students Aya's age walking the considerably older members of Team NDGO through basic Aura control techniques. Not far away, Sage and Scarlet were showing Scarlet's pistol and cutlass to a pair of curious older students, who asked astute questions. A little farther away, Blake and Sun were lounging in the shade of another tree, Blake having dozed off, resting her head on Sun's thighs, while he untied her ribbon and gently rubbed her cat ears.

Turning her head, Yang's grin widened further when she saw that Neptune and Penny were hanging out together. The two of them were talking animatedly, as Neptune showed her some of his weapon's internal features. Yang even saw a faint blush on Penny's face. _Maybe I won't need to have that talk with Penny after all,_ she thought. She'd been meaning to speak with Penny about her potential feelings for Kyo, but it seemed that Penny might have been finding someone new to engage her interest. The breadth of technical knowhow she had amassed as an android appeared to be pairing well with Neptune's...intellectual...nature.

More laughter came from out in the field. Sitting up, Yang laughed as she saw Nora playing energetically with a group of the younger students, the entire gang of them chasing a ball around. Ren supervised, though Nora and the kids seemed to use the game as an excuse to tackle him at every opportunity, much to his amused chagrin. Neo also supervised, and attempts were made to tackle her as well. However, the agile girl always evaded such efforts with the same graceful movements she had once used to utterly thrash Yang during that battle on the train, so long ago.

A tittering of laughter drew Yang's attention to Ciel, who was sitting with an excited Saisei and a disinterested Nigel. That last part was hardly offensive, as Nigel seemed to be disinterested in everything equally, unless it involved fighting in some way. Weiss was sitting with them, talking occasionally, though Yang saw an expression of disappointment flash across her face from time to time.

 _Yeah, I guess it sucks that Hayate's not here,_ thought Yang. Weiss had grown close to the younger boy and had been spending a lot of time with him recently. However, Hayate didn't dare venture out from beneath the cover of the Palace's protective barriers, where he might be spotted by Ironwood's ships. He had assured them that he could evade their detection well enough, having done so regularly back in Atlas. But hiding from the enhanced sensors of seven separate warships was not exactly a scenario that made it easy to socialize.

 _Sorry Weiss,_ thought Yang, hoping that Weiss would get some better opportunities, once the conference was over and the delegates left. She was sure that they could get Ozpin to extend the time they spent with the Mibu a little more for some reason or another, though there was nothing saying that Hayate couldn't come back to Vale with them...except for the fact that he was another name on the international bounty list, which might make things tricky if the police wound up cluing in to his presence.

"Hey, everyone!" Shinrei's voice shouted across the field, drawing their attention, "we've got lunch!"

Conversations and activities were forgotten as everyone turned to see Shinrei, along with two of Ciel's friends from her school, Takeshi and Miyu, approaching. Each of them was carrying a tall stack of flat, square, black boxes. They also carried bags filled with drink containers.

"We've got plenty for everyone," said Takeshi, grinning around his stack, "even the really big eaters."

"And we have different types," added Miyu. "Take your pick."

The entire group descended on the boxes, snatching them up and settling down to enjoy their meal. Yang and Kyo found themselves sitting with Ciel and Shinrei, laughing as they chatted and traded stories. As they talked, Kyo glanced to the side, his gaze catching a small, black object darting and weaving through the air. From here, it just looked like a fat bug, winding through the summer air. But Kyo's senses told him differently.

"Something wrong?" asked Yang, wondering what had caught Kyo's attention.

Kyo blinked and turned to look at her. "Nothing," he said cheerfully, though Yang didn't buy it for a second. Kyo's expression sobered, and he gave her a stern look, the kind that basically told her they'd talk about it later.

* * *

" _No opportunities so far,_ " noted Piper, not merely using her drones, but the zoom functions built into her eyes to examine the situation from their concealment.

" _The target's kept close to others for the whole day,_ " agreed Meinrad. " _There's no need to rush. We've developed a plan for extracting the target from her quarters. We can proceed tonight._ "

" _Agreed,_ " said Piper.

The two Specialists had been secretly following Ciel throughout the day, monitoring her activities, looking for any opportunity to complete their mission ahead of schedule. Despite the fact that it was broad daylight, neither of them was worried about being spotted. Their cybernetic enhancements came with the latest and most advanced Optical Camouflage systems. The field completely hid their bodies from sight by bending visible light around them, leaving only a faint shimmer in the air, like the ripples caused by heat, when they moved. This latest variation even concealed their thermal signatures and eliminated their radar profile. They were, for all intents and purposes, undetectable.

Secure in their invisibility, the two of them settled back and waited for night to fall.

* * *

"Ho! And here I thought Sunday was supposed to be a day off from all the conference shenanigans," said Pastoria with a laugh as he sat down at the table.

"I get the feeling that this meeting is not meant to be...on-the-books...as it were," said Ozma as she took her own seat at the table.

"Most likely," agreed Ozpin, already pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Seeing as the delegates from the Kingdom Councils were not invited to this meeting, I wonder if we should be allowing this," said Ironwood.

"What are you doing here anyway, James?" asked Ozpin.

"I invited him," said Sora as she entered the room. This time, she was not accompanied by the other Elders, but by her husband.

"So he's here as the Headmaster of Atlas Academy then," said Ozpin, "which means that this is sensitive information that the Kingdoms should not know about."

"Now I'm all the more uncertain that we should approve of this," said Ironwood.

"Come now, General," said Sora as she and Kyoichiro seated themselves at the table, "you, of all people, should know the importance of containing sensitive information to avoid generating panic and discontent."

"So I take it that you do not wish for the Council members to hear of this," said Pastoria.

"That was my intent," said Sora. "However, in the end, I am trusting your discretion. I have no actual authority over any of you after all. Sharing this information is meant, among other things, to be a gesture of trust, from us to you."

"This had better be worth our while," grumbled Ironwood.

"I think it will be," said Sora. "After all, we will be providing the answers to some of the questions you asked the other day."

That got Ironwood's attention and he sat up a little straighter. "So then, you'll be telling us what was so important that Raven Branwen and Cinder Fall conspired with that other person to steal it from you?"

"That and a great deal more," said Kyoichiro. "For starters, we should inform you that, amongst the Mibu, we call the woman you know as Cinder by a different name..."

* * *

"I can't believe you keep your hospital in the Palace," said Nilam incredulously as she, Radcliff, and Gwenyth followed Makoto through a set of sliding doors and into Makoto's domain within the Palace. They were not the only ones, having been joined by Kali and Ghira.

Though Sunday was technically a day off, without any conferences to attend, the delegates were given the offer of tours, hosted by the Taishiro, to show them their workspaces and the research they did for the Mibu Clan. Their tour had started with Murasame, who had shown them his forge, before moving on to Haruka and her crystal vats. Now they were with Makoto, who was showing them his facilities.

"It isn't our only hospital," said Makoto. "There are other hospitals located throughout the city. Onmyo is fairly large. So, for the sake of efficiency, and to ensure that the sick and injured get prompt treatment, we have designed it so that there should always be a medical facility within a reasonable distance of any part of the city. This ward here is for the most severe cases that the healers at the other hospitals cannot treat otherwise."

"In other words, this is for those cases that require your personal attention," mused Ghira, rubbing his chin. "I'd hate to see the your fees."

"I don't have any," said Makoto as he led them down a broad aisle. Rather than a hospital, this space had a feel more like that of a spa. There were "rooms," which were enclosures created by soft, lacy curtains. They were located by windows that could be closed, if the patient wanted or needed it, but otherwise remained open to allow fresh, temperate air to circulate through the room. It had a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere.

"You don't charge for treatment?" asked Gwenyth.

"None of our physicians do," said Makoto. "As Chief Physician, I am more than just the Mibu Clan's most capable healer. I am also the overseer of all medical practitioners within the Clan, both in our capital and out to our farthest settlements. You could say that every medical professional on the continent is a government employee."

"A state-run healthcare system," mused Nilam. "That's a difficult system to run."

"Perhaps in the Kingdoms, with our current forms of health care," said Radcliff. "But the Mibu do things differently when it comes to medicine."

"That's correct," said Makoto. "For us, the most costly part of our healthcare system is training our doctors. The vast majority are former apprentices of mine. Those few that aren't are, or were, students and apprentices of the doctors that I trained. Mastering the Aura-skills needed to perform our healing arts is time consuming and difficult. It requires a substantial investment of time and effort on behalf of those who are studying to be healers. However, the actual treatments themselves have low costs when it comes to expended resources. Time and space are the only real expenses that generally have an impact on our budget."

"So you don't utilize any pharmaceuticals?" asked Gwenyth.

"We do have some drugs and medicines," said Makoto. "But they were all developed by us here. It is rare for us to encounter an ailment that we haven't been able to treat through the proper application of the healing arts."

"I see," mused Radcliff, scratching his chin. "That could make it difficult for us to implement your model."

"Pharmaceutical companies are a powerful commercial force in their own right," said Nilam, nodding in agreement. "What the Dust industry is to our armed forces, those companies are to our doctors and healthcare professionals. Your system would probably put them out of business."

Makoto shrugged. "That would be up for you to work out. We have the advantage that our healthcare systems have been integrated into our government for centuries. It is not uncommon at all for the Clan's Chief Physician to hold a position as one of the Taishiro."

Radcliff chuckled. "So, from the very outset, it means that the health and well being of your people is a primary focus of your government. That's very benign of you."

"It's kind of you to say so," said Makoto, bowing his head to Radcliff.

"So we will have access to this kind of healthcare in Menagerie now?" asked Kali.

"Of course," said Makoto, turning his smile on them. "I have a number of apprentices who are finishing up their training under me. Many of them are looking to move to our outer settlements, where demand for their skills is higher. More than a few of them will be happy to move to Menagerie."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Kali.

"While I can understand the appeal, establishing a healthcare system like this in our Kingdoms would probably be a more difficult task than reforming the current Academy system," said Gwenyth. "It would require a near total overhaul of our healthcare systems, and would put countless people out of business."

"Admittedly, I don't have any answers for how you might go about it," said Makoto. "All I can do is show you how we work, offer to make our resources and training available to you, and let you use them as you see fit."

"We should probably encourage reform on a private level," mused Nilam. "I know there are a great many physicians around our region of Saunos who would embrace your healing arts as a means of lowering their overhead. If we make this knowledge and training available to them, we can let the market itself sway things, which would allow us to adapt over time. However, I highly doubt that we'll ever be able to achieve the kind of effective state-run system you have here."

"I can understand that," said Makoto. "Now then, I will now show you my personal lab. Please be careful not to touch anything."

He led them through a set of doors at the end of the ward, and then down a few flights of stairs into a basement level of the Palace, where they were shown a room that looked more familiar to them. This was unmistakably a laboratory. Some walls were covered with charts showing off various chemical equations and notes. Others hosted shelves that contained numerous vials and beakers. There were tables sporting microscopes and devices that looked similar to centrifuges. Most of the equipment seemed very basic or archaic, but was extremely well-made.

Radcliff leaned into examine a series of vials that had been set into several rows on shelves. "Are these...?" he asked, his tone nervous.

"Yes," said Makoto, nodding. "They are isolated samples of every disease I have encountered during my tenure as a healer. Like I said, please do not touch them."

"You don't have to tell me twice," said Radcliff, backing off.

"What are you researching, exactly?" asked Ghira, staring uncomprehendingly at the chemical equations scrawled on a slate hung on the wall opposite the shelf Radcliff was backing away from.

"My personal ambition, as a physician, is to someday develop a true panacea," said Makoto.

"A single medicine that can cure any disease or ailment," mused Nilam. "That could be called a physician's ultimate ambition if there ever was one."

Makoto smiled and nodded. "I admit that it may well be impossible, but I strive for it all the same. As I work, I research diseases in all their ways. They grow and evolve even more tenaciously than the Grimm, which means it is a constant battle to keep up with each new strain that emerges."

"Fascinating," said Gwenyth. "And you are also a martial arts instructor and one of the members of your Clan's governing body. One wonders how you find time for all this."

"A member of the Taishiro is a master of many things," said Makoto, as though that was an effective answer to Gwenyth's inquiry.

"Of course..." said Gwenyth skeptically.

* * *

The picnic had continued on through the afternoon, until the sun began to set behind the mountain. Volunteers had returned to the city to procure more food for dinner out in the park as well. By the time the darkness of night was settling over Onmyo, everyone was feeling full and slightly sleepy, finally coming to the conclusion that it was time to return.

The students from Makoto's school bade the students visiting from the Academies goodnight where their paths split. Now Ciel, her friends, and fellow students made their way back to Makoto's compound for the night.

"That was so much fun!" exclaimed Aya eagerly. "We should do that every Sunday."

"I don't think so," said Takeshi with a laugh, rubbing the top of her head. "We pooled our stipends to buy all that food. That strained our budget for the month, I'm afraid. Makoto-sama might be lenient, since we were entertaining the visitors, but I don't think he'll let us get away with it on a regular basis."

"Aww..." moaned Aya, her head sinking in disappointment.

"That doesn't mean we'll never do it again," said Miyu. "I can work out just how often we can afford to do it."

"Thank you so much for doing this," said Ciel, beaming at her friends. "It was wonderful to be able to spend the day with everybody."

"Your old friends included," said Takeshi with a wink.

"Yes," agreed Ciel, before pausing and yawning.

"Yeah, that's how I feel too," observed Yuuto wryly.

"I think we're all ready for bed," said Miyu, with a light giggle at the sight of Aya, who, now that her excitement was fading, seemed to be fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Has anyone seen Shinrei-sama?" asked Yumiko, coming up to join them, her eyes swiveling around.

"He went to the Palace with the others," said Ciel. "He said he had something to take care of before he came back."

"Oh..." said Yumiko, frowning in an...odd...way.

"Did you want to talk to him about something?" asked Miyu, looking at Yumiko in confusion. This was something other than Yumiko's usual attitude when it came to knowing Shinrei's whereabouts. It didn't seem like it had anything to do with Yumiko's romantic rivalry with Ciel.

"I just wanted to ask him something," said Yumiko, sounding unusually wary. "I'm sure it can wait until he gets back."

"If you're sure," said Miyu a little skeptically.

"I am," said Yumiko, sounding unusually cheerful before moving back to join with some of the other students her age.

Miyu frowned, wondering just what was making Yumiko behave so oddly.

Once back in the compound, the students were quick to bathe and retire to their rooms for the night. A few stayed up late, reading in the common room. But almost all the rest had found the day long enough, including Ciel, who fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

In the darkness of night, the tiny orbs that weaved through the air like fat insects were all but invisible. Aside from the students lounging in the common room, the entire rest of the compound was silent and dark.

" _Commence operation._ "

In the darkness of night, especially in this space, where there was practically no artificial light when no one was about, the Optical Camouflage systems of the Atlesian Specialists were even more effective. They could pass within inches of someone without that person seeing a thing. For their operation, they had dispensed with their uniforms, instead wearing black, skintight suits that left their arms bare all the way up to their shoulders. The suits were completely unadorned, ensuring that there were no insignias that would allow them or their operation to be traced back to the Atlesian military.

Piper and Meinrad made their way over the courtyard wall, dropping down into the open space. As they did, Piper's drones advanced ahead of her like a small swarm of wasps, moving silently through the air, tracing the path ahead as they made their way towards the door that would lead them to the compound's residential section.

" _Clear,_ " said Piper.

Meinrad moved up to the door and opened it as slowly and carefully as he could, careful not to make a sound. " _Confirmed,_ " he said. " _Proceeding to objective._ "

They padded silently down the hall, their tread not making so much as a creak on the wooden floorboards. They reached the door to Ciel's room without incident. Moving to flank her door from either side, their bodies appeared, seeming to flicker into existence like an image on a malfunctioning screen as they disengaged their Optical Camouflage.

" _Objective reached,_ " declared Meinrad. " _Preparing to commence extraction._ "

Piper moved to get ready to open the door, while Meinrad held up his right hand and closed it, save for the index finger. The skin at the tip of his finger peeled back to reveal black metal beneath. From the very tip, a tiny needle, barely a centimeter in length, extended. Once Piper opened the door, Meinrad would slip in and pierce Ciel's neck with the needle, injecting her with a tranquilizer that would keep her asleep...or knock her out, if their intrusion somehow managed to wake her up. Thanks to the scans taken by Piper's drones, and the data from Ciel's medical records as a student of Atlas Academy, Meinrad had worked out the perfect dose to keep her unconscious until they were back aboard the command ship.

" _Commence entry on my mark,_ " said Piper. " _In three...two...one..._ "

Before Piper could finish her count, the hallway filled with a roaring sound, like the rushing of a river or a waterfall. Both of them forgot their present task and turned towards the source of the sound, their eyes widening as they saw a pair of azure dragons, composed of water, their fang-lined maws wide open as the bore down on the pair of intruders.

The two Specialists leapt back, desperate to escape the dragons as they roared down the hallway. In their effort to retreat, they plowed right through the door they had come through, tearing it off its track as they burst back out into the courtyard. The dragons followed them like a pair of heat-seeking missiles.

Meinrad retracted the needle on his finger and closed his hands into fists, snapping his arms out to either side of him. A pair of slender blades extended out over the top of his fists. The right one began to shine with a pale-blue color, while the left burned a fiery orange and red. He slashed at the dragons with the blue one. The blade met the first dragon head on, biting directly into its snout as Meinrad slashed down vertically. The dragon shuddered and came to a cracking, snapping halt as ice spread over its head and down the length of its body. The second one arced and twisted around its fellow, winding around to try and bite at Meinrad from a separate angle. However, it was met by the orange and red blow, exploding into hissing steam on contact. The frozen dragon shuddered, then shattered into countless pieces, scattering across the ground.

Now that the roars of the water dragons had been silenced, the pair of operatives could hear the the confused and disoriented voices of the students, who had been roused from their sleep by the sudden racket. The pair shared an uneasy glance.

"So...you thought you could just waltz in here and attack one of our own, did you?" asked the tall, white-haired girl who stepped out through the door. "Allow me to disabuse you of that foolish notion."

" _Now what?_ " asked Piper, glancing sidelong at her partner. " _Retreat and reassess?_ "

Meinrad's eyes narrowed. Retreat was typical protocol in situations like this. Now that they had been seen, and an alert raised, there was no way they could finish this operation discreetly. Already, students in various states of wakefulness were stumbling out of their rooms. All of them had taken up weapons, the same kind of weapon actually. However, assessing the situation more carefully, Meinrad's eyes narrowed as his scanners took in the state of the students.

Of all of them, several were the target's age. Several of them were younger. The oldest were only two or three years older than Ciel at most. Only about six of the oldest students, including the one who had attacked them first, were armed with real weapons. The rest, including Ciel herself, were armed with wooden practice blades. There was no sign of any teachers or any of the individuals that had been identified as threats in their original briefing data.

" _No,_ " he said finally. " _Silence all hostiles and extract the target._ "

Piper's lips curled up in a smile. " _Understood._ "

"Not very talkative, are you?" asked Yumiko as she glared at the pair of intruders in the courtyard.

"Be careful," said Ciel. "They're communicating electronically with each other."

"Let them," said Yumiko. She stepped down into the courtyard and took her starting stance, her senses focused on the opponents in front of her. Her crystalline blades shimmered in the faint light of the moon and stars, as one of the other students turned on the lights in the courtyard area. Unlike her other year-mates, who were still getting the hang of the basics of the Water Arts, Yumiko had gained proficiency in the _Suiseisho_ , allowing her to craft blades of crystallized water conjured by her own Aura. The rest of her year-mates were currently using blades of steel.

Ciel swallowed as she watched the face-off in the courtyard. She had no doubt of what this was about. Even though they weren't using uniforms, there was no mistaking who these people were. They were Atlesian military Specialists. What was more, they had obviously been cybernetically enhanced, if the blades extending from the man's arms were any indication. That worried her. Cybernetic enhancements had only just begun catching on amongst the Specialists back when she had left Atlas. Even then, they had been fairly advanced. There was no telling what kind of tech these two Specialists had at their disposal now. It was even harder to tell which sections of their bodies had been cyberized, as their synthetic skin seemed to cover everything perfectly, to the point that it would close back over their enhancements when they weren't in use.

Even though there had never been any actual mention of them, Ciel and the rest of her former fellow students in Atlas Academy had been aware of their existence, if from rumor more than anything else. Everyone in Atlas Academy had heard at least whispers about the mysterious black-ops programs run by the military, Specialists who specialized in infiltration and covert operations, the execution of shady activities that would undoubtedly cause civil unrest if they were ever made public. These were people who specialized in dirty deeds…things like assassinations…or abductions…which made it clear to Ciel exactly _why_ they were here. They had come for her, just as she had been afraid they might.

Worse still, Shinrei and Makoto were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the one facing them was Yumiko. While she might have been the oldest and most accomplished student at their school, Yumiko was still a student, with no real combat experience. Against these two professional operatives, armed with the latest in high-tech equipment, with God-knows-what kind of capabilities, Ciel worried that Yumiko might not be able to win.

"Be careful," said Ciel nervously, not even sure that Yumiko was listening to her anymore.

Yumiko remained still, completely focusing her senses on the two opponents in front of her. Meinrad's foot slid forward, scraping over the courtyard grass. He raised his arms, the glow of Dust power having vanished from the blades, leaving behind edges of black steel. Behind him, Piper took a step back, crossing her arms in front of herself, though she showed no signs of drawing a weapon yet.

At the same instant, Yumiko and Meinrad burst into motion, their bodies blurring as they rushed at each other. Their blades clashed together, sparks flying as their Auras vied against one another. Yumiko stepped into a graceful turn of her body, spinning out of the way, allowing Meinrad's blades to cut through the space where she had been standing as Yumiko continued her spin, slashing her left blade at his back.

Sensing the incoming attack from behind, Meinrad bent over double to allow Yumiko's slash to pass over his body. However, she bent her strike, turning its path downwards and sending her blade biting into the Aura protecting Meinrad's back. His Aura protected him from actually being cut, but the force of her hit sent him stumbling forward. Continuing her spin, Yumiko swung her other blade straight down at the falling Specialist.

Throwing himself forward, Meinrad dove out of Yumiko's range, going into a forward roll that brought him back onto his feet. His motion also brought him dangerously near to the other students. Ciel was yanked back by Miyu and Takeshi as the other students from Yumiko's level closed ranks in front of them to protect her. But Meinrad didn't have any attention to spare for them at the moment as Yumiko advanced, blades flashing and whirling. Meinrad turned to face her, his own blades rising to meet her attacks. His right arm blade flashed, shining gold, a crackling field of electricity climbing up to its tip.

As Yumiko's attack came in, her next slash bending around Meinrad's defending blade so quickly that its form seemed to actually ripple as it maneuvered around his block to strike him in the shoulder. Meinrad grunted at the impact, but shrugged his shoulder hard, bouncing Yumiko's sword back. Stepping forward, he lunged at her with the sword he'd tried to block with. Yumiko ducked and darted out of the way as a thin arc of lightning shot out, barely missing Piper as it zipped right by her cheek and over her shoulder.

Sinking into a crouch, Yumiko went into another graceful spin, keeping her body as low to the ground as possible as she stepped well into Meinrad's range, rising up and bringing one of her swords up in a vertical slash, cutting at Meinrad's chest. Meinrad grunted again and stumbled back, trying to open the distance between them. However, Yumiko matched his retreat, keeping close, taking full advantage of the Bokuyukusui blades' shorter length, slashing at him repeatedly, the pale-blue flares of her own Aura leaving lines of crackling green where his Aura was forced to take the brunt of her blows.

Suddenly, Yumiko felt her hackles rising, the faint sensation of something moving through the air behind her. Its motion was erratic, a curving, weaving flight, like that of a large insect, but missing the accompanying drone of wings. Instead, she heard the sound of crackling, like something was rapidly freezing behind her.

A glowing, pale-blue comet darted at Yumiko from above and behind. At the last second, she jumped out of the way, going into a spinning flip as the whirling orb of light whipped through the space she had been occupying before its flight curved around to come back at her again. In the midst of her leap, Yumiko slashed out with her sword, meeting the incoming object with with a clang, followed by that loud, crackling, freezing sound. The object went dark and was sent spinning off into the night, while Yumiko's sword was suddenly covered by a thick coating of ice that climbed all the way up its handle and to her hand.

She landed in a crouch, her Aura Extending out around her, aware of eleven other objects coming in. Yumiko's body bent and weaved as she spun about in a delicate dance, desperately working to avoid the inch-diameter orbs that swarmed around her like wasps. Two glowed the same pale-blue color sported by the one that had first attacked her. Three more glowed a fiery orange and red, angry sparks leaving curving trails in their wake as they danced through the air. Three others crackled, enshrouded with golden light, arcs of electricity dancing around them even as they left lighter sparks in the air behind them. The last trio of orbs glowed a dark, violet color, surrounded by shrouds of darkness.

They swarmed about her as she moved avoid them. Yumiko would dance aside, but the orbs would change direction just as quickly, curving around to come back at her, their trajectories arcing and twisting to come at her from new, bewildering angles. Seeking to make things easier for herself, Yumiko swung her left sword out, wanting to try and knock at least one of the orbs away. It struck one of the violet and black orbs with a loud clang. However, an angry lance of pain rushed up her wrist as she was struck with the impression of hitting an object with far more mass than something so small should have. The crystalline blade of her sword shattered, and the handle was ripped out of her grip.

The three orange and red orbs circled up above her, then dove straight down, aiming, not at Yumiko's body, but the ground around her. They exploded on impact, throwing up buffeting waves of flames, sparks, smoke, and debris, almost completely enclosing Yumiko. The two remaining pale-blue orbs struck, hitting Yumiko's ankles, a flash of blue light cutting through the smoke and dust, encasing her feet in ice, anchoring her in place.

The three gold orbs closed in now. Yumiko struck at one with her ice-covered blade. Crackling bolts jumped up from the contact and Yumiko screamed as the electricity jolted her arm all the way up to the shoulder. The other two gold orbs struck her from the front and the back, crackling lightning running across her body as she was wracked with spasms.

The remaining two black and violet orbs swooped in and slammed into her with far more force than the objects with such a tiny size and mass should have been able to exert, shattering the ice that held her in place and blowing her off her feet. Yumiko slammed into the ground, bouncing and rolling before coming to a stop several meters away.

As they had impacted her body or the environment, each of the orbs had gone dark. Now they swarmed through the air, whirling around to Piper, who held out her arms. The synthetic skin covering them split, revealing black steel beneath, which opened up to reveal tiny bays that allowed the twelve minuscule orbs to dock, three to each forearm and upper arm.

 _Weaponized Dust-drones!_ thought Ciel in horror. _I had no idea they'd managed to achieve that level of miniaturization!_

As Piper crossed her arms again, Meinrad dashed at Yumiko, his arms angled back as glowing green climbed and swirled around his right blade and violet light with a black shroud climbed his left.

 _Interchangeable Dust systems,_ thought Ciel. _It's like Weiss' weapon, but built directly into their cybernetics. The way they're hidden, there's no way to tell which types they have or how much._

Meinrad closed in on Yumiko, who was only just beginning to get to her feet. Her swords had been both destroyed and knocked away. She was completely unarmed now. Furthermore, she was disoriented and battered, her body sore from the heavy impacts and electrocution she'd just suffered. Her form quivered as she fought to rise up.

"Yumiko-senpai!" shouted Ciel, trying to fight past her friends to do something...anything...

Yumiko's head rose up and she saw Meinrad closing in, lifting up his left sword, he brought it down in a mighty swing. Yumiko dove to the side, barely avoiding it as the sword struck, the ground exploding on impact, the shockwave of the gravity-enhanced blow splitting the earth in a line all the way up to the wall of the courtyard, which crumbled and collapsed.

Yumiko landed in a roll that brought her gracefully up to her feet. As she rose up, Meinrad spun in place, swinging the wind-Dust empowered sword on his right arm at her in a horizontal slash that launched a crescent of razor-sharp wind at her. Yumiko swiftly ducked beneath the flying strike, which clipped a few hairs from the tip of her ponytail. Coming back up, Yumiko raised her hands, revealing her short, crescent-shaped swords. They had been broken and torn from her grip earlier, but now rested in her hands again, whole, as though nothing had happened.

Meinrad and Piper both paused, both of them staring in confusion at the swords that Yumiko shouldn't have been holding anymore. Their sudden hesitation gave Yumiko the opening she needed as she swept her right-hand sword down, water surging forth from the edge in a wave, forming into a roaring dragon, executing a winding lunge at Meinrad. Meinrad fell back. However, Yumiko suddenly changed the course of her swing, bending the slash of her blade out to the side. Moving in conjunction with that, the dragon abruptly twisted, its course also changing, swerving rapidly to change course, its toothy jaws now reaching for Piper.

Piper swept her crossed arms out to either side, launching all twelve of her drones with the motion. Six of them blazed with the yellow and orange of fire-Dust, while the other six were shrouded with the darkness of gravity-Dust. The fire drones swarmed at the incoming water dragon, punching through its azure tinted scales, steam erupting in angry hisses upon contact. The six of them wound through Yumiko's dragon, doubling back to punch through it over and over again, shredding it into a cloud of steam, mingling with scattered droplets.

The gravity drones bypassed the dragon entirely, heading right for Yumiko's body. They struck home in her chest and stomach, hitting with such speed and force that, rather than simply knock her back, they punched inch-sized holes all across her torso. Ciel opened her mouth to scream, but cut herself off as Yumiko's form dissolved into water, the construct collapsing and splashing across the ground as Yumiko rushed out of the steam cloud, having allowed Piper to create the cover that she used to close the distance between them.

Piper's eyes widened in surprise. Meinrad had turned to press his attack, but paused. Both of them were thrown off by Yumiko's sudden change in targets as she abruptly closed in on Piper. The female Specialist fell back from the unexpected onslaught, using her bare forearms to block Yumiko's blades, meeting them with ringing clangs as the crystal blades met the steel under the surface of that synthetic skin.

 _Her prosthetics probably run all the way up to her shoulder,_ mused Ciel, observing the fight more closely. _From the look of those bays that hold her drones, both her arms have been completely replaced._

Yumiko's next attacks whipped at Piper from two separate directions. Piper continued to fall back, raising her forearms to block. However, Yumiko's slashes bent around the blocks, again moving so quickly that the blades seemed to ripple around Piper's arms to slash her across her chest from two completely different directions.

Piper bared her teeth, falling back farther. Her Aura took the brunt of the impact, which meant that Yumiko's strikes didn't draw blood. Yumiko closed in again, her blades coming at Piper from new angles. Piper again raised her arms to block. Once again, Yumiko bent the path of her swings so quickly the blades seemed to ripple. However, this time, Piper's arms seemed to ripple as well, moving perfectly into new positions to block Yumiko's strikes with the sound of ringing steel.

Now it was Yumiko's turn to look surprised as her blades, which had been perfectly outmaneuvering her opponents' defenses were stopped cold. Piper braced her legs and growled, swinging her arms out, knocking Yumiko's swords away and forcing her back. Piper held her arms out to either side, the bays opening and allowing the drones to return to their nests.

"Trajectory modification analysis completed," said Piper, speaking aloud for the first time that night, her eyes locked on Yumiko's in an angry glare. "Your little trick won't work again."

Yumiko frowned, her body tensing as she noticed that Meinrad had moved into position behind her. Before, the two operatives had traded off combat, one falling back to observe while the other fought. Now they were clearly positioning themselves to attack Yumiko simultaneously.

"If you stand down and allow us to take our target, there is no need for further conflict," said Meinrad in a low, threatening tone. "We have come for Ciel Soleil. There is no need to throw your lives away for her sake."

"If you insist on impeding us any longer, we will not hesitate to use lethal measures," added Piper, crossing her arms once again.

Yumiko coughed wetly and turned her head, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground. More blood trickled out from the corner of her mouth, which she lifted her arm to wipe away. "Don't play coy with me," she said in a taunting tone. "You've been using lethal measures from the start."

"That is correct," said Piper coldly. "However, we have now fully analyzed your fighting style and techniques. All effective countermeasures have been prepared. If you continue to fight, your defeat is imminent, with a high probability of death."

Yumiko's eyes narrowed and she looked back and forth between her two opponents. "Is that so...?" she said.

"Stop!" shouted Ciel, finally managing to shove her way past the other students, though Miyu and Takeshi, with help from Yuuto and Aya, held onto her, keeping her from breaking past the ranks of the oldest students, who kept themselves between the battle and the younger students, their blades of steel raised. "Don't do it!" she shouted, struggling, trying to reach Yumiko. "They're after me! I can go with them!"

"Keep her back!" snapped Yumiko, whipping her head around to glare at Ciel, the force of her will driving the younger girl back, giving Ciel's friends the opportunity they needed to pull her back amongst the younger students.

"Why?" asked Ciel, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Why indeed," rumbled Meinrad, his tone low and threatening. "That girl is a traitor and a criminal. Continuing to shelter her will only bring further misfortune upon you. Will you give your life to protect scum like that?"

Yumiko gave Meinrad a level look. "I don't know or care what you're talking about," she said. "Last I checked, we don't allow foreign barbarians to kidnap our people."

Ciel hiccuped, her hands flying to her mouth, her wooden blades clattering to the floor of the porch that Miyu and Takeshi had pulled her up onto. Tears ran down her cheeks. "What?" she said, her voice emerging as a hoarse whisper.

"You heard her," said Takeshi, grinning, even as he maintained his hold on her.

"You're one of us now," said Miyu, giving Ciel a gentle smile, also making sure not to let her go.

"That means we'll protect you to the end," said Aya, grinning even as she hugged Ciel tightly around the waist.

Meinrad's eyes narrowed. "You're making a serious mistake, protecting scum like her."

Yumiko leveled one sword at him while she raised the other, holding it so that it was angled straight down over her shoulder. "Last I saw, the only scum here are the two miscreants making a mess of our courtyard. Ciel-kun is the furthest thing from scum you could possibly imagine."

Ciel's breath escaped her in a faint gasp. _She..._ She knew that Yumiko didn't hate her anymore. To to realize that the girl who had declared herself Ciel's rival was protecting her so determinedly was a shock. _Why?_

"Besides," said Yumiko, now giving Meinrad a cocky grin, even as her eyes slid to the side, her head angling just enough to look at Piper as well, "don't think you've beaten me just because you've worked out a few of our tricks. The _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ is deeper than that. You've only just scratched the surface." Her Aura exploded outward, swirling around her body like a maelstrom. "Now, come on, and I'll show you what I can really do!"

* * *

 **Once again, I point out that Piper's entire character was born from an idea for a pun I thought of. I wonder if anyone's figured it out yet.**


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59:**

 _Yumiko yawned and stretched, feeling sleepy after a warm shower to wash away the sweat of her evening training session. She slept much more soundly these days, crediting it to the extra work she was putting in in the training hall, something she got the impression she shared with her fellow students._

 _In some ways, it was difficult, sacrificing the free time they had nearly every evening for extra training. But there was no way she could stand by and allow Ciel to outshine her again. What was more, she had to set an example for the other students in the school, to ensure that they gave it their all._

 _Having showered and changed into her sleeping robes, Yumiko was ready to return to her room and climb into bed. However, she paused, seeing a faint light shining from the direction of the common room._ Someone's still up? _she thought, confused. Curfew was more of a suggestion than a concrete rule after all. So long as the person staying up past it wasn't making noise and keeping the other students from their sleep, there was little reason to be a stickler about rules. A student staying up too late would suffer the consequences during the next day's training after all, which was punishment enough._

 _Despite that, Yumiko felt it was her duty to check and remind this person that he or she should be in bed already. As one of the eldest students, she didn't hold any formal authority, but her words still carried considerable weight._ I should look after my kohais after all.

 _Yumiko came into the common room and stopped cold. To her shock, Ciel, of all people, was there. The younger girl had fallen asleep at the table, the lamp on that table still lit. Ciel's right arm was stretched out across the table, the tips of her fingers resting just inches from a pencil. Her left arm was curled under her head as a makeshift pillow. Resting just a few inches away was an open book that looked just like the workbooks Yumiko had used, back when she was an elementary student._

 _Coming closer, Yumiko peered down and gaped in surprise. The book didn't just look like a student workbook, it_ was _a student workbook, a kanji drill-book in fact. Almost half the squares of the grid on the page that Ciel had been working on were filled in by precisely written copies of the kanji Ciel had been practicing._

She's teaching herself the Old Tongue... _Yumiko couldn't believe her eyes. It seemed ridiculous. Ciel could live perfectly well amongst the Mibu without learning the Old Tongue. Everyone spoke Common nowadays. Even though students were taught the Old Tongue in elementary school, many of them grew out of practice using it as they grew older, given just how rarely it was used. Only a few old-fashioned people, like Haruka of the Taishiro, made extensive use of it._

 _"Oops, fell asleep again, huh?"_

 _Yumiko jolted, barely managing to stifle the yelp of surprise at the sound of Shinrei's voice. Covering her mouth, she managed to keep all but a faint squeak from emerging. Ciel shifted and murmured softly, but didn't wake. Yumiko turned to see Shinrei had entered the room. He smiled and raised a hand in greeting. "Hey."_

 _Yumiko nodded silently, lowering her hands and turning to look at Ciel again. "How long has she been doing this?" she asked._

 _"A couple months now," said Shinrei, moving to Ciel's side and closing the book. He picked up the pencil and set it on the cover. "Can you help me, so I don't have to make two trips?"_

 _Yumiko nodded. Shinrei pulled back Ciel's chair, carefully supporting her so that she wasn't jostled or jolted by the movements, allowing him to slowly and carefully lift her up in his arms. Yumiko picked up the book and pencil and followed Shinrei as he carried Ciel down the hall and to her room. When they entered, she watched as Shinrei tucked Ciel into her bed, while she set the workbook and pencil down on a shelf. Shinrei turned out the lights and they stepped out, so that he could close the door and let her sleep._

 _"Why?" asked Yumiko as they returned to the common room. "Why is she doing this? She doesn't need to learn the Old Tongue."_

 _"But she wants to," said Shinrei. "She's been curious, since we still use a lot of Old Tongue terms in the practice of our school. She wanted to know more. Then she decided it would be a good idea to learn the whole thing, so she asked me how she could go about doing that. I made arrangements to get her the textbooks and workbooks our kids use in their schooling." He sighed. "I think she's doing it as a kind of therapy."_

 _"Therapy?" Yumiko blinked in confusion. "For what?"_

 _"She left her Kingdom under...strained circumstances," said Shinrei. "She made a decision based on her conscience. But it was painted as treason, and she was treated as a traitor. She became an outcast in her homeland. What was worse, the authority figures in her life strung out her experience so that she could suffer the social consequences without giving her real punishment, probably because they were planning to do it after they thought she'd suffered enough, whenever that would be._

 _"So she wound up coming here, to a foreign land, a land with a completely different set of customs and way of life. She was born an outsider, but she doesn't want to feel like one. So she's trying her hardest to absorb our ways and really integrate herself. She wants to feel at home here, like she belongs. She feels that learning the Old Tongue will help that."_

 _Yumiko's mouth worked silently for a moment as she mulled this over. She tried to imagine what it would be like to integrate with a foreign culture, not merely immerse herself in it as though she were visiting for a prolonged period, but to fully absorb and internalize it so that she would feel like she really belonged there. She thought about what it would be like to have to use the very textbooks and workbooks that country's children used to learn the things that actual residents would have been taught since childhood._

 _Yumiko sniffed, a sickening surge of guilt rising up inside her, making her stomach churn uncomfortably. She nibbled at her thumbnail._ She's working so hard to become one of us and I went and... _Her mind went back to the horrific way she'd treated Ciel when she'd first arrived. She remembered beating Ciel down, time after time, how hard Ciel had worked to narrow the gap between them, how she continued to go above and beyond what was asked of her as a student of this school, even though she no longer needed to beat Yumiko, inspiring the other students to join her._

 _She had to have felt so alone in this foreign land, yet she didn't let it hold her back, striving forward, trying her hardest to make this strange place a true home for herself. Just thinking about it completely humbled Yumiko._

 _"_ _Yumiko," said Shinrei, prompting her to look in surprise. Yumiko couldn't remember the last time he'd addressed her so informally._ Not since he became one of the Five. _"Yes?" she asked._

 _Shinrei scratched his head, shifting uncomfortably. "I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I keep finding excuses to put it off. Now's as good a time as any, I guess."_

 _"_ _For what?" she asked, leaning forward._

 _Shinrei sighed and lowered his head. "Look…I know how you feel about me."_

 _Yumiko's heart thundered hard in her chest as she realized what was just about to happen._

 _"_ _I…" Shinrei seemed to struggle to find the right words. "I don't want to hurt you, but…I just have to say it. I don't feel the same way."_

 _Yumiko opened her mouth, but her first attempt at words died as she choked back a sob. "I-I think I knew that already," said Yumiko, sniffling harder, her nose beginning to clog up. "I've known it for a while now. But I didn't want to admit it. When I saw the way you looked at her…I realized you'd probably never look at me like that."_

 _Shinrei nodded. "Yeah," he said, still looking and sounding uncomfortable. "It doesn't mean I don't love you. I do. You're like family, a sister to me. But I don't love you that way."_

 _"_ _W-would it have been different?" asked Yumiko. "Would it have been different if you hadn't met her."_

 _Shinrei sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know…maybe," he said. "It isn't like I planned to fall for her. I started out wanting to help her. I sympathized with her. Then I started to like her. And then…" He shook his head. "It just all sorta…happened. I can't really put it into words. I could hardly find a good way to explain it to her. I can't help the way I feel."_

 _He looked up and met Yumiko's gaze squarely. "Maybe things would've been different if I hadn't met her. Maybe it would've been you. But I have no intention of dwelling on 'maybes.' That isn't fair for any of us: you, her, or me."_

 _Yumiko lowered her head. "I understand," she said._

 _"_ _Is there any chance you could let it…let me go?" asked Shinrei._

 _"_ _N-not yet," said Yumiko, looking back up at him again. "I can't help the way I feel either."_

 _Shinrei sighed. "Yeah…I guess it's unfair of me to ask that. I'd like you to try though, for your sake as much as hers…or mine."_

 _Yumiko nodded. "Why go through this?" she asked. "You don't really have to justify it."_

 _"_ _I'm not trying to justify it," said Shinrei. "I just want us to be on the same page. I'm hoping that it'll help you be able to get along with Ciel." He smiled. "If possible, I'd like for you to be one of her friends."_

 _"_ _I'd…I'd like that," said Yumiko._

 _"_ _Good," said Shinrei with a sigh, a relieved one this time. "I'm glad we managed to do this. Have a good night, Yumiko."_

 _"_ _You as well, Shinrei-sama," said Yumiko, bowing her head._

 _Shinrei smiled and took his leave. Yumiko stayed where she was for a moment before turning off the lamp on the table and heading back towards her room. However, she paused at the door to Ciel's room. After a moment's hesitation, she slid it open and entered. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark, allowing her to make out Ciel's sleeping form on her bed. Yumiko knelt down beside her and gently brushed a hand through Ciel's hair._

 _"_ _I'm sorry," she whispered. Then she stood up and left the room, leaving Ciel to her well-earned rest._

* * *

The three combatants exploded into motion simultaneously. Piper unleashed the drones from her arms, the twelve minuscule weapons taking to the air and flaring in a variety of colors, while Meinrad closed in. Piper went on the attack as well, attacking Yumiko with unarmed strikes, though with the cybernetic enhancements, she hardly counted as unarmed in that respect.

Spinning in place, Yumiko caught both their melee attacks with her swords, deflecting them aside before dancing out of the way of Piper's drones. Her opponents attacked ferociously, moving with perfect coordination, matching their movements so that neither interfered with the other nor was ever threatened by the other's attacks. All the while, Piper's drones attacked Yumiko from every conceivable direction and angle, targeting every part of her body, their flashing colors promising any number of different effects if they made contact.

Yet Yumiko moved with perfect grace and confidence, parrying and dodging perfectly, counterattacking fiercely to force one back, then the other.

"She's doing it," said Miyu breathlessly. "She's using the Rhythm Arts."

"She's got their number now," commented Takeshi.

Ciel nodded wordlessly. In a sense, the Specialists' own precision and perfect coordination was working against them. They moved in perfect synch with one another, no doubt using their built-in electronic communications systems to coordinate their attacks and adjust on the fly. They moved with perfect, mechanized, clockwork precision…

…And nothing could possibly have a simpler, easier-to-read rhythm than a clock. Their attacks, defenses, and movements set a perfect and easy rhythm for Yumiko to follow. It allowed her to anticipate their attacks, and find or make openings for herself. Even Piper's drones, as terrifyingly swift and dangerous as they were, were no doubt being controlled through substantial computational power. Controlling them on the fly, independently, much less in conjunction with the the two Specialists themselves, was beyond the computational power of nearly any system. Instead, they were being made to attack in patterns, complex patterns to be sure, but patterns that carried the same rhythm as the Specialists' own attacks.

However, despite the fact that Yumiko was doing so well, Ciel knew she couldn't let down her guard. She had seen it throughout the fight. They hid it well, given that their cybernetically-enhanced eyes didn't need to operate in the same manner that un-enhanced eyes would. But Ciel had seen and felt their gaze drift in her direction. Even as the two Specialists fought Yumiko, they were always on the lookout for their chance to secure their objective…Ciel herself. That was the difference in objectives. The Specialists weren't trying to defeat Yumiko. Their mission was to abduct Ciel. Yumiko just happened to be one of the obstacles to that.

At the moment, they were focusing on Yumiko because they knew that any attempt to disengage and go after Ciel would mean trying to fight their way through the rest of the students, including the eldest ones, who were all armed with steel blades, not wooden practice swords. Though that might have been doable with their skills, doing so would have meant opening themselves to attack from Yumiko, who wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of any opening that they offered her.

It wasn't just Yumiko. Ciel and her fellow students were participants in this battle as well. Anything they did might well shape how things turned out. Ciel wasn't entirely sure Yumiko or any of the other students were aware of that. Ciel only noticed because she had been through real battle before and seen similar scenarios play out.

After a couple minutes, Ciel realized things weren't going as well as they initially seemed. Yumiko was using the Rhythm Arts successfully, using her previous exchanges in the fight to keep her opponents at bay. Even as she did, she used the Dancing Blade to bend her slashes to try and navigate around her enemies' defenses and catch them in their evasions. Her blades changed course so quickly that it was like they were reflections on the surface of a lake, bending and rippling with each disturbance of the water. But Piper and Meinrad had used their cybernetic systems to compensate, their own limbs and bodies seeming to bend and ripple in the same way to block or dodge each attack. Thanks to their enhancements, they didn't need to worry about having the requisite arm strength needed to execute the movements.

Right now, it was a stalemate. Yumiko was able to keep them from landing hits on her, but she wasn't able to land any in return. _She has the skills,_ thought Ciel. _But she doesn't have the experience._ Sooner or later, the balance would tip and, the longer it went on, the less likely it was to tip Yumiko's way.

However, Yumiko wasn't about to go down so easily. As she spun to block another of Meinrad's strikes, Yumiko unleashed a wave of water out from the edge of her sword. This wasn't one of the dragons typically conjured by the _Mumyo Saigyo_ techniques, but a pure torrent of onrushing water that slammed into Meinrad, washing over him and driving him back. Taking advantage of the opening, Yumiko turned about and focused all her strength in her next attack on Piper. Swinging both swords, Yumiko unleashed a quartet of winding dragons that surged towards Piper.

Piper held her hands out in front of her. As she did, six of the drones she'd launched formed a revolving circle in the air in front of her hands. They shined white, and a shimmering, white shield appeared just as Yumiko's dragons reached it. The dragons slammed into the shield and exploded backwards, their forms dissolving completely into formless water, which splashed harmlessly across the ground.

However, Yumiko had taken advantage of the fact that Piper's vision was suddenly blinded by the spray of water created by her own defense. Yumiko's body became a blur as she skipped around behind Piper, slashing with her blades at Piper's back and neck. Her attacks were met by a pair of black-shrouded drones, empowered with gravity-Dust, which smashed her blades to pieces again.

Yumiko was also driven back by the force of the dual impacts, halting her attack in its tracks. As she did, Piper jumped up. A quartet of her drones moved into another circling formation, much tighter this time, right beneath her feet. They flared black with dark-violet nimbus. Like the ones that had hit Yumiko's swords, these drones were also empowered with gravity-Dust. However, its polarity had been reversed. Instead of increasing their mass, they instead collectively generated a field repelling gravity directly above them, allowing them to lift Piper up farther. It was the same principles that allowed Dust-powered airships to remain aloft, but applied on a much smaller, more impromptu scale.

As Piper ascended, a pair of shimmering, green, wind blades whistled beneath her, launched from the edges of Meinrad's swords, flying straight towards Yumiko, who had yet to recover her balance. Yumiko barely noticed them in time and threw her body out of the way. However, one of the blades caught her ankle, sending a small arc of blood flying through the air as she cried out in pain.

Yumiko landed hard and rolled but wasn't able to come gracefully back to her feet. She forced herself to get back up, struggling, the wound to her ankle hampering her. But her opponents weren't done. Piper, still riding the gravity repulsion field generated by her drones, swooped down from the sky just as Yumiko rose up, spinning around and snapping one leg out to deliver a devastating roundhouse kick to Yumiko's chin, knocking her off her feet once more.

Piper jumped off the drones she was using to fly and held out her left arm, the bays opening, allowing them to return and recharge their Dust reserves. At the same time, the bays in her right arm opened, discharging six more drones. These six glowed the crackling, sparking, yellow of lightning-Dust. Unable to avoid them, Yumiko screamed as all six of them struck, overrunning her body with arcs of electricity that crawled up and down her, running out to the end of her fingers.

Gritting her teeth, Yumiko scrunched her eyes shut and Projected her Aura out, forcing both the drones and the electricity they were channeling into her body away. She managed to remain upright, but her limbs spasmed, threatening to send her toppling over again if she lost her focus. Still, she held firm and stood up as straight as she could manage at the moment. Holding out her hands, she channeled her Aura into them, the essence of her soul swirling, condensing, and Manifesting into real mater, becoming water that flowed out, then crystalized into the familiar form of the crescent-shaped bokuyukusui blades.

Then Meinrad returned to the fray, dashing past Piper, his swords glowing with fire-Dust as he dashed in, slashing at Yumiko without pause. Yumiko raised her own swords to try and parry his attacks, but found her defense faltering due to her unresponsive limbs. She put her weight on her injured ankle and shrieked as it collapsed out from under her. Meinrad rose over her and slashed straight down with one sword. Yumiko raised her own to catch his, bracing with all her remaining strength. The fiery blade hissed angrily as it strained against the crystalline sword. This hiss was joined by a crack as Yumiko's blade broke, dissolving back into water, much of which was turned into hissing steam. Meinrad's blade continued unopposed, slashing down the length of Yumiko's torso, cutting through her kimono. Yumiko's Aura managed to keep the blade's edge from biting into her flesh, but the fire-Dust that empowered Meinrad's sword ensured that it left an angry, red, blistering burn in its wake as she fell back away from it.

Yumiko landed hard on her back and lay still.

"Yumiko-senpai!" shouted Ciel, once again struggling to move forward again, though her friends continued to hold her back.

"Finally," grunted Meinrad, straightening up. "That took much too long."

"No matter," said Piper. "Let's complete the objective."

Moving with eerie synchronicity, they both turned to face the other students, who tensed, readying themselves to fight. However, they stopped when they heard the sound of motion from the direction of Yumiko, who twitched, then sat up. She groaned and struggled, needing both her arms to simply get into the sitting position. Moving slowly and with much difficulty, she worked to get her legs back under herself before laboring to stand up.

"Still?" asked Meinrad, his voice showing hints of frustration as he turned back to Yumiko. "Stay down, and we won't have to kill you."

"N-not a chance," gasped Yumiko, her voice hoarse.

"You're throwing your life away," snapped Piper, sounding even more irritated than her partner, "and for what...for a traitor...a criminal? She doesn't deserve your loyalty."

"Sh-she may be a traitor to you," said Yumiko. "But we don't care about that. I'll keep fighting to protect her because..." Yumiko hesitated, as though she needed to gather her strength to say what came next. "...because Ciel-kun is my friend!"

Ciel's jaw dropped and she went limp in the arms of her friends. "Yumiko-senpai," she whispered.

"Fine then," said Meinrad contemptuously. "We'll show you how grave an error you've made in your choice of friends." He lifted his arms, raising his swords. This time, he didn't even bother with Dust. Although she was standing up and facing them, Yumiko showed no signs of being able to actually fight anymore, her battered and burned body trembling as she struggled to simply remain upright.

At the same time that Meinrad struck with his swords, Piper launched all twelve of her drones, each of them empowered with gravity-Dust, rushing in. Meinrad's swords cut right through Yumiko's shoulders, slicing down through her torso as the drones punched holes throughout her body, a quartet of them forming up to smash right into her head, which splattered...as though it were made purely of water.

Yumiko's body was replaced with a double made of water, which took the blows in her place. The water construct collapsed down into a puddle in front of Meinrad, who stared at it for a confused second before he and Piper quickly snapped back into attention, moving to stand back-to-back as they readied themselves in expectation that Yumiko would use her water clone to flank them, like she had before.

However, no attack came. Instead, they heard the sound of light footsteps as someone approached the rest of the students. Everyone's eyes snapped to look at the new arrival, gasps of surprise and relief rising from the students.

"Kaito," said Ciel, relaxing in her friends' hold.

Yumiko struggled to pry her eyes open. They were sticky and unresponsive. When they did open, she had to take a moment before they were able to focus. She wasn't standing anymore. Someone was carrying her in a pair of strong arms. Finally, her vision swam back into focus and she found herself staring up into a familiar face. "Sh-Shinrei...s-sama..."

Shinrei smiled warmly down at her. "Hey," he said softly. "You did good, Yumiko. I'm proud of you."

Though it hurt, Yumiko's lips curled up in a smile all the same.

Shinrei carefully laid her down on the porch, some of the other students moving to help him. "Go ahead and rest," he said, brushing a hand across her forehead. "You've earned it. Makoto-sama will look at you soon."

"Okay," said Yumiko, closing her eyes with a sigh and surrendering to blissful unconsciousness.

"Now then..." said Shinrei, straightening up and turning to face the two Specialists.

Meinrad and Piper both took hesitant steps back.

"Another obstacle," growled Meinrad, baring his teeth in frustration.

" _Wait,_ " cautioned Piper, switching back to the silent electronic communication they had been using before. " _Be careful. This is one of the ones we were warned about in the briefing. He is far more dangerous. One of his peers was able to fight on the level of the Fall Maiden._ "

Meinrad snorted in derision. " _We've seen the worth of these primitives and their antiquated fighting style. There's nothing to fear from this fool. There's no way he could be anywhere near as powerful as Cinder Fall._ "

Piper didn't respond, her body tensing. She wasn't so sure. Her years of experience as a Specialist had given her instincts that told her that this man was far more dangerous than the girl who'd given them a far more difficult fight than they'd had any right to expect. They both tensed, readying for a fight as Shinrei approached them. However, they blinked in surprise when he stopped a short distance away, well out of reach of Meinrad's arm-mounted blades and bowed politely to them.

"Before we begin," said Shinrei, rising up from his bow, "I wanted to thank you."

"What are you thanking us for?" asked Piper, genuinely confused.

"For fighting Yumiko-kun like you did," said Shinrei, matter-of-factly. "She's our top student, but she's still _just_ a student when all is said and done. The breadth of her experience as a martial artist has been enclosed by the walls of this school. Thanks to you two, she's gotten a taste of what the real world of combat can be like. This was a valuable experience for her and even the other students. So, for that, I'm grateful."

Piper and Meinrad shared a confused look, genuinely baffled by Shinrei's attitude. There was no threat in his words, only a genuine expression of gratitude, the very last thing they'd expected from this person.

Shinrei grinned widely. "I gotta say, that was pretty awesome to watch. She's definitely gotten a lot better. I think she even improved over the course of this fight."

"Wait! How long have you been watching?" asked Piper.

"The whole time," said Shinrei.

"What?" gasped Meinrad. "But you went back to the Palace with the other group."

Shinrei smirked, folding his arms in front of him. "I _pretended_ to go to the Palace. But I actually doubled back so that I could see how Yumiko-kun and the other students handled your intrusion."

"You knew we were going to attack tonight?" asked Piper, taking a step back.

Shinrei's smirk widened. "Well...I didn't really know for sure if you'd try to take Ciel tonight, but I figured it was likely, given how long you've been following her around. You started watching her fairly early last night and followed her around all day today."

Meinrad's arms dropped to hang limply at his sides. "Y-you knew?"

"Yep," said Shinrei, his smirk becoming a grin again. "Your fancy tech might have made you invisible, but you've gotta do better than that if you wanna escape our senses. Yumiko-kun picked up on you sometime around this afternoon, I think, maybe sooner."

"H-how?" demanded Meinrad.

Shinrei laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know? I think I've told you enough. I'm grateful to you two for giving our students a taste of real combat, but it's time to take you guys in. I'd rather that you came quietly. But I doubt that's gonna be an option."

Meinrad and Piper tensed, their arms rising as they sank down into combat stances once again.

"Oh well," said Shinrei with an indifferent shrug before unfolding his arms. Water streamed out from the palm of his hand, swirling around and forming the shaft and broad blade of his oar-like halberd, which he took up in both hands, spinning it around his body before assuming a starting stance of his own, holding the weapon so that it extended vertically down behind him, the blade pointing towards the ground, held by his right arm, over his shoulder, his left held out slightly in front of him. He rose up on one leg, this stance being a variation of the one Yumiko always started with.

Piper crossed her arms in front of her, the bays installed in them opening up. Flinging them out to either side, she launched her drones, which swarmed towards Shinrei like oversized, angry wasps. Meinrad rushed in as well, his arm-mounted swords raised.

Three of Piper's drones were empowered with gravity-Dust, three with fire-Dust, three with lightning-Dust, and three with ice-Dust. They wove and twisted, their flight paths curling around each other in baffling ways as they closed in ahead of Meinrad.

Despite that, Shinrei merely grinned and fell back, allowing the smaller, lighter, faster drones to gain extra distance on Piper's partner, so that they reached Shinrei first, rather than at the same time as Meinrad. As he did, Shinrei twirled his halberd around, the blade becoming a blur of icy blue as it whirled through the air around him. His first attack intercepted and incoming gravity-drone. However, instead of shattering like Yumiko's swords had, or even slowing down for that matter, the blade of Shinrei's weapon cleaved right through the flying orb. Continuing the spin, he spun his halberd, meeting each incoming drone and cutting each of them in two effortlessly, showing no sign that their dust armaments offered even the slightest impediment to his weapon.

Meinrad skidded to a stop and leaped back, his eyes wide as Piper gaped at Shinrei, her expression horrified. "That's impossible!" shouted Meinrad.

Shinrei grinned fiercely. "That's the difference between a student and a master," said Shinrei. "She's good. But her technique hasn't been fully refined yet. You two should be thanking your lucky stars that you aren't fighting our Grandmaster."

Piper growled and raised her arms, hands balled into fists, using a classic unarmed fighting stance. Meinrad raised his swords, his entire body tensing and trembling with anger.

Shinrei didn't bother assuming a fighting stance again, instead casually resting the shaft of his weapon across his shoulders. "Must be hard," he said. "You two went through all that trouble, sacrificing so much, letting scientists meld those fancy little toys to your flesh, maiming you in ways that are utterly impossible to reverse. It's gotta be tough to go through all that, only to find that those neat little gizmos can't hold a candle to the fruits of true effort and perseverance. In the end, all those fancy clockwork add-ons of yours don't amount to a single thing."

Meinrad charged forward with an angry roar, his blades glowing with Dust. Piper also charged in, her fists shimmering as well. The two of them rushed straight at Shinrei, who seemed to not even care that they were coming. He merely continued to smile at them. He held his ground until they reached him, suddenly meeting their attacks with his weapon, spinning it deftly to deflect and block their strikes, merely defending himself as the two Specialists pressed their attack. After allowing it to drag on for a minute, Shinrei's smile became a grin.

"Let me show you how a master does it," said Shinrei calmly. " _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu: Shiryu Reppasho!_ "

Shinrei blurred into motion, his halberd becoming an azure blur as the heads of angry dragons lunged out from the blade, moving too swiftly for Meinrad and Piper to react to at this distance. Along with the dragons came swirling blades of water. Meinrad and Piper both screamed as their limbs were torn and sliced off, the whirling blades cutting through their bodies with surgical precision as the two Specialists were swept up in a swirling maelstrom.

A second later, the two of them slammed into the ground. Meinrad's arms had been sliced and torn off. There were several cuts to his chest and even on his neck. Piper was in even worse shape, her arms severed at the shoulders, her legs cut off at the knees. She also sported cuts to either side of her torso. The two of them lay on the ground, their wounds leaking lubricants and other fluids onto the ground, but not releasing more than a few drops of blood.

"And...done," said Shinrei, letting his weapon collapse back into water, which seemed to just evaporate away.

"Wha-what?" gasped Meinrad.

"That should take care of your fancy prosthetics," said Shinrei, clapping his hands, like he was knocking dust off after a hard day's work.

"How did you know...?" asked Piper.

Shinrei grinned. "When I was letting you attack me earlier, I wasn't just doing it for show. Every time you two made contact, it allowed me to feel the flow of water through your bodies, which told me which parts of you were flesh and which...weren't. Human bodies...well...human bodies that haven't been replaced with a hefty portion of robot parts...are approximately seventy-percent water after all. After that, all I had to do was cut the parts that didn't have water in them."

"Why?" demanded Meinrad.

"I think that should be obvious," said Shinrei, his grin almost sadistic as he crouched down to better look into their eyes. "You guys are pros. That much is clear. I'm sure you don't have any tangible evidence linking you back to the one that sent you, which is kinda silly, since there's only one Kingdom out there that would modify their operatives like this, and everyone knows it, though I'm sure a certain General will deny it until judgment day."

Meinrad and Piper both paled, their eyes going wide.

"But that means we needed to take you two alive," continued Shinrei, "so we can get the truth about who gave you your orders from your own lips."

Meinrad and Piper's eyes both narrowed dangerously, their gazes becoming glares.

"Kaito!" shouted Ciel, struggling out from amongst her fellow students. "Get away from them!"

Shinrei yelped and jumped back. As he did, Makoto suddenly appeared, seeming to materialize instantly out of thin air, right where Shinrei had been standing. He stamped on the ground hard with his foot, sending out a shockwave that bounced the two immobilized Specialists into the air. His hands reached out, grasping both of them by their faces. The air was filled with a hollow bursting sound, and the bodies of Piper and Meinrad seemed to blur for an instant, before their forms sagged, hanging limply from Makoto's grip as he held them up by their heads, his hands clamped over their faces.

"I'm glad that you warned us about this, Ciel-kun," said Makoto calmly, dropping the two unconscious forms back to the ground. "You shouldn't have wasted so much time flapping your lips, Shinrei."

"Sorry, Sensei," said Shinrei with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head and blushing slightly. "I got cocky."

"What did you do, Sensei?" asked Ciel, now able to step out freely from amongst her friends and fellow students, who no longer felt the need to hold her back.

"I delivered a shock to the water in their bodies, which rendered them unconscious," said Makoto. "It was fortunate that I was able to succeed. I grew worried when a certain someone decided he needed to gloat." He glared at Shinrei again, who grimaced and bowed low, clapping his hands together in apology.

Makoto sighed. "In any case, things seem to have gone the way you predicted, Ciel-kun."

"Yes," agreed Ciel, though she hadn't expected something like this to happen so suddenly...which seemed rather naive, now that she thought about it, seeing as suddenly was, more or less, the default manner in which incidents such as this happened. In all honesty, she was amazed things had gone the way she'd predicted like that.

When she had discussed it with Makoto and Shinrei the other evening, she had brought up the possibility that Ironwood would send covert agents to abduct her. Naturally, such missions would never be officially recognized by the Atlesian government, especially not by Ironwood himself. However, it was considered an open secret within the Academy and, indeed, the Kingdom as a whole, that such agents and units existed, even though their existence was not officially acknowledged. All governments had such "black" groups to carry out the dirty work that was seen as necessary, but no one wanted to officially acknowledge, for fear of the damage to the reputation of their Kingdom.

Knowing that, Ciel had also understood that such agents would have countermeasures against being captured, to ensure that they did not give damning information about whose orders they were following. Naturally, if they were faced with the threat of captivity and interrogation, suicide was the most expedient way to ensure their silence. In the books Ciel had occasionally read when she was younger, the typical method was some form of poison capsule carried within the mouth, that could be bitten down on in an emergency.

But she also knew that any Atlesian covert Specialists were likely to be cybernetically enhanced. Cybernetics not only broadened options for combat, but suicide as well. She had tried to consider possible forms this would take. It could be some built-in injector, designed to inject a lethal poison directly into the heart. It could have been a surge of electricity, triggered by a hidden cache of lightning-Dust, frying the user's nervous system. It could even have been something as simple as a bomb, with sufficient yield to ruin the user's body beyond identification and, potentially, serve as a way to try and take his captors with him. Any of these could conceivably be triggered by a neural signal, which could be triggered literally at the speed of thought. Furthermore, most of them were probably small enough that it was conceivable that Shinrei, thorough as he was, hadn't managed to destroy or disable it in his last attack. Capturing agents so equipped would be difficult.

Makoto turned slightly to the side, seeming to speak into thin air. "Take these two back to my laboratory and restrain them. See that they are kept sedated."

A single figure blurred into sight. "As you wish, Makoto-sama," said the man who had appeared out of nowhere, his sudden appearance making Ciel yelp and jump back. In her sudden motion, she stumbled over some of the broken ground. churned up by the battle, and started to fall over backwards.

"Easy now," said Shinrei, catching Ciel before she could fall over all the way. "He's a friend." He grinned at the new arrival. "What's up, Setsuna?"

The unfamiliar man nodded politely at Shinrei. He was clad in a white garment that vaguely resembled a lab coat, albeit it appeared to be tied, rather than buttoned shut. A pair of black hakama covered his legs. That, combined with the white gloves he wore over his hands, hid all skin except for his face. If there was a word Ciel could find to describe his face, it was "shifty," with thin lips and narrow eyes, squinted to such a degree that it was impossible to see what color they were, further obscured by the pair of small spectacles that he wore on the bridge of his nose. His hair was black and silky, running down just past his shoulders.

Taking notice of her, the man smiled. By all rights, the expression should have made him more suspicious-looking, but, for some reason, it put Ciel at ease. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ciel-san," he said, bobbing his head slightly in greeting. "I am Setsuna, one of Makoto-sama's Imperial Guards."

"Oh..." was all that Ciel could say for a second before she remembered her manners, stepping out of Shinrei's hold and bowing in return to him. "Pleased to meet you, Setsuna-san."

Setsuna's smile widened and he nodded back at her.

"Wow! I've never seen one of Makoto-sama's Guards before."

Ciel blinked as she heard Aya's voice from the midst of the crowd of students.

"Yeah, they don't usually come around here," said Shinrei, addressing the students as a group as much as he was addressing Ciel. "Makoto-sama's Guard is primarily involved in his work as Chief Physician."

In the meantime, Setsuna had stooped down to pick up the two prisoners, throwing Meinrad's body over his shoulder and tucking Piper's body under the opposite arm.

"What do you mean?" asked Ciel.

Shinrei traded one last nod with Setsuna, who then vanished into the night. "They're recruited from among his best apprentices from the healing and fighting arts. They spend most of their time wandering the continent, checking up on the doctors and physicians in the settlements and making sure that they're doing their jobs properly."

"So...they're like inspectors then," said Yuuto.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "There's usually only one in Onmyo at any given time. They stay on the move, and only come back to report to Makoto-sama or help him with something."

"Correct," said Makoto, who was now helping Yumiko sit up, having tended to her injuries in the time it had taken Setsuna to take up his burden and leave. "Setsuna was due to leave this morning, but I asked him to remain for another few days in anticipation of this incident."

Yumiko blinked sleepily, worn out from her fight, and the healing that had followed it. She flinched back in surprise as Ciel rushed over to her and knelt down beside her. "A-are you okay, Yumiko-senpai?" she asked urgently.

"I'm fine," said Yumiko, still blinking. "I-"

She was cut off as Ciel threw her arms around Yumiko's shoulders and hugged her tightly. "Thank goodness," said Ciel, tears leaking out of her eyes. "Thank you...so much!"

Yumiko smiled tiredly and found herself hugging Ciel back. "I should be the one thanking you," she said softly.

Both Makoto and Shinrei smiled at the sight before Makoto covered his mouth, gently clearing his throat, startling Yumiko and Ciel out of their embrace.

"In any case," said Makoto, turning his gaze to survey the entirety of his students, "it is clear there are some matters to address. Assemble in the training hall. Don't worry about changing your clothes."

The students nodded and headed across the courtyard, picking their way around the craters, gouges, and heaps of churned earth scattered by the battle. Ciel supported Yumiko as she walked, while Shinrei followed behind at a polite distance.

There, in the hall, they sat on their knees, the usual position they sat in when they were being addressed by Makoto as he sat in the same manner before them.

"It's late," he said, "so I will make this brief."

Now that the adrenaline had faded, the students tried their best to look attentive.

"I have no words," said Makoto gravely. "There are no words that adequately describe how I feel about your behavior this night. There is nothing that can fully express my thoughts." He closed his eyes, then smiled gently. "I cannot even begin to describe just how _proud_ I am of all of you."

That caused a stir, startling the students out of their drowsiness, making them jolt sharply upright and sit at attention.

Makoto opened his eyes, still smiling. "Tonight, you all rallied around one of your own. She was originally an outsider, but you have truly welcomed her as your fellow student and fellow Mibu."

Ciel blushed and lowered her head, Miyu and Takeshi, sitting to either side of her, favoring her with smiling glances.

"What was more, you all risked your lives to protect her," continued Makoto. "But this is not just about tonight. You have all been diligent, well beyond my best expectations, working with one another, building each other up, going above and beyond what I have asked from you as my students, every single day. I am proud to say that all of you are the finest students I have ever had the privilege to teach. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

To their utter shock and amazement, Makoto then bowed low to them, actually lowering his forehead all the way to the floor. Bewildered by this strange state of affairs, all they could think to do was bow in return.

Lifting his head up, Makoto beamed at them, looking to all the world like a father showing his pride to his children. "You've done well," he said, "and I know that you will continue to do well. It has been a long night for all of you, so training shall be suspended tomorrow and your time will be yours to do with as you please. Rest well. You've earned it."

"Thank you, Makoto-sensei," said the students in unison, bowing to him once more.

"Dismissed," said Makoto, which was the cue for them to file out.

When they were alone in the training hall, Shinrei found himself grinning at Makoto. "The best students you've ever had, huh?"

"Do you disagree?" asked Makoto.

"Nope," said Shinrei. "Honestly, it makes me jealous." He sighed. "I was so focused on my own skills back when I was a student because I was desperate to catch up to Kyo. I wound up neglecting my peers." He glanced at the door the students had left through. "If I had been even half as attentive to them back then..."

"True," agreed Makoto. "Now, isn't there someone you should be checking on."

"Yeah, you're right," said Shinrei.

* * *

 **In retrospect, I find myself wishing I'd put a bit more thought into Meinrad's cybernetics, if only to give him something a little less...generic. That's primarily because he existed as a compliment to Piper, who, again, is a character I put way too much thought into, considering her overal role in the story, again, because of a pun.**


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60:**

"Hey," said Shinrei, as he came out of the training hall and saw a familiar figure sitting on the porch of the residential section.

"Oh!" Ciel jolted in surprise, so absorbed in her own thoughts, she hadn't even noticed Shinrei's approach.

"I figured you'd go right to bed," said Shinrei. "You must be pretty tired, even if you weren't fighting directly."

Ciel nodded. "I just...I just wanted to think about some things. I think better out here."

Sitting down next to her, Shinrei wrapped an arm around Ciel's shoulders and pulled her up against him. With a sigh, Ciel leaned into his embrace. "You seem worried about something," he said.

"Makoto-sensei called us his best students," said Ciel. "But I don't feel like I've earned it. All I did was sit back and let you and Yumiko-senpai fight for me. Those agents were here because of me. Yumiko-senpai got injured because of me."

"Because of _me_ , actually," said Shinrei. "Remember, I was watching the whole time. But I didn't step in until she'd gotten a pretty thorough beating."

"Why?" asked Ciel.

"It's just as I told those two," said Shinrei. "You can practice katas and nice, safe sparring matches all you want, but this is a school for martial arts that are meant to be applied to the real world. There are things you can't learn in such a safe, regulated environment, things you need to learn by going out and fighting for real. That's what I got from Kyo, and that's what Yumiko got from her fight tonight. You all got a taste of it to a certain extent, whether you were out there trading blows or not. Yes, she was injured because of that. But that experience will serve as a catalyst for all of you to grow much faster than you might've otherwise. So, in a sense, you're going to be responsible for all of that too."

"But I didn't do anything," said Ciel. "All I did was stand back and watch." She lifted her hands and looked at them. "I've been training, doing what I've been taught. But I'm just going through the motions. I don't deserve Makoto-sensei's praise."

"Yes you do," said Shinrei simply. "You deserve the lion's share of it, seeing as you're the one responsible for all of this."

"That can't be right," said Ciel, looking incredulously at him. There was no way she could be the one credited for making all the students so much better than before. "I haven't done anything."

"Really?" asked Shinrei skeptically. "Nothing at all, huh? Not even getting your fellow students to give up their free time so that they can do additional practice and training in the evenings when they would normally be lazing about?"

"Th-that wasn't me," said Ciel.

"They weren't doing it _before_ you came here," said Shinrei. "You might not have been taking a leadership role in doing it, but you were the one who set the standard by doing it yourself. You did it yourself, and it allowed you to improve enough to actually beat our most senior student in a match. You showed them what all that extra diligence is worth, and convinced them to follow your example."

"Is that all there really is?" asked Ciel.

"Nope," said Shinrei with a grin. "Part of it is thanks to the fact that you're an outsider. These kids were all born to the Mibu Clan, raised by the Mibu Clan. They've grown up hearing all kinds of gross exaggerations about what the outside world is like."

Ciel frowned, remembering some of the things Yuuto had said during her first night here.

"You came in and gave them a taste of what outsiders can be like," said Shinrei.

"But I've been trying to integrate into their culture," protested Ciel, "your culture."

"Yeah," agreed Shinrei. "But that doesn't change the fact that you gave them an important lesson, that outsiders are people too, that they have their own circumstances and reasons for doing what they do, that they aren't just some kind of innately inferior existence. Just realizing that broadens their horizons and helps them to be more open-minded in general, which is going to be huge for them in the future. Do you think they would've even _thought_ of having a picnic with a bunch of visiting outsiders if you hadn't been there?"

"I...I guess not," said Ciel, somewhat awed by the realization.

"And, above all else, you've shown them that you belong here, with us," said Shinrei, tightening his hold on her. "You earned your place more than enough to be able to call this place your home. The other students see you as one of them now. That's why they rallied together to protect you tonight. That's why Yumiko, of all people, put her body, and even her life, on the line to protect you."

Ciel yelped in surprise as Shinrei pulled her up onto his lap and held her tightly, allowing her to press her face in the crook of his neck while he kissed the top of her head. "All of that growth, all of that development. It was because of you." He smiled. "You've become the heart of this school, the bond that ties everyone together, so much that they came together to protect it tonight. So, no matter what, don't dare question that you belong here. This is your home now. And everyone here is your family."

Ciel sniffled and pressed her face harder into Shinrei's shoulder, her tears dampening his clothes. Back in Atlas Academy, some part of her had been broken by her treatment at the hands of her peers and teachers. Even her own biological family had turned their backs on her, rather than run the risk of being branded accomplices to her treason. She had given up on the idea of both home and family, of having a place to truly belong.

But now she had it again. Now, finally, she could truly say that she was home. So it was with a happy sigh that Ciel allowed herself to drift off in Shinrei's arms.

* * *

"Good heavens, given what's going on right now, I certainly wasn't expecting such an early morning," commented Sora before raising her hand to hide a yawn.

"It can't be helped," said Murasame, looking as fresh and chipper as though they hadn't been awakened while the sun was still below the horizon. "I doubt Makoto has even slept at all. He's probably been working all night."

Haruka, naturally, had nothing to say. Her face, hidden by her hood, betrayed no signs of tiredness. And she was a quiet enough a person from the beginning that any amount of silence couldn't be considered atypical of her.

The three Taishiro made their way through the Palace's medical ward and into the heart of Makoto's domain, the laboratory he had been showing the delegates the previous afternoon. There, they were greeted by Makoto and his Guard, Setsuna, both of whom were moving carefully around the tables, where a man and a woman were strapped down, both of them unconscious, thanks to the I.V.s of sedatives that were being continuously dripped into their bloodstreams.

"And so here are the sparks that may light the fire," said Sora as she gazed upon the two unconscious Specialists.

"Perhaps," said Makoto, looking up at them. "Although it is yet uncertain whether or not this spark will be able to catch."

Sora turned her gaze to Makoto's Guard. "Hello, Setsuna. It's been a while."

Setsuna smiled and bowed to Sora and the other Taishiro. "Of course, Sora-sama. It is a pleasure to see you as well. I trust you, your husband, and son are doing well."

"Of course," said Sora.

"So what do we have here?" asked Murasame, looking over the two restrained figures.

"Presumably Atlesian Specialists," said Makoto, "most likely belonging to a black-ops unit associated with the Atlesian military. However, aside from their high level of cybernetic augmentation, there is nothing to actually link them to Ironwood, certainly no hard, tangible evidence."

"The augmentations themselves aren't enough?" asked Sora. "I had thought that only Atlas resorted to such measures when the subjects had not been previously been injured in any fashion."

"Perhaps," said Makoto. "But that only really constitutes supposition on our part, with no concrete evidence to support it. Ciel-kun has said that their cybernetics are unlikely to carry any identifying markers that could actually link them to anything legitimately produced by the military."

"So, what do we need then?" asked Murasame.

"The truth, from their own lips," said Makoto. "We need an official confession from them that they attempted to abduct one of our citizens on Ironwood's orders."

"Well, they aren't going to be giving any confessions when they're unconscious like this," observed Murasame.

"At the moment, we can't afford to allow them to wake up," said Makoto. "If Ciel-kun's guess is accurate, they may yet have the means to end their lives in order to ensure their silence. Until we can determine what those means are and neutralize them, we don't dare wake them up yet."

"It looks as though their cybernetics have been effectively neutralized," said Sora.

"Mostly," said Makoto. "But our examinations of them have shown that their cybernetics are much more intimately integrated than we first supposed, having been linked to their nervous system, all the way up to what appear to be processing chips connected directly to their brains. A scant few milligrams of the right poison, or a tiny electrical discharge to the correct section of the brain, could be enough, and could be triggered in less than a second after they regain consciousness."

"However, we are at a loss as to how to effectively counter these measures," said Setsuna, inserting himself into the conversation. "Our knowledge of cybernetics is marginal at best. Our culture's technological level leaves us ill-prepared to deal with such complex and advanced systems, in spite of our overall level of skill."

"Why not remove their cybernetics entirely?" asked Haruka, her tone flat. "If there's nothing mechanical left inside them, then there's nothing that can kill them, right?"

"We considered that," said Makoto. "However, that became less feasible when we realized just how integrated their cybernetics are into their bodies. It is going to be difficult, even bordering on impossible for us, to remove all their cybernetics without causing fatal harm." He frowned darkly. "I expect that their cybernetics were designed with exactly that kind of idea in mind to prevent anyone from doing _exactly_ that."

"So we are left with a conundrum," said Sora. "How do we keep these two from killing themselves so that we can learn the true identity of their master?" She scratched her chin.

"If we continue to keep them sedated, we might have time to acquire the information we need on the advanced cybernetic technologies used by outsiders so that we can effectively handle this," said Setsuna.

"Perhaps," agreed Makoto. "However, it would be better if we had something we could work with that would be feasible over the course of this conference, something we can use to rally the delegates of the other three Kingdoms and force Atlas to concede so that we can get a CCT tower of our own."

"Furthermore, information that we can acquire through legitimate channels would be limited," added Murasame.

"And this is 'black' technology," added Makoto. "It is most likely designed to be different from legally used cybernetics in certain ways to keep us from doing just that."

"What we need is an expert," said Sora, "someone intimately familiar with Atlesian technology, who could guide us in this endeavor..."

"Oh..." said Murasame, pausing for a second. "Oh!"

"What is it?" asked Sora.

"I believe I may know someone," said Murasame, now smiling triumphantly, "someone who was, until about a year ago, a piece of Atlesian technology herself."

"Your daughter?" asked Makoto, his eyes widening.

"Penny retains all the knowledge she had from when she was an android, and the technical skills to match," said Murasame. "Her knowledge might be somewhat outdated, as such technology tends to advance rapidly, but I believe that she might be able to catch up with that if she is given a chance to examine these two."

"Would she be willing?" asked Sora. "I don't wish to traumatize your daughter."

"I think she would," said Murasame. "She has been chafing at having to restrain herself ever since the conference started. It pains her that the General is here, but she has not been able to avenge her father. This will give her a chance to strike a blow against him."

"So long as she is willing then," said Makoto, closing his eyes.

"Even then, we should still see if there are other avenues of investigation we can pursue," said Sora, a sly smile emerging on her face. "Perhaps if we managed to acquire the services of an independent expert on such matters, who could give us some insight into the General's rationale..."

"You have someone in mind?" asked Murasame.

"As a matter of fact, I do," said Sora.

* * *

Qrow Branwen groaned, pressing a hand to his forehead as he stumbled into the lab. "Ya jerks have a lot of nerve waking me up so early in the morning," he growled, looking at them with hazy eyes.

"I see you've been happy to help yourself to our selection of liquors," observed Sora, her voice tinted with amusement.

"'Course I am," said Qrow, swaying on his feet. "Ya've got a big party coming up, right?"

"That's right," said Makoto. "However, right now, we require you to have full possession of your mental facilities. So I shall make an exception to my usual rules concerning drunkenness."

"Huh...wha-?" slurred Qrow, caught completely off-guard when Makoto inserted his hand into Qrow's abdomen, his fingers seeming to phase through cloth and skin like they weren't even there, startling the man. "Hey! Whaddaya think yer-?" He was cut off by a flash of Makoto's Aura rising out from where the Elder had inserted his hand.

" _Reject!_ " Makoto pulled his hand back out and tipped it over a small bowl on the table next to him, thin liquid spilling out and filling the bowl. Even as he did that, his other hand rose to Qrow's brow and glowed with his Aura once again.

"Whoa!" gasped Qrow, feeling the pain and nausea of the hangover vanish, Makoto's Aura chasing the rest of the cobwebs out of his brain, leaving him feeling completely awake, energized, and, most shockingly, sober. "Now that's somethin'."

"I merely extracted the toxins left behind by the metabolized alcohol," said Makoto, "and then used my Aura to stimulate your recovery."

"Now there's a handy trick," said Qrow with a grin. "I guess it's worth my while to hang out with you people."

"I did not master the healing arts so that they could be used as a hangover cure," said Makoto curtly. "These are special circumstances, and I expect to be appropriately compensated by having you make yourself useful."

"And what usefulness were you wishing of me, eh?" asked Qrow.

"It concerns these two over here," said Sora, gesturing to the two restrained Specialists.

Qrow whistled appreciatively. "Well now, nabbed yourself a couple of Jimmy's special black operatives, did ya?"

"So you know that they are Atlesian Specialists?" asked Sora.

"Sure," said Qrow. "I know it the same way 'everyone knows' those old folk remedies or old wives' tales. When you deal with the shady side of things as a Huntsman, you wind up 'knowing' a lot of stuff like that. But 'knowing' isn't the same as proving."

"That was what we figured," said Sora.

"So what do you want from me?" asked Qrow.

"We want your insight," said Makoto. "We wish to move beyond 'knowing' and into the realm of 'proving.'"

"Oh, I see," said Qrow. "You want me to help you guys prove that these were Jimmy's people, and that they were working on his orders. What orders were they carrying out exactly?"

"They were attempting to kidnap one of our citizens," said Makoto, "one of my students in fact. She is an immigrant from Atlas, a girl by the name of Ciel Soleil."

"Oh, her," said Qrow. "I got the gist of her story a while ago. Girl has my sympathy. So Jimmy wanted her abducted, eh?"

"So we presume," said Sora.

"Man knows how to hold a grudge. That's for sure," grumbled Qrow. "Losing Polendina, along with his entire Seventh Mobile Brigade, was like a slap to the face for him, and Soleil is the one who made that possible, as far as he's concerned."

"That is our reasoning as well," said Makoto.

"Still, to pull this kinda stunt during the conference is pretty damn ballsy," said Qrow, scratching his chin. "If I were in Jame's shoes, I'd have waited until it was over and then sent somebody."

"We believe that he wanted to use information he extracted from Ciel-kun to undermine our legitimacy," said Makoto. "She knows and witnessed that we have been working with Hayate-kun to rescue the interned faunus."

"Yeah, that might do a number on your negotiations," said Qrow. "Even if the other Kingdoms sympathize with what Atlas' faunus population has been going through, actively interfering like that is a big no-no. It's the kinda thing they all wish they could do, but can't because it would mean that anyone could turn around and do it right back to them, and they wouldn't have the grounds to protest. That's why black ops people like these two exist in the first place." Qrow gestured to the two Specialists.

"Which is why we are hoping to turn this around and use it to undermine the General's standing in negotiations," said Sora. "We wish for proof that Atlas attempted to interfere directly, and actively threatened our citizens without any tangible basis of their own."

"What are you trying to get out of this?" asked Qrow, his eyes narrowing.

"To put it bluntly, we want access to the Kingdoms' CCT network," said Sora. "To accomplish that, we want a tower of our own, not merely a relay."

"Ah, gotcha," said Qrow. "That explains a lot about what you're doing and how you're doing it."

"So, will you help us?" asked Sora.

"Sure," said Qrow. "I've been getting worried about the way James' been doing business for a while now. Back during the fight with Salem, it was just that he didn't really understand what we were up against or the best way to fight it. But now he's been doing things that have really gotten me worried. Something that can keep him in check is more than welcome, and you may be just the folks to do that."

"Your faith in us is reassuring," said Sora.

"Well, the fact that your boy is dating my niece may have something to do with it," said Qrow with a wink at her.

"Then please advise us on what we can do," said Makoto.

"Sure thing," said Qrow. "For starters, you don't necessarily need to interrogate them to get results. If you do things right, just the information you've caught these two is a good way to start stirring the pot. You might even trip James up before you even get a confession out of them."

"Oh..." said Sora, raising a curious eyebrow. "Tell me more."

* * *

"They WHAT?" shouted Penny, her eyes wide as she stared at her adoptive father.

"They tried to abduct Ciel-kun, I'm afraid," said Murasame.

"Is Ciel all right?" asked Penny.

Mursame nodded. "She is completely unharmed. From what I've heard, her fellow students protected her. Makoto is very proud of them."

Penny sighed and sagged in relief. "I...I used to believe Ironwood wouldn't do something like that. But after what he did to Father..."

"I understand," said Murasame, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm grateful for your willingness to restrain yourself, while the conference is in progress. Now is an opportunity for you to begin the process of getting justice for your father's murder."

"Justice..." said Penny.

Murasame nodded. "I can't say I like the thought of what you and Kyo plan to do, once our festival is over and the delegates return to their Kingdoms. There is a fine line between justice and vengeance. Some would say that there is no line. Justice is, after all, a social construct that varies from society to society. Each society views a crime differently and weighs the justice that is exacted according to their own scale. It is a transaction, of sorts. Vengeance is nothing more than pure catharsis. Plenty of people have partaken in vengeance for wrongs done to them, only to find the resulting experience hollow."

Penny looked down, her fingers curling, bunching up the fabric of her leggings. "So you think I shouldn't do it."

"I think you should think about _how_ you should go about it," said Murasame. "Vengeance is hurting Ironwood because he hurt you through your father. Justice is ensuring that Ironwood does not have the means or the opportunity to do the same to anyone else, ever again."

"A-all right," said Penny, lowering her head. "I'm sorry. I just...I get carried away."

"I understand," said Murasame, running his hand across her cheek. "However, I have the feeling that, whatever else, your father wanted you to be happy. As your new father, that's my wish too. So, please...be happy, Penny."

Penny smiled at him. "I will, Papa."

"So...would you be willing?" asked Murasame.

Penny nodded. "I'll try my best. My knowledge is out of date concerning Atlesian military-grade cybernetics, but it shouldn't be too hard for me to work things out."

"Very good then," said Murasame.

"Can I check on Ciel first?" asked Penny. "I want to make sure she's okay."

"Of course," said Murasame with a chuckle. "Time is limited, but we aren't _that_ hard-pressed. The Water Festival isn't until this coming Sunday after all. That is when we would like to wrap up this situation."

"Okay," said Penny. She paused, something seeming to occur to her. "Actually, there's someone else who I think can help us with this?"

"Oh..." said Murasame, his eyebrows going up. "Who?"

* * *

"It's not like you to be late, Mrs. Sora," said Radcliff as Sora entered the conference room. "You're normally here before the rest of us."

"My apologies, Radcliff-dono," said Sora politely, seating herself at the table. "My morning got unexpectedly busy."

"Busy enough to keep your fellow Elders occupied, I see," noted Nilam, seeing as Sora had entered the room alone without any of the other Taishiro.

"I'm afraid so," said Sora. "Apparently last night was quite eventful."

"How so?" asked Pastoria, recognizing a hook when he heard one.

"Someone tried to get up to mischief in our lands last night," said Sora calmly, pulling out a sheaf of papers. "One of Makoto's students was apparently targeted by a pair of foreign agents with the aim of abducting her. If it wasn't for her peers, she might have been spirited away for who knows what purposes."

"Have you proof of this?" demanded Ironwood a little too quickly for anyone's taste.

Sora nodded and slid the small stack of papers across the table. Ironwood picked them up and began to flip through them. Though he hid it well, Sora could see the color drain slightly from his face. "As you can see, these agents were equipped with highly-advanced technology."

"Combat cybernetics," mused Radcliff, leaning over so he could see the report for himself. "That's some pretty fancy equipment all right."

"What happened?" asked Ozma. "Is the girl they targeted all right?"

"She's fine," said Sora. "As I said, her peers protected her. Makoto is very proud of them. He can't stop praising them for their courage and loyalty."

"Perhaps you could explain this situation in more detail," said Ozpin.

"Of course," said Sora. "The enemy agents apparently infiltrated sometime yesterday morning or the night before. They monitored their target, an immigrant from Atlas named Ciel Soleil, over the course of the day, before attempting to abduct her from her quarters and Makoto's school."

"She is fortunate to have escaped unharmed," said Ironwood in a neutral tone as he set down the report, only for it to be immediately snatched up by Radcliff, who began to page through it.

"She is," agreed Sora.

"And were the agents disposed of?" asked Gwenyth, her eyes narrowing.

"Fortunately, we were able to capture them alive," said Sora, her sharp eyes picking up the tiniest twitch in the expression on Ironwood's face. "We incapacitated them and we are keeping them in custody in Makoto's laboratory."

"A laboratory?" Radcliff raised skeptical eyebrows. "That's the last place I would think to keep dangerous infiltrators."

"Well, their incapacitation is rather thorough," said Sora. "Because of their cybernetic augmentations, Shinrei was forced to remove limbs in order to keep them from escaping. However, we are keeping them sedated for the time being. We suspect they may yet have a means of committing suicide, to ensure their own silence on the matter of the ones who sent them here. Unfortunately, this is one area where we are most certainly out of our depth, due to our limited technological development."

"Hmph! Now it's a problem for you?" said Ironwood, sounding a trifle smug.

Sora beamed at him. "Well, if killing them was all we needed to do, then it wouldn't be an issue," she said. "They hardly pose a tangible threat in and of themselves. Shinrei even found it useful to let them run amuck for a while, so that his students would gain experience from the encounter." She giggled, flipping open her fan to cover her mouth. "Apparently, they are better teaching aids than infiltrators."

Ironwood twitched again, which made Sora's smile widen behind her fan.

"Well, I'm impressed," drawled Radcliff. "Augmentations like these are serious business. It would take someone with both power and money to afford this kinda tech for their agents. And, if they weren't seriously injured beforehand, it would take a lot of determination on the part of those agents to undergo those augmentations. Cybernetics aren't perfect after all and the process comes with its fair share of risks. People don't undergo it lightly."

"That much we agree on," said Sora.

"So what are you planning on doing," asked Gwenyth. "If you've kept them alive, it must be because you believe you can find the means to keep them from killing themselves when they awaken."

"We have certain methods available to us," said Sora. "My fellow Taishiro are consulting with certain experts on the topic as we speak."

"Who?" asked Ironwood, his tone clearly sharper than he'd intended it to be.

"That's classified, I'm afraid," said Sora.

Ironwood's eyes narrowed and his expression darkened. It was clear that he wanted to press the issue, but knew he didn't have any ground with which to do so.

"On that note, may I speak with you outside for a moment?" requested Ozma.

"Of course," said Sora, raising a curious eyebrow as she and Ozma stood up from the table and made their way outside the conference room. "What is it you wanted to say?" she asked.

"If it's experts on technological matters you are looking for," said Ozma, "I believe that one of my students has skills that will make him useful to your cause. You are free to request his assistance, if you like."

"That is very generous of you to offer, Professor," said Sora, bowing her head to diminutive woman. "I may take you up on that."

Ozma smiled. "If one of my children were threatened in such a manner, I would spare no expense to find out who was behind it so that I could ensure that it didn't happen again. Though I believe you already have a very good idea of who was responsible."

"Indeed I do," said Sora. "However, the issue is proving it, which makes me grateful for your offer of assistance."

Ozma nodded. "Shall we return then?"

"Yes," said Sora. "We have plenty of other matters to discuss, after all."

* * *

The door to his office aboard the command ship slid shut and Ironwood sank into his chair with a groan. His left hand rose to his face and he rubbed it vigorously. "I can't believe it. Those two failed. Over twenty successful missions, and they suddenly get fowled up by a bunch of students."

His eyes drifted down to the report that he'd tossed onto the desk. Sora had seen to it that each of the delegates got their own copy, no doubt a subtle means of gloating to Ironwood that his plan had failed.

 _What do I do now?_ he wondered. Despite her assurances, he felt that Sora's claim that they would be able to find someone with the technical knowhow to unravel the secrets of Atlesian black-tech was dubious at best. For once, the Mibu Clan's primitive technological standards, which they seemed perversely proud of, were working in his favor. However, the fact remained that two of his finest Specialists had been captured and were being held prisoner, and there was nothing he could do to help them, or at least ensure that they weren't kept in a prison of perpetual sedation. _I knew I should have installed a remote trigger for their termination systems._

What was worse, he'd lost his chance at Ciel Soleil, at least, if he wanted to actually be able to use her against the Mibu and keep them from achieving their aims. Meinrad and Piper were the best Specialists of the ones that had accompanied his task force, and the only black-ops Specialists among them. If he requested reinforcements from Atlas, their arrival was likely to be noticed. What was more, they would be especially careful about protecting her, now that they knew she was a target.

The door slid open, startling Ironwood out of his reverie. "I should have known you would have resorted to something so pathetically underwhelming, and then bungle it so badly," said Jacques Schnee as he strode into the room as though it were his own office."

"I did not call for you, Jacques," said Ironwood, his brow furrowing in frustration. _This is the last thing I need now._

"Yes, because you know exactly what to do and your judgment is absolutely faultless," said Jacques sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Face it, James. You screwed up. What's more, the entire world knows it, even if there isn't definitive, material proof. Everyone in that room knew those were _your_ agents. Everyone who saw that broadcast knows it. All that wasted, misguided effort has ended in humiliation."

"I'm so glad I asked your opinion on the matter, Jacques," said Ironwood coldly. "Did you just come here to gloat, or are you just tired of being about as productive as your mines right now?"

Now it was Jacques' turn to glare, his eyes narrowing and hands clenching. "I have had about all I can stand of this farce," he said. "We've done things your way, and look where it's gotten us. Atlas is the laughingstock of the other three Kingdoms. Those other fool delegates are preparing to allow the Mibu Clan to unleash themselves upon the world, and the Mibu themselves are sitting back and laughing at us with impunity!"

"And I suppose you think it's time to do things your way," said Ironwood.

"Exactly!" said Jacques. "We've wasted enough of our time playing house with these mongrel hooligans. They sneer and jeer at our power, but they stand under our guns right now." Walking up to the desk, Jacques slammed his fist down on its surface. "Remind them of the power that you have brought right into the heart of their domain. Give them an object demonstration and make an example of those fools. After that, not even the other Kingdoms will dare question us."

"If I do that, it will be my decision," said Ironwood. "You are _not_ in command here, Jacques."

"Fine!" snapped Jacques. "Sit in your chair and dither. Attend those insipid meetings and listen as they all mock you. I'm sure that, before long, you will gain enough sense to stop worrying about what is convenient and do what's necessary."

"ENOUGH!" roared Ironwood, surging to his feet. "Return to your quarters, Mr. Schnee. I will call for you if I need you. Otherwise, if I see you again before we return to Atlas, your quarters for the rest of this trip will be in the brig."

Jacques reeled back as though struck, staring at Ironwood incredulously. He opened his mouth to protest. However, one look at Ironwood's eyes cowed him completely. Salvaging what remained of his dignity, Jacques turned about and strode out of the room, leaving Ironwood to sag into his chair once more.

* * *

"What? Me?" Neptune pointed at himself, looking both shocked and confused. Around the dinner table, the other students, along with Kyo's other friends, looked on curiously.

"It would seem that you come rather highly recommended," said Murasame, who had settled next to his daughter, who was helping herself to the rice and fish dish that had been served for that night's dinner. "Both your Headmistress and my daughter suggested your participation."

"Huh?" said Neptune, looking to Penny, who looked up from her food to beam at him. Neptune felt his cheeks heat up and he had to look away from her.

"Sounds great!" said Sun excitedly, clapping Neptune on the back. "I always knew that being a nerd would turn out good for you."

"Intellectual," corrected Neptune, with a sidelong glare at his partner. "So, we need to find a way to disable whatever kind of suicide method these two agents have so that they can be interrogated, right?"

"That's correct," said Murasame.

Neptune sighed, scratching his head for a minute. "Well, I guess I can't say no to that."

"Sensational!" shouted Penny eagerly, making Neptune smile and blush again.

* * *

"I still can't believe they tried to do that," ranted Yang as she and Kyo made their way through the Palace hallway. "It had to be Ironwood's doing. There's no one else who would send people after Ciel like that."

Kyo shrugged. "At this point, there's little we can do. O-Kaa-san says that, without actual evidence, we can't accuse the General of anything. We either need to get proof from those two agents, or get the General to tip his hand."

"You'd think he'd wise up and stop trying to cause trouble after your mom told him about the enemy," said Yang, stretching her arms and folding them behind her head.

"Perhaps," admitted Kyo. "But that would be based upon the assumption that the General even believes us. From what O-Kaa-san told me about the meeting, he expressed extreme skepticism."

"That's not good," said Yang, her expression falling. "This kinda discord is what let Cinder bring down Beacon in the first place."

"It can't be helped," said Kyo. "At the end of the day, all we can do is the best we can, and have faith in those who _do_ believe us. According to O-Kaa-san, the negotiations are going well, and we should have a treaty in time for the Water Festival, though it remains doubtful whether or not Atlas shall be a signatory."

"Ironwood's holding out, huh?" asked Yang.

"He has grown more and more obstinate ever since we revealed we apprehended those two agents," said Kyo. "We'll just have to see what the ultimate outcome of all this is."

They emerged into the open sunlight coming into the very same arena where Kyo had had his match with his mother and, before that, Yang had had her match with Penny. Once again, the crater had been filled in and the broken tiles were replaced. The space looked pristine and untouched once more.

"How do you people fix stuff so fast?" asked Yang.

"We have our ways," replied Kyo with a grin. "Now then, you wanted to spar?"

"That's right," said Yang, the two of them walking out into the center of the arena. "I need to take as many opportunities as possible to get used to my new weapon. I figured you'd probably be a good practice dummy."

"Is that all you see me as?" asked Kyo in mock disappointment.

Yang gave him a teasing smile. "Sometimes," said Yang. "You've got plenty of other uses though."

Kyo laughed and drew his sword as Yang unfolded her gauntlets. "Then I'll try my best to serve you well, My Lady."

* * *

"So, what do you think?" asked Hayate as he stood across from Weiss, the two of them in the middle of a different training ring on the Palace grounds.

Weiss frowned and sweated. In front of her, a glyph spun in place. Its form was different than any of the three glyphs that she had originally relied on. However, it was unstable, flickering in and out of view. Finally, Weiss let out a gasp and sagged, the glyph shattering into fading motes of light. "I couldn't get it to do anything," she said, disappointed.

"Did you get the others on your first try?" asked Hayate.

"Well..." Thinking back about it, Weiss realized that even her propulsion glyph, the simplest one she had learned, had taken her several weeks of practice before she could get it to work reliably. Time dilation had taken longer, and she hadn't gotten the hang of summoning until just last year.

"And the one you're aiming to create is more complex than any of the others," said Hayate. "You're aiming to generate a physical construct that will exert a force of its own that you can utilize. It's a combination of multiple abilities. It only makes sense that you wouldn't be able to get the hang of it right away."

"You're right," said Weiss, lifting her head up and smiling at him. "Thank you."

Hayate smiled back. "You're welcome. Given that the glyph itself manifested, even if it was only briefly, it means that we're on the right track."

Weiss nodded, her heart feeling lighter. She had found her path to getting stronger, and it was something that she knew she could manage. If only Winter could see what she was doing now. _When I get the hang of this, I'll show my new glyph to Winter. Then I'll be the one teaching_ her _._

"What about your new friend?" asked Hayate.

"Oh..." Weiss reached behind her, to the small pouch where she kept small, necessary things, and fished out the Core Crystal. "I've been exercising it regularly. I'm not feeling too much change in its overall output."

"That's understandable," said Hayate. "Their maturation is supposed to be a gradual process. It'd be years before its power reached the level of a fully mature one like the ones Haruka lets grow for a full century."

Weiss nodded.

"How have you been exercising it?" asked Hayate.

"I use it in my room every day," said Weiss. During her free times, she would take the crystal and cast one of her simple propulsion glyphs, using the Etheric Energy to stabilize and maintain its output so that it allowed her to hover just a foot above her bed. After that, it was a matter of simply letting it go until the crystal reached its limit.

She looked down at the crystal in her hand. "Right now, I'm trying to make the glyph work without using it," she said. "While I like it, and I think I can definitely use it, I don't want to do things that I could only do if I had it."

"Why not?" asked Hayate. "Wasn't that what you were doing with your rapier?"

Weiss blinked. "Oh..." It hadn't occurred to her. Hadn't that been the point of crafting Myrtenaster in the first place? There were things she could only do if she had her sword. She couldn't fight the way she had trained if she didn't have Myrtenaster and its capabilities.

"It isn't about it being a crutch," said Hayate. "It's about being something that completes you. All of us are like that. Nigel couldn't fight the way he does if he didn't have Hakuya. My style is unique to my own sword. Kyo couldn't use his full strength without Tenro. Our weapons become our allies, partners, and then an extension of ourselves. If you're going to use that crystal, it should be the same way."

"You're right," said Weiss. "Thank you."

"No problem," said Hayate.

Weiss took the crystal, holding it in her right hand, extending her sword in her left hand, pointing it at the space in front of her. The glyph reappeared. This time, it was no longer flickering and shuddering. It flared brilliantly. Weiss closed her eyes, focusing her thoughts on the image she wanted to make a reality. Her style was a language. Her glyphs were letters. Each letter had its own meaning. This was the meaning of her new glyph.

She heard and felt something shatter, not the glyph breaking down, but rather, the feeling that something had broken out.

"Whoa!"

Hayate's breathless exclamation made Weiss open her eyes. Seeing what now floated, suspended in the air between them, she smiled.

* * *

Blake's shadow stretched forward, spreading farther than it should have been able to, moving towards the candle, rather than away from it. Sweat beaded across her brow as she immersed herself in the sensation of something that, by all rights, did not exist. Shadows were a negative existence, something that existence only by virtue of something's absence. It had no substance, exerted no energy. It did not consist of particles or waves. Yet it was something that was intrinsically there. With a sigh, she relaxed her focus and allowed it to snap back into its usual form and configuration.

"Very good," observed Dougal calmly. "You're making rapid progress. I'm impressed. It would seem you have a strong affinity for this sort of thing."

"I guess," said Blake, not feeling very satisfied by the amount of progress she'd made.

"I suppose that, for someone in your situation, your progress may be painfully slow. However, it is important not to rush. The Shadow Arts can dangerous if you run headlong into trying to learn them. Once we reach the level of the _Shadow Gate_ , we will have to be especially careful."

"Why?" asked Blake.

Dougal suddenly sank down, not bending his knees or the rest of his body in the slightest. Instead, he appeared to be sinking into the floor itself. _No!_ realized Blake. _He's sinking into his own shadow._ A second later, he was gone.

"When you pass through the Gate, you enter into a realm of shadow," said Dougal's voice, coming from behind her, making her yelp and stumble forward. Spinning around, Blake could see that Dougal had risen up out of her shadow. "Like shadow itself, it is a negative existence. Because of that, the concept of time and space and moving through either can be guided by your will. You become able to link yourself through those negative spaces. However, if you lose your control, you wind up losing the capacity to make that which is not real real, and you will either be ejected forcefully from the realm or...you will find yourself lost within it."

Blake swallowed hard. "If it's so risky and dangerous, why use it?"

"Because, once you gain the knack for it, it isn't hard to maintain the control necessary to pass through it," said Dougal. "And, of course, you can cross distances without leaving tracks, making a mark, or leaving a trace of yourself. Your movements cannot be read by those who are not in that realm, or can even conceive its existence. You can become shadow yourself and take your foe's back without him being aware of it in the slightest. If you manage that, you, like shadow itself, will possess no substance. No substance means there is nothing there to be struck or cut. Untraceable, untouchable, that is the capacity of the Shadow Arts."

"Oh..." said Blake.

"Are you ready to continue?" asked Dougal.

Blake nodded eagerly.

* * *

The room was dark, lit only by a few lights set into each of its four corners. They were faint lights, but steady ones. They cast just enough light to show the gouges that decorated the walls, places where stone had been cleaved through by something large...and sharp.

Sora stood at the entrance to the room, her fan flicked open, screening the bottom half of her face as she looked at the one person who stood in the center of the room. "Well now...you've come this far already. Apparently seeing Mekira again served as a catalyst for growth. I'd say it's about fifty-percent complete."

Standing in the center of the room, covered in sweat, her face dirtied with dust and grime, her body heaving with each panting breath, Ruby looked up at Sora, her silver eyes glittering in the faint light. She smiled.


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61:**

"I've gotta warn you, this isn't going to be the easiest thing," said Neptune as he looked over the two unconscious Specialists, his fists resting on his hips. "I've never worked with cybernetics before."

"Me neither," said Penny. "I used to do my own repairs though."

Neptune sighed and scratched his head, running his hands through his spiky, blue hair. "On top of that, I'm not exactly equipped for this. All I've got is my scroll, and my basic tools that I use for weapon maintenance. Also..." He turned and looked nervously at Makoto. "If I screw up, we may not get another chance."

"I understand," said Makoto. "Still, you are capable of far more than I or any of the rest of us are in this situation. Understanding the risks, we have chosen to put our trust in you all the same."

"Right..." said Neptune, looking at the subjects again, cupping his chin and narrowing his eyes curiously. "Where to start...?"

"Let's see if we can find an access port," suggested Penny.

"Oh! Right!" Neptune snapped his fingers. "Let's start with the woman. It looks like her cybernetics were more advanced.

Penny nodded.

"Access port?" asked Makoto, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," said Neptune. "It's a standard feature in more advanced or complex cybernetics and prosthetics. It's designed to allow a doctor or engineer to access data recorded by the cybernetics themselves, usually for diagnostic purposes."

"The woman was using drone weapons, which means she probably has internal computing systems to help control them," said Penny. "If we can access her cybernetic system, we can get complete information on its design, including what measures are designed to kill her."

Neptune paused. "Of course, if we're unlucky, the access port was destroyed when that Shinrei guy wrecked the rest of their cybernetics."

Setsuna appeared, holding a clipboard. "Shinrei-san targeted several such points. However, since their cybernetics were so extensive in the first place, there were plenty of parts that went untouched." He held out the clipboard. "Here is the diagram of what we found during our scans."

"You can scan people?" asked Neptune, blinking.

"With our Aura, yes," said Setusna. "We project our Aura through the subject and onto a special plate that has been coated with Aura-reactive chemicals, producing a detailed view of the subject's interior condition."

"Whoa!" said Neptune, taking the clipboard. "So it's like an old-school x-ray machine."

"More or less," said Setsuna, adjusting his spectacles.

Neptune and Penny studied the images that Setsuna and Makoto had taken, looking for where an access port might be.

"I didn't realize cybernetics had gotten this advanced," muttered Neptune, scratching his chin. "Her neurotransmiters are imbedded directly into her gray matter. Even Ironwood wears his on his forehead. I don't want to even think about what kind of procedures she had to go through to get those installed."

"If her transmitters are installed in her brain, then the CPU should be somewhere nearby," said Penny, also looking over the diagram. She put her finger on the paper and moved it to a dark area right at the base of the skull. "Here," she said.

"Well, that's a start," said Neptune. "If we can't find a proper access port, we can try opening that up and hardwiring into it directly..." He grimaced at the thought, feeling a little too much like a mad scientist.

"It would make sense," said Penny. "Can we view the back of the woman's neck?"

"Of course," said Makoto, moving to the table that Piper was strapped to. Grabbing its edge, he began to turn it over, revealing that the table itself was mounted so that it could be rotated freely about its lateral axis. Furthermore, the back was open, so that they had full access to Piper's back and neck.

"It all looks clean here," said Neptune, frowning as he looked her over. "I don't see anything that looks like an access port. In fact, I don't see any signs of cybernetics on this side at all."

Penny shook her head. "The report of the fight said that their augmentations were covered by synthetic skin. It's likely the access port is too." She touched a finger to Piper's skin, pressing down on it. She started at the base of Piper's neck and ran her finger up towards the back of her skull. "There it is!" she said, her eyes widening.

"Huh? Really?" asked Neptune.

"Sure," said Penny, grabbing his wrist and pulling his hand up so that she could press his finger against her finding. "Right here!"

Neptune frowned. It was invisible to the naked eye. However, he could feel the minuscule seam that his finger was pressed against, like an incision made through the skin that had been closed, but never healed over. "That...feels so weird."

"Now then...I just have to peel this back carefully..." Pressing her index finger and thumb against the skin on either side of the seam, she carefully pulled them back, revealing a small section of black steel, with a silver hole in the center that looked like the headphone jack on a scroll.

"And there it is," said Neptune, studying the port carefully. Pulling his goggles down over his eyes, he clicked a switch hidden underneath the left lens, allowing him to zoom in his view of the port. "Pretty standard-looking, all told," he said. "I was half-expecting a Specialist like this to have an exclusive port."

"It's probably a cost-saving measure," said Penny. "Advanced cybernetics like this are so expensive in the first place, and so much of the rest of hers must be custom designed, that they had to save money where they could."

Neptune nodded, lifting his goggles. "I think I've got a connector for this," he said, reaching into the pocket of his jacket. He pulled out a short, black cord with connectors on either end. "I don't use this a lot, since most systems are designed to be wirelessly compatible with scrolls to begin with, but..." He also pulled out his scroll. He plugged one end of the cord into the scroll and inserted the other into the access port in Piper's neck, allowing Penny to let go of the skin.

"Right," said Neptune, unfolding his scroll out into its tablet mode. "Let's see what we've gotten ourselves into..."

He tried to use his scroll to access the data on the connected device (ie, Piper). However, he was immediately met with an error message. "Damn! It's encrypted. I should've figured that would be the case."

"Can I see?" asked Penny, looking over his shoulder. "My android body was programmed with advanced decryption software. I think I still remembered the methods for it."

"Be my guest," said Neptune, handing her the scroll. "I'm out of my league here. My specialty is more on the hardware side of things than the software one."

"I'll do my best," said Penny, taking the scroll in her hands. "Uh...this might take a while."

"Well, we've got time," said Neptune, looking at Makoto, who nodded.

* * *

Yang let out a cry of pain as her body slammed into the ground, smashing the tiles of the arena beneath her. "Ow..." she groaned, slowly forcing herself back up to her feet.

"All done?" asked Kyo, standing just in front of her, his appearance making Yang growl in irritation.

She was battered and sore, bleeding from several small cuts and scratches. Her limbs felt like they were made of lead, and it was a struggle just to lift her arms. Kyo looked winded and smudged. But she hadn't been able to land a single real hit on him the entire time they'd been sparring.

Still, it was worthwhile. Yang felt she understood her new weapon much better, and it felt like she had come a long way since that time she and her team had fought Kyo at Cherry Grove. _That feels so long ago,_ she thought, even though it _wasn't_ all that long ago.

"Well, it seems that you're making fine progress, Ms. Xiao Long," said a familiar voice as Professor Ozpin entered the arena, the click of his cane accompanying the sound of his shoes.

"Hey there, Professor," said Yang, giving him a smile. "Is the conference over for the day?"

"It is," said Ozpin with a nod. "We delegates found ourselves with some free time. So I decided to take the opportunity to see how the students I sent ahead of us are faring."

"Well, I'm doing fine," said Yang, stretching. She frowned, noticing that Ozpin seemed uncharacteristically tired. "Is everything all right?" she asked. "There aren't problems with the conference are there?"

"Well...it's only natural that the negotiations would have their rough spots," said Ozpin with a sigh. "By and large, things have been going well. We are going through the process of developing the treaty, although there are some complications, due to the Mibu Clan's unique qualities." He scratched his head. "The current debate is over the possibility of the Mibu opening up their Dust deposits for development by companies from other Kingdoms."

"I'm guessing the SDC isn't one of them," said Yang with a wry smile.

"You'd guess correctly," said Ozpin with a chuckle. "Of course, that has only made James even more uncooperative."

"Is Ironwood being a problem?" asked Yang.

Ozpin nodded. "He remains strongly opposed to the Mibu being granted status on par with that of the Kingdoms. He insists that they should structure a new settlement status that the Mibu could fit under. He insists that it would be better for preserving order."

"I bet O-Kaa-san loved that idea," said Kyo wryly.

"She turned it down flat, of course," said Ozpin with a chuckle. "The representatives from the other Kingdoms, even Gwenyth, are much more amiable to the idea of the Mibu being granted Kingdom status."

"What happens if Ironwood doesn't come around?" asked Yang nervously.

"I'm not sure," admitted Ozpin. "At the very least, it means that the resulting treaty will be centered around the other three Kingdoms, with Atlas _not_ signing onto it. However, it could impact the relationship between Atlas and the other Kingdoms, especially when it comes to trade and immigration. Frankly, it could make things much more complicated than they need to be." He paused for a moment. "However, Sora appears confident that she can change Ironwood's mind...somehow."

"I wonder..." said Yang, thinking about the two allegedly Atlesian Specialists currently residing in Makoto's lab that two of their friends were presently working on. It seemed likely to her that Sora hoped that they could find evidence that they had attacked Makoto's school, and Ciel specifically, on Ironwood's orders, and planned to use that as leverage to influence Ironwood's decision.

"However, I am still somewhat worried," admitted Ozpin. "Ironwood has grown increasingly irritable, and has been making certain...insinuations."

"What sort?" asked Kyo.

"He continues to bring up the fact that his warships are presently hovering over the city and Palace," said Ozpin. "Even though he never says it directly, the implication is obvious. One word or signal from him and those ships could open fire, killing hundreds, if not thousands, in a matter of seconds."

"WHAT?" exclaimed Yang, her eyes growing wide with horror, her irises even flashing crimson briefly.

"Oh, that," said Kyo.

" _That's_ all you have to say about it?" asked Yang whirling to stare, aghast, at Kyo. "Ironwood's holding thousands of your people a gunpoint."

"As strange as it may seem, I understand Kyo's blithe attitude towards this situation," said Ozpin, who shook his head. "I would not worry about the people of Onmyo or the Palace."

"Huh?" Yang stared at her Headmaster in confusion.

"It is highly likely that the Mibu could dispose of them before they fired a single shot," said Ozpin. "What troubles me is, instead of the threat to the people, it would mean that the soldiers and crew that Ironwood had brought with him would die. His decision to attack would be a death sentence for them."

"A death sentence for them, huh?" said Yang somewhat incredulously. Not that she doubted the ability of the Mibu to destroy the warships, and quickly at that, but she wondered if they could really manage that before they got even a single shot off. Her mind conjured up images of a nightmare scenario where the burning Atlesian warships shattered and exploded in a sky over a burning city.

"I doubt my mother aims to do that," said Kyo, resting a hand on Yang's shoulder. "Such an incident would run counter to what O-Kaa-san and the other Taishiro are trying to achieve. I believe she expects to be able to make the General back down if it comes to that."

"I certainly hope so," said Ozpin. "The situation has grown...volatile."

"We'll just have to wait and see," said Kyo.

* * *

"Well?" asked Sora quietly as she entered the lab, "Any word?"

Makoto inclined his head towards Neptune and Penny, who were situated next to each other, their heads over Neptune's scroll. Presently, Penny was tapping at it pointedly, occasionally making adjustments on the screen, while Neptune leaned over and murmured a suggestion to her, which prompted Penny to nod as she made a couple of other adjustments.

"They seem to be making progress, but are constrained by the limits of their equipment," explained Makoto. "I find it unlikely that they will finish before the day is out."

Sora's expression flashed to one of concern. "How long have they been at it?"

"Over six hours now," said Makoto, quickly holding up a hand as Sora's expression became anxious. "I made sure they stopped for lunch. I think we should call a halt to the work in about a half an hour or so, assuming they aren't on the verge of a breakthrough."

Sora nodded. "Their friends will be having dinner in an hour. Make sure that they stop with enough time to get back without needing to hurry."

Makoto smiled. "Of course," he said.

Sora turned and took her leave, moving just as silently as she had when she entered. Makoto turned back to watch Penny and Neptune continue their work, sitting by silently, remaining on hand, just in case they needed some form of assistance from him.

* * *

"Ready for the next test?" asked Weiss, holding up her crystal.

"Whenever you are," replied Hayate simply.

Weiss nodded and swallowed nervously. She had repeatedly tested her new glyph over and over during the course of the day. It had taken her more than a few tries. But now she was certain she could manifest it both consistently and stably. Now was the time to see if she could actually use it in the manner that she had intended.

Slowly, she slid her shrug off her shoulders, setting it on the ground, leaving her shoulders and her upper back bare. Ideally, she should be able to do this when fully clothed. But, at the moment, she wanted to cut down on potential interference as much as possible.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Here we go," she said, drawing Myrtenaster.

The Core Crystal in her right hand shimmered with a nimbus of pearlescent colors, the air seeming to hum with the power it released. In a flash, a shimmering glyph appeared, opening directly behind her shoulders. This was her new glyph, a design of feather-like patterns arranged in a spiral out from the center of the glyph. Weiss held the image in her mind, focusing upon the meaning she had given it. With a flash, she could feel them emerge, attaching to her back, feeling as though they were a part of her, as though they had been there her entire life.

"Wow..." Hayate's voice was breathless as Weiss opened her eyes.

"Well," she prompted, smiling, feeling a bit shy, "how do I look?"

"Uh...like...uh...like... _Wow!_ " Hayate looked completely at a loss for words, unable to string together a coherent sentence.

From between Weiss' shoulders extended four wings of the purest white. They only vaguely resembled a bird's wings, instead seeming more like a stylized, artistic rendition of such wings. They seemed to be crafted from pure light, white with pale, shimmering colors playing over them. The wings themselves consisted of sharp, clean lines, bending partway up their lengths, with the feathers being angled, rather than curved, looking like sharp, straight-edged blades, their forms overlapping and elongating as they proceeded up the wings' length. The first pair extended up and over her shoulders, spreading out at an upwards angle. The second pair were shorter, spreading out at her sides, holding themselves almost parallel to the ground, with all four wings angling their feathers downwards.

"Y-you look amazing!" said Hayate, his cheeks flushing a furious red. "You look just like an angel."

Weiss couldn't help but giggle at that. It brought to mind the days when Jaune had been flirting with her, calling her "Snow Angel." Back then, she had seen it as an irritation...until Neptune had called her that. It seemed that the person doing the naming made all the difference. Now, to hear Hayate call her an angel in a breathless voice full of such wonder really made her heart dance. _I guess I can be pretty fickle,_ she thought. Still, it made her happy.

"So...uh...are you...you know...?" Hayate gestured vaguely with his arms. "Are you gonna try 'em out?"

Weiss blinked and flinched, now remembering exactly why she had done this. "Oh! Right! Um..."

Her wings flexed and moved, once again feeling like extensions of herself that she'd had for her entire life. She could feel the energy they contained, energy that could propel her through the air. All she had to do was direct it. _So then..._

Weiss decided to start off gently. She gently pushed downward with them, feeling the energy they emitted push against the ground. Her feet slowly rose up above the tiles, and she found herself hovering just a few feet upwards. _That wasn't so hard._ Next, she decided to put a little more strength behind it. Sweeping her wings downward, Weiss yelped as she suddenly accelerated upwards.

Hayate tensed, worried that it might be a repeat of the first time she had tried using her glyphs with the Core Crystal. However, he relaxed when her yelp of surprise was followed by a loud, very un-Weiss-like, whoop of excitement as she looped over and around, swooping over the practice yard, leaving a trail of glittering motes in her wake. Hayate couldn't keep the smile off his face as he watched Weiss roll, loop, and dance through the air as though she'd been born mid-flight.

To Weiss, it felt incredible. The feeling was indescribable. This wasn't the sensation of being flung through the air and then using her glyphs to guide her fall. This wasn't using her propulsion glyphs to launch herself like a projectile. This was _true_ flight. Up here, she had complete freedom of motion, even more than actual birds. She wasn't just limited to flying forwards and turning, but could move sideways, backwards, or any other way, changing directions in an instant. At that instant, feeling the G-forces pulling at her body, the sensation of her momentum funneling instantly in another direction, Weiss felt euphoric. It was beyond anything she had ever experienced before.

Hayate patiently settled in to watch as Weiss continued to exercise her new wings. But as the minutes wore on, he began to get concerned. _Uh...how much more power does that crystal have?_

Weiss suddenly felt the power of her Core Crystal, which she had been feeding into her wings, suddenly trail off. Weiss' wings flickered, and she felt them shudder. Then they shattered as though they were made of glass, bursting into white fragments that faded out. Then she was falling with a shriek.

Then Hayate was beneath her, holding his hands up over his head. As she was about to land on them, Hayate Projected a surge of Aura out from them, its force potent, but also diffused, not stopping Weiss, but slowing her, absorbing her momentum. As she came in contact with Hayate's hands, he continued the process by gradually slowing her down with his arms, until she stopped and he cradled her in front of himself.

"Got a little too excited?" he said, before realizing how he was holding her and the fact that one hand held her now-bare shoulder. "Ah! Um...Sorry!" Blushing furiously, he looked away, prompting Weiss to giggle as he set her down. She went to retrieve her shrug and slid back into it.

"Thank you for catching me," she said.

"It was nothing," said Hayate.

Giggling again, Weiss hugged him from behind and leaned forward to kiss his cheek, making Hayate's blush intensify. He wasn't alone as Weiss' cheeks turned a pale shade of pink.

"Well, don't you two make a wonderful picture."

They jumped apart and whirled around to see the familiar, diminutive figure of Professor Ozma approaching them, smiling fondly at the interplay between the two of them.

"Oh! P-Professor..." stammered Weiss, unsure of what to say or do. Professor Ozma had been warm, almost motherly towards her, on those few occasions when they spoke. However, Weiss couldn't allow herself to forget that Ozma was also one of the delegates who had come on behalf of the Kingdom of Mistral, specifically Haven Academy. While Hayate was avoiding Ironwood specifically, it was pretty much an unspoken rule that he needed to steer clear of the other delegates as well, as the revelation of his presence at all would probably mean the end of negotiations.

Ozma giggled merrily. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Schnee," she said. "I must admit that your little test was quite impressive.

"Th-thank you, Professor," said Weiss, unsure of what else to say.

"And you," said Ozma, her emerald gaze sliding to Hayate. "What is your name?"

"H-Hayate," said Hayate nervously.

"I see," said Ozma. "I'm guessing that you might have a hand in Ms. Schnee's development. Am I correct?"

"You are," said Hayate, nodding hesitantly.

"I thought so," said Ozma, nodding to herself. "I must say, it's quite remarkable. I've seen the Schnee Semblance plenty of times in the past. But that is the first time I have seen a glyph of that type...or an effect like this. It's quite the remarkable development."

"Thank you," said Weiss.

Both she and Hayate shifted uncomfortably, uncertain of what to do or say. This was an unexpected situation. But even more unexpected was that Ozma was plainly ignoring the Goliath in the room. There was no way she couldn't know who Hayate was, but had not made any indication that she recognized him.

"Um...Professor...?" said Weiss. "About Hayate-"

Her mouth closed abruptly as Ozma held out a finger forestall anything further. "Now, don't go saying anything you might regret, Ms. Schnee," said Ozma sternly, though she was still smiling and her eyes glittered with mirth. "I certainly have never met the boy standing beside you. I might say that he has some resemblance to some lad who's been wreaking havoc up in Atlas, but I'm sure it's purely coincidental. Though it saddens me to say that I cannot offer him any official support, I'm glad to hear of what he's done for the faunus in Atlas. If I did ever happen to meet him, I would love to wish him the best of luck."

And there it was. Weiss let out a breath of relief, feeling the tension of the situation desert her. Hayate relaxed as well. Ozma smiled wider and approached them, producing a towel for Weiss to wipe away the sweat she'd unknowingly accrued over the course of her test. "Now then," she said, "tell me more about how this development came about."

"I'd love to," said Weiss as she and Hayate began to explain the fundamentals of Weiss' Semblance -No!- her _Manifestation_ to Haven's Headmistress.

* * *

The next day, Penny and Neptune resumed their work in Makoto's laboratory. Decrypting the data stored in Piper's cybernetics was proving a labor-intensive task, the operations they were able to perform limited by the technical limitations of the scroll they were using.

"You know, if it weren't for the fact these two were working for Atlas, I'd suggest we ask Ironwood and see if we can borrow some of his tech," said Neptune wryly.

"I wouldn't," said Penny curtly.

"Yeah...I guess not," said Neptune, thrown off by her sudden show of hostility, even if it wasn't directed at him.

"Sorry," said Penny, her expression falling as she looked down.

"Hey, it's okay. I can understand having a serious grudge against him after what he did." Neptune put a hand on Penny's shoulder.

"Thank you," said Penny, giving him a sad smile.

They worked for a moment, the silence made uncomfortable by the mention of Penny's old ghosts. However, a beeping sound from their scroll made them both jump and forget the previous subject of their conversation.

"Did it work?" asked Neptune.

Penny looked down at the scroll, her eyes widening as she checked. "The decryption protocol worked!" she said excitedly. "We're in!"

"Awesome!" shouted Neptune. "We did it!"

"Sensational!" shouted Penny, dropping the scroll and seizing Neptune in a hug that made him croak as she swung him about like a ragdoll.

A second later, she realized what she was doing and blushed furiously as she set him down. "Sorry," she said.

"It's okay," said Neptune, also blushing. "So...uh...the decryption..."

"Right!" said Penny, turning back to the scroll and picking it up. Fortunately, she hadn't dropped it far, so it was still connected, and the program hadn't been interrupted. She tapped on the screen, selecting Piper's CPU as an external device to be accessed and opened up the menu.

"Whoa! Look at all these files," gasped Neptune as they stared at the plethora of information stored in the woman's system.

"And this is only from her last few missions at the very best," said Penny. "Her memory systems are probably wiped periodically to free up memory and to keep too much information from building up."

"Yeah, if it was all in there, think of how many different things we could probably pin on Ironwood," said Neptune.

"We could find so much about what he's been doing from the files that are already on here," said Penny.

"However, we only need a few in particular," said Makoto, coming up behind them silently, making the two jump in surprise.

"Yeah," said Neptune, understanding what Makoto was saying after he got over his shock at the Elder's sudden appearance. "You sure."

"As much as we might like to see Ironwood punished for his actions and decisions, now is not the time," said Makoto, looking over at Penny. "Nor are we the ones who should be dealing that punishment. That falls to others at another time."

Penny nodded gravely.

"What we need is the proof we're looking for that these operatives were here on his orders," continued Makoto. "Can you find the files to prove that."

"Well, let's see," said Neptune. "I can't make heads or tails of the file names. I think they're just random strings of code. It could take us a while to sort through them."

"Or we could sort the files by time of creation," said Penny brightly, giving Neptune a cheeky grin. "Then we just have to look through the most recent ones."

"Or we could do that," admitted Neptune sheepishly, a little embarrassed that such a simple solution hadn't occurred to him.

"And...done!" said Penny, after tapping the screen of the scroll a few times.

"Here we go," said Neptune. He opened the most recent file. "Let's see...attack analysis of opponent...Nope. Not that one." He opened the next one. "These are schematics."

"Of my school," noted Makoto.

"Right," said Neptune, moving on to the next file. "Ah ha! Here we go! This is their mission log." He began to scroll through the entries until he reached the very beginning. "Here we go! Mission assigned by Atlesian Supreme Commander, General Ironwood. This is it."

"Is there more?" asked Makoto.

"Let's see," said Penny, taking the scroll. "Oh! They have a recording of the mission briefing. There's even an accompanying transcription."

"Wow...that's actually...kinda sloppy, now that I think about it," said Neptune with a frown. "A mission log can be edited pretty easily, especially since we pulled it up on my scroll. It'd be easy for Ironwood to claim that one of us tampered with it. But a recording like this would be impossible to fake with the kind of tech we have at our disposal right now. I don't understand why they'd hold on to something so incriminating."

"Maybe they're just that confident in their ability to complete the mission," muttered Penny. "That, or they're confident in their ability to kill themselves before this information could be uncovered."

"Both are possibilities," said Makoto. "However, there is something else at work here."

"What is it?" asked Penny.

"Dedication," said Makoto softly. "These two were prepared to kill themselves at a second's notice, if it meant keeping incriminating information from falling into our hands. Suicide is not an option one chooses lightly, especially not if they have a hope of survival. It's one thing if there is depression involved. But suicide for the sake of duty requires incredible dedication, especially to do it on short notice. Making such a decision requires a devotion akin to zealotry."

"Wait!" exclaimed Neptune. "You're saying these guys treat the Atlesian military as some kind of...religion?"

"It does not necessarily require a religion to inspire zealotry," said Makoto. "A cause that you believe worth fighting for, a leader you believe in serving, all these things can inspire that kind of rabid zeal." He sighed. "In order to carry out such unsavory orders, such as abduction, assassination, or sabotage, the dedication required is even greater. The easy way is to teach yourself to perceive your enemies as sub-human, a lesser existence that you should feel no guilt for fighting and killing."

"Like our history professor told us about the Revolution," said Neptune, scratching his chin. "The human forces were trained to see the faunus as lesser beings."

"Or the Great War," added Penny. "All four Kingdoms portrayed their enemies like that in propaganda."

Makoto nodded. "However, it is not so easy, in the case of these two. Remember, Ironwood sees himself and his military as the world's shield. He believes that the actions that they take need to be taken in order to protect the world from chaos and disorder."

"So these two saw themselves as protectors," said Neptune, incredulously. He looked at Piper and Meinrad. "I just can't see that."

"I can," said Penny softly.

Makoto nodded. "Because of that, they weren't able to necessarily write off enemies as sub-human beings. They had to consistently remind themselves that they were working for the greater good, even as they hunted, endangered, and killed people in the name of protection. Of course, when it comes to what they perceive as treachery, that becomes easier. However, they still need to remind themselves on a regular basis of the righteousness of their cause."

"So that's why they hang onto stuff like this," said Neptune, turning his attention back to the scroll.

"Exactly," said Makoto

"Creepy," muttered Neptune.

"So, now what?" asked Penny.

"Now, we move on to the next item of the agenda," said Makoto. "Can you access the system that controls her cybernetics?"

"Yeah," said Penny, tapping the scroll. "You want me to disable the suicide mechanism, right?"

"Correct," said Makoto.

"Here it is," said Penny. "It looks like it's a poison capsule embedded in the heart. Okay...it's off."

"Good," said Makoto. "Can you do the same for the other one?"

"Yeah," said Penny, unplugging the scroll. "It should take just a few minutes, now that we've got the decryption protocol finished."

"Although we still have to find the guy's access port first," muttered Neptune.

"I already know where it is," said Penny proudly, holding up the scroll, which showed a diagnostic image of Meinrad's body. "See! His partner had his diagnostic information, so that she could perform repairs on him in the field."

"Well, that makes things easier," said Neptune. "Let's do this."

"What will you do once their termination systems are disabled?" asked Penny, looking at Makoto.

"We will wake them up," said Makoto. "We don't want to keep them under sedation forever. After that, we will interrogate them directly, which will serve to supply us with additional evidence."

"Uh...when you say interrogation, you don't mean torture, do you?" asked Neptune nervously.

"Heavens no," said Setsuna sweeping into the room. "Torture is remarkably inefficient, when it comes to getting information. At best, it can be used to elicit a confession."

"I thought a confession was what you were after," said Neptune.

"It is," agreed Setsuna, already working to move the I.V. needle from Piper's body. "But, with sufficient effort, the subject of torture can be made to confess to whatever his torturers want him to, which means the confession can hardly be considered to be legitimate. That, and its inhumane nature, are the reasons why it was banned by your Kingdoms' Treaty of Vytal. If we presented a confession that was coerced by torture, not only would it be dismissed out of hand, but it would completely wreck our face with the representatives of the Kingdoms here at the conference."

"Don't worry, we have far superior means of drawing information," said Makoto. "However, you two do not need to be here for this. You've done your part."

"Right," said Neptune, sighing in relief as Penny unplugged the scroll, having finished shutting down the suicide system in Meinrad. Even if the interrogation didn't involve torture, he was sure that he didn't want to witness it. "I guess I should leave my scroll with you."

"Actually, you should hold onto it for now," said Makoto. "Although, we shall borrow it for tomorrow's conference and put the information on it to use."

"Okay," said Neptune, breaking out into a cold sweat. "I really hope this doesn't go over badly."

"So do I," said Makoto with a sigh. "Thank you for your help."

"No problem," said Neptune with a smile.

"I'm glad I was able to do something," added Penny.

The two of them left, allowing Makoto and Setsuna to return their attention to their subjects, who were now beginning to stir as the effects of the sedative wore off.

"This is going to be somewhat tricky," noted Setsuna, producing handfuls of slender needles, that he allowed to be pinched between his fingers. "I'm not certain how many of their meridians remain intact."

"Probably enough," said Makoto. "Meridians are a channel for the spirit, after all. Even replacing portions of the body with metal won't change that, although it will complicate accessing them. We can afford to experiment though."

"Of course," said Setsuna, bowing his head.

* * *

" _We were carrying out orders from General Ironwood to capture and extract the target, Ciel Soleil. The mission commenced at twenty-hundred hours Saturday evening and was to be completed by zero-hundred hours, Monday morning._ "

The delegates listened in a tense silence as Meinrad's voice spoke back through the recording on the scroll that Neptune had used to record the Specialists' confession that morning, before passing it on to Sora and teaching her how to use it.

"And there we have it," said Sora, stopping the playback on the scroll. "As you can see, we have a clear confession. What have you to say to this, General?" She turned her gaze on Ironwood.

To the average observer, Ironwood might have appeared calm and relaxed. He sat back from the table, leaning against the back of his chair, arms folded, eyes closed, the very picture of calm and composure. However, looking more closely would have revealed the trembling of his left hand as it clenched tightly in a fist.

"I would say that this is a woefully transparent farce," said Ironwood. "You've failed to get your way through decent means. Now, instead, you've decided to resort to blackmail."

"Given that the conference is being broadcasted as we speak, this hardly constitutes blackmail, General," said Sora. "If we were aiming to blackmail, we would have stopped the broadcast, then threatened to resume it, while letting everyone know about your underhanded moves. We are simply exposing your attempt to infringe upon our sovereignty-"

"The Mibu have no sovereignty!" snapped Ironwood.

Sora continued as though he hadn't spoken. "-and abduct one our citizens-"

"Ciel Soleil is a spy, a saboteur, and a TRAITOR!" Ironwood roared, surging out of his seat. "She belongs to Atlas. She needs to be returned to us, and must be made to pay for her crimes!"

Sora had stopped after Ironwood had snapped. Now she waited calmly, fan spread over the lower half of her face, the look in her eyes unreadable. She stared at Ironwood until he sat back down. "...one of our citizens," she reiterated. "You have made it quite clear that you have no interest in listening to reason, General. I shared this confession in hopes that it would allow the other Kingdoms and, perhaps, even those residing in your homeland, to see that your judgment has been compromised lately. It's unfortunate, but I truly believe you no longer have the credentials to make any judgments or decisions on behalf of your Kingdom, particularly as it pertains to this matter."

"And I said that this is a farce!" yelled Ironwood. "Look at what you've done to that man. He's clearly been tortured."

Considering the recording showed an image of Meinrad, with his body studded with several thin needles, including some that appeared to have been inserted into his skull, the other delegates had a hard time disagreeing with Ironwood's accusation.

"He has not felt even the tiniest bit of pain," said Makoto, who was sitting next to Sora. "Setsuna's skills are much too refined for that."

"Hmm...Could you please explain the procedure you used to extract this confession?" asked Nilam, leaning forward. "Not that I wish to place doubt on the veracity of your methods, but I don't quite understand the means at work either."

"Gladly," said Makoto, bowing his head. "What we used is simple acupuncture technique."

"Acupuncture," said Gwenyth in clear confusion, "for an interrogation?"

"Correct," said Makoto. "In a sense, you could say that it is an enhanced form of hypnotism."

"How so?" inquired Ozpin.

"Hypnotism requires that the subject be placed in a hypnotic trance," explained Makoto, "which, simply put, is a state of extreme relaxation. Various means are used to accomplish this, from simple verbal instructions to the use of visual trickery to diffuse the subject's awareness. Acupuncture has long been used as a therapy, and is well known for its ability to induce a relaxed state in its subjects. At the same time, by stimulating certain points, the subject can be relaxed while remaining exceptionally aware. This allows for exceptional recall on the part of the subject while still leaving them open to our questioning."

"In a sense, it allows us to access their mind like one of your computer systems," said Sora. "We ask questions and retrieve the answers that we seek. That's all there is to it. It's a form of interrogation that has served us remarkably well throughout our history."

"Rubbish," said Ironwood. "If you can hypnotize them that well, then you can easily make them say whatever you wish for them to say. There's no veracity to this information."

"So he says," rumbled Radcliff, though his manner suggested that he clearly didn't think that Ironwood was being truthful.

"It is both true and not true," said Sora. "To make a subject say exactly what we want him to say, we have to lay out exact instructions to that end. As you can see, this recording has the full session of questioning, which shows that Greenberg-san was merely responding to the questions. At the beginning, Makoto even instructed him to answer truthfully, to ensure veracity."

"That's no guarantee of anything," growled Ironwood.

"To a certain extent, I'm afraid he's right," said Pastoria. "I am sure that, to the Mibu, such a confession is as good as gold. But we have not seen this method in the outside world, nor tested it in any meaningful capacity. It is compelling evidence. However, on its own, it isn't absolute proof of guilt."

"It is as you say," said Sora, inclining her head towards him. "However, we would have hardly come forward with this if we did not have additional evidence. The experts we contacted were asked primarily to find a way to disable the agents' capacity to self-terminate before their confessions could be acquired. However, they were also able to access the data stored on their cybernetics, which included some rather damning information."

Her eyes narrowed as she stared across the table at Ironwood, who had gone pale. "So then, General...before we continue...have you anything to say?"

"Nothing," said Ironwood. "I say nothing because you _have_ nothing."

"So be it," said Sora with a disappointed sigh. She selected a new file on the scroll and set it to play.

The color drained even further out of Ironwood's face as the scroll played back his mission briefing with the two Specialists aboard the command ship.

The delegates watched and listened to the recording in complete silence. When it finished, Sora closed the scroll and turned it off. "Our two experts also obtained a copy of the mission log from the Specialists' files. You can review it if you wish."

"Perhaps later," said Radcliff.

Nilam slowly turned her gaze towards Ironwood. "Well then, General...what have you to say for yourself?"

"Faced with the preponderance of evidence, we have no choice but to conclude that Mrs. Sora is speaking the truth on this matter," said Radcliff. "This is a very serious problem, James."

"Serious..." rumbled Ironwood, his voice and body trembling with rage. "Serious...You call this ridiculous affair SERIOUS!" His speech terminated with a roar as he raised his right hand and slammed his fist against the table, shattering the wood into splinters, making everyone to his left and right jump up and back away from the table, knocking over chairs as cups of tea and water, along with mugs of coffee fell over, splattering their contents across the table.

"Now you've done it," said Sora in a long-suffering tone. "And I rather liked this table too."

"You dare joke at a time like this?" growled Ironwood, glaring across the table at Sora, his face the very picture of rage. "For over a week, I've sat by as you've made a mockery of us. You primitive fools have dared to think that you stand on par with us four Kingdoms, that you warrant a sufficient level of civilization to be considered our equal. Your very existence is a threat to our world's peace and order. You harbor criminals and traitors, and your agents actively undermine our stability and control, yet you have the gall to accuse _me_ of criminal actions!"

"We have done no such thing," said Sora. "If you believe it so, you must come forth with proof that we have, just as we have with your Specialists."

"I'll get your proof," snarled Ironwood. "Give Ciel Soleil to me."

"No," said Sora simply.

"That was not a request," said Ironwood.

"That's fine," said Sora. "That was me saying that your order carries no weight here. We have no obligation to surrender one of our citizens to you."

"You forget that you are only able to remain so defiant, because I have allowed it," said Ironwood. "Everything that has happened, this conference, your little performances, was only possible through my approval. My patience has run out. You _will_ comply or I will give you an object demonstration of my disapproval."

* * *

 **Penny/Neptune ship...does anyone have a name for that?**


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62:**

Yang's forehead was covered by a cold sweat. She had a feeling she wasn't the only one. After Neptune and Penny had returned from recording the Specialists' confession, and given Neptune's scroll to Sora to use at the conference, they had all opened up their own scrolls and tuned in to watch the proceedings themselves. While the conference in its entirety hadn't been broadcast, many important segments were. This was one of those times. For all the past days of the conference, they had largely gone about their own business, ignoring the proceedings, which would have been unbearably tedious to them.

However, that had been before. Now, things were very different. Sora would confront Ironwood with evidence of his actions before the other delegates. Depending on how things went, it could mean a tremendous amount of death and destruction. If Ironwood snapped and ordered an attack, the Mibu would retaliate. Despite Ozpin's assurances, Yang remained uncertain that the Mibu would really be able to stop the Atlesian forces before they managed to get off a single shot. Even if that were true, it would surely mean death for the hundreds of Atlesian soldiers aboard those ships.

What really worried her was the effect such an incident would have on Ciel. This whole ball had gotten rolling thanks to Ironwood spotting Ciel at Kyo's match against his mother, then acting to take her back into Atlesian custody. If things took a turn for the worst, Ciel might feel that it was her responsibility, that the tremendous loss of life that would result from a conflict between Atlas and the Mibu would be her fault, those countless lives pressing down on her shoulders.

Yang wanted Sora to win. She had respected Ironwood once. She had seen him as a reliable ally, a source of strength in the fight against Salem. But the toll of that conflict had stripped away much of what had made Ironwood such a good ally. He had changed, becoming someone that Yang and her friends no longer trusted. On the other hand, Yang had come to appreciate the Mibu. They were a good people, a rich and prosperous Kingdom, ready to share the things that made them so with the rest of the world. They certainly had their faults. There was no denying that. However, Yang didn't want Sora to win on a mountain of corpses.

She began to chew on her thumbnail. A gentle hand rose up and pulled her hand away from her mouth. "It's all right," said Kyo. "O-Kaa-san has everything in hand."

"Does she really?" asked Yang skeptically. Perhaps it was out of line to ask that. But she couldn't help but worry that Kyo's love for his mother and his absolute confidence in her skills as both a warrior and a politician made his view a little biased and overly-optimistic.

"I believe so," said Kyo. His smile became sad. "Of course, that doesn't preclude the possibility of something unexpected happening or things taking a turn for the worst. But O-Kaa-san has spent the past several days taking the General's measure. I think she knows exactly how far she can push him before he will fold...or lash out. What we're watching now is another kind of fight. That conference is simply another type of battlefield."

"If you say so," said Yang, desperately hoping that the metaphorical battlefield didn't become a more literal one.

"Is Ironwood crazy?" asked Sun, staring incredulously at the screen he and Blake were watching. "He as good as threatened to bombard the city."

"Well, he's no longer what I would call stable," said Weiss, sounding calm, possibly because her right hand was tightly clenching Hayate's as she too remained glued to the screen of her scroll.

"We're about to find out," said Jaune, licking his lips nervously.

* * *

A tense silence had descended on the conference room. None of the other delegates dared to utter a word as Ironwood's statement sank in. Radcliff and Nilam were both struggling with abject disbelief at the blatant threat, while Gwenyth simply looked nervous. Ozpin, Pastoria, and Ozma, on the other hand, focused their attention on Sora, observing her reactions with both interest and trepidation.

Standing behind Sora, Makoto, the only other Elder present, had folded his arms, bowed his head and closed his eyes, almost seeming to withdraw from the conversation as a whole, as though, now that his contribution had been made, he might as well not even be there.

As a consequence, only Sora's reaction mattered at the moment. However, her reaction, or rather, her lack of one was unnerving...for a number of reasons. She stared levelly across the table at Ironwood, neither smiling nor frowning, her expression completely neutral.

"Do we have an understanding?" said Ironwood, ending the long pause.

"Of course," said Sora. "I'm still not giving Ciel-kun to you. As far as we are concerned, she is a Mibu citizen, a model one if anything. We will not surrender one of our own to a foreign power."

The other three Kingdom Council members stared at Sora with aghast expressions, their eyes bulging in their sockets at Sora's nonchalant response to Ironwood's threat, speaking as though he hadn't made one at all.

"Are you joking?" demanding Ironwood. "Or are you just that dense? Can't you see what's at stake here?"

Sora sighed and lowered her head, shaking it slowly. "If by 'what's at stake,' you mean your pathetically unsubtle insinuations that your warships, soldiers, and androids will turn their guns on our people if you do not get your way, then, yes, I know what's at stake. I understand perfectly well what your statements mean." Then she smiled brightly. "I've just chosen to ignore them until now."

"Wha-?" Ironwood had to work his jaw a few times to find the next set of words. "Why?"

"Believe it or not, it was to help you to save face General," said Sora. "I'd thought our message was perfectly clear when we allowed your fleet into our lands without anything more than a token protest, then carried on as if they weren't even present. Your weapons are not a threat to us. Your power does not intimidate us. You cannot hurt us with those _toys_. I had hoped, once you realized that, you would forgo the threats and negotiate with us in good faith. Sadly, it appears my hopes were misplaced. If you had come to your senses before now, all you would have had were some heated remarks that could easily be misconstrued, which would allow you to preserve your reputation. Sadly, you have crossed a serious line."

"You arrogant fool!" snapped Ironwood. "I am warning you one last time. Surrender the traitor to me, and stand down from this foolish attempt to destabilize the world order. We will work out the details of the Mibu Clan's official status afterwards. If you comply, I may be willing to recognize you as an autonomous settlement."

"Out of the question," said Sora. "We will settle for nothing less than full Kingdom status. And Ciel-kun remains with us. Neither of those is up for negotiation."

"Are you really that stupid?" demanded Ironwood, pulling his scroll out of his pocket and holding it up in his left hand. "All I have to do is send a single signal and my forces commence their attack. It will begin with an aerial bombardment. Then my forces will descend to completely suppress the population. I will have Onmyo under full occupation within an hour."

"James!" thundered Radcliff, surging to his feet. "You go too far!"

"Silence!" barked Ironwood, his thumb hovering over the glowing indicator on the screen. "I am through with playing games."

Radcliff looked as though he wanted to say something else, but a look at Ironwood's thumb resting over the trigger that would send the attack signal made him think better of it. Likewise, Nilam and Gwenyth both looked utterly horrified, both of them sweating profusely as the tension in the room intensified exponentially.

However, Sora remained unfazed, staring levelly at Ironwood. Her smile was gone, but her expression betrayed no anger or fear. Instead, she was utterly composed, completely inscrutable. After a moment, she closed her eyes and sighed softly.

"Very well then," she said, making Ironwood's eyes widen hopefully for a second before she spoke again, "allow me to answer your threat with a promise."

"A promise?" asked Ironwood, his eyes narrowing.

"I said it before and I will say it again. We are not threatened by your ships, your machines, your troops, or your guns. Your preparations are impressive, given that our current estimates suggest your vessels can begin their bombardment in under a minute, possibly as few as forty seconds."

All the color drained from Ironwood's face. "Wha-how-?"

"However," said Sora, cutting him off sharply, "against us, that is enough time for them to die _eight times over_. The instant you press that button, we will sweep your ships from the skies, and it will be as though they had never been there. The only thing you will accomplish is signing the death warrant for each man and woman you brought here from Atlas. That is _my_ promise to _you_ , General."

"You're lying," said Ironwood plainly. It was clear that even the other delegates were having trouble swallowing that kind of statement.

"I am not," replied Sora calmly. "As I said, it is a promise. You are left with multiple options general. You can put that down and negotiate with us in good faith. You can give up and return to Atlas, and we shall finalize negotiations with the other Kingdoms without you. Or...you can push that button and find out whether or not my words hold any truth. It is completely up to you."

Sora and Ironwood stared at each other across the ruined table, their eyes not blinking as they met. Ironwood's expression was a mix of fury and disbelief, unable to fathom how this woman could be staring him down in the face of his Kingdom's overwhelming power. Sora returned his gaze. There was no mockery in her expression, not even anger or determination. Instead, there was a relaxed calm to her face, a calm born of an absolute conviction that her words carried the weight of truth. She waited patiently, leaving it to Ironwood to decide what happened next.

As their showdown continued, the Jaeger waiting in the corner of the room looked on, its onboard cameras linked to the CCT array onboard Ironwood's command ship. From there, it was being broadcast all across the world.

* * *

"This is intense," commented Coco Adel, the fashionista snagging a potato chip from the bowl in front of the projector screen and biting down on it.

Beside her, Velvet sat, straight-backed and alert, her rabbit ears standing on end, tension in every line of her body. She was so engrossed in what was happening that she wound up flinching when a massive hand engulfed her shoulder. Looking up, she saw her partner looking down at her, his narrow eyes heavy with concern.

"It's all right, Yatsu," said Velvet, giving him a smile. "I just...I want her to win."

"I understand," said Yatsuhashi Daichi with a nod as they both turned their attention back to the screen.

Velvet had been engrossed since the very beginning of the conference, upon realizing that the mysterious Mibu Clan was led by a faunus, of all people. They had watched as she had led the conference and put Jacques Schnee, of all people, in his place without striking a single blow. To the faunus of the world, it almost felt like watching a miracle occur in front of their very eyes. This faunus woman stood before the assembled delegates of the Kingdom Councils and Academies, all of them human, forcing them to address her as an equal and allow her to take the lead in negotiations. It was clear that she had earned their respect too.

Which was why it irked Velvet that Ironwood had resorted to threatening to use force, of all things. Despite that, Sora wasn't bowing beneath his threats. She was meeting him head-on, without the slightest flinch.

Silently, Velvet clenched her hands together until her knuckles turned white.

* * *

"Well, I guess we aren't going to get much training done now," noted Keikoku as he looked over Dew and Octavia's shoulders, the two girls from Shade Academy glued to their screens as they watched the drama unfold.

Over since the incident with Cinder, the two girls had apparently taken a particular interest in Keikoku, coming to see him and asking advice before engaging in training bouts with him. This morning, they had learned about what was going to take place during today's discussions. However, they had gone to train with Keikoku all the same. But curiosity had gotten the better of them and they had taken out their scrolls and tuned in at the exact moment Ironwood had issued his threat.

"How can you not worry about this?" asked Octavia, whipping her head around to stare incredulously at Keikoku. "He's threatening to open fire on your home."

"He is, but his ships won't be able to," said Keikoku simply. "There's a reason the King hasn't attended the discussions since day one, and it isn't just because he's a figurehead, more or less. He's been keeping an eye on those ships the whole time.

"Then Sora's threat...?" said Dew.

"Her promise is completely valid," said Keikoku in a relaxed tone. "You girls have seen Kyo fight. But you haven't seen what the Crimson King can do. He's the ultimate master of the style that Kyo wields. When he unleashes it, a fleet of ships like that might as well be dust...assuming the other Taishiro don't get in on it."

"So you're not worried?" asked Octavia.

"Well not about the threat, no," said Keikoku with a sigh.

"What are you worried about, then?" asked Dew.

"Well...it's the precedent that it sets if Ironwood follows through on his threat," said Keikoku. "We don't want to win our way through force. We love a good fight as much as the next Kingdom. But this..." Keikoku frowned darkly. "We can't get them to accept us through sheer violence."

"Oh," said Dew, getting an idea of what Keikoku was getting at.

* * *

On board Ironwood's command ship, Jacques Schnee leaned forward in his seat. The stateroom he'd been confined to was finely appointed. However, that didn't change the fact that he was locked in here while Ironwood continued to try and talk sense to senseless fools. His glass all but forgotten in his hand, Jacques' gaze was fixated on the screen, his expression hopeful, as it seemed that Ironwood was finally going to do what was necessary.

"Don't give in, James," he said. "The witch is bluffing. There is no way these primitive savages can withstand our absolute power."

In Jacques mind, there was much more at stake than just the situation with the Mibu Clan. This would ultimately affect relations with all three other Kingdoms. It would show that the leader of Atlas was not afraid to do what it took to ensure order and control. After this, it would be much easier to make the other Kingdoms see things their way. They could start by putting an end to the nonsense legislation that had been shown at the beginning of the conference, ensuring that those foolish Council members wouldn't try to seize the SDC's mines in their territories. Perhaps then, they could be convinced to drop those silly measures to improve faunus rights. The faunus didn't need rights, as far as Jacques was concerned. They were mongrel beasts that couldn't be trusted with any positions of influence or importance. They were better off as beasts of burden.

And what better way than to knock that faunus witch off her pedestal and show the world that Atlas did not tolerate the arrogant posturing of a pretend ruler. The Mibu Clan would be brought to heel and they could then start dragging back the faunus that had escaped from their internment camps.

"Don't fail me, James," growled Jacques.

* * *

After several long moments, Ironwood broke the silence. "You're bluffing," he said. "You have to be."

"I'm not," replied Sora, her tone not wavering in the slightest. "If you choose not to believe me, then that shall be your decision, General. But allow me to remind you, regardless of whether or not I speak the truth, pushing that button and ordering your attack will have only one result." Her eyes narrowed. "Either way, it will end in a bloodbath, with destruction and loss of life on a massive scale. And, as the one who insisted on following this road, the burden of its consequence will fall squarely upon your shoulders."

Sora rested her closed fan on the table in front of her. It was a clear statement. Throughout the conference, as well as in conversation in general, Sora used her fan as an important tool of conversation, using it to gracefully conceal her expressions to subtly understate her emotions. Setting it on the table was like a master of disguise setting aside all his masks and makeup.

"One way or another, history will remember the choice you make today," she continued. "It remains to be seen what history will see you as. The decision is yours."

Ironwood's eyes narrowed, the hand that held his scroll trembling. His gaze met Sora's, searching for any sign of weakness, any chink in the armor of her conviction that would show that her words were empty and her promise hollow. The tension suffusing the air of the conference room was a tangible force. The other delegates, even the Academy Headmasters, were sweating, their nerves on edge. One twitch of Ironwood's thumb and this conference would end in disaster. However, none of them said a thing. They were all afraid that one wrong word, one ill-chosen syllable even, would push Ironwood over the edge.

"Don't be unreasonable," said Ironwood. "We can grant you special status as an autonomous settlement. You'd get special trading privileges and recognition. In ten years, we could revisit this-"

"No," said Sora simply. "Kingdom status, nothing less. We will deal with you as equals...or not at all."

Ironwood's lips pulled back, baring his teeth. "Your people will die for your stubbornness."

"That remains to be seen," said Sora. "Are you prepared to go down in history as an irredeemable monster, simply for the sake of preserving the status quo?"

Silence fell once again. Ironwood was trembling even more intensely. However, Sora met his gaze as calmly and assuredly as ever. It was clear that, no matter what he said or did, no matter what threats he made, she would not back down. Her will was indomitable. He might as well been trying to stare down a mountain.

 _So this is why she rules the Mibu,_ he thought finally.

Slowly, hesitantly, Ironwood's thumb moved away from the trigger that would signal the attack. His movements jerky, he lowered his arm and rested the scroll on an unbroken section of the table, turning it off. Leaning back in his seat, Ironwood groaned and sighed in resignation. "You win," he said.

The silence in the conference room was absolute. None of the delegates had been expecting Ironwood to back down. Even Sora and Makoto had been fairly certain that he might order the attack regardless.

Sora closed her eyes, her face relaxing and a smile reappearing. "Very well," she said. "Now then...let's continue..."

* * *

"They did it!" shouted Ruby gleefully, her scroll clattering to the table as she caught Jaune up in a tight hug. Laughing, Jaune returned the gesture. All around the table, shouts of celebration and glee broke out as the tension caused by Ironwood's threat abated.

"This is great," said Yang, throwing her arms around Kyo.

"It is," said Kyo, hugging her back.

"I'm glad," said Yang, feeling tears build up in her eyes.

"So am I," said Kyo, rubbing her back reassuringly.

Yang's relief had more than one cause. She was glad it hadn't come to Atlas attacking, not merely because of any threat to the Mibu or even Atlas' own troops. She had worried that, if fighting did indeed break out, that Ciel would blame herself for what had happened. Now, instead, she would be credited for making this settlement possible, creating the situation where Atlas had finally been forced to give up their heavily militaristic stance. It made Yang happy for her friend.

Not far away, there were two people who weren't celebrating. Weiss still stared at her scroll, not lifting her eyes to take in the jubilation washing across the rest of the assembled students. Instead, she continued to watch the conference, though she wasn't listening to a single word of it. Rather than ease her tension, Ironwood's submission had made her break out in a cold sweat.

"What's wrong?" asked Hayate, resting a hand over hers. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Not quite," said Weiss, lowering her head and taking a breath. "I'm just not as sure about the future as everyone else is."

"Why?" asked Hayate.

"Father won't take this lying down," said Weiss softly.

"Oh..." Hayate blinked and turned his attention back to the scroll. "Yeah, I can see that being an issue. I've never actually met him, but I've heard that Old Man Schnee can be a force to be reckoned with."

"You have no idea," said Weiss, her voice barely a whisper. There was a reason why, despite the fact that he was no Huntsman, had no combat training whatsoever, that Jacques Schnee was man who could strike terror into the hearts of his children, two of whom were Huntresses and formidable fighters in their own right.

* * *

"IMBECILE!"

The glass and what remained of its contents flew through the holographic screen, shattering on the wall behind it as Jacques surged to his feet, glaring at the image of Ironwood with all the hatred and outrage he could muster.

"How could you give in to those primitives?" he demanded, despite the fact the screen couldn't answer him. "All they had were empty words. That's all any of them have. One push of that button and you could have shown them where the real power in this world resides. Instead you've made Atlas into a doormat. It will take decades -No!- centuries to live down this humiliation."

Trembling from head to toe, Jacques sank back into his seat. "He'll doom us all," he growled. It was only a matter of time now. The Kingdoms wouldn't miss their chance. They would begin implementing those new laws that would allow them to seize the SDC quarries within their borders. Productivity, already at an all time low, thanks to the escape of the company's primary workforce, would plunge even further. Investors would flee the company in droves. All the wealth and prestige that he had accumulated, all the power that Jacques had vested in the Schnee Family name would disappear. Everything he had worked for would vanish like the mist.

 _If that happens, then what have I done?_ he wondered. _I gave up everything for this company, even my own name, all for the sake of taking it to greater heights._ Jacques growled, clenching his hand into a fist. _They're fools, all of them. Even those daughters of mine are complete imbeciles. I should have never allowed them to enroll in the Academies to begin with. Now they've allowed their reason to be tainted with worthless idealism. From the very beginning, Whitley is the only one I can trust to do what's necessary for us._

 _It won't end here. I won't let the fruits of my labor disappear. I won't allow my sacrifices to be in vain. I will protect my company, even if that means making an enemy of every Kingdom in the world. But first...I need to recover Weiss._

Despite the strained and defiant manner in which Weiss spoke to him now, the fact of the matter was that she had been publicly acknowledged as his heir, a concession he had been forced to make in order to save face after her contributions in stopping Salem, after he had initially disinherited her in favor of Whitley for one of her unsightly outbursts at a charity concert he had put on, for the sake of the Academy she had attended no less. Despite his efforts to make clear the importance of living up to the Schnee family name, she had to go and smear mud on it by insulting potential peers and investors.

But then, she had escaped from him and gone on to play a critical role in Salem's defeat. Faced with her very public heroism, Jacques had been left with no choice but to acknowledge Weiss as his heir once again, despite her continued defiance towards him. That defiance had grown even worse, as evinced during this conference, when she had allowed that Mibu faunus to publicly humiliate him in front of the Kingdom delegates and everyone watching the broadcast.

Given what Weiss had done, Jacques was well within his rights to disinherit her again. However, he couldn't make the same mistake as last time. Simply relieving her of her position wouldn't be an effective muzzle. In fact, he suspected now that it would make her move to be even more defiant, to challenge him all the more publicly. She would become a rallying point for all the dissenters against his company, someone who could undermine his power even further.

What he needed was to bring Weiss back under control. That meant bringing her back home, where he could keep her confined and silenced. Then he could quietly make Whitley his heir again, and then take steps towards mitigating this disaster. This time, he would make sure that there was no one who would aid Weiss in escaping if he had to lock her in the basement and have her fed through a hole in the wall. He wouldn't make the mistake of allowing her to keep her weapon either. He'd have the damnable thing locked away, if not melted down entirely. Then he would make sure to break her spirit completely, just to be sure that she would never think of defying him ever again.

"Yes," said Jacques, gently scratching his chin. "That's what I'll do. Getting this to work might take a while, so I'll have to start immediately."

"It's always wise to take the initiative in dangerous situations," said a smooth, buttery voice behind him.

"Who's there?" snapped Jacques, spinning about to find the speaker. He was met with motes of colored lights and a sound vaguely like that of a flute, but deeper and more resonant.

"A friend," the voice replied, the dancing of the lights and the pleasant tone of music washing holding Jacques' attention, washing away his anger and tension, making him relax. "Not too long ago, I was advising the good General on how to deal with the Mibu. It greatly disappoints me that he did not take my advice to heart in the very end."

"Of course not," said Jacques, sinking back into his chair as the lights danced around him. "Whatever posturing he might do, James is a coward when all is said and done."

"So it would seem," said the voice as slender, powerful fingers began to gently rub the back of Jacques neck, relaxing him. "I had such high hopes for him. But he has been naught but a disappointment."

"I suppose you have high hopes for me now," grumbled Jacques.

"I have always had high hopes for you, Jacques Schnee," said the voice. "You have demonstrated that you are a man of will, of strength, one who does not falter beneath the weight of what needs to be done. I am afraid that I will have to give up on Ironwood, but you could do much better, I believe."

"You shouldn't have placed your faith in James to begin with," growled Jacques.

"Perhaps," agreed the voice. "But he was much better positioned than you at the time. Now, he has surrendered that position to the enemy, and you are the one who will have to fight in his stead."

"So I should...what?" wondered Jacques. "Should I take over Atlas, seize control so that I can finally do things my way."

The speaker hummed softly, the sound musical and soothing in its own way. "That's not such a bad idea," the speaker conceded. "Just imagine the potential...You could be truly great."

"I am great already," said Jacques. "I have taken the Schnee Dust Company and made it a dominant power throughout Remnant. I control the world's supply of Dust."

"And yet, in history, you shall always be second to your father-in-law, won't you?" inquired the speaker, making Jacques flinch. "Such as it is in history. You can take your company to as great a height as possible, but the accolades will always go to its founder. Your success will not be viewed as a sign of true greatness, but merely competence. Historians will rave about Nicholas Schnee, and offer you a mere recognition for not destroying his legacy.

"But...what if you could create something even greater, something that overshadows his accomplishments. Your father-in-law founded a company yes...but you could found a _dynasty_."

Jacques' eyes widened, having never even dared to consider the idea. The line of the King of Mantle was no more, the royal family having relinquished any claim to power to the Kingdom Council, along with the other monarchs as part of the Treaty of Vytal. It had been hailed as an achievement, a sign of progress, the steps on the road away from primitive feudalism and towards representative democracy.

But the war against Salem had shown the new system's limitations. Councils were divisive and ineffective in times of crisis. When leadership was needed most, Council members dithered and argued amongst themselves, too worried about how their actions would affect the way people viewed them, afraid that the wrong decision would cost them the votes they needed to win the next election. The war with Salem had shown the need for a strong-willed, decisive leader. Not long ago, Jacques had thought that Ironwood could have been that leader, but no longer.

"You could become the foundation of a new era," continued the voice. "You would no longer need to cling to that Schnee name, leaching off their power and prestige like a parasite. You could seize the throne with your own name and make it echo throughout history. And even that would be just the beginning. In time, you could make the other Kingdoms acknowledge your superiority, make them see that the distinctions between Kingdoms need not exist, that they could all be consolidated and made unfathomably prosperous under your rule."

Jacques' eyelids felt heavy. The suggestions the speaker made were outlandish. But the appeal to them was undeniable. For too long, he had allowed himself to be cowed by the importance of the Schnee name. He had been insulted and humiliated. Even his own daughters regarded him with the utmost disrespect. He was the one responsible for the opportunities they had, yet they spoke of him as though he were an obstacle to remove. They merely saw him as a placeholder before Weiss took over the company.

"You needn't worry," said the voice. "It's more than possible...and I can help you make it happen."

"How?" asked Jacques.

"You have wealth and power, access to weapons and technology," said the voice. "But I can offer you more in addition to that. I have powerful friends, friends who could crush the General and his forces."

"You sound like the Mibu," muttered Jacques.

"True," agreed the voice. "But we are no friends of theirs. In fact, you could say that we are their most determined enemy. That is why I urged the General to take action against them. Join hands with us and you shall have Atlas, we shall see to the Mibu's destruction, and the world itself will be within your reach. What say you?"

Jacques couldn't keep himself from smiling. "Very well, you have a deal."

"Very good," said the voice. "You won't regret this. I promise. You can put your faith in me. Haira will not let you down. Now then, how can I be of assistance?"

"I can think of one favor I need already," said Jacques.

* * *

"Need to let off some steam?" asked Hayate as he followed Weiss out into the practice yard.

"I suppose," said Weiss softly. "That confrontation was intense, even if we were just watching it over our scrolls."

"By flying, I'm guessing," said Hayate.

Weiss nodded. "It feels wonderful," she admitted.

Hayate chuckled. "One taste and you're already hooked. What about creating other glyphs? Have you gotten any ideas."

"I have," said Weiss. "But I still need to decide what to do with the crystal." She held it up in her hand, looking at it intently. "I can use it perfectly well like this. But, in the end, combining it with my weapon might be the best course."

"If you're sure," said Hayate. "Doing so will irrevocably change the nature of your blade. Even if you change your mind and reforge it into its original shape, it will never feel the same again."

Weiss nodded. That was the main reason she hesitated. She had yet to hear back from Murasame about the feasibility of the idea in any case, so there was no telling as to whether or not it was actually possible.

In any case, the one thing she knew now as that she couldn't give up on the crystal. Not only did it make her wings possible in the first place, but she had grown attached to it. Murasame had said that she had bonded to it, which was true enough. Every time she tapped into the crystal's power, she felt that bond strengthen. She could also feel her crystal maturing, the power output increasing by the day. Granted, the progress was slow. It was akin to watching an oak grow, she believed. It grew in small increments. But, one day, it would be a mighty force indeed.

"So what glyphs have you come up with?" asked Hayate.

"A few," said Weiss. "Once you brought up that language analogy, I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I've been thinking about creating multiple glyphs that can serve as components, that could create words, you could say. I've even realized that my glyph shapes don't necessarily need to be confined to just two dimensions."

"That's good," said Hayate. "I look forward to seeing the finished results."

"So do I," admitted Weiss. Already, she was slipping out of her shrug, which she folded and handed to Hayate, allowing him to drape it over one arm. She noticed that Hayate blushed to look at her again, apparently appreciating how she looked with her shoulders bare. The realization made Weiss slightly giddy.

Relaxing herself, Weiss summoned forth her glyph, calling out her wings and taking to the sky once more. She lost herself in that incredible, weightless feeling, the complete freedom of movement that allowed her to go anywhere she pleased. What Hayate said was true, flying was addictive in and of itself. But, to Weiss, it represented something even greater.

From the moment she had been born, Weiss' direction in life had always been subjected to a firm guiding hand, if not outright controlled at times. In her earliest memories, she had been schooled by tutors on how to speak, how to act, how to interact with others. The people she could actually interact with were limited, the opportunities for socialization carefully controlled by her father and other members of his staff. People she could speak to, and be around, were scrutinized according to her father's criteria, their backgrounds checked for safety reasons, their social status evaluated for the potential benefits interacting with them could bring to the family and company. Anyone deemed to be a security risk or too inconsequential to bring any benefits to the Schnees wasn't allowed near her.

When Weiss had shown a talent for singing, her father had immediately made the requisite arrangements. She was assigned singing and voice instructors, taught how to read and compose music. She was given managers to shape her stage presence. Her first songs were canned compositions, written by hired composers for Weiss to sing. She was made to put on concerts for a variety of purposes, mostly charity, in order to sing and enhance her family's prestige (certainly not because her father actually believed in charitable causes).

The first decision Weiss had ever made for herself was the decision to learn how to fight. She had been inspired by the example of Winter, despite the fact that, by training as a Huntress and joining the military, her sister had fallen out of their father's good graces. Even then, Jacques had selected the instructors that would train her, who in turn had selected the style that they felt best befitted the heir to the Schnee Dust Company. Simply learning how to fight competently or effectively wasn't good enough. A Schnee had to fight in a manner that ensured they never lost their bearing, reflecting elegance and grace in everything they did.

That was why deciding to attend Beacon Academy had been such a significant decision. Weiss had selected Beacon, not merely because it was lauded as the finest of the Academies, but because it represented a complete break with her father's will. Jacques had decided that, if Weiss insisted on being a Huntress, she should attend Atlas Academy, a place much closer to home, where his influence was stronger, where he could keep an eye on her and stop her from becoming someone who did not gel with his ideal daughter. Attending another school, a full continent away from her overbearing father and his meddling had had an irresistible allure. Weiss was set in her decision.

Not that that hadn't stopped her father from trying to override it. He'd used a variety of forms of persuasion to convince her that going to Beacon would be a bad idea. He'd set hurdle after hurdle in her path, created new obstacles for her to surmount, and had moved the goalposts each time she'd met his demands. Finally, he'd set one last test for her, the battle against the Knight, which had scarred her left eye. But that scar was her mark of true victory, the very first time she had managed to beat her father by following the path she had charted for herself, not one that he had charted for her.

It was at Beacon that Weiss had truly experienced a life free of her father's influence. She had made her own friends, real friends, not the simpering sycophants, who approached her for her family's wealth and connections. For the first time in her life, she had been truly happy.

All of that had come crashing down when Beacon fell. Her father had returned and dragged her back to Atlas, practically by the scruff of her neck, where he had tried to lock her back into a life under his complete and total control, even going so far as to try and imprison her in her own home. Having gotten fed up with her determination to work as a Huntress, he had even gone so far as to make Whitley his heir instead. From there on, it was clear that he simply intended to marry Weiss off to some wealthy suitor, who could bolster his standing.

However, stripping away her inheritance had proven to be her father's greatest mistake. Now that she no longer had to worry about it, Weiss was free to act and do as she saw fit. She no longer needed to care about remaining on her father's good side. She had broken free to go help her friends and save the world, which, ironically had forced her father to re-establish her as his heir in order to save face. Whitley hadn't been pleased, but also hadn't raised all that much of a protest either, to Weiss' endless confusion.

That was why it felt so amazing to Weiss, to be able to dance so freely through the sky. Though she wasn't yet confident enough in her ability to fly that she would leave the confines of the air above the practice yard, much less venture outside the wards of the Onmyo Palace, up here, the air flowing through her hair, free to go in any direction that she wished, Weiss felt true freedom.

Sadly, that freedom was still momentary. Losing track of time, Weiss began to feel the flow of power that came from the crystal in her hand flagging. She was running it out. The more she used it, the more their bond had grown, and the better Weiss was able to read the Core Crystal and sense when its output had reached its limit. She could feel it going dark to her senses, as though it were slowly falling asleep.

Returning her awareness to the moment, Weiss began her descent. She didn't want her wings to disappear mid-flight again. Hayate was there to catch her, of course, but, as pleasant as being cradled by his arms had been, she didn't want to force him to do that every time she started flying. Instead, she took a low, arcing path towards him, playing out the last of her crystal's power in the process.

Seeing her coming at him, Hayate blinked and tensed up, unsure of what she was planning. Weiss pulled up out of her swooping flight, the toes of her shoes skimming through the air, just a scant few inches above the practice yard's tiles. She began to ascend again, lifting just a couple feet up. At the same time, she fanned her wings, using the absolute last bit of power from her crystal to slow herself to a stop...right in front of Hayate.

Watching her come in, Hayate held out his hands as Weiss slowed to a stop in front of him, clamping them on her waist at almost the exact instant her wings shattered into motes of light. Despite having to suddenly support the weight of her body, Hayate didn't falter, lowering her smoothly to the ground without a flinch as Weiss rested her hands on his shoulders.

Hayate blushed furiously at the unexpected contact. "Did you need to do that or was it just for fun?" he asked as he stood there, not having the presence of mind to move his hands.

Weiss giggled lightly. "That was just for fun," she said. She tugged on his shoulders, pulling Hayate into a hug, which he hesitantly returned. "Thank you," she whispered into his ear, "for everything."

Hayate said nothing, simply leaning his head into her shoulder.

After a moment, they pulled away from each other, both of them blushing.

"How long was I up?" asked Weiss.

"Only about ten minutes," said Hayate.

"It felt longer," said Weiss.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"A very good thing," said Weiss with a blissful smile.

They turned and headed towards the entrance, Hayate handing Weiss her shrug, which she slipped on once more. Because of the limits on its output, there was only so much practice Weiss could do with the crystal every day. Aside from that, the only other practice she was doing at the moment was her regular practice of Aura-control techniques. She, along with RWBY and JNNR had continued that practice every day during their time amongst the Mibu.

Turning a corner, they came to a halt, surprised to see a familiar figure standing in the hall ahead of them.

"Ah, hello," said Murasame, smiling pleasantly. "I'd been hoping to run into you. Kyo told me you two typically went to this training yard."

"How can I help you?" asked Weiss.

"I wanted to let you know that I've finished reviewing the information I have on the Etheric Crystals," explained Murasame. "I believe that I can effectively modify your weapon if you so wish."

Looking down at the spent crystal in her hand, Weiss looked up and smiled at Murasame. "I would like to hear more," she said.

* * *

 **I've had some people comment that Ironwood's a little too one-dimensional, which I understand. On some level, it may be true. However, I feel that there's a genuine basis for it. From the moment he was introduced in Volume 2, it's pretty clear that Ironwood is very much a "my way or the highway" kind of guy, one who really doesn't like to compromise, and one who _really_ doesn't like feeling in not in-control. Come Volume 3, he's forced himself into being in charge of the Vytal Festival's security, which only leads to Cinder turning his own androids against him and the other heroes.**

 **Come Volume 4, rather than learn anything from that, we instead see that he's doubled down, blaming Ozpin for not listening to him, even though it was _his_ hijacked weapons that did so much damage; and that Ironwood himself was unilaterally in charge at the time, so it shouldn't have mattered whether Ozpin listened to him or not.**

 **Then, of course, there's his Dust embargo. The show doesn't go into a lot of detail about its effects, but it's easy to imagine the ramifications. People all across the world saw things in Vale go straight to Hell, which would lead into a serious uptick in negative emotions, resulting in, of course, increased pressure from the Grimm. During this crisis the major supplier of the primary weapon agains the Grimm abruptly drops all trade with the other Kingdoms, cutting them off from this vital resource at a time where it's at its most needed.**

 **Ironwood explains it as wanting to be sure that none of the other Kingdoms are about to use the Dust they buy against Atlas. But, looking at it from an outside perspective, think of how it looks to the other Kingdoms. They've just watched a broadcast where Atlesian androids have started attacking Vale's defenders, and, abruptly, that same country has cut them off from the resource they need to defend themselves with. Considering it from an aggressor's point of view, you can see it as killing two birds with one stone; Ironwood gets to hoard the Dust the SDC mines for his own military, while simultaneously cutting off his intended victims and allowing the Grimm to soften them up for him. So...yeah, that's not exactly most well-thought-out move for a guy who claims to just want to protect the people.**

 **Taking that into consideration, I thought about how the fight against Salem could warp him even more, especially as he keeps running up against wall after wall, where all his efforts keep coming to nothing, while a bunch of kids, who, by all rights, should still be students, keep succeeding where he feels he should have. Granted, in a situation like that, you might think that Ironwood would take the hint, but his existing characterization indicates that he is a guy who does _not_ like admitting that he's wrong, which is what leads us to him as he is now.**

 **And, of course...a certain someone has been whispering little ideas into his ear, so that probably isn't helping either.**


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 63:**

Cinder's eye fluttered, then slowly opened. She found herself in darkness. The room she was in was pitch black, with no source of light to be seen. She was lying on a bed with a thin mattress that was barely enough to cushion her battered body. A light sheet rested over her, not offering the slightest trace of protection against the chill that pervaded the chamber.

Carefully, she levered herself into a sitting position. Her eye had no hope of adjusting to the dark, because there was no light for it to take in. But Cinder knew where she was. The Junishinsho had nothing like an actual hospital or infirmary. This was just one of the few resting rooms that were clustered together amongst the network of caves and tunnels that made up their base of operations. She had her own quarters, as did the others, quarters that she had done her best to appoint in a manner that suited her. She grimaced. It was only natural that Indara, the only one of their number who had any skill in the healing arts, would instead take her to one of these spartan rooms for her treatment, then leave her like a discarded toy.

Her body ached and twitched. Cinder felt her movements stretch recently-closed cuts, feeling the still uncomfortably warm sensation of the small burns that dotted her body, burns and scars over more burns and scars. The wounds Keikoku had inflicted on her merely complimented those left by Ruby Rose. She scowled at her condition. Indara's healing was rough, only doing the bare minimum to ensure that his subject recovered. He cared not for any pain or discomfort she suffered as she waited for her body to do the rest.

Holding up her right, unscarred hand, Cinder used her power to summon forth an orb of flame, casting warm, orange light throughout the room. The walls were black and gray stone, hewn casually, almost haphazardly out of the earth, no effort made to smooth them over or adjust their angles. As a result, the room had an odd, uneven shape, reflecting the lack of concern that had gone into its excavation. Her bed was the only piece of furniture there. The only other thing was a thick, stone door set into the wall opposite her.

A simple thought caused the orb of flame to drift free from her hand, rising and moving until it rested just below the low ceiling, in the center of the room, leaving Cinder with ample light to see her actions. Moving carefully, she turned her body so that she could lower her feet to the floor. The stone was even colder than the air of the room, sending chills running through her legs as she pressed down with her soles. Carefully, Cinder pushed against the bed, moving into a standing position.

She wobbled slightly and took a pair of hesitant steps. Her body felt clunky and ungraceful, not responding to her mind with its usual grace and poise. She had to take another couple of steps to fully get the hang of standing up again. As she did, a click from the door caused her to lift her head.

The door swung open to reveal the black-cloaked form of Santera, standing just outside, her form practically a mass of shadow, lit from behind by the purple crystals that lined the hall outside like torches, providing barely enough light to see by and little else. Seeing Santera made Cinder scowl. "What do you want?" she demanded tartly. Her voice was barely louder than a whisper, hoarse and cracked, no trace of its original silky tone remaining. It hurt to speak any louder than that, something she received no end of ridicule for, regardless of who she was around.

To an outside observer, Cinder's body was an unpleasant sight. Her clothes showed off her figure, giving her a seductive allure. But that allure vanished along with the clothes themselves. The left side of her body was covered with angry patches of red and brown, cracked scars that sometimes bled on random occasions. The scars and burns extended downwards, wrapping around her left leg, all the way to the tips of her toes. Her left arm looked shriveled and withered in comparison to her right. The swell of her breasts, enough to make most men's mouths water when she was clothed, was nowhere near as appealing in the buff, as her left breast heavily contrasted with her right, resembling a grotesque lump of charcoal projecting out of her chest.

Wordlessly, Santera extended her arms, over which she had draped a dark-orange dress with gold highlights, Cinder's clothes. She offered no response to Cinder's curt, angry attitude, merely handing off the clothes, her behavior little different from those automatons that Ironwood and the rest of the Atlesian military still cherished, despite Cinder quite effectively demonstrating their drawbacks during Beacon's fall.

Cinder dressed herself, occasionally wincing as her movements strained a cut or prodded a fading bruise. Santera stood there, her hidden eyes staring in Cinder's direction, but not really seeing her, like an android awaiting orders. When she was finished, Cinder fixed Santera with a glare. "Get out," she said.

Santera obeyed, again not showing the slightest hint of emotion as she turned and disappeared down the hallway, going off to wherever it was she went to when she had no orders to carry out. Cinder looked down the way she had gone with a sour glare. She did not enjoy Santera's presence, what little she had, despite the irony of the situation.

Cinder made her way back to her own quarters, wincing as she had to strain her arm slightly to open the stone door. Inside the room, things were much more pleasant, as she had appointed it to match her tastes, rather than leaving drab stone uncovered. It was considerably larger than the room she had woken up in. The walls were decorated by hangings in orange and red. A deep, dark-purple carpet covered the floor. Besides her soft, queen-sized bed, occupying a niche across from the door, with its rich, red and gold comforter, there was also a dark, rust-red couch. The room was lit by the flames of a pair of braziers, as well as a fireplace located on the side opposite the couch. There was no need for a chimney as the flames that burned were fueled by the Fall Maiden's power, making no smoke or ash, unless Cinder willed it.

Beside the couch was a large cupboard. Going to it, Cinder opened it to reveal a several glasses, occupying the top two shelves, while the lower shelves held various decanters of liquor. Selecting a glass, then opening one of the cut-crystal decanters, Cinder poured herself a libation and settled onto the couch, sipping at her glass, staring at the fire burning in front of her.

The liquor burned her throat, which, considering her condition, was hardly surprising. In truth, she had grown to enjoy the pain. There was something...stimulating...about it.

Leaning back, Cinder let her thoughts drift. She had served Nobunaga well before she had ever come to Salem. Working for Salem had only been a step in their plans. Cinder had gone to Salem with one objective, though she had gotten an additional, unexpected bonus out of the affair. Yet, despite all she had accomplished, the more senior members of the Junishinsho regarded her with scorn.

It irritated her. She had obtained power of which most people could only dream, yet she was met with scorn and derision wherever she went. Most recently, even one of the Mibu had happily belittled her. It seemed that the only one who truly respected her was the person she hated most and the person who, likewise, hated her. She and Ruby Rose were mortal enemies, each determined to, one day, take the life of the other. Yet that hatred was the foundation for a certain respect between them.

Cinder was drawn out of her reverie by the thudding of a fist against the stone door to her room. Setting her glass aside, she stood up and made her way to the door, pulling it open. A gasp escaped her and she took an unconscious step back.

Oda Nobunaga stood in the doorway of his quarters. His pitch-black skin contrasted starkly with the loose, white folds of the kimono he wore, its front hanging open enough to display the powerful muscles of his chest and upper-abdomen. The white hair of his head was tied back in a sort of loose topknot. His eyes, glowing red, like Grimm eyes, stared at her. The one on the left was larger, the eyelids completely torn away, displaying the whole eye, veins of red breaking through the skin around it, a scar that had followed him down through the ages, marring any body that he took as his vessel.

"M-My Lord," said Cinder nervously, going onto her knees, doing her best to speak as clearly as she could, even though it pained her in a way that was less appealing than the liquor did.

"Well, Mekira," said Nobunaga, his voice clear and deep, "Santera told me that you had awakened."

Cinder hid a scowl at the mention of the girl's name. "I did not wish for My Lord to see me in such a state," she said. "I returned to you in such sorry condition."

"That does not concern me," said Nobunaga. "What matters is that you did as you were bid. You fulfilled your mission, and now I have obtained that which I need to begin my conquest." Black lips curled back, baring too-white teeth. "You have been all that I could ask for, Mekira."

"My Lord is too generous," said Cinder, keeping her eye low. Being alone in her room with Nobunaga made her heart quicken and something within her stir, an urge, a desire that she didn't dare to feed.

"Mekira," rumbled Nobunaga, his tone making her flinch, "look at me."

Doing as she was bid, Cinder raised her head, bringing her eye up to meet both of Nobunaga's own.

"Tell me Mekira, do you find me attractive?" asked Nobunaga.

"My Lord...I..." Cinder struggled to figure out what to say.

"I am hideous to behold, am I not?" asked Nobunaga, his voice light with amusement. "I am an apparition from some child's darkest nightmares. When you first met me, I looked little better. But my looks are not what drew you to me."

Cinder nodded silently.

"What was it that you told me you wanted when we first met?" he asked.

"I want to be strong," said Cinder. "I want to be feared. I want to be powerful."

"Yessssss!" Nobunaga's voice was an exultant hiss. "Exactly. I felt your lust then, even as I feel it now." His fingers found her chin, gripping it tightly. "What drew you to me was the _will to power_ , the power I possess. You may yet have it."

A shiver went down Cinder's spine as Nobunaga used his grip on her chin to pull her to her feet.

"I care not for the paltry marks on the flesh," said Nobunaga. "I feel your desire, and that is all that matters to me. Is that all that matters to you, Mekira?"

"It is," said Cinder, moaning as Nobunaga's fingers left her chin, brushing down her neck, caressing the line of her breasts before dipping lower.

Nobunaga's grin was terrifying. Looking at it sent tremors of fear and excitement both through Cinder's body as he pressed in closer. "When I rule this world as its emperor, there may yet be a place for you at my side...as my empress. Is that what you wish, Mekira?"

"Yes!" said Cinder, a hoarse whimper escaping.

Nobunaga's hands clenched the fabric of her dress and he pulled, parting it with the sound of tearing fabric, exposing Cinder to his eyes, the movement dislodging her mask and knocking her hair askew, giving him a good look at the tapestry of scars that covered the left side of her face, including the angry, red mass where her eye had once been. "Then give yourself...give everything to me! And, when the time comes, _take_ even more!"

"Yes, My Lord," said Cinder.

Nobunaga leaned forward and seized her lips with his, pressing the kiss ferociously, almost as though he meant to devour her. His skin was cold to the touch, like that of a corpse, even as the action itself spoke of a fiery hunger. Cinder's body, in contrast, grew hotter, to the point that she felt as though she would burst into flame. Nobunaga drove her back, not caring where his hands pressed, whether they made Cinder gasp with pleasure or moan with pain. He pushed her down onto her bed and took her.

Cinder moaned and met his hunger with her own. Ecstasy and agony arose within her, melding together into a brand new sensation that drove her to the edge of madness. The two of them continued, carried away in the throes of a passion so intense that it was practically demonic.

* * *

"The key to integrating the Core Crystal into your weapon will be to merge it with the blade of your sword itself," said Murasame.

"How do we accomplish that?" asked Weiss.

"Simply put, we would cut a hole through the center of the Core Crystal, through which we will run the blade of your weapon," said Murasame. "Doing so without compromising the integrity of the Core Crystal will be a difficult task. But I do not believe it is beyond me."

"All right," said Weiss. "I assume you want to mount it on the ricasso of my sword, where the Dust chambers are now."

Murasame nodded. "That was the idea. I will treat the point where the crystal resides with a silicate solution that will briefly encourage the crystal's growth again, closing the cut and bonding it directly to the metal of your sword."

"That's possible?" asked Weiss. "I never imagined that you could modify a Core Crystal like that."

Murasame nodded. "Haruka has come up with several potential mountings for her crystals, which require them to occasionally be cut and bored in different ways, depending on their uses. It will require delicate precision, but it is definitely doable."

"I see," said Weiss. She looked at Myrtenaster, which lay out on the table. "I suppose that would mean saying goodbye to the Dust chamber assembly then."

"I'm afraid so," said Murasame. "I can think it over a little more, but I don't see a way to integrate the core crystal with your weapon and keep the Dust chamber assembly, mostly because there seems to be no other point I could mount it without it getting in the way. If I tried adjusting it so that the assembly was mounted around the crystal itself, it would make the weapon as a whole far too bulky for your fighting style."

"I think you're right," said Weiss. She frowned and rested a hand on the guard of her weapon, tracing the elegant curve of one of the prongs that encased the chamber. "I can't think of any way to do it either."

"You're welcome to keep the design," said Murasame. "I recommend that you take at least one night to think it over. If you can think of a way to modify it so that you can integrate the crystal and keep the Dust chambers, I would like to see it."

"Are you sure?" asked Weiss. "You're the master-smith."

"I am, but my specialty is weapons of a bit more...static...nature," said Murasame. "My knowledge of how to make or modify outsider weapons is much more limited. In that particular area, your knowledge will be greater than mine."

Weiss nodded. "I see," she said.

"There is one other modification to be made to the blade itself," said Murasame.

"What's that?" asked Weiss.

"I would like to fuller the blade," said Murasame. "After that, I will treat the fuller with the same silicate that I would use to bond the crystal to the ricasso. That will encourage the crystal to grow down the length of the blade in a manner that maintains its integration with the metal, ensuring a more efficient transmission of power down the length of your blade," said Murasame. "Doing so is an even more drastic modification than just removing the Dust chamber and bonding the crystal."

"I'll have to think about that too," said Weiss softly.

"Of course," said Murasame. "I advised you to take the night to think about it at least, but please take as much time as you need. I know that this is an important decision, and one that you should not make lightly. There is no need to rush it."

"Thank you for everything," said Weiss.

"Of course," said Murasame, getting to his feet. "I hope to hear your answer sometime in the near future. Have a pleasant evening, Weiss-dono."

"You as well," said Weiss.

Murasame got up and left, making his way down the hallway, leaving Weiss and Hayate seated at the very table where, only a few days ago, Hayate had first explained his theory on the principles of Weiss' Manifestation.

"What do you think?" asked Hayate.

"I'm very interested," admitted Weiss. "But I'm still not sure. Doing this means making fundamental changes to Myrtenaster. I just don't know if it's the right thing for me."

"We could always find some other way for you to wield the crystal," Hayate pointed out. "You just need to have it on hand. There's no rule to say that you couldn't use it and your Dust at the same time."

"That is true," agreed Weiss, trying to think about other ways she could integrate the crystal into her fighting style. Unfortunately, the fist-sized crystal was too large to work as a necklace or be mounted on a bracelet. She supposed that she could continue to hold it in her off-hand while wielding Myrtenaster with her right. The rapier wasn't a weapon that required two hands to use in any case. However, she felt that brought with it the increased risk of dropping the crystal during battle. With its size and shape, it would be fairly easy to knock out of her hand with even an indirect impact. It would also make it awkward to reload Myrtenaster's Dust chambers. Weiss thought she could keep it tucked away in the same pouch she used to carry her extra Dust supplies, but that would reduce the available space for her Dust and the other necessities she kept in that pouch.

"I'll really need to think this over," mused Weiss. "I haven't even tried to think about combining Dust with Etheric Energy yet. I need to test that before I make a decision."

"Right," said Hayate.

"Well, it'll have to wait until tomorrow anyway," said Weiss. "The crystal's still recharging."

"I guess," said Hayate.

Weiss frowned. "I'll have to be careful. I only brought so much Dust with me. I need to conserve it as best I can, even if I don't think I'll need it for any real fights while I'm here."

Hayate nodded. "Was there anything else you wanted to do?" he asked.

"Not at the moment," said Weiss. "I'm going to stay here and think about this. I'll see you at dinner, okay."

"Okay," said Hayate, getting up and leaving Weiss to her own thoughts as she stared at the design etched onto the paper in front of her. _This won't be an easy decision to make,_ she thought.

* * *

"Agggh!" Dew let out a grunt of surprise and pain as she blocked the swing of Nora's hammer with the shaft of her spear, only for Nora's hit to blow her off her feet, nearly tearing her spear out of her hands in the process. Just the sheer impact of the blow made her arms ache from the strain. As it was, she went flying back, sailing over the line that they had etched into the ground to mark the boundaries of the ring.

Before she could fall over or hit something hard, she flew into a warm, soft Aura that cushioned her like a pillow, an arm catching her, stopping her flight, and steadying her so that she didn't fall over.

"And that's a ring-out," declared Keikoku calmly.

"Ugh!" grunted Dew in frustration. "I'd have been able to keep going if we didn't have that rule."

"Don't complain about it," said Keikoku simply. "You girls are the ones who decided to go by tournament rules."

"Yeah yeah," said Dew, sagging slightly, still leaning against Keikoku's arm. If anyone asked, she'd gladly use the excuse that her legs still felt a little wobbly, which was true. She could easily stand on her own again already, but decided she enjoyed the feeling of Keikoku's arm around her enough to keep pretending. A glance at Octavia's pouting expression told Dew that her friend and teammate had already seen through the ruse. Dew was tempted to smirk at her, but checked the urge. _All's fair in love and war,_ she thought.

Not that Keikoku noticed either of their attempts at flirting throughout their training. Flirting was a secondary concern at the moment anyway. "Geez, where did she get that kind of power?" wondered Dew.

"I know, right," muttered Octavia irritably.

Dew didn't really think that Octavia had all that much to complain about. In her own case, Dew was rated as Team NDGO's powerhouse, one of the physically strongest students at Shade, hands down, if not the strongest, now that the other contender for the title had graduated at the end of last year. During the Vytal Festival Tournament, she had been able to go toe-to-toe with Sage Ayana, her counterpart from Team SSSN, whose reputation at Haven was the equivalent to her own, the two of them only being matched or exceeded by Yatsuhashi Daichi, now a fourth-year at Beacon. But Nora's hammer had been able to send her flying like a polo ball.

"Practice," said Nora, grinning and flexing her arms, which, while plenty muscular, were not at the level of Dew's.

"Worked it out already, huh?" asked Keikoku, letting Dew go (to her slight disappointment).

"Worked out what?" asked Octavia.

"The _Breath of Fire_ ," replied Keikoku casually. "I didn't think she'd get the hang of it so quickly."

"Really?" asked Nora, blinking in surprise. "But it was super-easy, way easier than what Hayate does. I couldn't get his explanation at all."

Keikoku shrugged. "Yeah, well, Hayate's a special case. Even amongst the Mibu, there only a couple of old masters that can do what he does. His is a real special trick."

"Uh...what the heck are you two talking about?" asked Dew.

"Yeah," said Octavia. "What's this about some breath of fire...thingy?" asked Octavia. "I didn't see any flames, and I thought Nora's Semblance was electricity-based anyway."

"Uh...this is a little tricky," said Keikoku, turning to Nora. "By the way, I think you're gonna want to sit down."

"Huh? Why?" asked Nora. "I feel fine-Whoops!" She wobbled and stumbled. Keikoku was at her side in a flash, keeping her steady before helping her to sit cross-legged on the tiles.

"You need to keep better track of your limits," he admonished her gently. "You were spamming those attacks all over the place, even when you knew they weren't going to connect."

"Yeah," admitted Nora sheepishly.

"So what are you two talking about?" asked Dew, a little frustrated at the continued interruptions to the answers she wanted.

"Well, have a seat and I'll give you girls a lesson," said Keikoku, gesturing to the ground by him and Nora.

Dew and Octavia seated themselves so that the four of them were arranged in a circle of sorts.

"The _Breath of Fire_ is an Aura technique, but I bet you figured that already," said Keikoku, chuckling at the last bit as Dew and Octavia nodded. "Despite its name it isn't the same thing as my techniques, which use _actual_ fire. Even without bringing out Aura-based conjuration, martial arts have been heavily defined by concepts of the elements.

"In basic martial arts, fire refers to power. Fire is the element of energy. So, in martial arts, fire refers to the art of generating energy and sending it against a target. The _Breath of Fire_ is a technique for creating power. In practice, it's a refined form of Projection, which I hope you girls have been working on."

"We have," chorused Octavia and Dew simultaneously, making Nora giggle.

"Good," said Keikoku with a grin, making them blush slightly. "Projection is forcefully generating extra Aura and projecting it outwards. The _Breath of Fire_ condenses that action so that it takes place within the body and then directs that energy outwards in the form of an attack. Think about the amount of Aura you release when you perform Projection, and imagine what it would be like if, instead of propelling out from your entire body, you instead compacted and focused it to put all that energy behind a single blow instead."

"Yeah...that would make sense," said Dew. "But how do you do that?"

"The _Breath of Fire_ has its roots in one of the most basic martial arts techniques of all," said Keikoku. "It's one you've probably been using since day-one."

"Huh?" Octavia blinked in confusion. "What the heck is that?"

"The _Kiai_ ," said Keikoku.

"That?" asked Dew skeptically. "You're seriously telling me that she got all that power from a plain battle-cry?"

" _Kiai_ is more than just a battle cry," said Keikoku. "To a novice, it may seem that way and it'll even function that way until they advance their skills. But I'm sure that you've noticed that, even now, you girls still use _Kiai_ in battle."

"That's right," said Dew while Octavia nodded in agreement. It was something they'd never thought about before. _Kiai_ was so ubiquitous in their training that they no longer even thought about it, much less ever considered why they did it.

"At its core, _Kiai_ isn't about battle cries or making noise," said Keikoku. "It's a breathing technique, which harnesses your breath to help produce power in your strikes."

"Really?" asked Octavia skeptically.

"Yep," said Keikoku, leaning back and stretching out his legs. "The one thing martial arts have in common is that, in all of them, regardless of school or form, power is generated by breath. That's not just philosophy, but basic biology."

"Uh...I thought power came from muscles," said Dew.

"Well, yeah, in the literal sense," said Keikoku with a snort. "But have you ever tried exercising while holding your breath?"

"Oh..." said Dew.

"Your muscles get their power from your blood, which carries the oxygen that they need to function from your lungs, which are filled by the air you breathe," Keikoku laid out. "When you work harder, you breathe harder. That isn't just coincidence, but basic function. Therefore, by modifying the way you breathe, you can use your breath preemptively to generate extra power, which can then be channeled into your next strike. In martial arts, _Kiai_ is the practice of doing exactly that. You first take a breath and, when you strike, you release it in accordance with a powerful exhalation. Technically, you don't even need to give voice to the action, but it helps solidify the impression in your mind. It's actually possible to utilize a completely silent _Kiai_ , with practice and refinement."

"So then, this _Breath of Fire_..." said Dew, putting the pieces together.

"...Is a form of _Kiai_ that takes the same principles and applies them to your Aura," said Keikoku. "Breathe in to draw your Aura in to condense it within your chest, then release it along with your attack to produce power beyond what your base strength could produce." He grinned. "Pretty simple when laid out like that isn't it?"

"Yeah," admitted Dew. "But I'm guessing it's not that easy."

"Well, it's not that hard either," said Keikoku. "Like I said, it's just a refinement of something you're already practicing regularly. The _Breath of Fire_ is classic, practically beginner-level, in fact. For any of our schools you need it to generate the power you need to utilize any technique."

"So we're basically below even beginner-level," groused Octavia. "Thanks."

Keikoku sighed. "Well, you were trained differently than I was, and the deeper understanding of Aura-manipulation was something you were blocked from learning at the Academies. In truth, it shouldn't be too hard for you to catch up. You already have your Auras unlocked, which is a basic prerequisite for any school in the Mibu, and you did have a rudimentary understanding of how to manipulate them. You caught on to the basic exercises pretty easily when we told you about them, so you're getting the basics nailed down pretty quickly." He gestured to Nora. "I only told Nora about the _Breath of Fire_ about a week ago, and she's already come this far. She's certainly talented, but I don't think either of you girls are lacking in that department."

"Thanks," said Dew, blushing at the praise.

"Like I said, the _Breath of Fire_ is beginner-level," said Keikoku. "Once you get the hang of Projection, to the point it becomes something you can do naturally, it's not a big step to go onto that technique. It's a refinement of something you've already learned."

"Okay," said Dew. "But why did Nora nearly topple over there?"

"Because she overused it," said Keikoku, giving Nora a deadpan look as she giggled and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "It's focused and directed. But the _Breath of Fire_ is still a form of Projection. It's using your strength and will to generate an excess of Aura to direct against an opponent. Just as Projection wears you out with continuous use, using the _Breath of Fire_ over and over again, without trying to conserve your stamina, is practically an invitation to knock yourself out."

"Sorry," said Nora, still grinning unapologetically, unlike her words.

Keikoku sighed and shook his head in resignation. "I'm glad I'm not your boyfriend," he said. "You must give the poor guy all kinds of headaches."

Nora laughed, not denying his statement at all.

 _We're glad you're not her boyfriend either,_ thought Dew and Octavia in unison, their cheeks coloring once again.

"So then we just need to learn it too," said Dew hopefully.

"Well hold on," said Keikoku, holding up a hand. "Don't go jumping the gun. I don't think you're ready for the _Breath of Fire_ just yet."

"But we already know how to use Projection," said Octavia. "It's not all that hard either."

"Uh huh..." said Keikoku skeptically. He turned to Nora. "Nora-san...how long were you practicing Projection, before you came to me?"

"A couple months," said Nora. Seeing Dew and Octavia's confusion, she grinned. "Kyo taught us the basic exercises before we came here."

"So she has a head start," said Keikoku. "I'd recommend you practice Projection for at least that long, as diligently as you can, before trying the _Breath of Fire_. Your Aura is like a muscle in that you build its strength by exercising it. Projection works out your Aura, and doing it continuously will allow you to make rapid gains. If you try to learn it before then, you'll wind up wearing yourself down before you can get any actual use out of the technique."

"Okay," said Dew and Octavia reluctantly.

"Hey, once you start practicing, I'm sure you girls'll get the hang of it plenty fast," said Keikoku, his words making them blush again.

"Yeah," agreed Nora eagerly.

Dew and Octavia exchanged confused glances before shrugging. At this point, they both supposed they didn't have much choice but to follow Keikoku's instructions. However, Dew was curious about something else.

"I have another question," she said, raising her hand as though she were in a classroom.

"What is it?" asked Keikoku.

"What's with all the crazy attack names?" asked Dew. "You were throwing them out all over the place when you were fighting Cinder."

Keikoku grinned. "Well...I wouldn't say that's strictly necessary. In more mundane martial arts, you certainly aren't trained to do that."

Nora, Dew, and Octavia all nodded. It was something that had bugged them all from the moment they had first seen the Mibu techniques. Nora's curiosity dated all the way back to the time she had first seen Kyo do it.

Keikoku chuckled. slowly shaking his head. "It's good that you asked me that now. After all, you could say that it's an extension of the _Breath of Fire_."

"How?" asked Nora, leaning forward eagerly.

"Well, in basic martial arts, it'd normally be considered a waste of breath to shout out the name of a particular thrust or slash, right?" said Keikoku, which the other nodded to.

"Not to mention their names are usually kind of bland," said Dew with a giggle, thinking about how silly it would be for someone to shout " _Straight Thrust!_ " as he or she lunged forward with a spear.

"Yeah," said Keikoku. "But, when it comes to Aura, things work a little bit differently. For combat, you channel Aura with your body, directing it with your physical movements. But Aura is a manifestation of your soul, which means that your mind controls it too.

"Mind, body, and soul; where these three things meet, technique is born. For the physical component, repetition of action makes it easy. Mentally, however, it helps to have something to guide your thoughts to the image of the result you want the technique to be."

"So you put it into words," said Dew, her eyes widening. "I get it!"

"Exactly," said Keikoku with a grin. "You create a technique with a specific name, and use that name to frame an image of how the technique should be. When you combine that with the physical action, then your Aura responds and gives it life. It's an extension of the _Breath of Fire_ , itself an extension of the basic _Kiai_ , only, instead of just giving a technique power, it also gives it a specific form."

"So that's why..." Dew turned her eyes upward, thinking back to all the different techniques she'd seen certain members of the Mibu use. On the surface, it seemed like nothing more than a silly flourish. But she could definitely understand that kind of purpose. If there was one thing she had learned while here, it was that Aura had depths she hadn't even begun to plumb.

"So it's that easy?" asked Octavia. "I could do what you do?"

"Well, yes and no," said Keikoku. "It's not like the name is some kind of spell, where just saying it while doing the motion makes the technique happen. It takes practice, focus, and conditioning of the mind and body to produce those effects. Manifestation is a substantially higher level of difficulty than the other three components of Aura-control."

"Basically Manifestation is Semblance, right?" asked Octavia.

"Pretty much, though I think we've run down the differences before," said Keikoku. "It's tricky with you girls and your fellow students. Giving you a rundown on how to control your Auras is easy. Helping you to shape what those Auras can become is another matter entirely, especially when it comes to the fact that yours already have some definite forms. One of the Taishiro would probably be a better for this than I am. If I were to give you any advice, I would tell you to look at what you can already do and figure out how to take it further."

"Well, we can definitely do that," said Dew as she and Octavia exchanged glances.

* * *

Gwen Darcy sagged, then doubled over, unloading the contents of her stomach onto the ground.

"Gwen!" shouted Nebula Violette, running to her side.

"This...sucks..." said Gwen between heaves, as both Nebula and Ren knelt by her side, holding her shoulders and keeping her steady.

Nebula didn't blame her friend for losing her lunch. She was feeling plenty woozy herself, after what they had just been through. In fact, she was certain that their trainer had only stopped because he had seen that one of them had completely lost out to her nausea.

"You okay?" asked Chinmei as he drifted down from above, legs dangling, arms folded behind his back. He glided down as though he had a miniature lift-system installed on his body somewhere.

"I'll...I'll be all right," said Gwen. "This is hard."

"Yeah, this kinda training takes a toll," said Chinmei with a shrug about that. "Sorry about it."

"It's certainly a step above your usual agility training," noted Nebula as Chinmei's body rotated so that he now floated at an off angle from where the rest of them were standing, which made Nebula feel more disoriented than she already was, seeing as she currently had no idea what their current orientation was.

Amongst the forest of stone stalagmites that populated the lower levels of Chinmei's gate area, they had been training their skills at Parkour and breakfalling. Nebula had thought that training couldn't get much more difficult than it already was, but Chinmei had quickly shown her how wrong she could be. After all, normal freerunning practice wasn't supervised by someone who could control gravity.

It went beyond simply making them heavier or lighter. Gravity was acceleration _downwards_. But Chinmei's power allowed him to change which way "down" was at will. One second, it would be up, or backwards, or to the side, or at a random angle. They then had a handful of seconds at best to adjust to the new orientation and find a point to jump to or land on, before they were sent spinning out of control.

Of course, constantly shifting the direction of gravity wrought havoc on their sense of equilibrium, and made it very easy to be physically ill. If he hadn't warned them beforehand what it was going to be like and hadn't made sure that they were willing to go through with it, Nebula would have gone so far as to call this torture.

"Let's take a break," said Chinmei. "I'll adjust it so that you're all facing the right direction and you folks can take a moment to let your stomachs settle."

Drifting over to where Gwen was, Chinmei pulled one of her arms over his shoulder and wrapped his own arm around her waist, supporting both of them. A second later, they drifted away from the rock. A few seconds later, both Nebula and Ren felt the world seem to turn around them, as the rock they were standing on as though it were level ground suddenly became vertical. They both drifted clear of the rocks and were filled with the sensation of falling, as they fell upwards, face-first, at a moderate speed. Not long later, they reached the strip of level ground that ran around the perimeter of Chinmei's gate area, coming to a stop with a brief feeling of weightlessness, before being set ever so gently down on the ground.

Chinmei landed next to them, setting Gwen down. She sagged, then sat with a low moan.

"Let me get something for that," said Chinmei, having set them near a niche that was carved into the wall.

As he went in, the others were surprised to see that it was a full set of living quarters, with a bed and even a small kitchenette, where Chinmei was busy preparing something.

"These are my quarters here," he said over his shoulder. "A gatekeeper should stay near his gate, right?"

"Do all of the Five Stars have quarters in their gate's area?" asked Ren.

"Pretty much," said Chinmei, coming out with a trio of cups of steaming liquid. "Some of them have quarters in other places too. Saisei has a room at her gate, plus one near the hospital ward, and her family's place. Shinrei's got quarters at Makoto-sama's school, in addition to the ones he has at his gate."

He knelt down in front of them, holding out the tray. "Here," he said. "This'll settle your stomachs. I practically lived on this stuff when I was in training."

They each took a cup and sipped from it. They were surprised to taste the sharp bite of ginger, underscored by a floral note from chamomile, along with just a dash of sweetness from honey.

"It's good," said Gwen after the first sip before draining her cup. She set it down with a sigh. "Thank you."

"That should help you keep your food down at dinnertime," said Chinmei. "I think we can call it a day here."

"That was intense," said Nebula, leaning back. "I can't believe you used to do that all the time."

"Still do," said Chinmei. "Mastering the Earth means mastering gravity, which means subjecting your body to a forces that it would normally never endure. It takes a lot of work and conditioning to do that."

"At the moment, I'm not overly interested in mastering gravity," said Ren. "There's no need to go that far."

"Huh," said Chinmei contemplatively, tilting his head. "From my point of view, I think you three might have a knack for it."

"Really?" asked Gwen, perking up. "Even me?"

"Yep," said Chinmei. "I'm not saying you should study and try to master the _Mumyo Daion Ryu_ , like I have. But I think, if you worked on gravity manipulation, it could be handy for your fighting styles."

"How so?" asked Ren, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, for one thing, it can help with the power deficit you've been telling me about," noted Chinmei. "Unlike your girlfriend, hitting hard isn't your thing, right?"

Ren nodded.

"But sometimes you encounter an enemy where you could really use that extra oomph," said Chinmei.

Thinking back to one of the hunts he had gone on with his team and RWBY while they were traveling across Anima, where they had fought a Geist animating stone to become a powerful, armored giant, Ren nodded. He remembered his own blades hardly being able to even scratch that Grimm.

"Force is mass times acceleration," said Chinmei. "When you're fighting, your weapon and body provide the mass, and your muscle provides the acceleration when you swing your weapon."

They all nodded. This was basic physics after all.

"Which means, if you're lacking in either mass or acceleration, then your attacks won't pack much punch," said Chinmei. He grinned. "Take that rock over there..." He pointed past them at one of the stone spires that rose just above the level of the ledge they were resting on.

Stooping down, Chinmei picked up a loose stone, one of the many that were scattered across the ground. "If I just throw this, like so..." Chinmei tossed the stone casually at the top of the the stalagmite. The stone hit with a click and bounced off, falling away into the darkness. "...nothing happens."

They all nodded.

Chinmei's grin widened and he lifted his index finger. Now another stone, one about the same size as the one he'd just thrown, lifted off the ground to hover right in front of it. "However, gravity is acceleration. If you control gravity, you can control acceleration. With enough acceleration, even a small mass..." The stone accelerated away from Chinmei so rapidly that it seemed to simply vanish from view. Ren, Nebula, and Gwen all whipped their heads around, but not fast enough to follow the stone's flight. Instead, they were treated to the top of the rock spire shattering to pieces as the stone tore right through it. "...can be devastating," finished Chinmei.

"So it's the same principle as gravity-Dust," noted Gwen. She used some of that Dust type herself in her throwing knives, when she needed them to hit harder than their mass would otherwise allow.

"Pretty much," said Chinmei. "Throwing, shooting, melee; controlling gravity can give you an edge in all these different areas, if you know how to use it. You don't necessarily need to master it, but it can be a huge asset, even if you apply it subtly, especially if you work out how to best employ it for your particular fighting style. I think learning a little about it would suit all three of you pretty well."

"It's definitely worth looking into," Ren admitted, his interest peaked.

* * *

 **So this chapter was largely a way to get more in-depth about some of the different techniques the Mibu employ in their Aura-control. Oh...and Cinder and Nobunaga having some creepy sex. Anyway...It was quite a bit of fun to dive into a few more of the nuances of the Mibu's abilities, particularly when it comes to working out a rationale behind people using attack names in classic anime-style.**


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 64:**

Chika's katana rang loudly as it struck Jaune's shield. Gritting his teeth, Jaune focused all his strength and will into holding off her attack. If he faltered, Chika's strike might even cleave right through Crocea Mors' shield and cut his arm off. However, his focus held and Chika's sword rebounded back.

Biting back a yelp of pain, Chika took a step back, readying herself to receive Jaune's blow in turn. Her hand and arm ached from the recoil of her last swing. It amazed her that Jaune was already fending off her strikes so perfectly. Her original attacks, when they had started practicing together, even at half strength, had driven Jaune back several meters or even blown him off his feet entirely. Yet, less than a week later, here he was, standing firm, repelling her blows so well that _she_ was the one taking damage from her own attacks. _How can an outsider, who's only been practicing Aura-control for a few months, have come this far so quickly?_

Unfortunately, she had no time to mull the question over as Jaune stepped forward with a loud shout, the blade of his sword blazing white as he swung it in a straight, downwards slash, the swing coming so quickly that Chika could scarcely see anything but a streak of light in her vision. She sidestepped quickly, Jaune's attack clipping a few of her bangs as his sword cleaved through the space where she'd been standing with an ominous whistle, the movement of the wind against Chika's skin telling her that his sword had parted the air itself. _Unbelievable!_

"Hmm...good," said Taihaku, raising a hand. "That is all for today. Well done, Arc-dono."

"Thank you very much," said Jaune, panting and covered with sweat, but not sporting so much as a scratch.

Taihaku smiled. "I must admit, your improvement has been nothing short of spectacular."

"Thanks," said Jaune, blushing slightly at the praise.

"And you have improved a great deal as well," said Taihaku, looking at Chika.

"Thank you, Sensei," said Chika, bowing her head. However, Taihaku's praise rang hollow to her ears. She was his successor, the next to inherit the name of Taihaku, the Metal element of the Goyosei. Her blade was faster and sharper than any of the current Goyosei, barring her current master. Yet this boy had come in from the outside, from the culture she had once derided and dismissed as inferior, and had come to excel at the very arts she had taken years to master.

"I guess it's time to meet the others for dinner," said Jaune, collapsing his shield and sheathing his sword. He bowed to them. "Thank you for your help and instruction," he said.

"Have a good evening," said Taihaku, smiling as Jaune turned and made his way back through the gate and into the Palace. By now, he had made the trip enough times that he didn't need a guide to get back to the guest quarters.

With him gone, silence fell over the courtyard. Chika looked down, her eyes straying to the blade of her own sword.

"Does it upset you that he managed to improve so quickly?" asked Taihaku.

Chika flinched, her spine stiffening. Her fingers tightened around her blade's handle, the knuckles going white.

Taihaku's hands rested on her shoulders, his grip firm but gentle, the touch feeling warm and reassuring to Chika. "Do not dare to doubt your own worthiness," said Taihaku. "As my student and successor, you are my pride and joy. I could not love you more if you were my own daughter."

Chika smiled and sniffed, reassured by his words. "But how then?" she asked. "How did he improve so quickly? It took me years of training to get this far."

"And you are Mibu," added Taihaku, his words making Chika flinch again.

"Y-yes..." admitted Chika. Even though that hadn't been what she had literally thought, that was the implication of those thoughts. She couldn't help but think of Jaune as "the outsider," rather than just "Jaune." It wasn't Jaune's improvement that rattled her as much as it was the _outsider's_ improvement. Despite what she had learned about the Mibu Clan's origins in the past few days, she still had a hard time letting go of the idea that the Mibu were innately superior to those from the outside world.

"There are factors that can make up the difference of time required to advance," said Taihaku. "Things that can allow a person to grow immensely over a short period of time."

"Like talent?" asked Chika. "Does that mean he's some kind of natural genius?"

"He has talent, that is for certain," said Taihaku with a soft chuckle. "But calling him a genius would be overstating it. By my estimation, his talent is only a little above average. If anything, you are far more talented than him."

"Then how...?" asked Chika, stunned.

Taihaku closed his eyes. "The boy may not have an excess of talent. However, what he _does_ have is strong conviction. When I told him the nature of our Manifestation, I sensed that my words resonated very strongly with him. The concepts of our Manifestation were something that he was able to take wholly to heart and internalize almost on the spot."

"So the reason he improved so quickly was...?" Chika remained a little confused.

Taihaku smiled. "His shield becomes impenetrable because there is someone he wishes to protect, someone he is willing to dedicate his heart and soul to guarding. Likewise, his sword is keen because he is willing to fight for that person's sake."

"His lover, you mean?" asked Chika.

"So I suspect," said Taihaku. "It is a powerful, affirming love. For arts born of our Auras, our souls, there can be no greater catalyst for growth."

"But that's so...selfish..." said Chika, looking down.

"It is his own selfishness that makes his love so affirming," said Taihaku. "It gives him the strength to protect both her _and_ himself, because he knows that allowing himself to die, even if it was for her sake, would harm her as though he had struck her with his own sword."

"But shouldn't he be focusing on something greater?" asked Chika. "As a future Goyosei, I've trained to protect the Mibu, to protect our people."

"Yes," agreed Taihaku, "that you have. That does not mean that his reasons are inferior to yours. He too aims to fight for others, and go beyond merely protecting the girl he loves. However, principles are abstract things, intangible, built purely of meaning. It takes time and dedication to fully internalize them, to be able to protect people you have never met or known, as though they were the one closest to you. But you can use that smaller, more intimate, more selfish love as a stepping stone to reach that point. True selflessness is a terrible thing, Chika. It demands that you not merely sacrifice for others, but give up everything, even your own self. Those that do, ultimately forfeit their own lives in the pursuit of that ideal."

"I see," said Chika, looking down.

"Do not despair," said Taihaku. "You are young still, with much to learn. When it comes to the technical aspects of my school, you are an unrivaled student. But your own talent can become your undoing. If you truly want to succeed me as the head of the Goyosei, you must look within yourself and ask who your sword is for, why you wield it. In that respect, at least, that boy is further ahead than you."

Chika nodded and bowed to him. "Thank you, Sensei."

* * *

Neo danced, her body flickering almost like an image of a screen with bad reception, jumping in and out of sight at random intervals. At times she seemed to move two, or even three, directions at once, each of her mirror images moving with equal purpose, launching attacks of their own.

Disorienting as her attacks were, Sora wasn't the slightest bit troubled by them. Not even bothering to draw her sword, she flicked her closed fan, rapping it against the blade that extended from the tip of Neo's umbrella, knocking her thrust aside as the two copies of her closed in, one launching a kick at Sora's head, the other attacking her leg with a low swing of her umbrella. Both passed harmlessly through, and the illusions shattered like glass as Neo flickered backwards, trying to retreat out of Sora's reach.

She was just a little too slow though, as Sora's fan blurred to rap the top of Neo's head, hard enough to make her squeak in pain.

"You may be mute, but you still make the most adorable sounds," said Sora with a giggle as Neo took a moment to rub the top of her head. "Illusions are all and well, dear. But a skilled opponent will be able to tell which are fakes."

Nodding, Neo narrowed her eyes in concentration, her appearance beginning to flicker even more, before she vanished with a flash.

Sora sighed and smiled, shaking her head before she whipped her hand across her body, unfolding her fan, flashing it through the air, with Neo appearing right outside the range of Sora's swing, startled out of hiding by the unexpected motion of the fan appearing in front of her face. Sora took only half a step and rapped Neo atop her head again. With another squeak, Neo retreated.

"That's a good trick," said Sora. "But, in battle, it has the same weaknesses as your illusions. Even if I can't see you, I can feel the air you displace when you move. I can hear your footsteps and even your breath. You've gotten very good at using your power in big ways. But you need to think smaller."

Neo blinked, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"No," said Sora in an amused, but fond tone. "I'm not simply going to give you the answer. You need to try and work it out for yourself."

Neo pouted and rested her left hand against her hip.

"I'm sorry," replied Sora. "It's one of those things you pick up when your husband is a teacher."

Neo dropped her head, looking down for a second before abruptly stepping forward, lunging in to strike at Sora again, extending the blade of her umbrella as she did so. As she did, an outline of darkness appeared around her, a flash of light blazing out from the tip of her blade right as it met Sora's fan. The flash of light dazzled Sora's eyes and Neo moved to press the attack, whipping her umbrella around in a crescent motion that brought it up and at Sora's head.

However, Sora's fan moved flawlessly to counter it, the fan opening as Sora used her wrist to produce a sweeping motion. Rather than try to stop Neo's swing straight on, she instead redirected its force so that Neo's attack passed in front of her face. Maintaining contact between her fan and the umbrella, Sora brought Neo's weapon and arm down. Before Neo could think to try and break away, Sora had already moved her arm into a position where it locked. To avoid having her shoulder wrenched out of its socket, Neo's body bent forward. Applying just a little bit of power, Sora continued the motion, sending Neo into a flip that ended with her landing on her back hard enough to drive the air out of her lungs.

"Better," said Sora, flicking her fan up and using it to hide her smile as Neo stared up at her. "But you need to think even smaller than that. I've already shown you that you can't beat me by fooling my eyes. That includes trying to blind me. Not to mention that, since your Semblance is refraction, you're bending available light, rather than producing your own. That means I saw it coming when the light in your immediate vicinity began to dim."

Neo nodded slowly, struggling to get back to her feet. Sora offered a hand, which Neo accepted.

"Now then...ready to try again?"

Neo looked about ready to nod, but then hesitated, holding up a finger. Sora waited patiently as Neo tapped her chin, apparently having thought of something. After a moment, Neo's eyes widened and she grinned, hopping up and down eagerly like an excited child.

"Oh...a breakthrough?" asked Sora.

Neo paused and her grin became sheepish, but she still nodded hesitantly.

"Well then, let's see if it works as much as you hope," said Sora.

Neo nodded and raised her umbrella. Once again, she started with a lightning-fast thrust, extending the blade from the tip of her umbrella as she did. Sora lifted her fan to parry it, only for her eyes to widen as she realized that the blade of Neo's weapon was much closer than it had first seemed. She dodged back, flicking her fan to knock away Neo's thrust, then moved forward, aiming to rap the top of her head once more. However, the swing of her fan fell short.

Now Neo darted forward once again. Retracting the blade, she spun the umbrella by its crook, which she had hooked around the first two fingers of her right hand, so that it was swinging at Sora's head. Sora raised her fan to parry it, maybe to catch and throw Neo the same way she had before, only to see Neo's umbrella bend sharply, now coming at her from a different angle. Sora was forced to dodge once again.

A soft click met Sora's ears and she took a step back as Neo's umbrella now seemed to fly at her. Sora flicked her fan to bat the blade away, but the umbrella suddenly sprang open, the canopy spreading out and flashing sparks of light into her eyes even as her ears and skin were buffeted by the waves of air displaced by the umbrella's sudden opening.

 _Very clever,_ she thought as the umbrella closed again, Neo gripping it by its folded canopy with her left hand, thrusting forward with it again. As Sora once again moved her fan to parry, she heard another click, one that was followed by a whistling shriek as something blazing-hot flew straight for her.

Even as Neo had thrust at Sora with her blade, she had moved the shaft of the umbrella and the Dust gun built into it so that she fired it from behind her back, sending an orange bolt of fire-Dust flying right for Sora's chest.

Sora reacted with breathtaking speed, knocking Neo's thrust away before flicking the fan back across her body, opening it and running her Aura across it. She was able to use it to catch Neo's shot and then toss it away with another flick of her wrist. Her movement had been so fast that her hand had appeared to be in two places at once. Once that was done, Sora stepped forward, aiming to rap Neo's head again, only for her strike to fall short again.

"Very good,' said Sora approvingly as she pulled her arm back and flicked her fan open over the lower half of her face. "Yes, that's exactly what I was looking for."

Neo beamed at her praise.

"A skilled warrior can easily notice large discrepancies, such as those caused by your invisibility or illusions. However, if you keep them small, they are much more likely to slip through the gaps in his awareness," said Sora. "When the difference is a matter of inches or less, even I can be thrown off by a slight shift, which you can accomplish by using your Semblance to make something seem closer or farther away than it really is."

Sliding her cane gun back into the canopy of her umbrella, Neo gripped her weapon in both hands behind her, smiling brightly.

"That was very well done, dear," said Sora. "That should do it for today. I don't want you to be late meeting your friends for dinner. However, tomorrow, we can move on to some more advanced tricks that I believe you could use."

Neo blinked and tilted her head.

Sora laughed gayly. "I'll tell you tomorrow. It would spoil the surprise otherwise." She laughed again when her words were met with a surly pout.

"By the way," said Sora, folding her fan, her smile now sly, "have you made any progress with Saisei?"

Neo's pout vanished, replaced by a surprised look as her eyes widened and a blush covered her cheeks.

"Oh it's no surprise," said Sora. "You're exactly her type after all. All that I ask is that you treat her well. She's practically a sister to Kyo, which makes her like a daughter to me."

Neo nodded gravely.

"Good," said Sora. "Then off with you."

Neo nodded and skipped out of the room.

* * *

Weiss tapped the pencil against her chin, staring down at the paper in front of her. Not far away rested the sketch of Murasame's proposed modified design for Myrtenaster. She had not drawn a single line yet, not even yet having an inkling of how to proceed. She had pondered over different options, yet found herself coming back to the same question over and over again.

The question that tormented her was whether or not she truly needed to be so adamant about keeping the Dust assembly for her weapon, why she was so fixated on using Dust. On the surface, the answer was both easy and simple. Dust was her family's lifeblood. It had been something she had grown up learning about since she was a small child. Her original fighting style completely revolved around using Dust.

It was not something she had often looked at or questioned. As the Schnee heiress, she had trained with the belief that she would always have an ample supply of Dust ready for her use, whenever she needed it. Her falling out with her father had changed things drastically. Without his support, Dust was much harder to get ahold of, especially in the quantities that she needed it for. Because of that, her desire to keep the Dust chambers for her weapon, in some fashion, could be said to be a remnant of her dependance on her family's name and status.

If she went with Murasame's idea and dispensed with the chambers altogether, she would dispense with that limitation. Utilizing the power of the Etheric Core Crystal, she'd be able to go anywhere she wanted and do what she wanted. She wouldn't have to worry about the political stances she took and whether or not they would lead to her butting heads with her father again and, subsequently, finding herself cut off again. In a sense, forgoing her Dust usage and devoting herself wholly to using the crystal would give her the freedom she sought.

So...why then did she continue to come back to wanting to keep the Dust chambers? She supposed that sentimentality factored into it. She had designed Myrtenaster herself, and had relied on it all throughout the war with Salem. While she didn't cherish her weapon as an individual the way Ruby did, the fact remained that she was very proud of her blade and wanted to keep it.

 _So what do I do then?_ she wondered. Folding her arms, she rested her chin on them, staring across the table.

"You okay there, Weiss?" asked Yang as she and Kyo came down the hallway, noticing Weiss sitting by herself.

Weiss had heard their approach, so she wasn't startled. Groaning and stretching, she sat upright. "I'm just trying to figure out what to do?"

"What's the problem?" asked Yang, coming over to see. Her eyes fell on Murasame's design and she blinked. "Did you ask Murasame to make a new weapon for you?"

"Not really," said Weiss. "He came up with it himself. He's suggesting this as a way to modify Myrtenaster to employ my new crystal."

"I see," said Kyo, taking up the design and examining it. "Then, from the sound of things, you don't quite feel like taking him up on his offer."

"Not yet," admitted Weiss. "Don't get me wrong. It's very generous of him to offer, and I'm seriously thinking about it. I'm just not sure that this is the path I want to follow."

"You're not sure if you want to give up on your original design," said Yang softly.

"Pretty much," said Weiss.

"Well, I'm not sure that it would count as giving up on it," said Kyo.

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"In the time I've spent in the outside world, I've encountered many Huntsmen and Huntresses," said Kyo, "some of them more than once. Among those that I do cross paths with on multiple occasions, it is not uncommon to find that they've modified their weapon in some way or another."

"That's true," said Yang, rubbing her chin. Now that she thought about it, Ruby had done that with Crescent Rose when she was younger. It had gone through several iterations while she had been training at Signal before she ended up with the form that she had when she had come to Beacon. Even after that, she continued to modify it, swapping out small parts here and there to improve its performance as they progressed. After the Fall of Beacon and when she had set out with the remnants of Team JNPR, she had modified it further in order to make it easier to use different Dust types with her weapon.

Because of its simplicity and the degree to which it matched her fighting style, Yang had never modified Ember Celica overly much. However, even she had changed out small pieces of her gauntlets over the years, even if they didn't need to be repaired or replaced, primarily seeking out parts that would improve their overall performance.

"It happens all the time," said Kyo. "As you grow and learn, you find that things that might have worked before don't work as well or that you've found something that works better. It's up to you to determine whether or not your crystal works better than the Dust you're used to using." He paused. "Or...there might be other options."

"Like what?" asked Weiss.

"Well, rapiers were first used primarily for dueling," Kyo pointed out. "During the era it emerged in, it was not uncommon for a rapier user to carry another, smaller weapon, such as a dagger or dirk, in their off-hand for parrying purposes. Some were even designed specifically towards that end."

"Yeah!" said Yang, her eyes widening. "You could get a second weapon and integrate your crystal into that."

Weiss blinked. That hadn't occurred to her before, which was surprising, as that was exactly the sort of style favored by her older sister, although she used a saber instead of a rapier. That was an option as well. Given its size, it would be harder to meld the crystal to a smaller weapon in a way that left said weapon appropriately balanced. But she supposed that it wasn't totally insurmountable, especially if she consulted an expert like Murasame.

Still, that left her with one particular question that needed to be answered.

"It's possible," said Weiss. "But I need to test one more thing before I make any decisions."

"What?" asked Kyo.

"Oh!" said Yang. "You want to check whether or not you can use Dust and your crystal together."

"Right," said Weiss with a nod. "I spent my crystal today, so I need to wait for it to recharge before I try it, so I'm waiting until tomorrow."

"The crystal should generate power continuously though," said Kyo. "It is constantly absorbing Etheric Energy."

"Yes, but there's only so much it can convert at once and then hold for use," said Weiss. She had to smile at that. By now, she was more knowledgable of the qualities of Etheric Crystals than Kyo was, though that wasn't much of a surprise. Kyo had never shown all that much interest in the range of their capabilities, as the fact that they enabled the Mibu to produce airships of their own had been most of what he actually cared about.

"I see," said Kyo. "Since the Mibu have no cause to use Dust, I suppose it would make sense that they haven't tested the compatibility of Dust with Etheric Energy."

"Then it's probably a good thing that I will be," said Weiss. "That's probably going to be the very first thing the Kingdoms test with the crystals they're being given. It'll be worth it to know whether or not that might pose a serious threat."

"But even so, you have no cause to tell us about it," Kyo pointed out. "You may be an honored guest, but you are not a member of our Clan, nor are you affiliated with it. There's no reason for you to give us information that could be used to give your Kingdoms an edge over us."

Weiss shook her head. "Maybe not," she said. "But I'm grateful for all that they've done. It isn't just that you've welcomed us and offered us wonderful hospitality. You've been helping us, all of us, to improve ourselves, allowing us to access information and consult those that I'm guessing are not generally easy to approach."

Kyo blinked in surprise. "I hadn't even thought about it like that," he admitted.

"What are you talking about?" asked Yang.

Weiss narrowed her eyes, almost glaring at her friend. " _You_ of all people should know what I'm talking about," she said. "Murasame personally forged your new gauntlet for you. Lest you forget, he's not just a swordsmith. He's one of the Four Elders, the governors of the entire Clan. How many average people among the Mibu, or even people among their warrior class, have been given that kind of privilege?"

"Oh..." said Yang, her jaw dropping slightly.

"It's true," admitted Kyo. "The average member of our warriors might never receive a blade forged by Murasame-sama, even after a lifetime of service. Very few people amongst the Clan proper merit that kind of privilege."

"Even though he has so many?" asked Yang.

"He has many," said Kyo. "But, as he has said before, he considers the blades he has forged to be his own children. It is a privilege that must be earned by those who have shown that they can be entrusted with such blades, which means they must, in some way, catch the eye of one of the other Taishiro or the Goyosei, possibly through some form of merit. Outside of the other Taishiro and the Goyosei, I think there are only a handful of people who have been entrusted with one of Murasame-sama's creations."

Weiss nodded. "And there's more," she added. "Think about all the special treatment we've gotten. The Elders and the Five Stars have been working with us, helping us, even teaching us. We've been allowed to dwell within the Palace, and been given access to privileged sources of information. How many people amongst the average Mibu do you think have been given this kind of opportunity?"

"You're right," said Yang, sagging slightly. "That's pretty much favoritism, isn't it?"

"And that's not even considering the Mibu Clan's secret," added Weiss, the volume of her voice dropping. "When you think about it, the amount of trust and favor we've been shown, even though we are outsiders with no allegiance to the Clan itself, is absurd. I'm pretty sure there'd be a serious outcry if word got out just how much favorable treatment we were getting."

"You might be right about that," said Kyo with a sigh.

"So...what are you gonna do then?" asked Yang. "If you decide you want a new weapon, aren't you still gonna talk to Murasame about it?"

"Of course I will," said Weiss. "I'm not so prideful that I wouldn't take advantage of help that's offered...not anymore. But..." She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, her expression resolute. "...if that's going to be the case, then I want to repay their trust and consideration in any way I can, even if it's something small. I want to be able to say that I wasn't just given a handout."

"Wow," said Yang, smiling. "You're right Weiss. Thanks. I hadn't even thought about all this until now."

"I'm grateful for your consideration," said Kyo, bowing his head.

"Don't be," said Weiss, turning up her nose slightly. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for your family and friends, who have given up their time and energy to help us. It's clear that you're a special case that they just turn loose to do whatever you like. You can go walk right off a cliff for all I care."

Yang laughed loudly. "Now there's the Weiss we know and love."

"Well, she's not wrong," said Kyo, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm certainly not owed any special consideration."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang. "You're the son of the King and the Head of the Elders, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Kyo. "But, in my mother's case, that relationship is purely incidental. She earned her position on her own merits, and its privileges and responsibilities apply only to her. The fact that I am her son has no bearing on it at all." His smile faded. "It is true that, as the son of the Crimson King, I hold a special position within the Clan. But you could also say that it is special in the _lack_ of privilege it affords me."

"Huh?" Both Yang and Weiss looked at him in confusion.

"Saisei and others have brought up my past, haven't they?" asked Kyo. The two girls nodded. "Then you'll remember that, on multiple occasions throughout the past, people have attacked me. Some of them even tried to kill me, even during my childhood."

Yang and Weiss nodded, both of them having heard this to some effect before now.

"Does it ever seem odd to you that it was never mentioned that those people suffered any legal repercussions for their actions?" asked Kyo.

Yang blinked, thinking back to the time Saisei had told her about Kyo's past. Kyo had been fending off grown opponents while he was still a child, yet there had been no mention of any punishment for what most governments would consider a rather heinous act.

"That is because there weren't any," said Kyo. "Just as my father has been perfectly happy to allow others to make attempts on his own life, so too have others, even members of our own Clan, been allowed to make attempts on my life."

"What?" gasped Yang. "How could he?"

Kyo shrugged. "That is the way it always has been. During my youngest years, I was raised in the Palace, until I started training under Murasame-sama. Not much later, when I started leaving the Palace on my own, I apparently drew the ire of other members of the Mibu Clan, which prompted them to attack me."

"And your parents did nothing?" asked Weiss incredulously.

"They did not," confirmed Kyo. "Besides, I was more than capable of handling them myself." He beamed. "And, you might have noticed that among them, some rose to quite prominent positions within the Clan, such as a certain three members of the Goyosei."

"I don't understand," said Yang.

"It's the way it is," said Kyo, his expression sobering. "Of course, that openness goes both ways. I am free, if I wish, to go out and kill anyone who crosses my path, regardless of their rank or position within the Clan."

Both Weiss and Yang paled at the realization.

"That is what it means to be the Crimson Cross Knight," said Kyo. "I have the right to kill or be killed as I see fit. Whether or not either comes to pass is dependent on my own strength. It even extends to my actions in the outside world. I have the complete freedom to come and go as I wish. I am free to wander where I please in the world and do what I will."

"But the bounty..." protested Weiss.

"You notice my Clan never made any effort to protest said bounty," said Kyo. "My mother and father never made any effort to shield me from Ironwood's retaliation. The bounty, legitimate or not, was earned through my own actions. The Mibu will not interfere with my actions in the outside world. But, likewise, they will not interfere with the anyone in the outside world who desires to kill me."

"That's insane!" said Weiss.

"Perhaps," said Kyo. "Though I never really resented that state of affairs, I used to wonder why it was so. However, now that I've learned the truth about myself and my lineage, I think I understand why."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"In a sense, you could say that experiencing open privilege granted to the Crimson Cross Knight is a taste of the power that I could wield as one of the True Mibu," said Kyo. "I have the power to strike down, to end the life of anyone who irks me, though I do not need even that much justification for it. I fully admit that there are times when I have been...tempted."

Perhaps Yang should have been more repulsed by that admission. However, she also remembered that many of the Mibu had apparently tried to kill Kyo for no other reason than his appearance and his position. She could understand wanting to dish some of that back out.

"Choosing _not_ to indulge myself means embracing the path of restraint, learning to forgo wielding the power that I have," said Kyo. "In that sense, it's perfect to prepare me for resisting the temptation to wield the power of the True Mibu."

"Well, that makes sense," said Yang.

"It still disturbs me," said Weiss.

"I can't help that," said Kyo with a shrug.

An awkward silence fell over them as they realized that they'd gotten sidetracked from their original topic of discussion. Fortunately, it was now nearly time for dinner, so they were able to dispense with the conversation entirely and move on to join the others for the evening meal, putting the matter behind them for the time being.

* * *

The next morning, Weiss returned to the training yard with Myrtenaster and her crystal. As usual, Hayate joined her. It was beginning to reach the point where Weiss probably wouldn't feel comfortable if Hayate _wasn't_ there.

At least she no longer felt as paranoid about the possibility of him being spotted by one of Ironwood's ships. No matter how much she believed her Mibu friends' assurances about the wards' ability to keep her and Hayate shielded from the ships' cameras, Weiss had never been able to keep herself from glancing up nervously whenever one of Ironwood's warships drifted overhead.

However, the sky was now almost completely clear. That very morning, all but one of Ironwood's warships had withdrawn from Onmyo airspace and, according to what she had heard, were on their way back to Atlas. Only Ironwood's command ship remained, and it hovered, unmoving, just outside the first of the five gates to the Palace.

Actually, very little had changed about their current arrangements. Hayate had to remain careful to ensure that he didn't cross paths with Ironwood. But Weiss did feel a bit more secure about his ability to do so, now that so many of Ironwood's watchful eyes had been removed from the vicinity.

"So how do you want to test this?" asked Hayate.

Weiss frowned. "Well, I'll start by testing different elemental effects." She raised Myrtenaster, rotating the chambers of her weapon until the cylinder of red, fire-Dust was aligned with the blade. Holding the crystal in her right hand, she tapped into its power, focusing it down the length of her weapon, until the rapier's blade shimmered like nacre in sunlight. Holding it up, Weiss leveled the blade in front of her and whipped it in a vertical slash, pulling the trigger as she did.

A blazing jet of flame surged out from her blade, the line of fire washing across the yard. The flames started out red and orange, but quickly washed to blue and white, with the shimmering colors of the crystal's power shimmering through the white.

"They're more substantial than I expected," said Weiss, switching to ice. Reversing her grip on her weapon, she plunged it into the ground as a shimmering glyph appeared in front of her. A second later, a fountain of ice erupted out. The ice itself appeared to behave the way it usually did for Weiss, when she utilized ice-Dust. However, her opinion changed when she was slapped in the face by a wave of cold air, so bitter that she would have sworn that she had walked straight into the middle of Solitas' winter. The ice was accompanied by an incredible chill that made her breath mist in front of her face.

"Well, that's something else," said Hayate, as he saw his own breath emerge in cloudy puffs.

"It's hard to put into words," said Weiss. "It's definitely more substantial than before, but it's not as though it became more powerful. How to describe it...?"

"Dust manifests itself in forms," noted Hayate. "But it looks as though Etheric power gives those forms more substance. That fire you used before was almost solid."

Weiss nodded. "It also felt more efficient. Perhaps that's because the crystal's power is being consumed for the reaction instead of the Dust itself." She frowned and turned to look at the scorch marks left by the gout of flame she'd launched earlier. Looking down, her eyes widened. "Look at this?"

"Huh?" Hayate crouched down next to her to see what had caught her interest. He was surprised to see scattered grains of red Dust on the ground. "It didn't burn the Dust at all."

Weiss nodded and touched the tip of her rapier to one of the Dust grains, sending a sliver of her Aura out through it. The grain ignited, triggering the rest in the vicinity, causing a crackling trail of flames to leap out from the ground along the line left by the earlier attack.

"So Dust can actually affect the nature of the crystal's power," said Weiss. "But it isn't actually expended to catalyze the change. That means, so long as the crystal itself has power to spare, even a small amount of Dust can be used indefinitely." Her eyes widened. "This could change everything!"

"It would certainly change the landscape as far as demand for Dust goes," said Hayate, "so long as Etheric Energy technology proliferates."

Weiss nodded. This was an unbelievable discovery. If this technology proliferated, then Dust consumption would be reduced dramatically. So long as an Etheric Core Crystal had sufficient output, then a small amount of Dust could be used to the same effect as a much larger quantity of Dust used directly. Moreover, the fact that the Dust hadn't actually been expended when she channeled the crystal's power through it meant it could potentially be used over and over again without consuming the Dust itself.

"Let me try something else," said Weiss.

Closing her eyes, she plunged the tip of her rapier into the ground in front of her. The sword-wheel of her summoning glyph appeared, flickering with varied colors as she channeled the crystal's power into it. From within her mind, Weiss called forth the image of what she wanted to summon. Combining it with the crystal's power was rather simple. However, on top of that, she pulled the trigger on her weapon, channeling Dust into the summon as well.

It was harder than she'd initially thought. Keeping the mental image of her summon and maintaining her control over the Dust were difficult to do at the same time. It was akin to trying to look right and left at the same time. Sweat beaded her brow as her creation threatened to unravel. However, gritting her teeth and blocking out thoughts of all else, Weiss persisted. Finally, with the shattering sensation of something breaking loose, Weiss felt her summon emerge and opened her eyes.

Kneeling before her was the familiar, armored figure of the Knight, the very opponent she had fought and overcome in order to earn the right to attend Beacon. It was smaller than the size of the true Knight, standing only a couple feet higher than herself. Its armor shimmered blue and white and something like mist seemed to swirl about its sword. The air around the Knight felt cold.

"Would you mind being my sparring partner for a second?" asked Weiss as she directed the Knight to turn and face Hayate.

"Not at all," said Hayate, stretching out. "So I'm going to be your test dummy, huh?"

"More or less," conceded Weiss.

Hayate smirked and chuckled. "The things we do..." His hand closed around the handle of his sword and he drew it forth, holding it at the ready.

The Knight charged forward, raising its large, double-edged sword and bringing it down in a mighty slash. Hayate skipped to the side of the strike, then had to jump back farther than he expected, as a wave of cold exploded out from where the Knight's sword met the ground. Actual ice didn't form, but the cold itself was bone-chilling, to the point where, if the Knight's sword had actually made contact in any fashion, it would have frozen him solid in an instant. More to the point, a near miss could potentially result in frostbite or worse, depending on the Aura guarding the target or their proximity to the blade.

The Knight turned to pursue Hayate, raising its left arm and punching at him. Hayate dodged back again, having to once again evade by a much wider margin, as another wave of cold launched itself off the Knight's fist like a bullet. After that, the Knight swung its sword in an upwards-angled slash across its body, which Hayate ducked under, feeling rime gather in his hair as the bitter-cold blade passed over his head.

Darting forward, Hayate slashed at the Knight, his blade scraping against its armor. As this wasn't a serious fight, he didn't attack anywhere near full strength, so the Knight's armor held. As he jumped away to avoid a potential counterattack, Hayate noticed that his sword was now covered with a thin layer of frost that quickly melted as he escaped the blanket of cold air that enshrouded the construct. Landing, he flicked his wrist, flinging away the accumulated condensation.

"Geez," he said. "I'm not so concerned, since Muramasa's demon blades are virtually indestructible, but your average weapon could wind up in pretty brittle condition after contact with something like that."

The Knight turned and charged at Hayate, its sword raised. However, Hayate smirked and lowered his blade. The Knight shattered and dissolved, its sword vanishing just as it was about to cleave through his skull, leaving Hayate to be buffeted by a cold wind that was nothing compared to what the Knight had exhibited before.

Weiss looked to her crystal, realizing that its power had run out. "That wasn't very long at all," she admitted.

"You've said before that summoning is one of your more draining abilities," said Hayate. "It stands to reason that using it would consume a substantial portion of the crystal's power. Add the Dust to that, and you're burning through it even faster. Until it's further matured, you're going to be careful about just how much you use this ability."

Weiss nodded. "But there's a definite benefit," she said. She knelt on the space where she had summoned the Knight. The Knight's aura of cold had caused a layer of frost to form over the tiles of the practice yard. Brushing her fingers over it, she held them up, revealing the glittering blue grains of powdered ice-Dust sticking to the tips of her fingers. "With this, I didn't expend any of my Dust."

"But it's scattered all over the place," said Hayate.

"That's the way Myrtenaster is designed," said Weiss, holding up her sword. "The selected Dust is expelled along the length of the blade from the chamber. If I alter that feature, then I can make it so that I can keep the Dust within the weapon and channel its energy without expelling it."

"Okay," said Hayate.

"I'll need to look at Murasame's design again," said Weiss, sheathing her weapon and tucking her crystal back into her pouch. "I may have some alterations to make to it after all."

* * *

 **When it comes to how certain characters have developed over the course of this story, Weiss is the one who surprised me the most often, with the direction her character took. All the members of RWBY obviously got to go through some special training and develop cool new abilities. But Weiss and Yang were the ones who _really_ changed the most over the course of this story. If you think things are crazy now, just wait and see.**


	65. Chapter 65

**Chapter 65:**

"And so, with this, we come to final provisions of the treaty," said Sora, setting another sheaf of papers on the table in front of her.

"Of course," said Ironwood. He had been largely silent as the conference had moved on to the actual provisions of the treaty that would define the Mibu Clan's relationship with the rest of the world.

All told, it hadn't been that complex of a process. By and large, it was a re-drafting of the original Vytal Treaty, expanding it so that the Mibu Clan, now officially recognized as the Kingdom of Mibu, was protected by its provisions the same way the other Kingdoms were. As Sora had discussed with the delegates earlier, issues like trade relationships and tariffs would have to be worked out on a more individual basis depending on the products being traded, and whom they were being traded with.

One of the few major complications of the new treaty was deciding what to do with the Dust deposits uncovered within Mibu territory. The Mibu were not interested in developing those deposits themselves, but were willing to entertain the idea of allowing foreign contractors to do so, along with very generous allowances as far as the profits said contractors were permitted to keep and what duties might be levied. All that concerned the Mibu was that any mines were operated safely, and that the workers employed by said mines would be fairly treated.

The only point of contention was that Sora insisted that the Schnee Dust Company was not permitted to bid for any of the deposits, reserving the mining rights for smaller, independent companies. Ironwood had protested vigorously, but Sora remained adamant.

The other major change was the status of the Academies. Their official, quasi-independent status was maintained, but the restriction of teaching advanced Aura-based techniques was officially lifted. To help facilitate the teaching of these skills, the Academy Headmasters had turned to Sora and the Taishiro. The Mibu had no Academy of their own, but rather multiple schools teaching a variety of Aura-based martial disciplines. Sora proposed the Mibu could supply instructors for the Academies, as well as open up their borders for exchange students who could spend terms in their schools. The initial arrangements were rough, but could be refined over time.

"And what are the final provisions?" asked Radcliff as he, Nilam, and Gwenyth all listened expectantly, knowing the topic before it even came up.

"Regarding the Mibu access to the CCT network," said Sora, "we will be requiring the installation of a tower within the premises of our capital, though the site will be decided on a later date. We will also need the equipment and expertise to install relays throughout our territory, so that we can extend the service to the settlements on the continent."

"What?" snapped Ironwood, his eyes widening. "You can't be serious?"

"I am," said Sora. "Now that we have been accorded Kingdom status, according to the new treaty, we are entitled to a CCT tower as well."

"But that's..." Irownwood's jaw clenched as the realization hit him. The topic that had never come up before now, the one thing that Sora had waited until the very end of their negotiations to demand. It was something absurdly obvious, yet had never occurred to him in all the time he had spent in the room with this woman. _Dammit!_

"Do you realize it now, James?" asked Radcliff. "If you'd played that card from the very beginning, you might have gotten the edge on her. But, from the moment you entered this land, bringing your battleships with you, you've been playing her game. You've been dancing to her tune the entire time."

"But there's no need," said Ironwood, snapping his head around to glare at Sora. "The fact of the matter is that the CCT network only requires four towers to maintain it. There is no call for a fifth one. We aren't obligated to give you people a tower. The relays will be enough."

"Not good enough," said Nilam with a sigh. "You left it too late, General. It's as she said. By according them Kingdom status, they are entitled to the rights and privileges shared by all four other Kingdoms. That includes the CCT towers. That was the very first thing we all agreed to when we started the other day."

"We can go back and change it!" protested Ironwood.

"It's far too late for that," said Nilam. "We agreed to that provision and all subsequent negotiations are based upon that decision. Changing it now would mean going back over and revising the entire treaty."

"Of course," said Ironwood. "We haven't signed it yet. Until that is done, there is room for revision in the entire matter."

"Except that you're the only one promoting that idea," said Radcliff. "None of the rest of us has any wish to revisit the previous terms we've already agreed to. No 'take-backs,' James."

"But..." growled Ironwood, desperately searching for some means.

"Don't you get it?" asked Gwenyth with a tired sigh. "You've lost, General, completely. Mrs. Sora had your full measure from even before she met you. It's your loss."

"It's yours too," protested Ironwood.

"Hmm...since when?" asked Radcliff. "Aside from you, and Gwenyth initially, none of us had determined a sufficient reason to oppose the Mibu's goal of becoming a Kingdom. We were aware of their goal early on, but decided to embrace it as part of our new relationship with them."

"What?" gasped Ironwood. He turned a questioning gaze to Gwenyth. Given their "special relationship" since the war with Salem, Ironwood had at least expected Vale's commitment to supporting Atlas in this matter, though that had become less and less apparent as the conference wore on.

"We of Vale have especially good reason to endorse the construction of another tower," said Gwenyth. "The destruction of our tower during the Fall of Beacon showed us the fragility of the CCT network in its current form. Four towers are needed to keep the system running on a global level. Having a fifth means that we can begin building redundancy into the system, so that it can't be brought down like that again."

"Agreed," said Nilam while Radcliff hummed and nodded.

"As you can see, there's no room for amendment here, General," said Sora calmly. "It is time for you to accept that you cannot stop this."

Ironwood clenched his hands into fists. _Perhaps it's best to give in for now,_ he thought. _The treaty can be amended at future conferences. After we sign the current one, we can just find reasons to delay construction until that can be accomplished._ He glanced at the other Council members at the table with him. _It will take some work to influence the elections, but I can take steps to ensure the next batch of delegates are on my side._

"We have the knowhow and the resources now, even if Atlas refuses to accept this," said Radcliff. "Between Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo, we can help the Mibu build their own tower if necessary." He glared with narrowed eyes at Ironwood. "So there is no point in trying to find excuses to delay."

"We'll just add a provision that stipulates the construction of the tower will fall to us if Atlas delays more than say..." Nilam tapped her chin. "...four months to begin construction or it takes more than a year to complete it."

"That is certainly acceptable," said Sora.

"The only issue that stands out to me is the matter of Dust," said Radcliff. "Like it or not, our current CCT technology is powered by Dust. Yet your current provisions for its trade would forfeit any claim to your own Dust deposits, even for critical purposes."

"That is true," admitted Sora. "However, there is no need to change those provisions. We are happy to buy Dust from independent sources at full market price, if necessary, though if we can work out discounts, we will be happy to do so. We can run the tower on geothermal power like the rest of our capital in the meantime."

"I see," said Radcliff, grinning. _As I thought,_ he mused, _they plan on switching to that new Etheric Power they've been telling us about as soon as they've gained enough knowhow about our technology to adapt it to their purposes. They mean for their reliance on Dust to be temporary, even if it becomes expensive in the short term. It also allows them to avoid us trying to set up contractual stipulations to keep them reliant on Dust. Very shrewd._

"So then, as you can see, General," said Sora, fixing her gaze on Ironwood, "this is happening...with or without you. Finalizing this will close the second-to-last matter of the treaty. Are you prepared to agree to it?"

"Mistral approves," said Radcliff without hesitation.

"Vacuo also approves," said Nilam.

"Vale approves," said Gwenyth.

"The Academies of Beacon, Haven, and Shade also approve," said Ozpin, speaking for all three Headmasters present.

All eyes turned to Ironwood, speaking both for the Kingdom of Atlas and its Academy. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh of resignation. "Atlas approves," he said in a defeated tone.

"Then the motion carries and the provision is now officially part of the treaty," said Sora with a smile. "Now to the final matter."

"What matter is that?" asked Nilam, blinking in confusion. She was fairly certain that they had covered all the other parts of including the Mibu in the Vytal treaty.

"This is a rather unique matter that is specific to the inclusion of our Clan as a Kingdom," said Sora. "It is the matter of my son."

"What does your son have to do with anything?" asked Ironwood sharply.

"Within the Mibu, Kyo occupies a special class of his own," said Sora, "one that stands outside the typical hierarchy of our Clan. We wish to formalize this matter with all the other Kingdoms."

"You mean you want all Kingdoms to acknowledge your son's status?" asked Radcliff, frowning.

"Yes," said Sora. "In a sense, you have been doing so informally for years now. We are simply making the matter official."

"What do you mean?" asked Nilam.

"Kyo's official rank within the clan is that of the Crimson Cross Knight," said Sora. "Within our Clan, that frees him from all legal restrictions and obligations."

"What?" gasped Gwenyth, her eyes going wide with shock.

"However," continued Sora, "that freedom also means that he forfeits all legal protections as well. It means that he is not served or protected by the law, nor is he obligated to abide by it."

"And you want us to accept that as well?" asked Ironwood. "You wish for us to allow such lawless anarchy within our own territories."

"On the contrary," said Sora. "That status applies only to him as a member of the Mibu. Wherever he goes, Kyo is subject to the laws and regulations of anyplace that he goes. However..." She smiled slyly. "...that is entirely dependent on your ability to enforce those laws upon him."

"Aha," said Radcliff, scratching his chin, "so that's what you mean?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Ironwood.

"After Kyo was officially declared an internationally-wanted criminal and was subjected to a bounty, he held that status for the better part of a year," said Radcliff. "That was plenty of time for the Mibu to find out about it and contact someone. Yet they made no effort, which we could have put up to their technological level, but was actually because of this special status of his."

"Exactly," said Sora with an indulgent smile.

"So, in other words, we have the right to decide Kyo's status for ourselves," said Nilam. "We have the right to arrest him for any reason...or no reason at all."

"Very true," said Sora. "But, as I said before, enforcing that shall be up to you. We will neither help nor hinder him in this regard."

Radcliff chuckled in amusement. "Despite being a billion-lien bounty for months, he never saw the inside of a cell once, and every hunter or Huntsman who went after him ended up beaten or killed. We can try to arrest him. But succeeding is contingent on developing those with the skills that will allow them to bring him to justice, if we decide it is necessary."

"Correct," said Sora.

"But can he not return to your Kingdom and shelter here?" asked Nilam, her eyes narrowing.

"He will have _no_ shelter here," said Sora. "Remember, his status is that he is neither bound by nor protected by the law. We will not make any effort to thwart those who come to hunt him." Her eyes narrowed. "However, we do have an obligation to protect our people from any threat or damage said efforts might result in."

"In other words, if you try to bring in a fleet to arrest him or dispose of him through mass bombardment, they'll stop you," said Radcliff, speaking specifically to Ironwood.

"Then that is a form of offering him shelter," protested Ironwood. "He'll flee here every time the heat of pursuit becomes too much for him."

"Hardly," said Sora with a giggle. "Remember, Kyo is not protected by the law here. If he is deemed a threat to our people by virtue of the problems he brings in with him, then we will deal with him ourselves; not as a criminal, but as an enemy combatant or even an animal that needs to be put down."

"You'd do that to your own son?" asked Radcliff, both skeptical of and disturbed by Sora's willingness to disavow Kyo so easily.

"It is something that we have been prepared for since his birth," said Sora. "My husband held the same status once, as did his father before him, and so on, going back for as long as our history can recall." She sighed. "It isn't easy. But the time for me to protect him is long past. He is now beholden to the consequences of his own actions, for good or for ill. It would be disrespectful of me to do any less."

"Your family is a strange lot," said Gwenyth.

"I don't deny that," said Sora with a smile. "But I love them nonetheless."

"Any other particulars?" asked Nilam.

"Just that the provisions extend to any that Kyo takes as companions in his travels," said Sora. "That includes those who hold official positions within our Clan, as Saisei of the Goyosei has been a companion of his in the past."

"Meaning...?" prompted Ironwood.

"Meaning that those like Saisei will have no more protection of the fallout from their actions than Kyo will," said Sora. "If you choose to come after her, even if she is fulfilling her duties here, then she will be required to defend or submit as she so chooses. If we deem that to be a sufficient threat to our citizens, she will be stripped of her name and rank. But that is a purely internal matter."

Silence fell over the table for a long moment.

"Well...that said...while I have reservations, I ultimately don't see any issue with this provision," said Radcliff.

"Me neither," said Nilam.

"I have reservations as well," said Gwenyth. "But none strong enough to induce me to oppose it."

Ironwood was silent.

"Keep in mind that Kyo's status is for each Kingdom to decide as they see fit," said Sora. "There is no requirement for consensus."

"Very well," said Ironwood with a sigh.

"Any opposition by the Academies?" asked Radcliff, glancing at the Headmasters.

"None," said Pastoria firmly.

"Then the motion passes," said Radcliff.

"Good," said Sora. "That is the final provision we have to bring up. Are there any other matters anyone wishes to bring up with relation to the treaty?"

Silence fell over the table and no one raised any more business.

Sora let out a relieved sigh and settled back in her seat. "Good," she said. "Then we shall consider the treaty finalized and ready to be signed. Shall we hold the signing ceremony tomorrow then?"

"That is acceptable," said Radcliff while everyone, except Ironwood nodded, though he offered no protest either.

"Wonderful!" said Sora cheerfully, clapping her hands together. "I'm glad we managed to finish this before the festival commenced. It would have been tedious to continue these conferences while everyone else enjoyed the celebrations."

Radclfiff guffawed loudly while Nilam tittered behind an upraised hand. Gwenyth sighed and shook her head. Ironwood was the only one who seemed affronted by Sora's statement. However, he was now too cowed to make any protest.

* * *

That night, Sora entered the bedroom she shared with her husband, already changed into her robe for sleeping. He was sitting upright, his body propped up by pillows, reading a book, as she climbed in with him. As soon as he felt her weight settled by his side, he set the book down on the end table and used his hand to carefully caress one of her feathered plumes.

"Well done," he said. "You've worked so hard for this."

Sora smiled as she leaned against her husband's shoulder. "Yes," she agreed. "I can't thank Makoto, Murasame, and Haruka for all the good work they've been doing. We wouldn't have succeeded without them."

"We'll also have to thank Kyo and his friends," said Kyoichiro. "After all, they were instrumental in helping this come to pass."

"Indeed," said Sora. "I shall also have to apologize to Soleil-san. I nearly ended up doing her a tremendous disservice."

"I thought that whether to attack or not would have been the General's decision," said Kyoichiro.

"Yet I was the one who left it to his hands after I used what happened to Soleil-san to bring matters to a head," said Sora. "I imagine that she would feel some sense of responsibility for the blood that was shed, if it had come to that."

"I suppose," said Kyoichiro. "But that is a worry for another time. For now, enjoy the fruits of your success."

"There are no fruits," said Sora, "not yet. The seeds have been planted. Now they must be nurtured carefully so that they can truly grow to bear fruit. We'll do what we can." She turned towards her husband, fixing him with a sober expression. "So it falls to you and Kyo to pull that last, repulsive weed up so that it may never take root again."

"We plan to," said Kyoichiro. "And, one way or another, we shall. We'll bring an end to this ancient conflict. Once that is settled, then there will no longer be a need for the Line of Kyo, and the blood of the True Mibu can be allowed to fade from the world."

* * *

Yang found it somewhat appropriate that the official signing of the new treaty would be taking place the day before the Mibu Clan's festival. She was also glad that Sora had managed to finish the negotiations before then. The last thing Yang wanted was to worry about what Kyo's mother and the other delegates were doing while the festival was in progress. The finalization of the negotiations left them free to enjoy the festival to its fullest.

The signing ceremony was exactly that, a ceremony, nothing more than a show to formalize the acceptance of the new treaty by all the participating parties. It was signed in the throne room by Sora and the other delegates. Yang noticed that Kyoichiro was not one of the signatories on the treaty, which surprised her. It appeared that, from beginning to end, Kyoichiro intended for Sora and the other Taishiro to take the lead in representing the Mibu to the world.

The ceremony was as dull as she expected it to be. It was little more than a show for all the people watching the broadcast over the CCT networks. Yang expected it to cause quite a stir back in the Kingdoms. Finding out that a new world power had emerged, seemingly from nowhere, had to be a jarring experience. Seeing Sora outmaneuver the likes of General Ironwood had to be drawing some mixed reactions depending on where people stood on the issue.

If it weren't for the fact that she and the others were attending the ceremony as observers, just for appearances, Yang would have checked her scroll. It jarred her to think that, even though Ironwood's ships had arrived over a week ago, along with the CCT relays aboard them, she hadn't bothered to use her scroll to check how the news was affecting things back in the Kingdom. She chalked it up to the days she and the others had already spent in Onmyo without the use of their scrolls.

As it was, Yang was fighting down the urge to do something. At the moment, she was unbelievably bored. She also guessed she wasn't the only one among the students fighting down the urge to fidget. Poor Sun looked almost as though he might bolt at any second. Only Blake's tight hold on his hand was keeping him in place...that, or Glynda Goodwitch standing behind him, looking on with a stern expression that quelled the slightest hint of rebellion.

Just as Yang was certain that she couldn't suppress the urge to yawn any longer, Sora reached the concluding remarks of her speech. Afterwards, each of the delegates took up the pen and signed the document and the whole affair concluded with polite applause.

 _What a waste of time,_ thought Yang as she applauded along with everyone else. _And it's a pretty silly show anyway. We're the only ones here. Everyone else in the Clan is just going about their day like nothing's happening._ If this ceremony had been held in any of the other Kingdoms, Yang had no doubt it would have been conducted on a very public stage, in front of vast crowds of people. In comparison, the ceremony she was forced to be a part of was much smaller and quieter, though it at least had the pleasant side effect of being shorter as a consequence.

* * *

"Well, that concludes matters concerning the treaty," said Sora now that the ceremony was over. "I thank you all for your hard work and cooperation, especially these past few days."

"Hmm...that was actually one of the more efficient conferences I've been a part of," noted Radcliff. "Sometimes, negotiations can go on for months without anything getting done."

"Very true," agreed Nilam.

"The timing is absolutely perfect," said Sora. "Since you are here, I happily invite you to join us for the annual Water Festival. I assure you that it is an experience not to be missed."

"We gladly accept," said Ozpin with a smile, as the other Headmasters nodded their agreement.

"It would hardly be appropriate for us to form a treaty and then decline to attend a celebration with our new ally," said Radcliff as Nilam nodded.

"Spending another few days here certainly wouldn't hurt," said Gwenyth. "I'm quite curious about what this festival of yours entails."

"I'm afraid that I will have to decline," said Ironwood. "I have taken enough time away from administrative matters in Atlas for this and things ran longer than I expected them to."

"I find that unfortunate, General," said Sora. "However, you should do what you must."

"Yes..." said Ironwood softly, his voice almost a whisper, "...I should."

"That's all well and good," said Radcliff in disappointment. "But that means we need to leave as well. Ironwood is our ride after all."

"Hardly," said Sora with an amused titter. "Have you forgotten that we have our own airship now? We will be happy to arrange for your transportation back to Vytal, so that you can return to your own Kingdoms."

"I have to admit that I had forgotten that," said Nilam with a giggle. "Well then, we shall enjoy this to the best of our ability. I find it a suitable reward for all the good work that we've done."

"Agreed," said Radcliff, watching Ironwood as he strode almost mechanically out of the room. "Let's leave James to sulk in peace."

"Good," said Sora. "I'm glad that you're willing to join in our festivities. Tomorrow begins a three-day celebration after all."

"We look forward to it," said Nilam.

* * *

"Thank God that's over with," said Yang, stretching as she and the rest returned to their guest quarters.

To her surprise Qrow was emerging from his room, a small traveling pack slung over one shoulder. "Uncle Qrow? Where are you going?"

"Yeah, aren't you going to stay and party with us?" asked Ruby.

Qrow gave his nieces a smile before tousling Ruby's hair. "I'd love to stay, Kiddo," he said. "But I'm gonna take off and go after Ironwood. He needs somebody to keep an eye on him."

"You think he's going to try something?" asked Yang. "But he's already signed the treaty hasn't he?"

"At the end of the day, treaties are just words on paper," said Qrow. "If James decides he doesn't care about it, he can do whatever he pleases, and those words won't stop him. There'll be repercussions for sure. His word to the other Kingdoms'll be about as good as a pile of garbage, and they won't trust a thing he says ever again. But if he doesn't care about all that, he can do it."

"Do you really think he'd go that far?" asked Weiss.

"Let's just say I wouldn't put it past him," said Qrow. He looked at Kyo, still wearing the official garments of his position as the Crimson Cross Knight. "Your mom beat him pretty thoroughly, cornered him and made him say 'uncle.' That's gotta sting something fierce. A man with James' pride doesn't back down after something like that."

"Well, I think it will be immaterial either way," said Kyo with an amiable smile and a shrug. "It won't be long now."

"Long until what?" asked Yang.

"Until my friends and I make our excursion to Atlas," said Kyo. "If Winter has done as I suggested, then Atlas will soon be under new management."

"Right...I'd forgotten about that," said Qrow, swallowing nervously. "Maybe I shouldn't go after all. I'd hate to be hanging around Ground-Zero."

To Qrow's surprise, Weiss laid a hand on his arm. "Please go," she said. "My sister is going to need you."

That made Qrow smile fondly. "All right," he said. "I'll go. I gotta say, I never thought I'd hear those words from your mouth, mini-Ice Queen."

"Don't make me regret them," Weiss retorted. "You'd better be good to her...and do something about those uncouth habits of yours."

Qrow laughed. "No can do on that last one, Weiss. That's what your sister loves about me after all."

"I doubt that," muttered Weiss as Qrow turned to exchange some final hugs with his nieces before disappearing down a hallway.

After he was gone from sight, Yang turned and looked at Kyo nervously. "I'd forgotten about your trip too," she said. "You're really gonna do it?"

"So long as Penny remains adamant about avenging her father's murder," said Kyo. "Though I might go anyway. I can't shake the feeling that something is amiss up in Solitas."

"Just be careful," said Yang.

Kyo smiled and leaned in to kiss her. "There now, why fret? We still have a festival to attend after all, and we won't be leaving until afterwards. Let's enjoy it while we can."

"Sure..." said Yang nervously, "...let's."

In the meantime, Weiss had turned to the one member of Kyo's companions that had not attended the signing ceremony. "Well, there's good news, at least," she said, approaching Hayate.

"Oh...?" asked Hayate, raising an eyebrow.

"Ironwood's leaving," said Weiss. "So, once he and his ship have departed, you won't have to hide anymore."

"That's true, I guess," said Hayate. In truth, the other delegates, if they spotted him, would normally be obligated to report his presence to Ironwood. However, given that his actions had mostly drawn their sympathy, it was unlikely that they would.

At the moment, what Weiss was excited about was the fact that Hayate would no longer be confined to a few sections of the Palace, where he wouldn't run the risk of being seen by or running into Ironwood. Now that Ironwood was gone, Hayate would be free to attend the festivities with her. Weiss had been disappointed when he hadn't been able to join her and the others on their picnic with Ciel and her fellow students. This was a chance to make up for that.

"Have you been to this festival before?" she asked.

"A couple times," said Hayate. "It's been a while."

"How does it normally go?" asked Weiss.

"It's a three-day affair," said Hayate as the two of them began making their way down the hall towards the courtyard. Weiss didn't really feel like bothering to change out of her formal dress at the moment, figuring that she would have time to do so later. "It starts in the city. It's like your standard festival. There'll be music, games, food stalls, all sorts of good stuff. People come in from the settlements to showcase special wares that they normally wouldn't be able to sell most other times. There are some nice performances to watch too."

"I see," said Weiss.

"That basically covers the first two days," said Hayate. "On the third day is the event that gives the Water Festival its name."

"What is it?" asked Weiss.

"Just after noon, the gates to the Palace are all opened and everyone is allowed inside," said Hayate. "Everyone is shown to the water stage, where Makoto will dance."

"A dance?" asked Weiss, feeling a little disappointed. _Is that it?_

"You say it like that because you've never seen it," said Hayate with a smirk. "I've been all over the world and I can say that it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Only the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ is permitted to perform the dance, and he only performs it during the Water Festival. It's hard to put into words. You'll just have to see it for yourself."

"All right," said Weiss. She supposed that she was obligated to. It was what they had originally come for after all. Despite that, she smiled. While she wasn't certain that this dance would match the hype, she felt she could at least afford to enjoy the festival to the best of her abilities. "If you've been to this festival before, would you be willing to show me around?"

Hayate turned to look up at her, his cheeks coloring. "Are you asking me on a...date?" he inquired nervously.

Weiss felt her own cheeks heat up. "I suppose I am," she admitted.

"W-well...it's not as though there's some kind of consistent plan to things," said Hayate, looking away, blushing even harder. "But I suppose I can go with you."

"Thank you," said Weiss, already looking forward to the next day.

"Aww...look at you two," cooed Yang as she and Kyo came up behind the pair.

Blushing as hard as Hayate now, Weiss whirled around to glare at her teammate. "Don't you start, Yang Xiao Long."

"Aw come on," protested Yang. "You two are adorable."

Weiss growled, stomping over and glaring right at Yang, who grinned back at her with a teasing look. Hayate and Kyo looked on from the sidelines, a little nonplussed by the situation.

"What on earth have we gotten ourselves into," wondered Hayate.

"It's a mystery," admitted Kyo with a small laugh.

* * *

"You're telling me it can't be done?" asked Jacques, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"I'm telling you it can't be done _right now_ ," said Haira softly, her voice brushing against his ears like soft, cool silk. "At present, she is very well-protected, so long as she remains within the Mibu domain. I am confident in my skills, but not suicidally so."

"I thought you and your allies were supposed to be stronger than the Mibu," muttered Jacques.

"We are," said Haira. "However, one must always take precautions. It is foolish to engage with the Mibu in their home territory. To extract one girl, it is better to bide our time, and wait until she has returned to Vale. There, she shall be far more vulnerable."

Jacques grunted in acknowledgment. He knew the importance of patience. To succeed in business, both it and decisiveness were required in equal measure. There was a time to act and a time to wait, to bide his time. He supposed this was one of those times. But that didn't mean that he liked it. Much as he knew the value of patience, there was nothing that could make him like the act of waiting. Jacques liked to see _immediate_ results.

"And what about James?" he asked.

"That matter requires patience as well," said Haira. "Actually, we are ready to move anytime, but we believe that we will be better served by waiting for now."

"And why is that?" asked Jacques.

"The General has already sown the seeds of his own destruction," said Haira. "Apparently, because of a certain murder he committed, Kyo and a few friends of his are intent on paying a visit to the General in Atlas. There, they shall crush him like an insect. That being the case, all we need to do is wait, then swoop in to seize power for you in the resulting upheaval. It will save us both time and effort."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Jacques.

"I am," said Haira. "Our source is most trustworthy."

"So, in the end, we are left with more waiting," muttered Jacques.

"Soon," said Haira. "Do not fret. You need not wait long. Then you shall have everything that you deserve."

* * *

Yang yawned and leaned back in her seat, staring up at the shattered form of the moon drifting overhead. It was a bit of a stretch to lean back that far, so that she could stare out from under the roof of the courtyard pavilion, but it was worth it for the view. If there was one thing she really appreciated about the Mibu's technology level, it was the fact that they apparently didn't feel the need to light up their city and Palace with hundreds of lamps and lights, which left the sky clear for viewing. Though there weren't as many as she would see in the middle of the wilderness, with no artificial light to be found, she saw far more stars than she could ever hope to see in Vale or at Beacon.

The sound of approaching footsteps snapped her out of her reverie and yang sat back upright. To her surprise, she saw Penny approaching. The former android had doffed her cloak and hat, leaving the regular clothes she wore beneath them.

"Hey," said Yang.

"Hi," said Penny in a chipper tone, seating herself across the table from Yang. "You wanted to talk to me about something. I know it's been a while, but I guess now is a good time."

Looking around, Yang noted that they were currently alone. She could see a few of the other visitors wandering about the courtyard or the porches and hallways. However, Yang and Penny were the only ones in the pavilion. "Yeah, I guess this is as good a time as any," noted Yang finally.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" asked Penny.

"Well...I'm not sure if we still need to talk about it, but I wanted to talk about Kyo," said Yang.

"What about him?" asked Penny, tilting her head innocently.

Yang sighed. "You know that Kyo and I are...together-together...right?"

"You mean boyfriend and girlfriend?" asked Penny, looking for clarification.

"Yeah," said Yang.

"Well, of course," said Penny. "Kyo said so."

"Yeah, he did," admitted Yang. "And you're okay with that?"

"Of course!" said Penny. "It makes me happy to see you make Kyo so happy."

"What about how you feel?" asked Yang. "How do you feel about Kyo?"

"How do I feel...?" Penny blinked in confusion, apparently not fully understanding Yang's question. "Well...I like Kyo, obviously." She turned her head down, staring pensively at the table. "He was there to help me during the most difficult time in my life. When I thought I was totally alone, with nowhere to run and no hope of escape, he held his hand out to me. When we were surrounded and I thought everything was over...he fought for me. When I thought I had to give up my own life to be free, he saved me and brought me to the people who would give me a new life." She looked up and smiled at Yang. "I owe Kyo everything. After Papa, he's probably the most important person in the world to me."

Penny's words made Yang swallow hard. "Would you say that you...love him?"

Penny blinked and turned her eyes upwards, momentarily confused by Yang's question. "Love him..." she mused. "I guess so...I mean...he's so important to me, which is why I'm glad to see him so happy."

That made Yang smile.

Penny continued to muse pensively. Then, her eyes widened and she whipped her head down to stare at Yang again. "Wait! You're asking if I love him like _you_ love him?"

"Um...well...yeah..." said Yang uncertainly. "I've seen the way you can get when you're near him. It reminds me of how I used to look and feel."

Penny gasped, pressing her hands against her cheeks. "I-I never thought of it like that," she said. "When I'm close to him...when he touches me...I feel really giddy, almost like I can't stop smiling. When he compliments me..." Yang could see the red on Penny's cheeks between the gaps in her fingers. Then she locked gazes with Yang, her expression becoming serious. "Why are you asking me this?"

"I just wanted to be sure," said Yang. "I love Kyo. I want to be with him. I want to walk by his side."

"So do I," admitted Penny. "But you're saying we can't do it the same way."

"I..." Yang paused, her throat catching. "I don't want to say it's wrong for you to feel the same way I do. I just...I just wanted to clarify that I have no intention of letting him go."

"Oh..." Penny paused a relieved expression on her face, which surprised Yang. Then she broke out into a radiant smile. "That's okay then."

"It is?" asked Yang, confused.

"Yeah," said Penny. "It's true that I love Kyo. I wasn't even sure about it until now. But...even if I do feel that way, I've seen how happy you make him." Her smile faltered. "I don't think I could ever make him as happy as you do. That's what's really important. I don't want to come between you." She beamed at Yang. "Besides, you're my friend too. I'd never want to throw that away, not even for Kyo."

Yang couldn't help but smile at that. _She really loves him,_ she realized. _And she's a really good friend too._ "Thanks," she said.

"So that's what you wanted to talk about," observed Penny.

"Yep, pretty much," said Yang. "I was worried that one or both of us might end up hurt, or that we might end up hurting Kyo by fighting over him." She grinned ruefully. "I guess I didn't really need to worry."

"It's probably good that we did talk," said Penny. "I didn't even think about how I felt before now. I love certain people: Father, Papa, and Ruby. But I've never been _in love_ with someone before. I had no idea about my own feelings. It really helped."

"Great," said Yang. She let out a breath of relief, leaning back in her seat again. It felt good to clear the air between her and Penny. It was also good that Yang didn't have to worry about any conflict arising over their feelings for Kyo. Besides, she had noticed something else. "Well, it's definitely for the best," she said, sitting upright once more. "Besides, it seems you've found someone else who caught your eye." She grinned slyly.

"Huh?" Penny blinked in confusion. "I did...?"

"Well yeah," said Yang. "I mean, you and Neptune seem to be spending a lot of time together, especially now that he and Weiss officially ended things."

"Uh...that's...um..." Penny was at a loss for words.

"So how does Neptune make you feel?" prodded Yang.

"Well, he's smart and funny, in a silly way," said Penny. "And he's very cute...um...oh!" Penny flushed and gasped. "You don't mean..."

Yang cackled gleefully. "Yeah. You might love Kyo. But what you feel for Neptune is what we, my dear Penny, call a crush."

"A crush!" Penny gasped, shocked by the revelation.

"Aaaand..." Yang continued in a singsong tone, "...unless I'm mistaken, the feeling is mutual."

"R-r-really?" asked Penny.

"Well yeah," said Yang. "Neptune's been going out of his way to spend a lot of time with you, hasn't he? You even went and recommended him to help with hacking those two cyborgs."

"Th-that's because Neptune has a lot of technical expertise," said Penny.

"Uh huh. So that's what you two are always talking about...technical stuff?" Yang was grinning so hard that her cheeks were beginning to hurt. It had been way too long since she'd last had someone to tease like this. Ruby and Jaune were way too settled in their relationship for Yang's efforts to get much of a rise out of them. Only the query of when Jaune was going to finally pop the question ever seemed to draw a reaction from him anymore, and even _that_ hadn't been getting as good a response as it used to. Blake was quite calm and relaxed about her relationship with Sun, and Weiss could never be prompted to make much of a fuss about Neptune...although she and Hayate were apparently a very teasable couple right now. But seeing Penny like this was extra fun.

"W-well...y-yes," said Penny. "We've talked about his weapon and some of the energy theories he's applied to it," said Penny. "He's really curious about Etheric Energy now. I think he wants to ask Ms. Haruka about it sometime."

"Nice that he can talk with someone who can meet with him on his own level," said Yang. "That must be a lot of fun for both of you."

Penny giggled and blushed harder.

"You should go to the festival with him, tomorrow," prodded Yang. "You should ask him."

"Huh...but he hasn't said anything about it," said Penny.

"Pro-tip for dealing with Neptune, coming from one of the best friends of his ex-girlfriend," said Yang, "Neptune's really... _really_...self-conscious sometimes. He gets really nervous and scared to approach girls that he likes, even though he acts like a total lady's-man sometimes. You just need to be adamant when you go to him, 'cause he gets really nervous about the things he can't do, like dance."

"Neptune can't dance?" asked Penny.

"Nope," said Yang, grinning, knowing that Neptune would be horrified to know that Yang was telling Penny this...and even more horrified to know that both Weiss and Jaune had spilled the beans about that particular fault of his. "That's why he turned down Weiss the first time she asked him out to the Beacon Dance. Jaune had to smack some sense into that head of his. I don't think that'll be an issue this time. But don't let it get you down if he turns you down at first."

"O-okay," said Penny.

Yang yawned and stood up, stretching her arms. "Boy! It was good to get all that off my chest," she said. "I'm going to bed. See ya tomorrow, Penny."

"Good night, Yang," said Penny, no longer watching Yang, instead apparently absorbed in her own thoughts. Seeing the blush still coloring Penny's cheeks, Yang grinned, having a pretty good idea of just what Penny's thoughts might be about.

* * *

 **Do we have an official ship-name for Penny/Neptune? Even though they've never actually interacted in the show (RIP Canon Penny), there almost seems like there could be potential for that relationship, so I'm surprised I haven't seen more people try it.**


	66. Chapter 66

**Chapter 66:**

Hayate blinked as he stepped out his room, surprised to see that Weiss was already waiting for him. However, what surprised him even more was what she was wearing. Instead of her usual attire, she was wearing a modest, white, flower-print dress, which was accented by a a white, bolero-style jacket, with a slightly ruffled hem. She faced him with a shy smile, her right arm folded behind her back, grasping her left forearm as it hung by her side.

"Wow," said Hayate, blinking. "That looks really good on you."

Weiss blushed furiously. "Thank you," she said.

Hayate frowned and looked down at himself, dressed in his usual attire. "Sorry. I can't really match your effort there. I don't have any fancy clothes like yours."

"That's fine," said Weiss, smiling brightly as she moved to take his arm. "I figured that might be the case."

Hayate also noticed that Weiss hadn't taken Myrtenaster with her. "You're leaving your sword behind?" he asked.

"I don't need it for today," said Weiss, before pausing and noticing that Hayate wore his sword. "Do you think I will?"

"I don't," said Hayate. "I just carry mine all the time because...well...I carry it all the time. It would feel weird not to have it on me."

"I guess I can understand that," admitted Weiss.

She herself didn't feel a constant need to carry Myrtenaster. But, then again, she was a student at Beacon. During classes, when she and her fellow students were in uniform, they never carried their weapons, with the notable exception of Yang, whose weapon was a fairly innocuous bracelet (while the other one had been integrated into her prosthetic arm, which she used to function normally). During her first year, Weiss had grown used to having her weapon kept in one of Beacon's rocket-propelled lockers, where it could be summoned to her side with a simple signal from her scroll.

Of course, after coming back for her third year, she hadn't been able to rely on the rocket lockers, as they were only available to first and second-year students. As a third-year, she kept her weapon in the apartment, like the rest of her teammates and friends. Despite that, she had never thought about bringing Myrtenaster along for, say, a grocery run or a trip to her favorite little cafe, a couple streets down from where she lived.

On the other hand, Hayate had grown up on the move, living in the wilderness, going from one fight to the next, training constantly alongside the likes of Kyo, Saisei, and Nigel. He'd probably never allowed himself to stray far without his weapon, after he had gotten it. She could appreciate the idea that having his weapon on him at all times had become normal to him. _Perhaps I should amend how much I carry my blade,_ thought Weiss. Still, now wasn't the time to worry about that. After all, she was going on a date with Hayate. That was where her focus belonged at the moment.

"Come on," she said, taking his arm, "let's go."

"Right," said Hayate, blushing at the contact, but not pulling away as he allowed himself to be led down the hallway.

Not far away, Kyo chuckled as he watched them go. "It looks as though Hayate is quite lucky," he observed. He was presently dressed in his more formal kimono, the one he'd worn on his double-date with Yang.

"It certainly does," agreed Yang, wearing her own kimono. She grinned, narrowing her eyes as she focused on the couple ahead of her. She began to move forward, but came to an abrupt halt as Kyo's hand clamped down on her shoulder.

"We are not spying on them," said Kyo firmly, though his face was decorated with an amused smile.

"Oh come on!" protested Yang. "I just want to take a few pictures for blackmail later."

"No," said Kyo.

"But don't you want to watch Hayate's first date?" asked Yang, fixing Kyo with her most pleading expression.

"Nope," replied Kyo simply. "I'd rather Hayate enjoy himself with Weiss, which will be very hard for him if we're constantly hanging around. As good as you've gotten with Suppression, he's much too vigilant for even _me_ to watch him without us being noticed."

Yang paused, blinking in surprise. "Really?"

Kyo nodded. "Of all my friends and companions, Hayate is the one most closely attuned to his environment. It's part of what makes him so strong, despite being so young."

"How so?" asked Yang.

"The skill Hayate mastered allows him to draw in the natural energy of the outside world," said Kyo. "It's normally an extremely difficult skill to develop, requiring many years of physical and spiritual refinement. However, Hayate learned by growing up in the wilderness as we traveled. At first, it was his sensory abilities he refined. He was able to sense the approach of Grimm easily, and other living things even more easily, by sensing the disturbances they caused in their surroundings. Then he came to perceive the natural energy that permeates the world and draw it into himself. After finding the scrolls that described Sarutobi Sasuke's technique, he refined it further to fully master his own fighting style. It even allowed him to master his sword more effectively."

"It's a Muramasa, like yours, right?" asked Yang.

Kyo nodded. "If I recall correctly, it was the last of the four great Demon Blades that Muramasa forged. It's called the Hokuto Shichisei, which means the Seven Stars of Hokuto in Common."

"Not ringing any bells," said Yang.

"It's another name for a star constellation sometimes called the Big Dipper," said Kyo with a grin. "I think you'll find it interesting because the Big Dipper is itself part of a constellation called the Ursa Major."

"Seriously?" asked Yang, her eyes widening.

Kyo nodded. "It used to be a very important constellation, even before it imparted its name to a particular variety of Grimm. It was critical to finding what was then known as Polaris, or the North Star, which used reside over the planet's north pole, and was used for celestial navigation. That was many thousands of years ago though."

"What happened?" asked Yang.

"The planet's axis gradually shifts over time," said Kyo, "so the North Star eventually ceased to be aligned with the north pole of our planet." He shrugged. "It was a gradual thing. So it was a much more significant name in the past."

"Okay," said Yang, briefly confused by the lecture. "So basically it's a sword named after a constellation."

"Pretty much," said Kyo. "It's actually one of Muramasa's more inventive designs. It is a single sword, but it can be divided into two separate swords to be wielded together."

"Seen that before," said Yang. Though she didn't mean to be dismissive about it, that was hardly an uncommon thing these days. Plenty of Huntsmen and Huntresses, including Weiss' own sister, utilized bifurcated weapons, as it saved them the trouble of carrying two weapons separately.

"Yes, I suppose that isn't as unique as it used to be," said Kyo with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "However, given that there are no mechanical components or moving parts, I find the achievement rather remarkable."

"Well, yeah, when you put it like that..." conceded Yang, "that is pretty neat."

"According to our history, the Hokuto Shichisei was actually destroyed at some point," said Kyo. "But one of the Blademasters succeeding Muramasa managed to restore it."

"That's pretty neat," said Yang. "And Hayate can use it as well as you can use yours."

"Very well," said Kyo. "It's one of the few blades that can hold up to Hayate's particular fighting style. Even the best-made mundane swords wind up shattering as a result of his techniques, so only one of Muramasa's Demon Blades was able to handle the strain."

"Maybe I should fight him someday," said Yang, licking her lips in anticipation of the idea.

"Maybe," said Kyo, though he looked less than enthused by the idea. "You should exercise caution."

"Why?" asked Yang.

"Because of all the Shiseiten, my traveling companions, Hayate wields the greatest destructive power," said Kyo. "Each of them has a particular area they're the best in and that happens to be his."

"What about the others?" asked Yang, curious to hear about this.

"Well, of all of them, Nigel is the fastest, as you might guess," said Kyo.

Yang nodded, able to see that easily, remembering how blindingly fast Nigel had been during his fight with Kyo. "What about Saisei?"

Kyo grinned. "Care to guess?"

"Um...healing," said Yang.

"That is her personal speciality and her primary focus," said Kyo, "but that isn't what I meant."

"So what is she the best at?" asked Yang.

Kyo's grin widened. "Of all the Shiseiten, Saisei is unsurpassed in sheer brute strength."

Yang's jaw dropped as her eyes widened in disbelief. "Her? Really?"

"That's right," said Kyo cheerfully. "You wouldn't guess it by looking at her."

"No kidding," said Yang, her mind dwelling on what a short, petite-looking girl Saisei was.

"But she has more raw, physical power than any of the other Shiseiten or even the Goyosei," continued Kyo. "Of course, she uses her body modification skills to control her size and shape, which inhibits her strength. But in her true form-urk!"

Kyo was cut off as a furry foxtail wrapped slowly around his neck, then closed tight, like the coils of a python, as Kyo found Saisei standing behind him. Though she was smiling radiantly, she practically radiated pure, unadulterated malice from every inch of her body as her tail rose up, lifting Kyo from the ground.

"S-S-Saisei!" choked out Kyo. "I th-thought you were helping N-Neo get ready…" His words were cut off as Saisei's hold tightened.

"I was," said Saisei. "But then my sixth sense told me that some daft fool was out here, running his mouth about things best left unsaid." She turned Kyo in her grip so that he was now facing her. "Now then," she said, "what was it you were going to say about my true form?"

"Nothing!" said Kyo quickly, taking advantage of the tiny loosening of Saisei's tail to allow him to speak. "I wasn't saying anything about your true form. As far as I know, _this_ is your true form. It's the truest form there is."

Saisei giggled. "That's what I thought," she said, her tail finally releasing Kyo, who dropped to his knees as he sucked in long gasps of air.

"Now then…back to what I was doing," said Saisei, turning and marching back to Neo's room, leaving a coughing Kyo and a terrified, gaping Yang in her wake.

"So uh…not going there, huh?" asked Yang.

"I need to be more careful of what I say about her," said Kyo, rubbing his neck.

Then Yang began to laugh. "Well, I can see what you mean about physical strength though."

"I suppose you would," said Kyo, laughing along with her, though his voice remained slightly hoarse.

"Uh...we should be going," said Yang, deciding that not provoking Saisei was the way to go from now on.

"I agree," said Kyo eagerly.

They quickly headed off down the hall after Weiss and Hayate, determined not to bring up Saisei again.

* * *

Grinning cheerfully, Saisei slid the door shut behind her. "There," she said. "And that's that."

Neo, still seated on the bed, pouted as she fiddled with the kimono Saisei had brought her.

"Yes yes," said Saisei, waving a dismissive hand. "I know you'd just prefer to use your Semblance to make it look how you want. Consider this a favor to me, please?" Saisei fixated Neo with a pair of big, puppy-dog eyes, a look that made Neo blush and quail, before finally sagging in defeat.

Saisei giggled and resumed helping Neo with the kimono. It was primarily a pale-pink color, though the hems of the sleeves and along the collar were white. Finally, a chocolate-brown sash, wrapped around Neo's waist completed the ensemble.

"There we go...perfect," said Saisei triumphantly, looking quite cute in her own rust-red kimono, with sleeves that were white from the shoulders down. The body of the kimono was decorated by orange maple leaves in fall colors, while a forest-green sash decorated her waist. There was an opening at the back for Saisei's tail, which gently flicked back and forth in the air behind her. "You look wonderful."

Neo blushed and giggled, then gave Saisei a stern look.

"Yes, I know," said Saisei. "But it gives me some reassurance to know your clothes are real. When you're using your Semblance, you could be wearing anything...or nothing at all."

Neo's lips curled up in a sultry smile.

"Maybe another time," said Saisei. "You're quite the daring one, aren't you?"

Affecting a proud expression, Neo nodded sharply.

Laughing, Saisei hooked her arm around Neo and began to lead her from the room. Her tail rose up to drape itself over Neo's opposite shoulder, the tip curling up to brush teasingly along the line of her jaw to the tip of Neo's chin. "Well, we'll just have to see how _daring_ you can be later," she said, her voice emerging as a purr that made Neo shiver pleasantly. "In the meantime, there's plenty to see and do during the festival. Let's be off."

Nodding, Neo allowed herself to be led down the hallway.

* * *

"I am getting sick of how stupidly huge this Palace is," said Weiss as she and Hayate finally emerged from the gate and out into the upper-class district.

"It could certainly stand to be smaller," Hayate agreed, "not that people would let Sora and Kyoichiro get away with downsizing it.

"Where's Makoto going to perform?" asked Weiss.

"The water stage is set over a lake," said Hayate. "It actually serves as another courtyard most of the time, with a pavilion in the middle."

"Oh!" said Weiss, remembering the place in question. It was where they had first met Kyo's parents after all. "And that place can hold the entire population of the capital?"

Hayate grinned. "It looks smaller than it is because they can move the halls around it. They can be pulled back and doubled up. The lake is even bigger still. Even so, people tend to crowd around the whole thing, until it's packed to overflowing. That's part of the charm, after all."

"Is that so?" asked Weiss dubiously. She guessed she would have to experience it for herself before she could legitimately agree or disagree. She supposed she would find out in two more days after all. "So where to now?" she asked, deciding to change the subject.

"Well, there's plenty to do up here," said Hayate, gesturing around them as they walked.

Looking around, Weiss realized that there were far more people around the upper-class district than there usually were. She could see people of all ages and, from the state of some sets of clothing, all different economic levels, though none of the people she saw looked as though they could qualify as destitute. They wandered about, moving between stalls and activities, the stall owners having taken advantage of the district's wide open spaces to set up shop.

"Technically, the upper-class district serves as the official festival grounds," said Hayate. "This is where most of the festivities will be taking place after all and it makes it easy to get to the Palace."

"I'm surprised the residents would accept this," said Weiss.

"They participate," said Hayate with a chuckle, carefully pointing to a couple dressed in very expensive-looking clothes. "Granted, they have their limits. There's a reason entrepreneurs are only permitted to run stalls in this area for two days in the year."

"That's a good point," admitted Weiss. "So what should we do now?"

"Well, it's fun to just explore," said Hayate. "The setup changes every year. Some of the stalls are regulars, others might show up just this year. There's always something new to see."

"That sounds exciting," said Weiss. She supposed that was typical. The Vytal Festival had been like that after all.

"Then there are performances," said Hayate. "Most of them are traditional forms that originated from the Mibu Clan's parent culture, although more outsider-based forms have been migrating in over the years."

"What sort of performances?" asked Weiss.

"Well, there are the different forms of drama," said Hayate. "There's Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku. The last one is really interesting because it uses puppets. They're all quite notorious, because people train in those arts with the same kind of dedication that you'd expect to see from students of a martial arts school. They're heavily stylized and formalized, which gives them a unique appeal."

"That sounds like something worth seeing," said Weiss. Back in Atlas, she had attended plenty of operas and plays; and, of course, there were her own concerts. Vale had similar forms of entertainment and she thought she'd heard the art forms Hayate had listed being used in Mistral. There actually seemed to be quite a bit of cultural similarities between Mistral and the Mibu, though the Mibu's history appeared to go back further. Weiss wondered if there was some kind of historical connection between the two Kingdoms.

They passed a cart selling a variety of teapots, which caught Weiss' eye. She was more of a coffee person herself. However, she had also attended plenty of tea parties, which were a favorite pastime of the Atlesian upper-class. She found the tea and snacks offered at such functions to be quite appealing. The issue was that the company was often less so, as Weiss had little patience for the vapid posturing and affectations of sophisticated superiority that were as much a staple of the upper class as the parties themselves.

Sure enough, the cart had numerous teapots. On the lowest shelf were large, western-style pots, like the kind she had seen used in Atlas and Vale, made from bone china and porcelain, decorated with all manner of patterns. Above them were smaller pots, some with surprisingly varied shapes and decorations. These were eastern-style pots Weiss had seen favored by the inhabitants of Mistral and Menagerie. They were made of various ceramic types, as well as some made of cast iron. Above them were even smaller teapots, made from some kind of unglazed clay that Weiss hadn't seen before.

"Blake would love these," said Weiss, staring at the pots, wondering about the ones on the top row.

"Aha! You have a fine eye, Ojo-san," said the stall owner, grinning eagerly as he emerged from behind the stall itself. The man was a lithe, lanky fellow, with short, black hair.

"What are these?" asked Weiss, pointing to the top row of pots. "I've never seen anything like them?"

"Ah, those are a Mibu-exclusive product," said the man with a grin.

Weiss had to fight furiously to keep from jumping and shrieking as a spindly limb unfolded out from somewhere on the man's torso, emerging from an opening in the cloth of his shirt that she hadn't noticed before, and stretching up to hook the handle of one of the pots and daintily lifting it up. Weiss held out her hands, which the man set the pot down into as she fought furiously to keep them from trembling. The pot was slightly heavier than it looked, the surface fairly rough and grainy.

"My apologies," said the man, folding the appendage away. "I tend to forget that most people aren't used to seeing my other legs."

"No," said Weiss. "I need to apologize. There's no legitimate reason for me to be afraid of you."

The man chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "It's common enough," he said. "Even other faunus can get unsettled by a spider like me, especially if they're arachnophobes, which are common enough among humans and faunus alike. People are used to me back in Murasaki, but I should make a bit more of an effort to be discreet when I'm abroad."

"Murasaki?" asked Weiss.

"It's a settlement near the western coast," said Hayate. "They're famous for their ceramics."

The stall-owner smiled and nodded. "These particular ones on the top row, including the one in your hands, are made from our famous Yixing clay; although it's more commonly referred to as purple clay, even if it's not always purple. The clay's composition is unique to our region, as such these are our favored export."

"Does that mean they're especially suited for brewing tea?" asked Weiss.

"Yes," said the owner. "They are unglazed so that, when tea is brewed in them, the interior surface absorbs trace amounts with each brewing. Over time, the pot is 'seasoned,' so to speak, so that it enhances the tea's flavor. Of course, because of that, the general rule is that you shouldn't use more than one type of tea per pot."

"So if you like different kinds of tea, you're best served by getting a pot for each so that you can brew each one to get the best flavor," said Hayate with a smile, "which, of course, is how they get you to keep coming back."

"All right," said Weiss, looking down at the pot in her hands. "Blake would love this," she said.

"You could always get it for her," suggested Hayate.

Weiss was seriously tempted, but closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "Not now," she said. "For all we know, Blake might show up here sometime and want to buy it herself."

If the stall-owner was disappointed to lose a sale, he didn't show it, instead taking the pot from her hands, with his human hand this time, and setting it back on its shelf. "Then I'll keep an eye out for your friend," he said.

Weiss smiled. "Thank you for telling me about it."

"Of course," said the owner. "Feel free to look around some more and enjoy your day." He disappeared behind his stall again.

"You don't want it for yourself?" asked Hayate.

"I'm not as much of a tea person as Blake is," said Weiss. "I know Sora said that we're free to get whatever we like, but I don't want to go overboard with expenditures."

"Very sensible," said Hayate.

Reaching into her purse, Weiss fingered the special voucher that Sora had given them the previous evening. It officially designated them as guests of the Taishiro and the Royal Family, thus allowing them to buy whatever they liked, with the promise that Sora and Kyoichiro would cover their expenditures. As tempting as it was, Weiss was determined not to abuse their hosts' generosity. However, she also knew that it could be considered offensive if they _didn't_ take at least limited advantage of the offer. She'd be happy to get something for herself, but only after careful consideration. In the meantime, the voucher would also ensure that Weiss could pay for her and Hayate's meals.

They moved on, passing the neighboring stall, which, naturally, offered a selection of teas for use with the pots that patrons might buy. She resolved to tell Blake about it later, if Blake didn't find it herself.

They continued to wander amongst the stalls. Weiss was impressed by the variety of wares on display. Many of the stalls showcased products from the Mibu Clan's settlements, the sellers having navigated their way across the continent to reach the capital for the festival. From what Weiss understood, even if the settlements were considerably safer than their equivalents on the other continents, the journey between them was harsh and dangerous, as the Grimm roamed the space in between. The Grimm's presence also made maintaining infrastructure difficult, meaning that roads were often plagued by rough patches or were eroded away in some places completely. It seemed that, for all their prowess, not even the Mibu could easily overcome that particular sort of hardship.

"It's not so bad," said Hayate as they talked about the subject. "There are plenty of warriors willing to escort convoys and the like. The roads can make things difficult in some areas, but the Mibu at least make a consistent effort to maintain them. It's just hard to keep up with how quickly some of them can get worn down, not to mention that the Grimm seem to make a point of actively breaking them up in places."

Weiss nodded. Back in the other Kingdoms, that kind of work was generally reserved for the worst convicts, and was usually considered equivalent to a death sentence in the Kingdoms. At least the Kingdoms were able to use airships to conduct regular aerial surveys to determine which of the most-used roads were in dire need of repair, though it meant that the less vital tracks were often neglected until they were often all but worn away, something Ruby and the other members of the former Team JNPR had discovered during their travels across Anima.

Still, those were concerns for another time. Right now, Weiss simply intended to enjoy the festival to the fullest.

Her stomach growled and she realized that it was sometime around noon. She and Hayate had lost the entire morning wandering from stall to stall, not that she considered it a waste. "I guess we should get lunch," she said, blushing at the very unladylike noise her stomach was making.

"Guess we should," said Hayate, looking around. "And I know just the place."

Grabbing her hand, he led her towards a wheeled cart that had been designed to open up into a small restaurant. One side of the cart was set up with a bar and stools, slightly hidden by loose curtains that hung down so that the open window to the kitchen was obscured.

"What's this?" asked Weiss as she and Hayate ducked under the curtains.

"It's a ramen cart," said Hayate as he settled onto one of the stools, Weiss taking the one next to him. "This particular one typically moves around the streets downtown. But, for the festival, they're allowed to come up here."

"Ha!" came a shout from the window as a brown-haired woman with a matronly attitude, and an impressively robust physique, rose up from behind the counter. "If it isn't my favorite customer. Welcome back, Boya."

"Hey," said Hayate, grinning and waving a hand.

"And you've brought a friend." she said, eying Weiss, looking over her clothes. "Maybe even a girlfriend, hmmm?"

"Uh...well..." Hayate stammered as he and Weiss both blushed, making the owner cackle.

"I assume you'll be having the usual," she said, already getting out bowls.

"If you don't mind," said Hayate.

"And for you, Jo-chan?" asked the woman with a twinkle in her eye.

"Um...well...what kinds do you have?" asked Weiss. She wasn't a ramen expert, though she remembered visiting a place like this with her team during the Vytal Festival, run by the same old man that ran the Dust shop, the robbery of which Ruby had thwarted to earn her place at Beacon. In fact, Weiss was fairly certain the old man ran or owned half the shops in Vale, given all the places she'd seen him at.

"We have all the classics," said the owner. "We've got shoyu, miso, shio, tonkotsu, plus some regional specialties from certain settlements. Boya here is partial to our curry ramen."

"It's a little bit on the spicy side, but I highly recommend it," said Hayate. "Or the miso ramen is a good choice for someone who hasn't had it before."

"I'll have that then," said Weiss, nodding to owner.

"Good choice," said the woman.

A few minutes later, the two of them were tucking into their food. So far, as first dates went, Weiss had to admit that this was shaping up to be a very good one.

* * *

"Wow!" gasped Ruby as she watched the fireworks explode overhead in a rapidly expanding display of colored sparks, which dispersed across the sky before fading. It was followed up by another one, which burst into a shower of white sparks that crackled and snapped as they scattered in the air.

Jaune grinned, somewhat amused by Ruby's enthusiastic response. In all honesty, the Mibu's fireworks display was incredibly humble ,compared to shows they had both seen in the other Kingdoms. Dust fireworks could be used to produce dozens of different effects, made to shimmer across the sky in scintillating displays of changing color, form almost holographic-level images, and produce various effects like dancing lightning, or even scattering actual snow on a summer's day. The Mibu's simplistic, black-powder-based, fireworks could hardly match even the most humble displays put on by any Kingdom show.

Of course, Jaune could admit that the mileage that the Mibu seemed to get out of such simple explosives showcased an impressive display of ingenuity. Jaune admittedly knew little about such fireworks, aside from the basics of how they worked. Yet it was incredible that they were able to produce so many different colors and effects. And, of course, the one place where they truly surpassed Dust fireworks was the sound. That echoing boom that accompanied each explosion sent a jolt through their bodies, to their very bones, creating an excitement that the much quieter Dust fireworks couldn't match. There was something appealing about the delay, caused by the difference in speeds between sound and light, that made the fact that each boom reached their ears a fraction of a second after the light from the explosion itself reached their eyes an extra little bit of excitement. It was like a tiny little surprise factor accompanying each firework.

He and Ruby had spent the day wandering the festival grounds, which mostly occupied the upper-class district of Onmyo. They had perused various shops and stalls, seeing all the different wares on offer. They had even caught a Kabuki show, a comedy in which the actors embellished their performance with such over-the-top dramatics that it had the two of them rolling with laughter.

As the last of the fireworks faded against the night sky, Jaune got up and stretched with a yawn, the movement flapping the sleeves of the yellow kimono he'd been given to wear for the occasion. Reaching down, he helped Ruby to her feet, appreciating how lovely she looked in her own bright-red kimono, decorated with images of winding, thorny vines that climbed up her body and down her arms.

"Well, not bad for the first day," he noted as the two of them began making their way back to the Palace. By now, they knew their way around enough to be able to make their way to the guest quarters from the gate.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "I wonder what tomorrow's going to be like."

"About the same."

The two of them turned, surprised to see Keikoku standing behind them, looking almost regal in his orange kimono with red hems. Ruby and Jaune were amused to see him sweating slightly, possibly because Dew and Octavia were hanging off his arms, each of them dressed in a lovely kimono of their own.

The day before, Sora had enlisted a small army of tailors to take everyone's measurements and produce kimonos for them to wear to the festival, which was considered traditional garb for the event. Said clothes were then delivered to them that morning. Only Weiss had chosen to forgo her own kimono, mostly for the sake of being able to choose her dress for her first date with Hayate.

Keikoku was clearly aware of just how attractive the young ladies presently clinging to him were, and was also aware that they were both vying for his attention and affection...and was obviously somewhat uncomfortable with being between the pair. Although, at the same time, he was also clearly aware of how envious most young men would be of his current position.

"So there're no special events?" asked Jaune, deciding to spare Keikoku any kind of teasing and take the high ground.

"Not really," said Keikoku. "There's so much stuff to see that you can't take it all in on one day. So two is really optimal for seeing at least most of the things on offer."

"What about the third day?" asked Ruby.

"The third day is very quiet," said Keikoku as he fell into step next to him, Dew and Octavia still clinging to his arms, but listening attentively to what he was saying. "On Day Three, Makoto-sama performs, so everything else is put aside. It's basically the most formal affair of the entire festival, and everyone attends."

"Does that mean that there's nothing for the people who don't want to see the performance?" asked Octavia, who flinched when Keikoku gave her a surprised look that bordered on affronted.

Keikoku's mouth opened and he was apparently about to say something, possibly quite hasty before he apparently thought better of it and closed his mouth again, thinking through his response more carefully. "I don't think that's ever really occurred to anybody," he said. "I mean...it's not like attendance is mandatory. But no one who comes for the festival would even think of ditching it. It's the very thing the festival is named for after all."

"Is it really so amazing?" asked Dew. Like Octavia, she didn't wish to sound offensive. But hearing that an important personage was going to put on a dance seemed so...mundane...given the reverent status clearly afforded the whole affair. She would have chalked it up to the sheer reverence everybody seemed to hold for the Taishiro, but that didn't quite gel with the level of enthusiasm that the Mibu showed for their event, and their willingness to build an entire festival around it.

"I forget that you guys are outsiders sometimes," said Keikoku with a chuckle, shaking his head. His tone turned wistful. "You haven't seen a performance until you've seen the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ perform his dance. Makoto-sama's performance changes every year, so it never gets stale. But it's also like it transforms each year's dance into a priceless treasure, a once-in-a-lifetime show that you'll never get to see again, no matter how many times you come back." He sighed. "It's really hard to put into words. Kyo and Saisei have been to the outside world, and they praise so many of the things they've found there. But, every year, they're here for the festival, like clockwork. And, believe me, Kyo doesn't show up just to make a home visit."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," said Jaune. "We'd be going either way, because it would be pretty rude of us to skip out on the very thing we were invited for." He looked at Dew and Octavia with a raised eyebrow, which made both of them blush in embarrassment and look away.

"Well, I can understand," said Keikoku. "If you haven't grown up seeing it, it would sound pretty boring on paper. It's hard for me to remember back that far, but I must've wondered what the big deal was, back when I was a kid."

If his words were meant to assuage Dew and Octavia's embarrassment, then he failed in that respect, as their humiliation was compounded by the idea that their outlook was basically the same as a small child's.

"Sorry," said Keikoku, clearly noticing the effect his words had. "I don't mean to belittle you. You just don't have that experience yet. Believe me. It's priceless."

Octavia was the first to recover. "Well...after everything I've heard, we'll have to go just to see what all the fuss is about."

"It'd be rude of us to skip it anyway," said Dew.

* * *

Yang didn't bother to keep her smile in check as she and Kyo explored the festival grounds. It seemed that the celebratory atmosphere alleviated the normal animosity most of the Mibu seemed to have towards him...that or the fact that many of them were visitors from the settlements. She was amazed at the sheer scope and variety of the event. It wasn't quite a match for the Vytal Festival, but it was still close. She also saw plenty of things she had never seen at the Vytal Festival. The Bunraku performance Kyo had taken her to see was especially fascinating.

There was so much to look at and try that Yang was certain there was no way she and Kyo could see or do everything during the first two days of the festival. They wouldn't get the chance on the third day, seeing as the whole day was apparently spoken for.

As the day wore on and evening began to set in, Yang figured that they should be heading back towards the Palace. However, Kyo instead led her off in a different direction, weaving along the paths that wound through the upper-class district, which were lined with various stalls for foods, goods, and activities. He continued to walk, not stopping for any of them, making Yang wonder where exactly he was going.

Eventually, Kyo's course took them past the fringes of the festival, and out into one of the spaces of open ground between Onmyo's upperclass district and their agricultural district. The space out here was largely unoccupied, by people at least. Instead, the space was occupied by several large tents, which had been set up to serve as temporary warehouses for goods and supplies used by the festival. Because of that, there was plenty of open ground, and few people wandering around.

"What are we doing here?" asked Yang, looking around in confusion.

"My apologies," said Kyo. "I just wanted to find a place where other people won't get in the way."

"Get in the way?" asked Yang. "Get in the way of what?"

Kyo sighed and gently pulled his arm out of her grip, hefting his sword. Yang blinked, shuddering nervously at the motion. Kyo had been carrying his sword all day, something he did so habitually that Yang hadn't even thought to question it until now. Now that she thought about it, it certainly was odd that Kyo would be openly carrying a weapon during what should have been considered a peaceful event. Yang had both Ember Celica and Kiren Kaina on her. But both weapons were rather discreet in their inactive forms, which made carrying them easier.

"Kyo?" asked Yang.

"I'm sorry," said Kyo. "We picked up some followers earlier this afternoon. I didn't want to worry you, and they weren't going to attack in the midst of the celebrations. That would have been quite crass of them."

A sick feeling rose in her stomach as Yang remembered what Kyo had told her and Weiss the other day. "Someone's stalking you?"

"Someone is trying," said Kyo. "But they aren't making much of an effort at subtlety."

Seeing as she hadn't noticed a thing until now, Yang figured that these people were plenty subtle. Or maybe it was just the fact that she had let her guard down completely during the festival. It didn't seem conceivable that someone would actually try to attack them during an event like this.

Taking a breath, Yang relaxed her body and allowed her mind to calm. As she did, she let her Aura open up. She didn't try to direct her Extension out through her arm, but instead allowed it to spread through the air around her. As she did, she was able to feel Kyo's Aura, swirling about like the wind itself, drifting so subtly and softly that she barely even noticed it at first. Her own Aura couldn't reach as far as his, unless she directed it through her right arm. However, it did manage to cover about a ten meter area. As it did, she was able to feel the forms of several people moving around them. Also, now that she was focusing her senses, Yang was able to hear the rustling of clothing and the metallic clinking of weapons rattling in their sheaths...followed by a grating noise as one of those blades was drawn.

A man, at least a few years older than Kyo, stepped around from behind one of the tents. His head was covered by short, dark-brown hair, combed back, looking so smooth that it might have been doused with oil. His pale face was decorated by a pair of dark-green eyes, eyes that were narrowed at her and Kyo in a glare. He was dressed in a white kimono, with a katana tucked into the black sash tied around his waist.

"Finally ready to face me, Kyo?" asked the man with a smirk, the kind of angry smile of a person greeting an arch-enemy.

"Ah, there you are," said Kyo in a pleasant tone. "It's certainly been a few years since someone was bold enough to come for me during festival time. I guess it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that it's you..." Kyo paused, leaning forward slightly, squinting his eyes, his face scrunching and forehead furrowing. "...Who are you again?"

Whatever the man had been expecting Kyo to say, that wasn't it. Yang was also caught off-guard by it, flinching sharply at Kyo's question.

"It's Kouki!" snapped the man, coming out of his sudden slump.

"Ah! That's right," said Kyo with a cheerful smile.

Yang turned around, her own eyes narrowing as she saw more people stepping around tents or coming from behind crates. A couple of them even perched on the fabric of the tents overlooking them, glaring down at the pair. They had been surrounded, though Kyo didn't seem bothered in the slightest. Slowly, Yang lowered her right arm so that the sleeve of her kimono dangled past her her hand, the fabric muffling the clicks and grating sounds of her gauntlet unfolding underneath it. She kept Ember Celica inactive at the moment. But her body was tense, ready to activate it at a moment's notice.

"You seem especially angry," noted Kyo, staring down Kouki, who was apparently the leader of this group. "At least...you certainly seem more upset than usual, when you and your friends come after me."

"Why wouldn't I be?" snapped Kouki. "You come back, bringing a plague of outsiders with you, and you think that nobody would be insulted?"

Kyo tilted his head. "I don't quite understand," he said. "What are you so upset about?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" shouted Kouki. "For over a week, we've endured the insult of those outsiders' warships hovering over our heads. We've watched you traipse around with them as though they had every right to be here. You've profaned our sacred land with their filthy bodies and act as though nothing's wrong?"

Kyo blinked in surprise. "Well...I wasn't expecting this. I had no idea you were such an ardent isolationist, Kouki-san. Does the idea of outsiders being here really upset you so much?"

"How couldn't it?" demanded Kouki. "Those damned barbarians have no place here! And now we're opening our borders to them. Do you know no shame?"

"Not particularly," answered Kyo with a teasing smile. "Besides, our borders have been open to outsiders, who wished to join us, for some time now. There are plenty of immigrants here in the capital. Unless you forget, my mother, the head of the Taishiro themselves, is an outsider by birth. Why is establishing a more open relationship with them such a shameful thing?"

Kouki bared his teeth, his body quaking with barely suppressed rage. "You damn demon child," he hissed. "It's bad enough that a cursed beast like you is allowed to roam free, to come and go as he pleases...but now you're actively undermining your own clan."

"Once again, I'll point out that opening our borders was O-Kaa-san[s idea," said Kyo. "I have absolutely no say in the matter." He paused, rubbing his chin as he narrowed his eyes, staring at Kouki speculatively, the sudden intensity of his interest making Kouki reflexively flinch. Then, with jarring abruptness, Kyo grinned widely. "Oh! I get it! You're upset about the opening, but you don't want to start a fight with the Taishiro, so you settle for a target you can attack with impunity. You and your friends are surprisingly shallow, Kouki-san."

"Wha-what?" sputtered Kouki, taking a shocked step back, his eyes wide. From where she stood, Yang didn't even bother hiding her grin, seeing similar looks of frustration and surprise on the people who were flanking them. From the way they reacted, Kyo had struck right at the heart of their rationale for accosting them like this.

"Well, it hardly matters," said Kyo, stretching his arms up. "I'm surprised you'd even bother with cooking up some kind of excuse. You've been free to come at me anytime. There's not even a need for any kind of justification...which makes it rather odd, really..." Again, Kyo paused, rolling his eyes upwards thoughtfully. "Oh! Were you hoping that you could use your arguments to impart some sense of guilt in me that would leave me open to receiving your attacks as 'righteous retribution' or something like that?"

Again, the reaction of Kouki and the others told Yang that Kyo had, more or less, hit the nail on the head.

Kyo laughed loudly. "Unfortunately for you, it would take a lot more than that to make me simply bare my throat for your blade. You'll just have to try to kill me the old-fashioned way. After all, despite the fact that it has no meaning whatsoever, O-Kaa-san has my fullest support."

Yang tensed slightly as a chorus of angry growls rose around them. She quietly twitched her left arm, again, using her sleeve to muffle the clicks as Ember Celica opened up for battle.

"The outside world is a really amazing place," continued Kyo. "There are so many things to do and see out there." He grinned at Kouki with an almost childlike cheerfulness and earnestness. "Now that the borders are going to be open, you should consider taking the opportunity to travel yourself, Kouki-san. It makes a world of difference, when you can see for yourself just how small the Mibu really are."

"Small..." Kouki's hand trembled with rage as his hand closed around the handle of his sword, gripping it so tightly that the knuckles turned white. In a sharp motion, he yanked the sword free. "You dare to call our Clan 'small?'" he snarled. "I won't stand for this insult!"

"Then don't," said Kyo, his fingers curling around the handle of his sword.

"You really think you can stand a chance?" demanded Kouki. "We've all been training for the day when we could finally leave you with your lifeblood spilling out onto the dirt. Meanwhile, you've been playing tourist in the outside world. I doubt you even remember what it means to wield the sword."

Kyo said nothing, merely grinning with the excitement of a child about to play his favorite game. If anything, that eager, excited, happy expression his face made Yang infinitely more nervous than the men presently surrounding them.

"Kill both of them!" snapped Kouki.

Kyo's smile vanished and the air around him suddenly grew heavy. "Step carefully," he said. "It's one thing to come after me. But Yang is an official guest of the Taishiro. Touch her and you incur their wrath."

"Kyo!" protested Yang, snapping her head around to look at him. While she was grateful for his concern, she was able to look after herself, even if these blade-wielding thugs represented a dangerous unknown.

"Just stating the facts," said Kyo simply with a chuckle.

"I don't care!" yelled Kouki. "We'll just say she interfered." His lips curled back in a cruel grin. "In the confusion of battle, all sorts of unfortunate things happen." His words were greeted by amused and eager chuckles from his cohorts.

Kyo merely shrugged dismissively. "Very well then," he said. He glanced at Yang. "You don't mind if I leave a few of them to you, do you?"

"I wouldn't mind that at all," said Yang, a feeling of excitement welling up within her. After all the time she'd spent here, having to be on at least good behavior, it felt good to be able to just let go of her restraint and enjoy a good brawl. Her friends never let her get away with that back in Vale anymore.

"Okay then," said Kyo with a chuckle, turning back to Kouki. "Whenever you're ready then."

"Kill them!" shouted Kouki, charging forward, his sword raised. His friends rushed to answer his call to arms.

Kyo's sword rang as it flew from its sheath, while Yang pressed her back up against Kyo, raising her arms, readying herself for the fight to come as the two of them met the attack, standing back-to-back.

* * *

 **I kinda felt the need to throw in a random encounter at this point, if only to give some idea of what Kyo's day-to-day life amongst the Mibu is usually like. No wonder he spends so much time abroad.**

 **Credit for Weiss' alternate outfit goes to the famous and talented Mojojoj, whose artwork is always an inspiration for me.**


	67. Chapter 67

**Chapter 67:**

The entire group of attackers converged on Kyo and Yang. Yang estimated that there must have been about ten or so of them. The two that she had been facing from behind immediately rushed at her, while the remaining eight, including Kouki, charged Kyo, some leaping from their perches on the tent roofs to attack him from above.

Normally, Yang would have felt insulted that their enemies thought they would only need two people to deal with her. But then again, knowing how dangerous Kyo was, she understood them wanting to concentrate their strength on him as much as possible. If they managed to beat him, then they could easily concentrate on finishing her off, if she even lasted that long.

Of course, neither Yang nor Kyo had any intention of allowing them the chance to do that. Yang left Kyo to his fight, not even twitching as she heard the clash of steel on steel behind her, yells reaching her ears as the battle was joined. Instead, she reserved her attention for the opponents coming right at her.

There were two of them. To Yang's surprise, they were both girls with flowing, black hair. She blinked in shock, suddenly reminded of the Malachite twins in Junior's club. She wondered if this pair was twins as well. Looking at their black hair, matching grey eyes, and their almost identical faces and builds, Yang was willing to bet they were. One girl had drawn a pair of kodachi from behind her back, while the other drew a set of segmented rods that joined together to form a spear-like weapon, with a single-edged blade, a curved, hook-like projection extending off the back side of that blade.

The pair of them attacked her simultaneously. To Yang's surprise, her second attacker's spear separated into a three-section-staff, which allowed her to whirl the blade on one end around to attack from a bewildering variety of angles. She used that flexibility in conjunction with its greater reach to attack from behind her sister, her attacks hemming Yang in from the outside, while the other girl rushed straight in, her short-swords allowing her to engage Yang up close and personally.

Yang raised her arms to guard against the assault. Both of her attackers moved with speed that almost reached the level of Ruby's, when Ruby used her Semblance. However, they weren't quite _that_ fast. They attacked with perfect coordination, striking rapidly, but never seeming to tangle one another's weapons. Yang's own arms were a blur as she snapped them up in rapid blocks to catch the incoming blades as she fell back before the assault.

The two girls paused their attack, both of them hesitating when their strikes were met with the sound of metal against metal. Seeing Yang, dressed as she was, they must have assumed that she was unarmed. Neither of them had noticed that she had deployed her gauntlets, the weapons hidden within the sleeves of her kimono. Now their blades cut through the cloth, only to be deflected by the steel waiting inside. As they fell back, the shredded tatters of Yang's kimono sleeves fell away to reveal the silver and gold gauntlet protecting her right arm, along with the gold and red one covering her left.

"Not gonna be as easy as you thought, huh?" asked Yang with a cocky grin.

"Shut up, outsider pig!" snapped the sword-wielding girl.

"A barbarian like you can't stand up to Mibu technique," added her sister.

"We'll see about that," said Yang. "All the technique in the world doesn't count for much in the hands of a couple of amateurs."

The sword girl growled, baring her teeth. However, her angry expression vanished, replaced by one of surprise and shock as Yang abruptly closed the distance between them, moving just as fast as she had before. Yang cocked back her left arm and struck at the the girl, aiming for the center of her chest. She immediately crossed her blades to intercept the blow. However, she was caught off-guard when Ember Celica discharged, the Dust round exploding against her blades. The impact threw her back, though she managed to protect her body itself from the explosion. Yang followed up, stepping forward, ready to strike with her right fist. However, a flash out of the corner of her eye, and the stirring of the breeze on her right side, told her that the other girl was now striking with the bladed staff. Stopping her punch, Yang transitioned to a block that caught the incoming blade and bounced it away. Her defense gave the sword girl an opportunity to recover her balance and resume the attack.

Staff-Girl pivoted around her sister, joining the segments of her weapon and swinging the whole thing at Yang, who was already having to deflect the onslaught from Sword-Girl. Yang managed to catch the slash with her right gauntlet again. However, Staff-Girl had traded flexibility for heft now, the force behind her swing enough to drive Yang into the air and nearly knock her off her feet. As she did, Sword-Girl closed in with impressive speed, slashing her blades in an X-shape in front of her. However, Yang managed to raise her left arm, catching both blades on Ember Celica, so that the first blade blocked the second.

Recovering quickly, Yang snapped her left arm out to the side, knocking one of Sword-Girl's kodachis out of the way, and then following up with a powerful punch from her right hand. Sword-Girl blocked it with her other blade, but the force of the blow knocked her back. All of this occurred before Yang's feet returned to the ground. As her feet touched down, Yang punched at Sword-Girl, firing a shot from Ember Celica. The orange bolt of fire-Dust flying across the distance between them. Sword-Girl whirled her right blade around, sweeping it in a slash straight up, slicing the incoming shot in two so that its halves flew past her.

Staff-Girl closed in, spinning her weapon in her hands so that its grey, steel shaft was a blur, topped by the lighter, silvery blur of its blade. Yang whirled her own arms rapidly, meeting every attack, but remaining cautious. She couldn't allow herself to forget that her opponent's weapon was segmented. Staff-Girl could open up the segments at any time to try, and catch Yang off-guard by making her attack come from a sudden, unexpected angle...

...Which she did as Sword-Girl returned to the fray, charging in with rapid, short steps that kept her knees bent as she crouched down low, before rising as she closed with Yang. As she did, Staff-Girl unlocked her weapon's segments, which also extended its reach, as the segments stretched out along the chain that ran through the weapon's core. The end with the blade stretched out and arced around, coming at Yang's head from behind.

Yang punched down with her left gauntlet, meeting Sword-Girl's right-handed, rising slash straight-on. At the same time, she whipped her right arm back behind her, backhanding Staff-Girl's blade away with Kiren Kaina. Sword-Girl naturally followed up with her left-hand blade. However, Yang fired Ember Celica before she got the chance to. The recoil of the shot killed Sword-Girl's momentum and made her jerk back in surprise. However, it also propelled Yang into a spinning jump that allowed her to lash out with a back kick at Staff-Girl, who hadn't yet gotten a chance to start a new attack.

Staff-Girl was holding two of her weapon's segments, one in each hand. She caught Yang's kick with the central segment, but didn't have the strength in one arm to kill the full power behind Yang's attack. The force of Yang's kick blew her off her feet and the girl was sent flying backwards, her back hitting the ground with a loud thud. She skidded a short distance, before turning her remaining momentum into a backwards roll that brought her back onto her feet. Yang recognized that as the same trick Chinmei had pulled against Kyo during his "greeting" at the gates, on the day of their arrival. However, Chinmei was able to execute the move with far more grace, allowing him to do it without taking even a hint of the impact. This girl was nowhere near his level.

Landing an unexpected hit apparently made the two girls wary of Yang, and they fell back for a brief second, standing side by side as they reassessed her. Yang found herself grinning widely. "Harder than we thought?"

Staff-Girl grimaced, her arms twitching. Yang got the distinct impression that she was fighting the urge to rub the portion of her torso where the kick had landed.

"Shut up!" snapped Sword-Girl. "That stupid outsider weapon of yours is worthless against thousands of years of Mibu technique."

"I don't know about _Mibu_ technique," said Yang with a giggle. "If it's allowing me to land hits on you girls, what does that say about _your_ technique?"

Both of them flushed in angry embarrassment, their eyes shining with fury. Yang could tell she'd touched a nerve, which made her want to laugh out loud. It was amusing, in a sense. These girls spoke about a thousand years of technique as though they themselves had been practicing and honing their skills for that long, when, in reality, the breadth of their training wasn't even a fraction of that. What was more, Yang was able to see just how inexperienced her opponents were. For all that they definitely had impressive strength, speed, and technique, their actual ability to apply that to a real fight was still limited. They weren't yet flexible enough to deal with an adversary doing something unexpected on the fly, as evinced by their current hesitation.

One thing she new she would have to maintain a healthy respect for was their blades. They were strong, as demonstrated by their ability to take shots from Ember Celica or clash with Kiren Kaina without breaking. More to the point, she could sense the girls' Aura humming through them, sharpened to a keen edge that would cut through even Yang's tempered Aura, if she allowed a blow to land.

"All right, my turn," said Yang. "I'll be honest. You girls don't seem too bad. If you back off now, there won't be any hard feelings. But if you insist on seeing this through, I won't stop until I've pounded you both into the ground."

"Never!" shouted Sword-Girl.

Staff-Girl was clearly of the same mind. "As if we would ever back down before a dimwitted outsider bimb-!"

"Too bad," said Yang, already right in front of them, her sudden approach cutting off Staff-Girl mid-sentence. Yang unleashed a flurry of punches on them, forcing both girls to backpedal as they worked their weapons furiously to block her strikes. As Sword-Girl went stumbling back from a heavy punch, she suddenly saw the flare of one of Ember Celica's shots about to sear her face. She immediately raised her blades, not having the time to cut it like before. As such, the blaze from the explosion flared right in front of her eyes, making her cry out in surprise and pain as she was temporarily blinded.

Staff-Girl turned towards her sister, her attention drawn by the cry. However, she sensed Yang's incoming punch. Yang's fist met empty air though. Staff-Girl planted the butt end of her weapon into the ground and used it to vault into the air, her jump carrying her over Yang's head. As she did, she moved her grip on her weapon and swung it down, unlocking its segments as she did so that the blade ended up sweeping at Yang's neck from her left side.

Still, Yang wasn't caught off-guard, and instead blocked the blade with Ember Celica even as she pivoted around to swing her right at Staff-Girl in a backfist. Staff-Girl caught the hit with the center segment again, this time managing to brace it with both hands. However, with a loud ring, a Kiren Kaina amplified the impact of Yang's blow, the force of the strike sending Staff-Girl sliding back, her feet plowing furrows through the ground. She managed to stop herself and surged forward again, swinging her weapon from its furthest segment to give herself the maximum reach possible.

At the same time, Sword-Girl recovered from her temporary blinding, though her eyes were still red and teary. She came at Yang from the opposite direction, rapidly closing the distance between them. Yang knew she was in trouble. If the two of them attacked together from completely separate directions like this, she knew she didn't have the skill to hold them off for long.

Despite that, she couldn't keep the grin from her face. Swinging her left arm around, she punched across her body, firing Ember Celica at the blade of the incoming staff. As it was currently separated into its individual segments, the blade did not have much power behind it, since Staff-Girl couldn't brace it with her hands, which were all the way down at the farthest segment. Yang's shot struck the blade and knocked it back on its chain, bending it back until it rapped against the central segment, forcing Staff-Girl to reach out and grab it, before the two sections of her weapon could tangle themselves up.

At the same time, the recoil of Yang's shot allowed her to surge to her left, catching Sword-Girl completely off-guard, as the thrust of Ember Celica allowed Yang to drive her elbow into Sword-Girl's midriff...hard. Drawing on all the practice she had been doing in controlling her Aura's Flow, Yang channeled a substantial portion of her Aura into her strike, amplifying its force.

Sword-Girl was completely unprepared for the impact, her breath blowing out of her lungs, accompanied by spittle as she doubled over. Before she could even begin to think about recovering, Yang snapped her arm up, slamming Ember Celica right into Sword-Girl's face as she lurched forward from the elbow blow. Yang heard the crackling flare, and saw Sword-Girl's Aura break, before she was launched back and sent sprawling on the ground, not moving a muscle.

"You BITCH!" shrieked Staff-Girl, her eyes blazing with furry as she rejoined the segments of her weapon and charged at Yang, swinging down at Yang with all her might.

Turning to face her, Yang raised her arms and caught the descending blade of the staff weapon between her crossed gauntlets, grunting with the strain of the action. There had been a lot of power behind that swing. She even felt the ground beneath her feet give way a little, before she managed to stop its descent. Before Staff-Girl could even begin to think about pulling the weapon back or disengaging, Yang fired Ember Celica again, using its recoil, along with the counter-force of her other gauntlet, applying both to either side of the trapped blade, which then snapped under the strain.

Staff-Girl's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped as she stared incredulously at the broken blade of her weapon. She raised her eyes to Yang and began to speak, no doubt planning to screech insults. But Yang's fist cut her off as Yang struck at the unprepared girl with a flurry of punches slamming her face, her gut, and her collar several times in rapid succession. She didn't bother firing Ember Celica, not wanting to seriously injure the girl, if she could avoid it. However, she continued relentlessly, until she felt the the sensation of her opponent's Aura dissipate, at which point, she stopped her attack, watching as Staff-Girl keeled over backwards, hitting the ground hard.

Silence fell as Yang panted for breath, not having even realized how winded she was, until the fervor of battle was out of her system. _Whew! What a rush!_ She allowed herself a grin as the heady sensation of the adrenaline high ran through her, then petered out.

"H-how...?" The cracked, stuttering voice drew Yang's attention to Staff-Girl's form as the girl forced herself, slowly, into a sitting position. "How could an outsider like you beat us?"

"It's not that hard," said Yang. "You girls aren't too bad. But you don't have much real world experience."

"But we trained-"

"Yeah, you trained," said Yang, cutting her off. "But how much _actual_ combat have you done; the real deal, against Grimm or actual enemies, not simple sparring matches?"

The girl worked her mouth, but apparently couldn't find the words and instead settled for glaring silently at Yang.

"Uh huh, that's what I thought," said Yang, unable to keep from feeling at least a trifle smug. "Let me guess...Your only real fights were against Kyo...and only when you had half a dozen or more of your friends to gang up on him with...and he beat you so quickly and easily you didn't get a chance to get much out of it. Am I in the right neighborhood?"

The flushing of the girl's cheeks and her angry glare told Yang far more than her words ever could. "Yeah, that's what I thought," she said. "In the meantime, I have experience in the _real_ world, against _real_ enemies, against the kind of enemies you can't even imagine. Ultimately, that gives you a kind of strength that just practicing in your average training hall can't match."

Staff-Girl growled and glared fiercely at Yang, who merely shrugged and brushed it off, turning to see how Kyo was doing...only to see him standing there, beaming at her proudly.

"Well, I see you're finished," noted Yang, looking past him to see the rest of their attackers lying on the ground, bleeding profusely. "Are they gonna be okay?"

"Probably," said Kyo with a shrug. "We were seen by a few people staffing the area, so I think they should be receiving help shortly."

Yang shifted nervously, not sure if they should leave. She realized that it probably didn't matter all that much to Kyo if some of the people who'd tried to kill him ended up dying of their wounds. She certainly understood his kill-or-be-killed mentality now. She might have been bothered, if she had ended up killing one or both of the girls who had attacked her, but she probably would have gotten over it eventually. _They_ had been trying to kill _her_ after all.

"I think we should head back," said Kyo. "The day is mostly over anyway."

"Okay, I guess," said Yang.

Kyo looked her over. "I'm sorry about your kimono."

"Not your fault," said Yang as the two of them began to walk away. As they did, they heard the sound of running feet, as several people dressed in the white garb of the Clan's healers rushed past them.

"You weren't hurt at all, were you?" asked Kyo.

"Not a scratch," replied Yang with a small laugh. Truth be told, she was still wrestling with the feeling of exhilaration left over from the fight. That sense that she had been just inches away from death was intoxicating to the point that she could fully understand Kyo's enjoyment of such fights.

They made their way back through the festival grounds as the sun set behind the mountain. The stalls were closing and most of the people had already left. Now that the adrenaline was out of her system, Yang was fighting back yawns as she and Kyo made their way through the Palace gates.

The walk through the Palace seemed so much longer when she was tired. When they finally reached the guest quarters, Yang was just about ready to crawl into bed and sleep the night away, maybe with a shower before that. However, her appearance, with her tattered sleeves, the unkempt state of her hair, and the smudges on her kimono, immediately clued her friends in to the fact that something had happened. Naturally, they were shocked to learn about the attack, which forced Yang and Kyo to explain the details about what had happened.

Still, given that the matter was already settled, there was little for them to stay upset about, though Ruby and Weiss were still quite worried when they all went to bed. As they fell asleep, they all prayed that they would make it through the second day of the festival without incident.

* * *

The second day of the Water Festival dawned, bringing with it new opportunities for the visitors to explore and enjoy themselves. Despite their anxiety, there were no signs of anyone else planning to attack Kyo or any of the others during the day. Things went briskly, the day seeming to pass in a blur for them, ending before they were really ready for it. Worn out by all the excitement, they readied themselves for bed, wondering what the next day and the signature performance, from which the festival drew its name, would bring.

* * *

"What?" gasped Penny, shocked by Neptune's words. "You don't want to go?"

"I'm sorry, but I'll just stay here," said Neptune. "You go ahead without me. I'm sure it's fun."

Penny blinked, looking confused. She had wanted to go with Neptune to see Makoto's dance. It shocked her to hear Neptune turn her down so flatly. "I-is it something I said? Did I do something wrong?"

"N-no! That's not it at all!" said Neptune.

Penny settled into the chair beside him. "Can you please tell me what's wrong? I don't understand."

"I just don't want to go," said Neptune stubbornly.

Sun and Blake were passing by on their way to bed, when they had heard Penny's exclamation. After hearing it, the pair shared a knowing glance before coming up to Neptune.

"Dude," said Sun, his tone uncharacteristically grave, "you're going to have to own up to it, or it's gonna turn out like the Beacon Dance all over again. You don't want Jaune giving you a piece of his mind again, do you?"

"And this time, Weiss will be doing it too," added Blake.

"What are they talking about?" asked Penny, looking worriedly at Neptune.

"It's nothing!" protested Neptune, only to quail under Sun and Blake's glares. The two of them narrowed their eyes at him. Neptune quivered and then finally relented, letting out a sigh. Lowering his head, he spoke...but his voice was so low that Penny couldn't hear him, even though she was sitting right next to him.

"What was that?" asked Penny.

"I'm afraid of the water, okay!" snapped Neptune, glaring at her before realizing what he was doing. "I'm sorry," he said. "I-"

"You're afraid?" asked Penny, her hand going to her mouth.

"Y-yeah," said Neptune, sagging in defeat while Blake and Sun shared worried glances behind him. "I just am. I couldn't say why. Even when I know it's perfectly safe, I just freeze up whenever I see any more water than a bucket's worth. Showers are all right, but I can't take a bath. I can't get close to a lake, and forget about trying to get me on a boat. I know it's pathetic."

"Hardly," said Saisei, making everyone jump in surprise, as no one could remember when she'd entered the pavilion. "Having a phobia is not an indicator of cowardice." She approached Neptune, who was surprised to see that Sage and Scarlet were following behind her.

"But-" protested Neptune, stopping when Saisei held up a hand to his face.

"There are any number of potential causes," said Saisei. "Sometimes it is linked to a traumatic incident. Can you recall anything of the sort?"

"Nope," said Neptune. "It's...always been that way, I guess."

Saisei nodded. "That kind of phobia is not uncommon either." She settled into the seat next to Neptune, opposite the one Penny was occupying.

"But it's ridiculous," said Neptune, covering his face with his hands. "I can't count the number of times I've frozen up because I got too close to water. I nearly cost my team a win at the Vytal Festival because of it. I'm worthless."

"You're not!" protested Penny, wrapping her arms around Neptune's shoulders and hugging him tightly.

"Indeed not," agreed Saisei, her eyes flicking knowingly to Neptune's teammates as they shared guilty looks. After that match, during the tournament, they had given Neptune no small amount of grief for the difficulties they had encountered during their match with NDGO, starting with having to fight the girls on their side of the arena, where the terrain had been in their favor, which had resulted in Sage's early elimination. Afterwards, Neptune had stubbornly refused to pitch in, when the fight had shifted to the other side of the field, where the ocean biome had emerged, leading to the remaining members of his team taking on the remaining members of NDGO at a disadvantage, wasting the advantage they'd gained from taking out Octavia, and leading to Scarlet's elimination. Only at the last second had Sun finally managed to convince Neptune to get close enough to turn the fight around.

They had ribbed him for that for the remainder of the festival, and made teasing remarks about it for several months afterwards. Their words had never been mean-spirited, but it had never before occurred to them that Neptune had felt their teasing so keenly, that their words would attack the very heart of his sense of self-worth.

Saisei turned her eyes to a vase sitting at the center of the table, decorated with a few long-stemmed flowers. Reaching over, she plucked one out of the vase, pinching the stem between her fingers. "Vasilias-dono..."

"Y-yeah?" asked Neptune, looking up at her again.

With a flick of her wrist, Saisei sent the flower flying, stem first, at Neptune like a dart. Yelping in surprise, Neptune lurched back and whipped his hand in front of his face, deflecting the impromptu projectile, his sudden motion nearly knocking both him and Penny from their seats.

"What the heck was that for?" he asked.

"Why did you block that?" asked Saisei.

"Well I wasn't going to let it hit my face," protested Neptune. "I could lose an eye."

"Is that what you were thinking when you did it?" asked Saisei, raising an eyebrow. "Really?"

Neptune blinked in confusion for a second. "No," he said, thinking it over more carefully. "I just did it automatically. It's just a reflex. What else am I gonna do when something comes flying at my face like that?"

To his and Penny's surprise, Saisei beamed at him. "Exactly," she said.

"Huh?" Neptune tilted his head, wondering what the point of that was.

"Instinct, reflex, habit..." said Saisei, "...these refer to actions taken without conscious thought, because they are so ingrained that they bypass those processes. Your phobia is no different. Even when your rational mind knows that there is no threat, the presence of that which triggers your phobia bypasses such rationality to evoke an immediate, automatic response. It could stem from some forgotten trauma, or it could be something you were born with. Either way, it is a reflexive action that triggers so automatically that you can't even begin to think about reining it in, before the fear takes hold completely. It does not have anything to do with cowardice."

"R-really?" asked Neptune.

Saisei nodded, smiling warmly at him as Penny hugged him again. "Having a phobia is nothing to be ashamed of. More importantly, it is something that can be overcome."

"It can?" asked Neptune, leaning forward expectantly. Penny's eyes widened and she also stared hopefully at Saisei.

Saisei nodded. "After all, reflexes can be curbed, instincts can be overcome, and habits can be broken. Overcoming a phobia, especially a specific phobia like yours, is actually quite simple. However, it is not easy. It asks something very difficult of you."

"What do I have to do?" asked Neptune.

Saisei's smile faded. "You must confront the source of your fear. You must be exposed to it continuously, so that it desensitizes you to it. It's usually a gradual process."

"S-so...I have to..." Neptune stammered nervously.

"I would start by dealing with small amounts of water," said Saisei. "It could be something as simple as a bathtub that you gradually fill while you're in it, filling it a little more as you become accustomed to the amount you're immersed in."

"I-I see..." said Neptune. "But that doesn't help me with tomorrow."

"I can stay here too," volunteered Penny. "I don't want to leave you alone."

"No!" shouted Neptune. "You should go. This is a big deal, and I don't think you want to miss it. I can handle myself for a few hours."

"B-but..." protested Penny, her eyes watering slightly.

They both stopped when Saisei held up a hand. "I can help," she said.

"You can?" Neptune and Penny asked, both of them looking at Saisei eagerly.

She nodded. "It's not a cure," she said. "But I can temporarily alter your brain chemistry slightly, which will inhibit the automatic reaction to your fear, which should keep a pure fight-or-flight response from developing. In fact, it's actually a preliminary treatment for most forms of exposure therapy that we practice."

"So...I could go then?" asked Neptune. "And I wouldn't freeze up the minute we get to the lake?"

"Correct," said Saisei. "You would still feel the fear, quite keenly to be sure. But it wouldn't immediately paralyze you, and you should be able to function at some level of normalcy." Her eyes narrowed. "But I should warn you that it will not be a pleasant experience, as your fear will still be present, after all."

"Maybe we should save it for later," said Penny, giving Neptune a concerned look.

Neptune looked back at her, meeting her eyes before closing his own. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to Saisei. "I'll do it," he said firmly.

"Are you sure?" asked Saisei.

"Yeah," said Neptune, smiling grimly. "I've already let my fears get the better of me too many times already. Even when they didn't come from my phobia, I still let them control me, and it's cost me a lot." He thought back to what had happened with him and Weiss. "I don't want to lose someone else to my fear like that. Penny deserves better than that."

"Neptune," said Penny, her eyes widening.

"If you're sure then..." said Saisei, a small smile appearing on her face.

"I am," said Neptune.

"Then I will administer the treatment tomorrow, before we head to the water stage," said Saisei.

"All right," said Neptune as Penny hugged him again. Behind him, Sun and Blake exchanged smiles, while Sage and Scarlet sighed in relief.

* * *

The third day of the Water Festival dawned bright and clear. To the visitors' surprise, they were not compelled to get up early to get ready.

"Makoto-sama's dance won't be until two in the afternoon," explained Saisei to them at breakfast as they ate leisurely. "As special guests of our Clan, your seats are reserved, so you don't have to worry about going early."

"Wow! We're totally VIPs," exclaimed Nora cheerfully, prompting Ren to chuckle.

"So there's going to be no other activities today?" asked Scarlet.

"I'm afraid not," said Saisei. "The stalls and vendors have all closed for the day. Most of them will leave to return home tomorrow. I hope there isn't anything you were holding out for, because I'm afraid you've missed your chance."

"Ah well, there's always next year," said Neptune with a chuckle.

"You think you'll be coming here next year?" asked Sage, looking at his teammate speculatively.

Neptune blushed slightly. "Let's just say I'm giving it some very serious thought." His response made Yang and Weiss giggle, as they understood perfectly well what Neptune was talking about, and why he would be eager to return for next year's festival.

Saisei blinked, just remembering something. "By the way, I've also managed to arrange an appointment for you with Haruka-sama tomorrow," she said to Neptune.

"Thanks a lot," said Neptune, bowing his head to her. "I'm really grateful for it."

"What are you seeing Haruka about?" asked Weiss curiously.

"He wanted to learn more about the Etheric Energy Crystals," said Penny, arriving at the pavilion, her voice and manner chipper. "He's planning on seeing if he can adapt his weapon to use Etheric Energy."

"You'd have to get a Core Crystal though," said Weiss.

"Um...well...I wonder what Haruka might charge for one," said Neptune.

"They're effectively priceless," remarked Saisei wryly. "In all likelihood, even when their production is stepped up, there is going to be a very long waiting list for them. If you're looking for a sample like the one Weiss-dono has, you're going to find it even harder, as it will be rather difficult for Haruka-sama to part with an immature crystal."

Weiss frowned. Haruka had sent her the crystal, even though she had never even thought about owning one herself. Still, she knew better than to try to infringe upon the Elder's generosity by thinking that it would mean Haruka would give up one of her carefully-crafted crystals to just anyone who asked. However, she figured that whatever transpired would be between Haruka and Neptune.

"Well, we'll just have to see when when we go tomorrow," said Penny, latching onto Neptune's arm and making him blush at the contact. The girls around him all stifled giggles at how well he and Penny seemed to be getting along.

* * *

After a leisurely breakfast, they spent the remainder of the morning relaxing and enjoying themselves before lunch. After lunch, the entire group of visiting students, led by Kyo and Saisei, made their way through the halls of the Palace. As they made their journey, they could see crowds of people moving through adjacent halls through the windows. After several minutes of walking, they arrived at the very place where RWBY and JNNR had first met Kyo's parents.

The scenery had changed considerably, much to their shock. The corridors ringing the lake had somehow been pulled back and stacked atop another set that had formed a second perimeter, creating something akin to the stands of a stadium, revealing more of the lake's surface. Along the walkways floated several small boats, the vessels being largely immobile, tethered to the walkways, with seating on one side so that the seats were all facing inwards towards the center of the lake. According to Saisei, these were privileged seats, reserved for the most important members of the Clan, as well as this year's special guests. The pavilion had either been changed or replaced. The railings and seating inside were gone, leaving only the roof, held up by four pillars, and a flat wooden floor.

The waters of the lake were still, the surface smooth as polished glass, showing a perfect reflection of the sky above. Not even the boats disturbed the water's surface, not shifting in the slightest as their occupants moved and shifted their weight.

"This way," said Saisei, leading them along the lower walkway that ringed the lake. The group passed entire crowds of people, all standing or occupying benches, all of them watching the stage in the lake's center expectantly. Their journey brought them to the largest of the boats, which floated directly across from the stage, opposite the walkway that led to the stage from land. Already, its seats were occupied with Kyo's father, three of the Four Elders, and the visiting delegates (minus Ironwood, of course).

Saisei turned and stopped, regarding Neptune soberly. Already, his body was shaking, and his face was covered in sweat. His hands were clenched tightly, to the point that faint drops of blood could be seen leaking out from between his fingers. Penny was latched onto one of his arms. However, it was clear that he'd come this far only through a supreme effort of will.

"Are you ready?" asked Saisei.

"Y-y-y-yeah," said Neptune, barely managing to force the word out from between his teeth.

 _I never realized it was this bad,_ thought Weiss. Neptune's behavior during Team SSSN's match at the Vytal Festival Tournament had made his phobia seem almost comical in nature. However, there was clearly nothing funny about Neptune's fear now. She was amazed that he had been able to come this far on his own, given that they were already on the walkways suspended over the water itself.

"Kneel," said Saisei. Her tone was gentle, caring, but conveying a sense of authority that Neptune's body seemed to obey out of reflex. He sank to his knees, getting low enough that Saisei was able to easily touch his head, which she did.

"This will look and feel odd," she explained. "But you will have to trust me."

"D-do what you've gotta do," said Neptune.

Saisei nodded and reached up and rested her fingers on either side of Neptune's forehead. Then she took a slow breath and pushed forward. Her fingers slowly sank into Neptune's head, passing through skin, and the bone underneath, penetrating into the physical recesses of his very brain. Saisei took another breath and her arms began to glow, her Aura gently flowing out and into Neptune's head. Moving with deliberate, careful slowness, she moved her fingers, even turning her hands slightly, as though she were rearranging parts of Neptune's brain into a new form. Gradually, the tremors running through Neptune's body began to subside. The others had serious doubts about this strange-looking procedure. But none of them even remotely thought to interrupt, not when Saisei's fingers were sunk up to their second knuckles in Neptune's head.

Finally, Saisei released another breath and slowly, carefully, withdrew her fingers, sliding them out of Neptune's head, leaving no sign of their entry behind them. As she did, a faint trace of her Aura appeared to remain behind, almost like a slight string of liquid that then parted. When the last connection severed, Neptune's body jolted and he gasped in shock, before doubling over, panting for breath, looking as though he'd just run several miles. Penny was at his side instantly, her hands on his shoulders as she kept him steady.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Neptune appeared not to hear her. Instead, he lifted his head to stare up at Saisei in confusion. "What did you just do?"

"As I told you yesterday, I adjusted your brain chemistry slightly," said Saisei. "I've inhibited the production of certain hormones and neurotransmitters that activate your body's physical reactions to intense fear. I know the fear hasn't disappeared. But you don't feel as though your body might act without your will and bolt, do you?"

"Yeah," agreed Neptune, before turning to look over the side of the walkway and the water below it. His eyes narrowed and his fingers clenched, but his body remained where it was.

"It's a temporary adjustment," said Saisei. "Your brain chemistry will return to normal in a few hours. However, that's more than enough to get you through the performance, if you're still willing to attend."

Leaning against Penny for support, Neptune stood up. After a moment, he straightened up all the way so that he could stand on his own, though Penny maintained her hold on his arm.

"This is the most I can do," said Saisei. "The rest is up to your own will. That's the only thing that will enable you to get over your phobia."

Neptune took a deep breath. "Right," he said before looking over at Penny and smiling at her. "Well...in for a Penny..."

Penny giggled, even as Weiss and the others groaned, though Yang cackled gleefully.

"Ugh," said Ruby, sticking out her tongue as though something nasty had just been her mouth. "God! That pun was Yang-level bad."

"Whatever," said Neptune. "Let's go." He turned and actually led the way as they made their way to the boat they would be watching the performance from. They were surprised when they were greeted by Ozma, who had stepped off the boat to approach them.

Her eyes met Neptune and she smiled sadly at him. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't even think about your condition."

"It's okay," said Neptune. "You've got a lot on your mind, Professor."

"Indeed," said Ozma with a giggle. "But that doesn't excuse neglecting one of my children like that." She rested her light, delicate-looking fingers on Neptune's free arm. "You'll be all right?"

"Yeah, I think so," said Neptune.

"I would have thought that you could have performed that operation easily enough," said Saisei as they all stepped onto the boat.

Neptune paused at the edge, looking down nervously at the minuscule gap between the boat and the walkway. It was less than an inch wide, but the sight of the water he would have to step across would have broken him completely, were he not in his present state. As it was, Neptune took another breath and stepped across, settling his weight on the vessel, surprised that it didn't so much as twitch from the action.

"I was limited in how much I could use the arts Makoto-sensei taught me to help my students and faculty," said Ozma. "The restrictions covering the usage of our Auras were extremely stringent. The slightest misstep, and I would have been relieved of my position, and a replacement would have been appointed by the Council. I was forced to keep it in reserve for only the gravest of situations. And, even then, I had to be as discreet as possible in its usage."

"Luckily, those restrictions are gone now," commented Pastoria as Ozma settled into the seat next to him, Neptune and Penny settling next to her, with Saisei and Neo taking the seats by them. Weiss and Hayate sat down next to them, followed by Kyo and Yang. After that were Ruby and Jaune, Ren and Nora, Sun and Blake, Sage and Scarlet, and then the four girls of NDGO. Even after they had settled onto the long, narrow boat, there were still plenty of seats to be had, while their movements didn't make the vessel rock even slightly.

Ozma nodded and smiled gladly. "I'm relieved that I will be able to do my utmost for my children from now on."

"Your children?" asked Penny, looking to Neptune in confusion.

Neptune laughed. "Yeah, well, that's kinda the consequence of enrolling at Haven. You're basically signing up to have Ozma adopt you. She's basically everyone's mom."

"Wow! I'll bet that feels weird," commented Yang.

"Nah, she's a pretty cool mom," said Neptune with a laugh, even as he scratched the back of his head. "Though she's also really strict-OW!" His speech terminated with a yelp as Ozma reached up and tightly pinched his earlobe, pulling down just a little bit.

"I'm only strict with certain troublemakers," she said sagely. "For the most part, my children are quite well-behaved, save for a single team, and a certain pair of partners in particular..." she shot an amused glare at Neptune, who sheepishly grinned back, before shooting another one down the line at Sun, who mimicked Neptune's grin, and leaned back slightly, so that he positioned Blake between himself and Ozma, prompting Blake to fix him with an amused, but deadpan, stare.

Ozma sighed and then released Neptune's ear, her smile returning as she watched him rub it. "Still," she said, "you boys have made me prouder than I could ever have hoped. Remember that."

"I will," said Neptune, smiling back.

Ozma turned her gaze to Penny. "If you remain with him, please look after my boy for me. He's the sort who needs plenty of looking after."

Penny beamed cheerfully. "I will," she said, ignoring Neptune's irritated "Hey!"

"Now then, let's get ready," said Ozma, turning her attention to the stage out in the center of the lake. "Makoto-sensei's performance begins soon and it's not a thing to be missed."

* * *

 **Addressing Neptune's issues was a natural thing to do, given the nature of what this particular segment of the story was building to. I actually credit some of how I tackled it to Solara Goldsun's _Wings of Dust_ , which actually spent quite a bit of time on that particular topic.**

 **Aside from that, it was fun writing Yang vs The Not-Malachite twins. I hope everyone enjoyed that bit.**


	68. Chapter 68

**Chapter 68:**

"You okay?" asked Shinrei, noticing Ciel shift her weight nervously, even as she cast her eyes around her.

"I'm just not sure I should be down here," said Ciel, thinking about her fellow students. "I should be in the stands with the others."

"I'd sit back there with you if I could," said Shinrei with a sigh before leaning back in his seat. "But protocol and all that...As one of the Goyosei, I've got to sit up with the others. But I wanted to sit with you too." He gave her an apologetic look. "Can you forgive me for being a little selfish?"

"I guess..." said Ciel. Leaning forward, she looked down the line at the other people sitting in the boat, past the other Goyosei, the visiting delegates from the other Kingdoms, the other three members of the Taishiro, the Headmasters, and finally, the visiting students from the Academies. Her look caught Penny's eye and the former android grinned and waved cheerfully at her. Ciel smiled and gave her a shy wave back.

Shinrei, seeing what had just passed, wrapped an arm around Ciel's shoulder and hugged her to his side. "You'll be fine," he said. "The others understand and they'd want you to enjoy this. Besides, this is your first festival. It should be something extra-special."

For all that she could fault his judgment, Ciel decided that she didn't really want to. After all, she probably wasn't the only one watching Makoto's performance for the first time. Yet she was still granted this privilege over them. However, she appreciated Shinrei's desire to help her enjoy the festival to the fullest and, as abuses of the power that his rank granted him went, this was rather minor, and didn't actively hurt anyone.

Truth be told, Ciel was more than a little aware how sheltered her current situation was. Sequestered away in Makoto's school, as one of its live-in students, her peers' judgment was the only kind that really counted and affected her day-to-day life. However, going out with Shinrei on that double-date with Yang and Kyo, as well as going to the festival on his arm the previous day (her friends had insisted on keeping her to themselves for the first day) had left her all too aware that her situation was very unique...and privileged.

As one of the Five Stars, Shinrei was well known to the rest of the Mibu Clan, if not practically a minor celebrity in his own right. Just a few hours out and about with him had left her with the knowledge that Yumiko had not been the only girl in the Clan with a rather substantial crush on him. She had felt more than a few resentful gazes on their outings together, while others looked at her with critical eyes, weighing her, assessing her, and judging her, trying to determine whether or not she was fit to accompany him. Depending on the circumstances, their feelings might never affect Ciel in her regular life. And she knew that Shinrei would never let others' ill-feelings taint his own feelings for her. However, Ciel very keenly felt the sense of somewhat unearned privileged that accompanied being Shinrei's girlfriend, which left her feeling rather uncomfortable.

"It'll be okay," said Shinrei, tilting his head so that he could kiss her forehead. "They'll get over it eventually. Just try and be happy for yourself. You deserve that much."

Ciel felt uncertain, but nodded all the same, allowing herself to lean into Shinrei's embrace. Her friends and peers were happy for her, and she supposed that was all that mattered. Things had been even better, despite their brush with the two Atlesian operatives. Two nights afterwards, Yumiko had ended their evening practice session early, and then proposed that she and Ciel spend the extra time practicing their conversational skills in the Old Tongue, a proposal that surprised Ciel.

 _"You can only get so good doing writing and vocabulary drills,"_ Yumiko had said. _"If you really want to get fluent, you have to practice actually talking with someone. I'm out of practice myself, and could stand to brush up, so it'll be good for me too."_

Thus, Ciel started spending part of her evenings with Yumiko, the two of them exchanging dialogue with one another, somewhat haltingly in Ciel's case. But the continuous practice would allow her to slowly get better. Then, to her surprise, other students began to join in on the practice, turning it into a repeat of how their evening practice sessions had developed. Ciel saw Makoto from time to time, passing through on his way to his room, or going to take care of some business. Every time, his stern, teaching expression was in place, but she could see that he was plainly fighting his hardest to keep from breaking out into a proud, fatherly smile.

"I told you, didn't I?" said Shinrei. "Your presence makes everyone's life just a little bit richer. People are doing things they'd normally never even think of doing, because of you. That's why Makoto-sama and I both see you as the heart of the school, the bond that holds everyone together, so that you can all strive for greater heights."

"Thank you," said Ciel with a happy sigh, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Ah!" said Shinrei, lifting his head. "Here it comes. Makoto-sama is about to take the stage."

* * *

An absolute silence fell over the crowd of watching people as Makoto made his way along the walkway leading out to the stage. In place of his usual clothes, he wore a much more elaborate set of layered kimonos, blue, green, and white, the blue, outermost one decorated with an elaborate motif of dragons and clouds. He wore no swords at his side, instead carrying a pair of fans tucked into his sash.

The sense of anticipation in the air was so palpable, that even those who had had no exposure to the Mibu Clan's culture before now were silent, looking on expectantly. The silence leading up to Makoto's performance felt somehow sacred, like an offering left before a shrine.

Makoto reached the stage, walking right out to its center before stopping. His eyes closed and lowered his head, almost as though bowing it in prayer. When he opened his eyes, he lifted his head and took a single, slight step with his left foot. A single ripple spread out from the stage, washing across the surface of the lake, accompanied by a ringing note of beautiful clarity. As the ripple spread out, the surface of the water suddenly became a mirror, reflecting an image of the sky overhead, so perfectly that it could have been a picture on a high-definition screen.

Then Makoto smiled. "For those who have come to expand our horizons," he said, his words drawing a feeling of shock and amazement from the majority of the onlookers, "for those who have joined their fates to ours, for those who have come to us as outsiders, and melded with our very heart and soul...let this dance be an offering to them."

Ciel let out the very faintest of gasps, her eyes suddenly aching as tears welled up. Despite that, she didn't dare make any other sound, nor even think of looking away. Makoto's presence was like an irresistible force, pulling everyone's attention and awareness to him magnetically, no one able to look away. As such, neither she, nor anyone else saw the looks of utter shock and amazement decorating the faces of every Mibu present. None of the outsiders, both those visiting and those who had joined with the Mibu Clan, had any way of knowing that Makoto had never before spoken before one of his performances.

Makoto took another tiny step forward, this time with his right foot. Again, a ripple, accompanied by another note, washed across the surface of the lake. This time, the water turned perfectly clear, clearer than glass. All reflection vanished from the surface, and the audience was able to see all the way down to the deepest depths of the lake bed, as numerous fish, large and small, as well as...other things...swam in slow circles, their circling centered around the stage, as though they too were an audience to Makoto's dance.

Makoto closed his eyes and took two steps back. Another ripple, with its accompanying sound, raced across the water, returning the surface to normal, neither crystal clear, nor utterly opaque and reflective.

Reaching to his sash, Makoto drew forth his two fans and held them out in front of him. He stepped forward with his right foot again, this time taking a long step, as though he were stepping forward to swing a sword. He swept his right arm out in a circular motion, ending it with a flick of his wrist that opened the fan in that hand with a loud snap in front of him, horizontal to the floor. He halted, his body becoming perfectly still for a brief moment. Then he drew back and stepped forward with his left leg in the same manner, but striking out with his left arm as though he were thrusting his fan, flicking it up and opening it with another snap, this time keeping the van vertical. Then he drew back again.

Makoto started with slow, circling movements, making deliberate steps around in a circle, moving his body and the fans slowly. As he did, the water around the stage began to undulate, as though something large was swimming just beneath the surface. A low pounding sound, like that of an immense drum, filled the air, accompanied by ripples playing across the water's surface in time with each beat. Completing this circle, he concluded by sweeping the fan in his left hand upwards. The surface of the water directly in front of the stage exploded, as a massive azure dragon flew up, its body arcing gracefully into the air, the light of the early-afternoon sun scattering across its scales in a dazzling array. This was different from the attacks typically executed by the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_. The dragon flew upwards slowly and gracefully, its movements as slow and deliberate as the fan that Makoto seemed to be using to direct its motion.

With his right arm, Makoto swept that fan around and up in a shallow arc. A second dragon rose gently from the lake's surface, winding about the stage in a spiral even as the first dragon's flight crested, and it began to arc its body to descend once again. Before it could complete its descent, its body dissolved into countless droplets of water, plummeting back down to the lake, landing with a sound like countless tiny bells.

That was when it struck the observers seeing the performance for the first time. There were no musicians playing an accompaniment to Makoto's performance. The water _itself_ was his instrument. His Aura, his control over it, made it vibrate in countless different ways, producing all kinds of tones and sounds, sounds that couldn't possibly be duplicated by any typical instrument. The complexity of the melody began to increase as Makoto's pace rose.

More dragons rose out from the water, winding around each other in complex motions, rising high into the air to catch the light of the sun, reflecting and refracting it, whilst other dragons swam through the air just above the lake's surface, catching that light and throwing it back. Rippling colors played across the surface of the entire lake, every movement matching the rhythm of the music accompanying the dance. The surface of the lake began to undulate and change, waves forming and crashing against each other with a sound like crashing cymbals, throwing up sprays of misty water that tickled the skin of the onlookers, before the mist pulled away, leaving them completely dry. The air filled with salty scent of the sea sometimes, the heady scent of freshly-fallen rain a second later. Each splash or spray was accompanied with a taste like a draught from a fresh, mountain spring. One by one, the performance captured every one of their senses.

At the center of it all, Makoto danced. Sometimes his movements were slow and steady. Other times, he made swift, singular motions, like the attacks of a kata being broken down and done, one by one. Other times, his movements sped up, until he was rapidly spinning and stepping about the stage, his movements just slow enough that he didn't become a complete blur as his robes flared out around him. Compared to the spectacle of the dragons he had raised up, the colors, the lights, and the sounds, Makoto himself should have hardly stood out at all. Yet his every movement, the power, the deliberate control in even the tiniest motion, down to the smallest breath of his lungs, drew and held their attention, keeping all eyes ultimately centered on him as the art he made of the water around him turned into his frame.

On and on the performance went, all sense of time seeming suspended as the water rose and moved in newer, ever more mesmerizing patterns. A sheen of sweat began to decorate Makoto's face, but his movements remained as perfect as ever. Through it all, not a single person so much as entertained the thought of looking away.

Finally, as the waters around him roiled and the dragons swarmed, their movements coming to a thundering crescendo, Makoto abruptly stopped, sweeping his fans out to either side of him, holding his arms out straight as he bowed his head. The dragons disintegrated into unshaped water, descending to the surface of the lake with echoing crash of countless instruments being struck all at once, the sounds creating a cacophonous harmony. Makoto lifted his head and the waters abruptly stilled, the surface of the lake becoming perfectly glassy once again. He swept his arms around in front of him so that the fans obscured his face. After another second's pause, he first snapped one closed, then the other, the motions each accompanied by another, single, perfect note. Then, Makoto once again swept his arms out to either side, opening the fans again, but bowing deeply with the motion, his eyes closed.

The silence stretched, as the audience gradually realized that the performance had concluded. Then applause erupted from the stands, accompanied by shouts and cheers, filling the air in a music of their own as everyone wildly celebrated the Water Festival's most important event.

* * *

Ozpin chuckled and pulled off his spectacles to wipe them off with a cloth. "My, my," he commented. "It's been so long since I've seen one of Makoto-sensei's dances."

"Hah!" laughed Pastoria, throwing his head back. "He's still got it."

"I'd forgotten how much I'd missed this," said Ozma with a wistful sigh.

Glynda Goodwitch adjusted her own glasses, her stern facade having crumbled into a look of absolute wonder.

Kyo laughed and applauded before turning to look at Yang. "So, what did you think of your first Water Festival?"

Yang was still staring out at the stage, her mouth hanging open. It took her at least five whole seconds to register that Kyo had spoken to her. "What?"

"I said, what do you think?" answered Kyo.

"That was..." Yang turned to stare out at the stage again. "Um...uh...Wow!"

Kyo chuckled cheerfully. "It's something else, isn't it?"

"That was incredible!" cheered Ruby.

"I've never thought you could do something like that with Aura," added Jaune.

Ren nodded his agreement. "I have to admit, it's something completely different from what we do."

"But we could do it too," Nora pointed out. "We just have to learn how."

"Yeah, I suppose we do," agreed Ren, smiling fondly at her.

Keikoku chuckled and leaned forward, so that he could see the girls of NDGO, particularly Dew and Octavia. "So...still not sure whether or not this was worth your time."

"Shut up," muttered Dew, blushing furiously, while Octavia scrunched up her face before hiding it.

Keikoku chuckled again, but winced as Saisei's tail snaked around to rap the top of his head. "It's not polite to gloat," she admonished him gently.

"Right, sorry," said Keikoku, rubbing the sore spot left behind by Saisei's tail.

Penny sighed and settled back into her seat. "That was sensational," she said. "What do you think, Neptune?" She blinked when she realized Neptune didn't even seem to have heard her. "Neptune...?"

Neptune started and finally turned to face her. "Oh! What?"

"What did you think?" asked Penny, looking him over with no small degree of concern. She wasn't sure how his phobia would have reacted to Makoto's performance, even if Saisei had given him a treatment to help him cope.

Neptune took a deep breath and let it out before leaning back in his seat as well, letting his body go limp. "That was amazing. I'm really glad I came here. I...I don't think I can look at things the same way after that."

"So your phobia...?" inquired Penny.

Neptune laughed and grinned at her. "Well, I'm not gonna say I'm cured. I'm certainly not going to jump right in and start swimming on the spot. But...I feel different now. Now that I think about it, I don't really have to be afraid of the water." He gripped the sleeve of his left arm with his right. "It kinda makes me want to make a serious try at getting over it."

"I'm glad," said Penny, sighing in relief and then leaning her head against his shoulder.

Saisei giggled as she watched the pair. _Phobias often arise because of a trauma involved with the specific object of the phobia. That's not always the case, of course. I don't think there's a normal word that convey's the proper inverse of the term. If trauma is a harsh, damaging experience that leaves one suffering lasting scars, physical or psychological, then there should be a term for an experience that does the opposite, one that heals instead of harms, and repairs damage or even elevates one into a better state of mind. I suppose I might call something like that eutrauma._

Deciding to leave her rumination about inventing new vocabulary for another time, Saisei turned her attention to the girl sitting next to her. Neo was just as awed as the other visitors, still staring out at the stage, where Makoto had tucked his fans back into his sash, before giving one last bow and turning to depart. As he did, Neo blinked, as though a charm had just been undone. She turned her eyes back to Saisei and flushed a furious pink.

"You shouldn't be ashamed," said Saisei with a laugh. "It's a perfectly natural reaction. However..." She leaned in and gently pecked Neo's lips. "...you certainly look adorable when you're flustered like that."

Neo puffed out her cheeks and glared indignantly, which only made Saisei laugh all the more.

 _Now...there's one other person, whose reaction I'm curious about,_ thought Saisei, turning her gaze down the line to where Shinrei sat with his girlfriend.

* * *

"Even by the usual standards, that was something else," said Shinrei, cupping his chin as he sat back. "I guess he's really been inspired by certain recent events." Smirking, he turned his eyes to Ciel, only to blink in surprise.

Ciel was in tears. They were spilling down her cheeks with complete abandon, even as she stared out at the empty stage, with her mouth hanging only slightly open. Her body shook with slight tremors, as though she was fighting back the urge to sob openly. She hugged herself tightly, confusion swimming in her gaze as she wrestled with feelings that were almost completely foreign to her.

Shinrei wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I guess that had a pretty serious impact on you," he observed wryly.

Ciel looked up at him, prompting Shinrei to pull out a handkerchief and begin wiping away her tears before pulling her head back in so that she could rest her face against his shoulder, gently brushing his fingers through her hair as she trembled against him. _I don't think I was ever moved like that, not even the first time I saw Makoto-sama's performance,_ he thought to himself.

Gradually, Ciel's trembles subsided and she relaxed a little. After a moment of lingering in his embrace, she extricated herself.

"What is it?" asked Shinrei.

"I...I have to go," said Ciel, wiping her eyes and standing up.

Shinrei opened his mouth to ask what she meant. However, before he could even get out the first syllable, Ciel had jumped out of the boat and onto the walkway, running along it.

"Whoa! Hold on!" shouted Shinrei, jumping out and setting out after her. Their abrupt departure raised several eyebrows.

"Well now," said Radcliff, humming thoughtfully. "What do you suppose that was all about?"

"It seems a personal matter to me," said Nilam. "We shouldn't pry."

"Actually," said Murasame, standing up, "I think I shall go after them."

"You will?" asked Sora as she and Haruka looked up at him in confusion.

Murasame chuckled. "I think we will be treated to a most interesting sight," he said.

Haruka and Sora exchanged confused looks.

* * *

Makoto sighed as he slid the door shut behind him. After exiting the stage, he had made the short walk to the room where he had made his original preparations for the performance. Already, there was everything he would need after his dance was done. Even though he was a member of the Taishiro, one of the strongest members of the Mibu Clan, performing the dance exhausted him mentally and physically, this one even more so than usual. He had burned through so much of his Aura that he no longer had sufficient amount to manipulate the sweat that covered his skin, and drenched the innermost layers of his clothing.

In expectation of that very issue, the room had been prepared with everything he would need to unwind after the performance. There were towels to dry himself with, tea to drink, and fresh clothes to don, before he reappeared before his fellow elders and visiting delegates. Makoto stripped off his vestments and wiped himself dry with the towels, before putting on his more comfortable clothes and taking some time to enjoy a cup of tea.

His brief period of relaxation was abruptly interrupted by the thud of someone pounding on the door. Frowning, Makoto got to his feet and went to the door. Opening it, he found his eyes widening as he saw Ciel standing before him.

During the run to Makoto's room, Ciel's eyes had overflowed with tears again, so her cheeks were freshly wet as she stared at her teacher. Her eyes shimmered with still more tears yet to be shed. Behind her, a harried-looking Shinrei stood, looking on nervously, clearly worried that Ciel was stepping over important boundaries of decorum, that even _he_ didn't dare cross.

"Ciel-kun?" Makoto raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"M-Makoto-sensei..." said Ciel, dropping her knees. "Please! Please teach me your dance!"

Shinrei's jaw dropped and hung slack, his eyes bulging to the point that they looked ready to leap clear out of their sockets. His skin lightened by several shades and he took an unconscious pair of steps back. Behind him, he heard a sound like coughing. Both he and Makoto looked over to see Murasame, along with Sora and Haruka, watching from a short distance away. Mursame had raised his right arm, using his sleeve to screen the lower half of his face in much the same way that Sora did with her fan. His body shook as he continued to stifle a sequence of coughs. Before anything else could be said or done, Murasame turned and bolted down a hallway that led to another courtyard nearby. Sora and Haruka took one more confused look at Makoto and Ciel before following him.

Makoto returned his attention to Ciel. She was on her knees, her head bowed in a pose of supplication as her body trembled. Slowly, Makoto crouched, his fingers finding their way under Ciel's chin, then tilting her head upwards so that she could look directly in his eyes.

"I will not," he said softly, his touch gently urging Ciel back to her feet as both of them stood up. "That dance is mine and mine alone. None may duplicate it. Only a Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ is permitted to perform the Water Dragon Dance."

His hands went to her shoulders, and Ciel suddenly found herself pulled against Makoto, his arms wrapping around her in a tight hug, a gesture so full of warmth and affection that it made her eyes tear up all over again. Sobbing softly, she leaned into the embrace, hugging him back. The gesture brought back memories of a time when her own parents hugged her...before her disgrace. Naturally, they hadn't wanted to even look at her after that, much less touch her. Makoto's embrace made her feel like she had a father again. There was so much reassurance in the gesture, that it almost cancelled out the soul-crushing disappointment of what Makoto had said only seconds earlier.

When he pulled away, he looked her in the eyes once again. His face was filled with so much pride and happiness that Ciel thought her heart might burst at the realization that she had put that expression there.

"When _you_ are Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ ," said Makoto, "you will dance your own dance, a dance that is uniquely your own. And I have no doubt that it will make mine pale in comparison."

Ciel blinked, her heart feeling like it was exploding in her chest with every beat. _When...He said "when," not "if."_

Makoto merely pulled Ciel in for another hug, Shinrei looking on, unable to contain the pride and joy shining off his own face.

* * *

When Sora and Haruka caught up to Murasame, they found him doubled over with laughter, having to lean up against a pillar at the edge of the courtyard to remain standing, the sheer level of his mirth making tears well up in his eyes.

"I suppose you _would_ find that funny," remarked Sora, masking her frown with her fan.

"It is very amusing," replied Murasame, finally mastering himself enough to stand up. "I haven't laughed that hard in years. Ciel-kun is so different from Makoto, that it never occurred to me that she would do the exact same thing he did once."

"What?" asked Haruka, her eyes wide.

"It was before your time," said Murasame, calming down now. "When Makoto and I were but boys, having just started training in our respective arts, we saw the previous Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ perform the penultimate dance of the Water Festival. It wasn't the first one we'd attended, but it was the first one Makoto had seen since beginning his training under the previous Grandmaster. After the dance concluded, Makoto burst into tears, and then rushed straight to his teacher and begged to be taught the dance. His request was almost, word for word, the same as Ciel-kun's."

"I see," said Sora. "I wonder how the previous Grandmaster took it."

Murasame chuckled and shook his head. "It was all he could do to contain his joy. It was at that moment that Makoto truly became the successor to the previous Grandmaster. I'm willing to bet that, right now, Makoto couldn't be happier himself. Ciel-kun will be a worthy successor to him."

"Her?" asked Haruka in confusion. "Why would that make her a successor to Makoto?"

"It's not that he's designated her to inherit the title," said Murasame. "I'm afraid that it's a little different from how you ended up becoming the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Daion Ryu_.

"But why would asking that question make her the successor?" asked Haruka.

Murasame smiled wistfully, staring up at the sky. "I'm sure that every student Makoto teaches dreams of someday becoming the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_. I'm sure that all of them dream of someday standing on that stage and dancing for their Clan. However, most of them dream of that for particular reasons. They dream of the importance of the position, of the grandeur of the spectacle, of the adoration they will receive when they perform.

"However, Ciel-kun's request had none of that. If anything, I suspect she would be daunted by the prospect of performing like that before a crowd. Her words were born from the purest love of the Art itself, of the desire to perform the dance for its own sake. That sincerity marks her as someone who will not stop until she has accomplished what she has set out to do. She has a goal now. She will work harder and apply herself like never before. It may be a few years yet, but I imagine that she will, one day, surpass Shinrei as though he were standing still. She will become the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu,_ because her passion will drive her to master the art to its fullest extent."

"I see," said Sora. "So that's what happened with Makoto then."

"Exactly," said Murasame. "I know we were all surprised when Makoto spoke as he did at the beginning of his dance. During the dance, he seemed even more impassioned than usual. I think I have an idea of what inspired that passion now."

"Yes," said Sora, lowering her fan to reveal a smile. "It would seem that these are bright times indeed."

Murasame nodded. "It is always a joy to see the next generation show so much promise."

* * *

It was a few minutes before Makoto let go of Ciel. Gently, he transferred her to Shinrei's arms, before going after his fellow Elders. Shinrei held Ciel tightly, beaming proudly at her a she stared at him.

"Geez," he said. "You're one amazing girl. I'm damn lucky."

"Really?" asked Ciel. "Why would Makoto-sensei name me the next Grandmaster?"

"He hasn't named you, per-say," said Shinrei. "But he has acknowledged your potential. I don't think words can describe how proud he is of you right now...or how proud I am."

"But what does that mean?" asked Ciel.

"Tell me, what's the thing you feel most like doing right now?" asked Shinrei.

"I want to go back to the school," said Ciel. "I feel like I should run through my katas again. I feel like I could be doing better with them...like I..."

"Like you could put more of yourself into them and make them flow more naturally," said Shinrei, prompting Ciel to look up at him in surprise. "Watching his dance inspired you. You've got a serious itch to practice, to train, to advance and learn new techniques."

"Y-yes," said Ciel.

"That's what makes Makoto-sama think you can become a Grandmaster," said Shinrei. "Now that you're inspired, you aren't going to let anything stop you. You're gonna keep working your hardest, until you get to where you want to go. That's what he was seeing."

"Oh..." said Ciel. "I see...Then I should get started-" She stopped as she realized that Shinrei's hold on her had not slackened. He wasn't letting her go anywhere. "Kaito?"

"Nope," said Shinrei. "Take it easy. Your training starts back up tomorrow, with everyone else's. If your ambition is to race ahead, then it's my job to slow you down and hold you back."

"Why?" asked Ciel, feeling almost desperate now. She started to wriggle, struggling to break Shinrei's hold. "Let me go!"

Shinrei's hand went to the back of her head and he pulled Ciel into a kiss. It wasn't insistent or passionate, simply the gentle pressing of his lips against hers. As they kissed, Ciel found her eyes drifting shut and her body relaxing as she enjoyed the sensation. She relaxed against his body and her struggles subsided.

"Just take it easy," said Shinrei after he pulled away. "You're inspired and impassioned. That's great. But that kind of drive can be a double-edged sword. You become so focused on working hard you forget the importance of rest, of letting your body and mind heal and recover from their exertions. That's the point when you realize the gains of all your hard work. If you don't rest, if you just keep working, you'll gradually wear yourself down, until you reach a point that you can't recover from. If you go that far, you'll wind up finding your dream completely out of reach. There's no way I could let you do that to yourself."

Ciel sighed and leaned her face into Shinrei's shoulder. "Thank you," she said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Shinrei, once again stroking his fingers through her hair. "You're going to get a lot stronger. At some point, you're gonna come flying past me, I'm sure. What I want to do is make sure you can do exactly that."

"You don't mind?" asked Ciel.

"Of course not," said Shinrei. "I'm looking forward to it. A girl like you is at her most beautiful when she's doing something she loves. From the moment I knew you were joining our school, I wanted to help you go as far as you possibly could. I'd never stand in your way. But I'm going to make sure you can get there safely."

Ciel nodded and smiled, feeling her body relax as she rested her head against Shinrei's shoulder. The urge to run back to the training hall and resume her practice was still there, but the warmth of Shinrei's arms relaxed her and allowed her to forget about it momentarily. Right now, even more than she wanted to move forward, she wanted to stay right where she was.

* * *

"Well, it's a pity that James took the CCT relay with him when he departed," observed Radcliff as he, Nilam, and Gwenyth returned to their quarters. The Academy Headmasters followed behind them. "It would have made a fine introduction for the Mibu Clan to broadcast that dance to the rest of the world."

"I don't know," said Nilam. "A mere recording couldn't properly convey the experience of it."

"It would still have been quite the event to watch," noted Gwenyth. "It would certainly go a long way towards further developing the relations between Mibu and the other Kingdoms."

"It will be fine," said Ozpin. "After all, there will always be next year."

"By that time, the Mibu will have a tower of their own," noted Pastoria, gently stroking the tuft of beard sprouting from his chin. "Besides outsiders like us, such a development will allow the people out in their furthest settlements to see their dance as well."

Ozma's eyes drifted towards the two extra guests, who had been sitting with Blake and Sun during the performance. "And what do you think, Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna."

Ghira's eyes shifted to focus on the diminutive Headmistress of Haven Academy. "I was more fascinated by the realization that Aura has facets we never even knew about," he admitted.

"Indeed," agreed Kali.

"It is true that, in the outside world, the full understanding of Aura is limited," admitted Ozpin. "Because its use is largely limited to Huntsmen and Huntresses, who unlock and develop their Auras for the sake of combatting the Creatures of Grimm, there has been almost no consideration for its potential outside of combat. However, the Mibu have integrated Aura into every facet of their lives, using it in countless ways that are limited only by their imaginations."

"So it won't be just the Academies that will undergo substantial changes as a result of the new treaty," observed Nilam. "People from every walk of life will begin developing an interest in Aura ,and look towards utilizing it. That could make things...difficult."

"Yes," noted Gwenyth. "Thanks to the few Huntsmen that have gone astray, there are no small number of criminals who have unlocked their Auras. Because of what we've done here, Aura usage will proliferate through every level of society. The potential for chaos is unimaginable."

"Very true," agreed Radcliff. "However, the potential to boost our prosperity is almost unimaginable as well. Things will be difficult for sure, but we must advance forward all the same."

* * *

Murasame emerged out of the Palace, and out into the meadow that separated it from his home. As his house came in sight, his eyes widened slightly at just who was waiting for him. "Weiss-dono, I wasn't expecting to see you here tonight. Shouldn't you be celebrating with your friends?"

Weiss smiled and nodded at him from where she sat on the edge of the porch, her legs dangling towards the ground. "I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible," she said. "My friends and I don't have much time left before we have to return to Beacon."

"That is true," admitted Murasame. "I suppose we should be grateful that you and your friends have blessed us with your presence for as long as you have. By the way, Hayate-kun isn't with you? The two of you have been almost inseparable lately."

Weiss' cheeks turned pink and she averted her eyes slightly. "Kyo and Saisei pulled him aside. I think they're planning their trip to Atlas."

"I see..." said Murasame, frowning slightly.

"So," said Weiss abruptly, trying to bring the conversation back onto the course she wanted it to follow, "I wanted to talk to you about the modifications to my weapon. I made a few changes to your design that I'd like you to look at."

"All right," said Murasame, stepping up onto the porch. "Please, come inside. I'll make some tea for us to enjoy while we review your work."

* * *

 **Putting down the Water Dragon Dance was tricky. It's mentioned multiple times in the SDK manga, but only a single panel ever really gets shown of it. So I tried to create an image that could live up to the kind of event it's supposed to be.**


	69. Chapter 69

**Chapter 69:**

The Beowolf yelped in a pained whine as its body was cut in two at the waist. Another one rose up behind it, but a second slash split it from head to crotch. Still more charged in the wake of their two comrades.

Raven's body was a blur as she moved amongst the Grimm like a whirlwind. Where she passed, the Grimm fell to pieces, the severed portions of their bodies scattering like wind-tossed leaves. As she finished cutting down the attacking Beowolves, a Beringel descended on her from above. Raven leapt back to avoid the bony plates of the gorilla-shaped Grimm's forearms as it slammed them down into the stone where she'd been standing, cracking it with the force of the blow.

Raven reversed the course of her dodge, and charged in with a thrust, sinking her blade all the way up to the hilt in the Beringel's chest before it could think about dodging or countering. The Beringel lurched, then coughed, its body seizing up, its hands rising jerkily to try and grab Raven, but falling limp as the Beringel slumped, lifeless.

With a contemptuous shove, Raven forced the Beringel's corpse back, allowing her to pull her blade out of its chest so that it could fall over onto its back, where it rested for a few seconds before finally dissolving into black smoke, drifting away on a nonexistent wind.

"It would seem you are improving well enough," observed a large figure from the entrance to the room.

The room in question was massive, easily as large as the bizarre space where Nobunaga held court and rejuvenated himself in the pool of ebony liquid from which the Grimm were born. It was lit faintly by candles, resting in niches in the wall, candles that never seemed to fully burn down. There were several other entrances to the room, where the Grimm could enter for Raven to cut them down.

"Indara," said Raven curtly.

The massive man stepped out into the light, revealing a towering figure, sporting powerful muscles. His hair was a wavy, rippling, silver cascade down past his shoulders as glimmering, amber eyes fixed Raven with an attentive look that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. On the whole, his face was vaguely catlike, despite the fact that he was not a faunus. With his black shinobi outfit, he seemed to almost merge with the shadows around him, though his hair made him stand out.

He stood silently for a moment, long enough for Raven to begin to lose interest. "If you have nothing more to say, then I have more practice to do," she said, turning to face the entryways across from her, as the animalistic sounds of more Grimm echoed from within them.

She felt Indara come up behind her, his presence looming and oppressive. "I did not think you would be able to master that blade," he observed.

Raven looked straight up, not at all surprised to see Indara staring straight down at her. "I will do what I must," she said.

"Is it to seek vengeance?" asked Indara.

Raven's eyes narrowed in a glare.

Indara stepped back. "The strong survive, the weak die. That was the creed your tribe was supposed to live by. So that would mean that they were weak."

Raven whipped her head around, baring her teeth.

Indara tilted his head quizzically. "Do you deny it?"

The sounds of Grimm were getting louder, rising to a crescendo as a mixed pack of Beowolves and Ursai erupted out of the doors, rushing at Raven. She turned to look at them.

The howling and baying of the Grimm was silenced in an instant. The monsters that lived only to kill people froze in place, their bodies locked in a stillness so abrupt that they seemed to have been petrified. Here and there, limbs quivered, as though their owners were straining against invisible restraints. One by one, the Grimm began to inch back, moving little by little, retreating down the corridors they had come through, faint whimpering being the only sound that elicited from their throats now. They backed into the shadows and out of sight, moving back, until even the lights of their eyes vanished completely.

"My people were _not_ weak," said Raven. "We tolerated no weakness. They were slain by an aberration, an abomination that has no right to exist. The Line of Kyo is a line of monsters that break the rules of the world at their whim. Exterminating them would be doing the world a favor."

"Is that what you think?" rumbled Indara. "Those of the Line of Kyo are not so all-powerful as you might think. Still, their power is such that Nobunaga-sama has recognized it."

"What is your point?" asked Raven, her anger receding slightly, along with the churning excess of her Aura, as she turned to lock her Crimson Eyes with Indara's.

"My point," said Indara, his voice so deep and powerful that Raven felt it within her bones, "is that I care not about your hollow, hypocritical vengeance, save that, if you follow that path to its end, you shall one day bare your fangs at Nobunaga-sama. Should you do that...I will strike you down." He strode straight up to Raven, looming over her once more, his roiling Aura matching hers in volume, the two Auras straining against one another.

Finally, Raven took a step back. "Whatever you say," she said coldly. "I don't need your approval or your friendship."

"Step carefully, Shindara," said Indara. "Just because you have become proficient in your prize does not mean you are truly its master. And, if you have not truly mastered it, your fangs will not even reach me." With that, he turned and strode out of the room.

"I _will_ master it," said Raven, her gaze turning down, tracing the shape of the jet-black sword in her hand. "After all, there's nothing a blade understands better than blood."

* * *

The Dust-powered engines of the elegant Schnee Family airship stirred up a chilling breeze that sliced through the clothes of the onlookers like a knife as the vessel landed lightly on the private pad in the center of the Schnee Family estate. Despite that, not a single one of them flinched at the chill, standing at firm attention, their posture perfect as the winds died down, along with the sounds of the engines. Two rows of uniformed servants, maids and butlers, were lined up, positioned perfectly, so that the vessel's ramp touched the ground right between the feet of the first two servants.

Jacques made no effort to conceal his irritation as he descended the ramp, still smarting from the humiliation of being confined to Ironwood's vessel until it had made landfall at Atlas Academy, where Jacques had not wasted any time before boarding one of his own ships and flying straight back to his estate. Despite the good news he had received from his new ally earlier, he was not in much of a mood for idle chitchat as he returned home. As such, he barely gave the two rows of servants a second glance as they bowed.

Instead, Jacques' gaze went to the young man waiting at the end of the line, standing in at the center of the aisle formed by the servants, smiling amiably as Jacques approached. His white hair, fair complexion, and ice-blue eyes marked him as a Schnee on sight. The hair was impeccably styled, mostly flowing towards the left of his head, though a single cowlick stood up from the smooth mass. He was dressed in a white shirt with a blue vest, standing with his arms folded behind his back.

"Welcome home, Father," said Whitley Schnee pleasantly.

"I assume you have been looking after things in my absence," said Jacques, his mood calming as he addressed the one member of his family he could truly count on, a son who understood the importance of duty and obedience.

"Naturally," said Whitley, bowing his head slightly to his father.

"Have you made any progress in securing more labor?" asked Jacques.

"Not in a manner that would allow us to maintain the profit margins we had before the camps were destroyed," explained Whitley. "There are almost no faunus left in Atlas, if there are any at all. Human laborers will not work for the same wages. However, I did manage to strike a deal with the officials at the Mantle Penitentiary for the use of their prisoners, though they are insisting on a portion of the profits."

"Of course they would," growled Jacques, shaking his head.

"As such, I have only been able to restore full productivity to the Chifir Mine," continued Whitley.

Jacques sighed and shook his head. "Well, it's better than nothing," he muttered to himself. He could hardly expect Whitley to have any more success than he himself had, before they had set out to Mibu. Jacques had been certain that Ironwood would be able to reclaim the workers that the Mibu Clan had stolen, but had found himself appalled at the man's cowardice. Now those faunus were beyond his reach for the time being, which ensured that his profits would continue to plummet, and the Schnee name would become a laughingstock.

Whitley stepped back and to the side to allow Jacques to walk past him before falling in beside and slightly behind him. As They started to walk into the mansion, the deep clunk of something large, heavy, and metallic sounded behind them. They both paused, turning to see a quartet of men wrestling a large metal crate onto a flatbed. "What is that?" asked Whitley.

"The 'gift' the Mibu Clan gave us," growled Jacques.

"Ah, so that is the Etheric Crystals they were talking about," said Whitley, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Yes, Ironwood handed it over to me," said Jacques. It was uncertain whether Ironwood had granted the crystal to Jacques as a gesture of reconciliation for their previous arguments, or because he believed that the SDC was the organization best equipped to study the properties of the crystals. However, Jacques chose to see the gesture as an insult.

"Do me a favor," said Jacques. "Tell them to see those crystals disposed of...immediately."

Whitley's eyes narrowed a little bit further. "Of course, Father," he said. With that, he turned away and began to walk towards the men handling the flatbed. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Jacques enter the house, already heading towards his home office, no doubt to look over the reports of what had gone on during his absence.

When Whitley reached the men maneuvering the crate of crystals down the ramp of the ship, he stopped the leader with a hand on the shoulder. "Have the crystals delivered to my private ship for transfer. Should Father ask what has become of them, tell him that his instructions were followed to the letter."

"Yes, Young Master," said the man, bowing his head.

Whitley nodded and headed back towards the door to the house. He pulled out his scroll, calling the number of his personal pilot. "A crate shall be loaded onto the ship," he said. "Go ahead and deliver it to Facility E-13 and have it off-loaded there. Should Father make any inquiries, tell him that they have been disposed of properly."

"Of course, Young Master," replied the pilot over the scroll.

Whitley hung up and tucked the scroll back into his pocket, proceeding back into the house, an inscrutable smile on his face.

* * *

"What do you think?" asked Weiss.

Murasame scratched his chin as he looked over the sketch Weiss had produced. The modified design of Myrtenaster was certainly not what he had been expecting. "I'm a bit surprised you would only choose four Dust-types," he noted. "Doesn't your weapon currently utilize more than that?"

"It does," said Weiss. "But those four are the four primary Dust-types. All other varieties of Dust are produced from varying combinations amongst those four. If I refine my skills enough, I should be able to tap into their power and combine it to produce the same effects as any other Dust-type at will."

"That will require a great deal of experimentation," noted Murasame. "Working in that manner, it could be many years before you fully achieve what you envision."

Weiss closed her eyes, lowering her face and staring at the floor. "I've decided that I'm all right with that," she said. "It will definitely take a lot of hard work, but I've learned that starting over from scratch isn't always a bad thing, especially if you truly want to create something new."

"Very well then," said Murasame with a warm smile. "Do you have access to the necessary materials?"

Weiss nodded and produced a small box, something that she had brought along with all her luggage. While Myrtenaster utilized Dust in its powdered form, Weiss always made it a point to have at least a few high-quality Dust crystals with her when she traveled, mostly because she had the knowhow to grind them herself, and produce her own custom blends when commercial varieties might not suit her needs. Opening the case, she revealed a set of four Dust crystals, one from each of the four principle varieties. They were the finest, most flawless specimens she had, and she'd shaped them herself for this purpose, after settling on the final form for the new design of her weapon.

"I see," said Murasame, gently touching his finger to the fire-Dust crystal, feeling its masterfully cut facets. "Then let us begin immediately."

"There's no need to rush," said Weiss. "I know I said we were leaving soon, but that doesn't mean you have to do it right this instant."

"But I want to," said Murasame. "I have to admit, your new vision has inspired me quite a bit. I'm itching to start right away."

Weiss couldn't quite conceal a giggle as the earnestness of Murasame's craftsman's spirit.

"Would you be willing to assist, Weiss-dono?" asked Murasame. "I think it will work best if I have your input as well."

"Of course," said Weiss.

* * *

"So I guess we aren't going to get this chance again for a while," noted Yang wryly after she and Kyo collapsed onto their bed, panting from their exertions.

"I suppose not," said Kyo. "In another few days, you and your friends go to return to Beacon. Me and my friends shall remain here for another week, at least. Then we shall turn north."

Yang sighed and tucked her head into Kyo's shoulder. "I'm going to miss you," she said.

"And I will miss you," said Kyo.

"I guess, after you're finished with your business in Atlas, you're going to go back to wandering," said Yang.

"For a while longer, at least," said Kyo. "Though I believe I shall start wandering in a southerly direction. It may take me a few months, but I will reach Vale again at some point."

Yang giggled. "I wish I could come with you," she said.

"So do I," said Kyo. "But you still need to fulfill your dream of becoming a Huntress. I'm sure that, after you've graduated, you'll easily be able to wander with me."

Yang sighed. "I doubt I should," she said. "I'm not going to wind up facing any Grimm if I keep hanging out with you. They won't come within a dozen miles of you at least."

"True," said Kyo. "Though my experiences are plenty interesting, even when the Grimm aren't there. There are bandits to hunt, criminal organizations to root out, all manner of danger supplied by people. If you ask me, that's far more interesting than the threat posed by the Grimm."

Yang giggled. "Well, you make a compelling argument," she said. She let out another sigh and hugged herself to Kyo's body. "But the waiting is gonna kill me. Still, I guess if Blake and Sun can make it work, I'm sure we can, though it's too bad we can't keep in touch."

"I'm sure I can get a scroll of my own at some point," said Kyo.

"I guess that's the first thing we'll have to take care of next time you're in Vale," said Yang.

Kyo pressed his lips to her forehead. "For now, don't dwell on it. Now that the conference and festival are over, we'll have the next few days to ourselves. We'll make the best of them that we can."

* * *

"If you're waiting for Weiss, she didn't come back last night," said Ruby, when she and Jaune found Hayate waiting outside the door to Weiss' room the next morning.

Hayate turned to look at them in confusion. "She didn't?"

Ruby shook her head slowly. "We don't know where she went. She grabbed something from her room and ran off."

"She's with Papa," said Penny, walking down the hall towards them. "When I got back last night, the two of them were working in the forge. They were still working when I got up this morning."

"They must be working on the new design for Weiss' weapon," said Ruby, clapping her hands together, her eyes sparkling with eagerness. "I can't wait to see. Maybe we should go there now and see what they're doing."

"Breakfast first," said Jaune with a chuckle, gently grasping Ruby's shoulder. "We don't want to interrupt them, which is all too likely, considering how loud your stomach gets."

Puffing out her cheeks, Ruby glared sourly at her boyfriend, which only made him chuckle.

"So how much longer are you going to be here?" asked Penny as they made their way to the pavilion.

"I think three more days," said Jaune. "The Elders are using their Airship to ferry the Delegates back to Vytal today. When it gets back, it'll be our turn."

"I see," said Penny, looking down. "That's too bad."

"Penny," said Ruby, looking at her inquisitively, "when you're done in Atlas, will you come to Beacon?"

Penny blinked, staring at Ruby for a moment. Then she broke out into a radiant smile. "Of course I will," she promised eagerly. "There's nothing that could keep me away."

"Okay," said Ruby, sighing with relief. "We'll be waiting for you."

"I thought you'd probably consider going to Haven now, though," teased Jaune with a cheeky grin.

"What?" gasped Penny, her cheeks reddening while Ruby and Jaune both laughed.

In the meantime, Hayate had vanished.

* * *

Weiss staggered out into the daylight, blinking and rubbing her eyes after being in the forge with Murasame all night. He'd offered to lay out a futon for her to sleep on, but Weiss had declined, deciding to return to her own room and sleep there. As she took another uncertain step, she wondered if she maybe should have taken the Elder up on his offer.

"You look as though you've seen better days," commented Hayate, dropping down from somewhere on the roof.

Weiss blinked, taken aback by his sudden arrival. But she was soon smiling. "You might be right," she said.

"Heading back?" asked Hayate, taking her arm and helping to steady her.

Still smiling, Weiss accepted the gesture and leaned against him. "Yes," she said. "I'm worn out, so I was going to sleep for a while. Murasame needs a little while to put the finishing touches on my sword."

To her surprise, Hayate turned around and crouched slightly. "Hop on," he said. "I'll take you there."

"Are you sure?" asked Weiss.

"Yeah," said Hayate. "Trust me, we'll get there way faster traveling like this."

Weiss wrapped her arms around Hayate's collar. Standing up, Hayate hooked his arms under her legs, glad that Weiss couldn't see his blush as her breasts pressed up against his back. However, that was not something to be concerned with now. Instead, Hayate instead burst into motion. Starting with a run, he sprinted across the meadow before reaching the door to the Palace. Instead of entering it, he instead leapt up, making Weiss squeak in surprise as Hayate's jump took them to the roof of the Palace. From there, Hayate continued to run, jumping across the roofs of the different halls and corridors that made up the sprawling Palace complex.

Five minutes later, they were standing outside the door to Weiss' room, Weiss grateful for Hayate's help, which had made the normal half-hour journey take a fraction of the time. Leaning over, she gently kissed Hayate's cheek.

"Thank you," she said softly before opening the door. "I'll see you in a little while." She gave him one last smile before sliding it closed.

Left standing out in the hall, Hayate sighed and rubbed his cheek absently.

* * *

Weiss didn't wake up until well into the afternoon. Much to her surprise, she found all of her friends, even the visitors from the other Academies, waiting for her. The reason why became apparent as she approached the pavilion in the courtyard. Seated at the table was Murasame. Before him on the table rested a long, rectangular box, which Weiss recognized instantly. After all, she had kept Myrtenaster in a box much like it whenever she was at home.

"Weiss-dono, I present to you your blade," said Murasame, sliding the box across the table to her side, leaving it for her to open.

Her friends crowded around her as Weiss pressed her fingers against the box's lid and then lifted it up, flipping it back on hinges to reveal her blade, resting on a cushion within.

Amazed gasps filled the air around her, and Ruby's delighted squeal nearly hurt her ear. But Weiss couldn't care less. All of her attention was riveted upon the blade within the box.

Myrtenaster's original Dust chamber assembly had been replaced, the ricasso of the blade being inserted through the rectangular hole that Murasame had carefully and precisely bored through the center of the crystal. The Etheric Crystal itself was mostly encased in a cylindrical metal cylinder, which was open at the front end, leaving the rippling surface of the crystal visible as it curved smoothly to meet the blade it was mounted to. The four flanges mounted on the cylinder were much the same as the ones that had been mounted on the original Dust chamber. However, rather than the six cylindrical Dust containers of the original Myrtenaster, each prong extended over a single Dust crystal, mounted into the cylinder holding the Core Crystal.

However, the most beautiful aspect of the sword to Weiss' eye was the blade. As Murasame had indeed proposed, a fuller had been added to both sides of the blade. Along the length of that fuller extended a line of crystalline material, shimmering with pearlescent colors. From that fuller, curving, curling lines of the same material reached out towards the edge of the blade, resembling nacre inlays.

Moving carefully, Weiss gripped the weapon's handle and lifted Myrtenaster from the case. With her right hand, she gently brushed her fingers along the flat of the blade, amazed that she was unable to feel the slightest change in the blade's texture as her fingers brushed over the inlays, so seamless was their design.

"It's...magnificent," said Weiss breathlessly.

A sharp jolt, like an electric current, ran up her arm. However, it wasn't a painful or unpleasant sensation. In fact, Weiss wasn't sure she could call it a sensation in the physical sense. Rather, it was as though a feeling of intense pride, underlaid with a feeling of absolute joy, rushed through her. The sensation was accompanied by a light ring from the blade, as though from a tiny bell.

"Indeed," said Murasame. "Imagine my surprise when I did indeed find a spark of life within your blade. She is a proud, somewhat boastful child. But I could feel that nothing filled her with more pride than being wielded by your hand."

Weiss looked up from her sword, tears leaking from her eyes as she stared at Murasame. "I can't even begin to thank you for this. This is beyond anything I could have ever hoped for."

Murasame smiled back. "Your appreciation is thanks enough." He said. "Looking at you now, I know you will take good care of that child. She is young yet, so I hope that you will raise her well."

Weiss nodded. "I will. I promise."

A second later, Weiss yelped as Yang abruptly wrapped her arms around Weiss from behind. "You know, Hayate's been telling us that you've been trying all sorts of cool things with that crystal," she said. "Now that you've got your sword back, you've gotta show us what you can do."

In response to Yang's words, Weiss felt the handle of her sword hum against her hand. It seemed that her sword was eager to show off as well.

"All right," she said. "I suppose I could."

* * *

Their remaining days with the Mibu were a blur, and RWBY and JNNR found themselves standing at the boarding ramp to the waiting airship much too soon for their own tastes. Unfortunately, they would be going back alone, as Saisei would not be accompanying them this time. SSSN and NDGO were both staying behind for the time being, expecting to return to their own Academies in another week or so, after spending some extra time reaping the benefits of being guests of the Mibu.

Yang wrapped her arms around Kyo's shoulders as he hugged her by the waist, the two of them sharing another long kiss, the latest of many they had shared today. Their lovemaking the previous night had been rather vigorous as well. After spending so much time with him and becoming so close to him, Yang really felt a tremendous sense of trepidation towards leaving for Beacon without him.

"You will come back, won't you?" asked Yang as she rested her forehead against his.

"Of course I will," said Kyo. "I promise that I won't let anything stand in my way."

Yang giggled, knowing that Kyo, being Kyo, meant that in the most literal manner possible. Even if every Kingdom gathered every soldier and every weapon and placed them in his path, Kyo would plow right through the middle of them if he had to.

They held each other for a while longer, exchanging more kisses. They were hardly the only ones though. Nearby, Blake smiled and blushed as Sun hugged her tightly from behind so that he could gently pepper her cat ears with kisses. Not far away from them, Weiss exchanged one last hug with Hayate before surprising him with a kiss, not on the cheek like usual, but on the the lips. A little further down, Ruby and Penny were just as reluctant to let go of each other as Yang and Kyo were, while Jaune, Ren, and Nora looked on in amusement. Finally, Neo was wrapped up by Saisei, who was hugging her, not just with her arms, but with all nine of her tails, which had curled about Neo, enveloping her in a warm, fluffy cocoon. The other members of the two visiting teams from Haven and Shade watched from a respectful distance, as did the other members of the Goyosei and the Shiseiten.

Finally, Sora approached the group, slapping her open fan against the palm of her hand so that it closed with a snap, getting their attention. "I understand your reluctance," she said. "But it is time to depart. I have no doubt that all of you will meet again in the near future, and that mere time and distance are not enough to erode the bonds you've formed."

Yang sighed and finally stepped away from Kyo, though she kept a hold on one of his hands as she turned to face his mother. "You're right," she said. "Thank you so much for all that you've done for us."

"And I thank you for all that you've done for us," said Sora.

"I hope we get to see you again," said Yang.

"I don't doubt that you will," said Sora with a titter. "You _are_ dating my son after all."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," said Yang with a laugh.

Their goodbyes said, the Beacon students filed aboard the airship, waving and shouting goodbyes to their friends, both old and new. A few moments later, the ramp lifted and the ship's wings spread, allowing it to rise almost soundlessly in the sky.

Kyo stared up at the departing vessel, his hand going up to his chest and clenching, bunching the fabric of the kimono directly over his heart. Saisei and Hayate approached him from either side.

"They've only just left, and it already feels as though a piece is missing," noted Saisei softly, prompting the two boys to nod. "They certainly are remarkable people. I'm sure we'll see them again."

"Of that, there's no question," said Kyo, staring up at the dwindling form of the airship for a few minutes longer before closing his eyes. When he opened them again, his face was composed and serious. "But for now, I suppose, we should turn our attention to our next objective."

"Yes, that would be wise," said Saisei.

* * *

"What've you got?" asked Qrow as he leaned against the wall of Winter's personal office, in the Atlesian Military Headquarters.

Winter looked at him gravely and pulled out her scroll. "This is the information General Ironwood gave us at the latest briefing. He's planning to establish defensive fortifications along the coastline between us and Leng." She set her scroll on the desk, allowing it to interface with the holographic systems built into the surface of the desk itself, projecting the scroll's information into the space between them.

A holographic image of Solitas appeared, floating in the air. Qrow's eyebrows went up as he noted the position of the bases, marked by white squares on the map, which flickered into being, one by one, along the coast of Solitas. "That's a lot of space between bases," he noted. "For a defensive perimeter, that's gonna leave a lot of holes."

Winter nodded and tapped her scroll. The holographic image of Solitas vanished, replaced by an image of buildings and facilities assembled to form a military compound. "This is a basic schematic for the planned bases," she said. "Notice anything unusual?"

"Yeah, I'll say," said Qrow. "That's not the kinda layout you use for purely defensive fortifications. Look at those airfields..."

Winter nodded. "And the maintenance and support facilities for androids, and the barracks for soldiers..."

"They're forward operating bases," said Qrow. "He's not planning to guard against some kind of Mibu invasion, he's planning on using them as staging points to invade Leng himself."

"That's what I thought," said Winter.

"Still trying to play the 'Mibu can't be trusted' card, eh," said Qrow sourly, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Jimmy can't think that anyone in that briefing actually bought his malarky."

"Of course not," said Winter. "We all know what he really intends. That wasn't the point. The real message was..."

"That's the line you're supposed to toe while this is going on," said Qrow. "It'll take a few years, at least two, to set up all those bases. Plus, he's probably planning some huge military expansions, on top of what he already has going."

Winter nodded. "At the same time, he'll be on the lookout for a pretext, anything that he can use as an excuse to justify an offensive against the Mibu."

"And if he can't find one, he'll just make one up," growled Qrow. "He's completely lost it."

"I wish I could disagree, but..." Winter groaned and rested her head in her hands. "...but I can't. He's...broken, Qrow. Nothing I could say would reach him, if he doesn't want to hear it. I wish more people could see it."

"That's the way insanity is, sometimes," said Qrow. "Not everyone goes completely off-their-rocker-foaming-at-the-mouth. Sometimes it's quieter...and a lot harder to spot." He walked around Winter's desk and pulled her out of her chair so that he could wrap her up in his arms. "What have you been doing about it?"

Winter sighed and rested her head against his chest. "I've been working on finding people who _do_ see how far gone he is. I've been talking to them, carefully, trying to work them over. It hasn't been easy. Now that the Mibu have what they want out of this conference, I'm guessing it won't be long before Kyo and his friends make their move."

"Yep," said Qrow, "They were talking about their trip when I left. Now that the girls are on their way back to Beacon, I'm guessing they'll be on their way up here any day now."

"I'll keep working on finding allies, until I don't have anymore time," said Winter. "But it's the kind of thing I can't afford to rush."

Qrow nodded. In this kind of situation, discretion was less of a watchword and more of a concrete law. Winter was presently looking for allies among her fellow Specialists, the military's command structure, even rank-and-file troops. She was trying to find people that would support reforming Atlas in a way that didn't leave an unstable, paranoid, militarist standing at the top, calling the shots for the entire Kingdom. Unfortunately, one wrong word, one unwise question or slip of the tongue to the wrong person, and Ironwood would probably have news of her activities before the hour was out, and have her imprisoned, if not executed, for treason in short order. On top of that, even if the people she talked to were earnest about their belief in the need for reform, they would be just as jumpy and cautious as she was, wondering if Winter was earnest about her inquiries, or if she was Ironwood's spy, fishing for potential traitors.

Unfortunately, the timeframe needed to find and build support for her cause had just shrunk dramatically, with the conclusion of the conference. There was no knowing when exactly Kyo and his friends would be coming for Ironwood, but they could expect it any day now. Thanks to Winter's warning, Ironwood was fully aware of that too. Scout ships were constantly patrolling the coastline of Solitas, just waiting for Kyo and his friends to make landfall.

"So now what?" asked Qrow.

Winter paused. "I think...I think the time for caution may be over. Kyo told me to wait. But...there are things I can wait for and things I can't." She lifted her head, looking up at Qrow's eyes. "I think it's time to start taking a few more risks."

Qrow chuckled and grinned. "I like the way you think, Ice Queen. What's on the agenda?"

Winter sighed. "I think it's time I hosted a briefing of my own, with the people I'm as certain as I can be about, where we can make our intentions plain. We need to get ready."

* * *

Weiss stifled a yawn, before turning to stare listlessly at the passersby making their way down the sidewalk outside her favorite local cafe in Vale. To be perfectly honest, after coming back from their sojourn with the Mibu Clan, returning to their everyday lives as third-year Beacon students still felt a little unreal. Their visit to Kyo's homeland had been listed as an extremely important "diplomatic mission" by Ozpin and Glynda, which had earned them a heap of mission credits, and a pretty hefty bounty on top of that. Technically, they could laze about for the remainder of their year and not have to worry about anything but taking enough seminars to finish out their academic credits.

Of course, Weiss being Weiss, it wasn't long before she was looking at the mission postings. In her mind, and to her friends, she justified it by saying that they should just use this as an opportunity to get a jump on next year's mission credits, and further secure their financial options. However, the real reason was also the reason her teammates weren't protesting Weiss' suggestions. They were all bored and needed something, anything, to do.

Their visit to the Mibu had been turbulent and eye-opening, offering them insight into a different culture, and into a lost chapter of the world's history. They were all growing and developing the skills they had acquired there. Blake and Ruby were both practicing with the arts their teachers had taught them, using the scrolls that Dougal and Sora respectively had given them to practice. Blake had showed them what she had learned so far, being able to manipulate her shadow and the shadows of others, even using a secret technique, known as _Kagenui_ , to lock targets into place, by pinning their shadows with shots from her weapon. Ruby hadn't shown them what she was working on at all, not wanting to let the secret out until she had finished perfecting her new skill. But she promised them it would be a doozy.

Jaune continued to train diligently, going to the top of their apartment building every night to practice. Ren and Nora were apparently involved in secret training of their own, though they hadn't given out many details on it. Neo appeared to be training very hard as well, if her tendency to disappear for most of the day, and then return, covered with sweat, her clothes and skin smudged, was any indicator.

The fact was that they, all of them, needed something to do with their time. They needed opportunities to apply the things they had learned in the real world. Weiss and Yang both needed opportunities to put their new weapons through their paces.

Of all of them, Yang was the most eager for something to do, owing her new enthusiasm only partly to her eagerness to put her new weapon to use. She didn't let on very much, but everyone could see just how pained Yang was, not having Kyo around. Given how close they had become in Onmyo, Yang had grown used to sharing a bed with him, to having him at her side on a regular basis. But now, Kyo was on another continent entirely, and Yang was back to sharing an apartment bedroom with Neo.

Both Weiss and Neo could sympathize with her, having made their own connections. There were times where Neo looked almost unbearably lonely, not having Saisei nearby. Weiss herself felt Hayate's absence keenly, having grown used to having him around to talk to. Blake, of course, was missing Sun quite badly. Given that, it was exceptionally difficult to not be jealous of Jaune and Ruby, or Ren and Nora, who tried their best to be discrete while the others coped.

Weiss closed her eyes and sipped her coffee. As she did, she listened to a pleasant tune that seemed to almost drift right up to her ear, weaving slowly, gently in and stirring her mind. Her eyes snapped open as she realized that the tune was different from the selection of pop songs that played constantly over the cafe's speakers. It was a separate melody, coming from...somewhere else...What was more, Weiss was fairly certain that she was the only one hearing it, given that no one else appeared to have noticed the strange music.

It was soft and light, like a flute of some kind. However, it had a deeper, resonant tone. Something about it pulled at Weiss, like her heart was tethered to a string that was being tugged faintly. Frowning, Weiss pushed back her chair and stood up, looking for the music's source.

Wherever it was coming from, it wasn't coming from anywhere within the cafe. Finishing her coffee, Weiss left the cafe and headed out into the street, part of her wondering what she was doing. Why was she chasing after phantom noises that, apparently, only she could hear?

Almost as though sensing her trepidation, the music gradually faded out, leaving Weiss with only a hollow feeling in her chest, like she'd missed out on an opportunity that she might not get again.

Throughout the rest of the day, the music appeared again and again, as though taunting her. It called to her in brief snatches, when she was at the docks, waiting for the next flight to Beacon to go sign up for another mission, only to vanish just as she was on the verge of turning to go and find it. It appeared again, when she disembarked after returning from the Academy. It taunted her while she was in the checkout line at the local grocery store. Each time, the music was accompanied by the gentle tugging sensation, like someone had tied a string around her heart and was, ever so gently, pulling on the other end.

That night, during dinner with the others, Weiss was unusually silent and pensive. For the most part, they put it up to her still thinking about Hayate, which Yang, Blake, and Neo could sympathize with. However, of all people, it was Ren who pulled her aside after the meal was over.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," said Weiss. "Why do you ask?"

"You were very quiet during dinner," said Ren. "Normally I wouldn't worry about that, but it didn't seem you heard a thing that was said, even when we were talking about the upcoming mission."

"Oh..." said Weiss, floored by how out of it she had been.

"What's wrong?" asked Ren as Nora came to sit beside Weiss on her other side.

"I've..." Weiss hesitated, not sure if she should speak of something like this, sure that her friends would think she was going crazy. However, a look at Ren and Nora's concerned faces told her that they would support her, no matter what. "...All day I've been...hearing things."

"What sort of things?" asked Ren. "Voices?"

Weiss shook her head. "Music."

"What kind of music?" asked Nora. "Is it the annoying kind that gets stuck in your head?"

Weiss shook her head slowly. "No. It doesn't do that. But, when it stops, it always leaves me feeling like I've missed something."

Ren frowned and looked across Weiss at Nora. "Does anyone else around you hear this music?"

"No," said Weiss. "At least, not as far as I could tell." She saw the look Ren was sharing with his girlfriend and shuddered. "You must think I'm going crazy."

"Actually...that wasn't my first thought," said Ren. "I'm more worried about something else."

"Wha-?" Weiss began to ask before suddenly shooting upright as the sound reached her ears. "There it is again!" She could hear that eerie melody again, this time, a little more loudly and insistently.

"Weiss..." said Ren worriedly, getting to his feet, a hand reaching for her shoulder.

"I'm going!" said Weiss abruptly, jumping over their living room coffee table and heading for the door, grabbing Myrtenaster and hooking the sheath onto the ribbon around her waist. The music was playing again, but louder, the pull on her heart more insistent than ever.

"Wait!" shouted Ren.

"What should we do?" asked Nora.

"Grab your weapon," said Ren, already holstering StormFlower. "We're going after her."

"What's going on?" asked Jaune as he came out of the kitchen. Ruby had already rushed off to their room to grab their weapons, while Neo did the same with her umbrella. Yang already had her weapons on, but Blake was bursting out of the room she shared with Weiss, attaching Gambol Shroud to her back.

"Is Weiss going crazy?" asked Ruby worriedly, handing Crocea Mors to Jaune and holstering Crescent Rose behind her.

"I don't think so," said Ren. "I think it's something worse than that. I think she's being lured."

They rushed out of the apartment, not bothering with the elevator, instead hitting the stairs.

"Lured?" asked Blake, horrified.

"What makes you say that?" asked Jaune as they rushed down the steps.

"When Weiss told me about it, something stood out to me," said Ren. "The music she was hearing always played briefly when she was busy doing something and disappeared when she thought about looking for the source. That activity made me think of something."

"What?" asked Yang.

"Fishing," said Ren. "When you're fishing, the ideal manner is to move the lure in such a way that it looks appealing to the fish, not being too aggressive, or you'll scare it off instead of draw it in. An outright compulsion would have been something Weiss would have realized she needed to resist. But it sounded like whoever was playing this music was baiting her, appealing to her curiosity, before fading when she was about to investigate. Now they've got her hooked."

"How on earth did you even think of this?" asked Ruby.

"I was thinking about all the amazing things we've seen the Mibu do," said Ren. "It made me aware that there are all kinds of things that might be possible if a person properly applied their Aura to it. That was my first thought, because there's no way Weiss could be going insane."

The others smiled at this. It said a lot about Ren that the last thing he would believe was that Weiss was actually losing her mind. But, of course, that was almost a more appealing idea than the thought that someone was trying to actively draw her off.

They burst out into the street, looking around for any sign of where Weiss might have gone. Yang reached out, her right arm seeming to stretch and spread before fading away like mist as she swept it in a circle around her. Suddenly, she stopped, turning to face down the street. "That way!" she shouted.

"Let's go!" said Ruby decisively and they set out after their friend.

* * *

 **And so the Visit to the Mibu arc of the story draws to a close...and the next one begins. Now the story is really going to kick into gear.**


	70. Chapter 70

**Chapter 70:**

Weiss didn't even stop for the light, when she reached an intersection. Instead, a glyph appeared beneath her feet, launching her up into the air, allowing her to cross the street in a single leap, touching down lightly on the other side without even breaking stride. She slipped from side to side, weaving around other pedestrians, not even so much as brushing against them. Her agility, honed against the vicious Creatures of Grimm, ensured she couldn't be tripped up by something as comparatively tame as pedestrians. Fortunately, at this time of evening, there were hardly any out and about.

The music hadn't let up this time. If anything, it was even louder to Weiss' ears. The tug on her heart felt as though, even if she stopped, the force of that feeling alone would drag her straight to the music's source.

 _I'm going to find you,_ she thought determinedly. _And when I do, you're going to tell me what the Hell this is all about._

Rounding a corner, Weiss found herself arriving at one of Vale's parks, within its residential district. Briefly, she was reminded of the parks that made up a significant portion of the Mibu Clan's upperclass district. However, the look and feel were different enough for Weiss to not get overly nostalgic. Besides, this was the kind of place she was more familiar with. There was plenty of light, supplied by dust-powered lamp posts, themselves holograms, designed to emulate a classical look and feel, but with all the advantages of a more high-tech lighting system. The light was subtly different, which reduced shadows and made what shadows that _were_ there less deep.

So it was no surprise for Weiss to easily spot the woman standing on an isolated hill, playing what looked like an oversized flute. However, as she got closer, Weiss saw the light from the lamps glint off something transparent, like crystal. _What on earth is that?_ Being a Huntress-in-training, Weiss was no stranger to unusual weapon designs. However, this one took the cake in many ways.

The weapon appeared to be designed along the lines of a nagamaki, a meter-long, curved blade, with a handle of nearly equal length. However, the blade was substantially wider than the average blade of such a weapon, nearly six inches across at its widest point, with the curve increasing near the tip which pointed almost perpendicular from the blade's original orientation. The blade itself appeared to have been constructed from some kind of crystal, with an impressive degree of transparency. However, as the light passed along and through it, Weiss could see strange facets and angles, indicating that the blade's interior cross-section was like a prism, with numerous lines intersecting at strange angles, bending and refracting the light passing through it. Along its length were a series of eight holes passing through the blade, the widest out where the blade was the widest, where the curve was the most dramatic, then gradually decreasing in size as they progressed towards where the blade met the handle.

The handle itself was another unusual piece. Rather than wrappings or a grip more common to weapons of that type, it really did resemble a large woodwind instrument, like a flute or clarinet. There were several keys lined up, which the wielder manipulated with her fingers as she blew across the mouthpiece, near the pommel, in the manner of a concert flutist, the whole thing emitting that haunting melody that had drawn Weiss here in the first place.

The wielder herself was an unusual sort. She was a taller woman, who looked to be roughly the same age as Weiss' sister. Her hair was of the purest alabaster-white color, looking like streams of marble. Her skin was a dark, tan color, like she had spent a very long time in the sun. Her face was youthful, but with narrow, angled eyes, that narrowed even further when Weiss met her gaze. Her eyes were undoubtedly her most fascinating feature. She had some form of heterochromia, not like the kind Neo used her Semblance to produce, which gave eyes separate colors, but rather, eyes that were the same, but mixed the colors of her irises. The main color appeared to be green. However, there was an inner ring of dark-purple right around the pupil, with striations of lighter shades of purple and magenta, along with pale-orange, running from the center to the outside of each iris. Weiss didn't think that a set of eyes like that could be produced naturally. Those eyes were almost mesmerizing to look at, and Weiss got the impression that this woman's gaze could hold a weak-willed person captive all on its own.

The woman's slender build was that of a dancer, her loose-fitting, sleeveless, maroon blouse was parted just enough in the center to show her rather modest bust. Her similarly colored loose pants had cuffs that were closed at the ankles, while, further up, an ovular section of cloth was cut away to showcase her long, muscular thighs. Her arms were long and thin, almost to the point of being scrawny. However, the skin stretched tightly over deceptively small-looking muscles. They were arms that ended in hands with long, nimble fingers that expertly manipulated the keys of her weapon...or instrument...as she played.

As Weiss approached, the woman finally stopped playing and lowered her...device...to smile politely at Weiss. "Greetings, Ms. Schnee. I'm glad to see that you've accepted my invitation." Her voice was light and musical, much like the sound of her...instrument...weapon...whatever it was.

"Who are you?" asked Weiss. "What do you want? How did you do that?"

"How did I play a tune that only you could hear, no matter where you were or who you were with?" The woman giggled, the sound like a series of notes trickling up and down the musical scale. "That's easy. People are remarkable, are they not? Even though their physical specs are roughly the same, each person has their own physical variations that affects how their senses filter the world around them. When it comes to hearing, each person generally hears things in the same range. However, each person also has unique frequencies, to which only they are attuned. I merely played a special melody across your personal frequency."

The woman's response filled Weiss with even more questions. How was it possible that this woman had known about Weiss' own "special frequency," even if such a thing even really existed? If only Weiss could hear it, then how could that woman even know what she was playing?

"Oh, I see that stirred your curiosity even more," said the woman with another musical titter. "Let's just say that my own senses of sight and hearing are quite extraordinary in their own right, and leave it at that. Your friends aren't far behind you, so I need to finish my business quickly."

"What do you want?" asked Weiss.

"I'm making a very important delivery," explained the woman. "I must pick up a precious package and deliver it safely to its destination."

"So you're here to give me something?" asked Weiss skeptically.

The woman laughed, much more loudly than her previous giggles. "Oh no, my dear." She began to twirl the handle of her weapon in her hand. As she did, the air passing through the holes along the blade was channeled into the handle, then back out, producing a low, consistent tone. The woman's fingers moved carefully as she spun the weapon, changing her grip on the blade. It took Weiss a second to see that she was manipulating the keys with each revolution. The light from the lamps around them passed through the blade, and was broken into bursts of color that flashed before Weiss' eyes like miniature fireworks.

"You see," continued the woman, "this is the part of my job where I make the pickup. And as for the package, well...I'm afraid that's you."

"What?" asked Weiss, blinking, trying to clear her eyes, though they were quickly dazzled by fresh bursts of light. The music issuing forth from the weapon...or was it an instrument...was much slower in pace, and lower in register, than what the woman had been playing before. It wormed its way into Weiss' head, making it hard for her to think.

"I'm acting on behalf of a caring and concerned father," explained the woman, "who just wants his wayward daughter to be delivered home safely." Her tone, the rhythm of her syllables, the cadence of her voice became a counterpoint to the melody issuing forth from her weapon. Her gleaming eyes locked with Weiss' own, the sensation expanding until Weiss felt as though she were being swallowed by them.

"What...?" Weiss blinked, trying to process the information. The knowledge that her father was behind this woman should have sent fear racing through her, triggering a surge of adrenaline that kicked her senses into high gear. However, instead, she hardly felt anything at all, in fact wondering if she even understood what the woman was actually saying. Her eyes locked on those dancing lights as the music continued to fill her ears. Her sense of her body slowly began to fall away.

"That's it," said the woman, continuing to twirl her weapon with wide, graceful motions. "Now...sleep!"

With that word, Weiss' senses left her completely. She slumped forward slightly, her chin falling down onto her collar, her arms hanging limp, though she remained standing. Her eyes were still open, but half-lidded and glazed over.

"Very good," said the woman, working her weapon through several more passes, the speed picking up slightly. "Finish with a flourish..." She swept her blade out to the side with a final tone trailing off into the night. "...and the spell is complete." She walked up to Weiss, staring into the girl's unseeing eyes. "The package has been secured. Now to make the delivery. It's a good thing that Shindara agreed to help me with this, or it would have taken forever to get to Atlas."

The crack of a rifle shot echoed through the night, immediately getting the woman's attention. She jolted, jerking her head back and clear just as a sniper round raced through the space her head was occupying. A flash of gold from above drew the woman's eyes upwards. Her eyes widened as she saw Yang Xiao Long, her eyes blazing crimson, descending towards her like a comet.

The woman jumped back, just in time to avoid Yang's right fist as the silvery gauntlet slammed into the earth the woman had been standing blasting a wave of flames outwards, and throwing dirt, stones, and chunks of turf in all directions, with the exception of directly behind her, where Weiss was standing.

The woman landed, her feet skidding across the grass. Her blade went into action, whipping through the air around her as she spun it rapidly like a baton around her body. Her fingers were a blur as her grip changed constantly, her hands working up and down the length of the handle. The weapon struck up a lively, piping tune that was matched by flashes and flares of light, which refracted through the blade, forming multicolored bursts and motes that danced all around her body.

"What the Hell did you do to Weiss?" demanded Yang, baring her teeth and glaring at the woman as her Aura surged around her body like a shroud of golden fire.

She was joined by Ruby and Blake, the three of them arranging themselves in a barrier between the woman and an unresponsive Weiss. Jaune, Nora, Neo, and Ren spread out in a loose crescent behind the woman.

"I just put her under my spell," replied the woman cheerfully. "There's no harm done. It was just a simple trick to render her more compliant."

"Spell?" asked Ruby, blinking.

"Correct," said the woman cheerfully.

"Snap her out of it...Now!" said Blake, pulling Gambol Shroud off her back and unsheathing the black katana with her right hand, while hefting the bladed sheath in her left.

"And why would I do that?" asked the woman cheerfully as she continued to twirl her weapon about her like a baton. "Given what I'm here to do, she probably would have resisted, which would have led to her getting hurt. We can't have that, now can we?"

"What is it you want with her?" asked Ruby.

"As I told her, I'm merely acting on behalf of her father," answered the woman. "All he wishes is to see that his beloved daughter is safely returned home."

"Like we'll believe that!" snapped Jaune, arming himself with shield and sword.

Somehow, in the midst of her complicated dance, the woman managed a shrug. "Well, I might have embellished a little bit. But it is true that my job is to return Ms. Schnee to her home and family."

"Who are you, anyway?" demanded Nora.

The woman grinned, sweeping her weapon through one last rapid series of flourishes, which created a crescendo of notes, with flashes of shimmering, varicolored lights dancing an accompaniment. Two long strokes signaled the completion of her melody, before she stilled her weapon, transitioning it into a reverse grip so that she held it perpendicular to the ground, with the butt end of the handle pointing down and the weapon's profile pressed up against the line of her right arm.

"Ah," she said, "where are my manners? I suppose you, of all people, deserve a proper introduction from me." She swept into a low bow. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Haira of the Junishinsho: master illusionist and devoted servant to My Lord, the great Demon King, Oda Nobunaga."

Gasps filled the air as the seven students immediately moved into fighting stances, ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice.

Haira smiled cheerfully at them. "Oh dear, don't be so nervous. I'm not here to fight. You have my word on that."

"Why are you helping Weiss' father?" Yang wanted to know. "Is he allying with Nobunaga now?"

"Sort of," said Haira, tapping her chin. "The truth of the matter is that we don't need his help with anything, and it's not as though he'll actually reap any of the benefits he believes he will by allying with us."

"Then why...?" pressed Blake.

Haira grinned. It was a vicious expression, practically dripping with malice. "If I had to say...it's simply a way to pass the time. I'm just amusing myself, really."

"Why you..." growled Yang, her fists clenching. She charged forward, leaping across the ground, aiming a powerful blow at Haira with her right fist. "Have fun with this!" she shouted as she swung her gauntlet at Haira in a hooking right.

Haira grinned, and Yang was hit with a terrifying sense of deja vu. She had seen that smile before...back when she and her teammates had been trying to stop the train Roman Torchwick would use to create a breach and lead the Grimm into the heart of Vale. It was the grin Neo had flashed at her right at the beginning of their fight, the vicious grin of someone watching their opponent do exactly what they expected and wanted.

However, there was no counterattack. Haira's blade did not so much as twitch, nor did she make any effort to dodge Yang's punch. Her fist connected solidly with Haira's left cheek, snapping her head to the side. Haira was blown off her feet and sent flying across the ground. She plowed a trench in the earth as she landed, throwing up more dirt and grass as she skidded to a stop, a loud scream escaping her lips.

Yang's heart lurched and the bottom fell out of her stomach. The scream had not been Haira's, but a more familiar voice instead. Rushing towards where her target had landed, Yang skidded to a stop, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping as she found herself looking down at the prone form of Blake, shuddering and whimpering, blood trickling out of her mouth and nose.

"B-Blake...?" whimpered Yang, suddenly beset by another sense of deja vu. This time, it was the feeling she had gotten in the Amity Coliseum, when she found herself standing over a moaning Mercury Black, his leg seemingly broken by her attack, after she had seen him attack her, even though the match was over. She'd countered and suddenly found herself in a situation that was completely different from what she had seen and heard.

Yang blinked, trying to clear her eyes of the tears that were welling up. But when she opened them again, she was beset by another stomach-clenching lurch as, in that brief instant where her eyes had been closed, the situation had reset itself. She was standing shoulder to shoulder with Blake and Ruby again, Haira still standing in front of them, an unresponsive Weiss behind. It was as though the last few seconds hadn't happened at all.

She wasn't the only one confused. Both Blake and Ruby were looking around with baffled expressions. Behind Haira, JNNR looked just as flummoxed. All of them were sharing confused glances, each of them looking disoriented and shaken.

A whistling, undulating melody reached their ears, and sparks of varicolored light danced across their vision as Haira laughed. "What's the matter, dears? You all look so troubled. Perhaps you ought to try again...although...there's no telling who you might strike this time. And, of course, you'll be wondering whether it's another trick, or if you hit them for real."

Haira began to dance, spinning her weapon around her, her fingers a blur as they worked the keys, the music her weapon created joining with and adding to the music already in their ears. More bursts of light erupted from that crystal-prism blade, which drew in light from the sparks that were already dancing about, mingling it with ambient light from the lamps, the stars, and the moon, to produce bursts of even stranger color that didn't seem like they should exist in this world.

"Illusionists get a bad rap when it comes to battle," said Haira with a chortle. "You can't beat a foe with false images, things that don't exist...or can you? After all, is there anything so terrifying as the notion that what you see and hear might be a lie? Nothing hampers and hinders you like the realization that you cannot trust the evidence of your own senses."

Yang's body began to shake. Probably without even realizing it, Haira's words and actions were striking a nerve within her. Her mind was catapulted back to that night during the Vytal Festival, where she found herself surrounded by soldiers and androids, their guns trained on her, Mercury moaning on the floor, clutching his leg, the terrifying moment when she had looked up at the screen and realized that the world had seen something completely different from what she saw. She broke out in a cold sweat.

Haira's dance and her melody picked up pace. Her body itself seemed to break apart into motes of light. "Oh look at all of you, fresh from your little trip to the Mibu lands, so sure and confident in the new skills you've acquired, and the lessons you've learned. Did you honestly think you were really ready to face us? You should be glad I've only given you a taste of the terror of the Junishinsho. Haira is most certainly not the weakest, she is also wiser than to think she can claim to be the strongest."

"What is it that you want?" asked Yang. "Why are you doing this...all of this?"

Haira looked at Yang, even as her form continued to dissolve into colored motes. When she spoke, her words seemed to deepen, until they were like rumbles of distant thunder. "We seek to serve our Lord. When he strides forth in his terrible wrath, he shall shake the earth and split the skies. It shall be an era of screams and madness, rivers of blood, cleansing the world of the weak and the unfit, and we shall be his heralds."

The last Yang saw of Haira was her horrifyingly maniacal grin, her eyes rolling upwards as though she were caught in the grip of some ecstatic episode, right before her head broke apart into countless, swirling, stars, leaving them alone in the park.

"Now," said Haira's voice, echoing from all around them, "I would recommend you stay put for a while longer. The melody and spectacle of by beloved Fantasia are meant to linger in your heart and mind. If you try anything foolish, there's no telling what you might actually be doing. I control all your senses, and you truly can't even tell right from left or up from down. One ill-advised move and you'll wind up doing something you'll regret for the rest of your life."

With a final laugh, her voice faded, leaving only the two lines of piping music and sparks dancing in the air like fireflies.

"Wha-what do we do?" asked Ruby.

"We can't listen to her!" protested Nora. "It's a trick! It has to be!"

"But if we're wrong..." said Blake, her voice thick with fear.

 _There has to be some way we can fight this,_ thought Yang. _She's getting away and we can't afford to get stuck here._

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves. However, as she breathed in, she her nose was struck by the stench of blood, so thick that Yang was certain that someone's body had just been sliced open. Her stomach rebelled and she wrestled with it, trying to keep from tossing up her dinner.

A reassuring buzz came from her right arm, accompanied by a bell-like tone. The sensation of Kiren Kaina burned through Yang, searing through the haze that clouded her consciousness, its ring drowning out the sound of Haira's melody. Light flashed from the gauntlet on her arm, driving back the motes of light that swam before her vision. _That's right! A weapon doesn't have senses that can be fooled by an illusion,_ she thought. Then doubt crept in. _What if I only think I'm sensing my weapon? What if it's another of Haira's illusions?_

The sensation of Kiren Kaina and its ring and light began to fade, Haira's melody and shimmering lights returning.

 _No!_ Yang roared within the silence of her own mind. _I won't be broken by this!_ Her determination was echoed, and answered, by her weapon with a mighty, bell-like roar, far louder and stronger than any that had issued forth before, matching Kyo's Tenro in its volume and force. Light blazed forth like flames, seeming to burn away Haira's lights.

"HAAAAAAAAAH!" Yang's roar matched her weapon's as she struck straight down with her right fist, slamming her gauntlet against the ground, unleashing a mighty shockwave, accompanied by a blaze of light that washed over her and her friends. The light petered out, and the call of Kiren Kaina faded into distant echoes. Silence fell over the park. The light remaining was just the normal light from the nearby lamp posts. There was the sound of numerous animals startled by the commotion, and wind rustling through trees and grass...but there was no trace of the piping, whistling melody of Haira's weapon.

Yang gasped for breath, feeling drained, as though she'd just run several miles. Her stomach still churned uneasily. Beside her, Blake and Ruby both blinked and rubbed their eyes, looking slightly dazed, a reaction that was being mirrored by JNNR across from them.

"We're out," said Yang, after a moment to catch her breath.

"Can we be sure?" asked Ren. "This could be another illusion."

"Well, we can't hear that music anymore," said Ruby.

"And there aren't any dancing lights either," added Blake.

"I think we're in the clear," said Jaune.

"We're just gonna have to take the chance," said Nora. "We'll be stuck if we just spend forever worrying about whether or not we're still in it."

"Yeah," said Yang, sighing. Standing up straight, she looked around for any signs of Haira. However, the woman had vanished. "Well...at least she's gone for now."

"Y-Yang," said Ruby, her voice hitching, "she's not the only one."

Yang whirled around to look behind their line. Where Weiss had been standing, there was now only empty space. Haira might be gone, but she had succeeded in her errand, taking Weiss with her.

"What do we do now?" asked Blake, her voice heavy with worry as they realized that their teammate was in the hands of their enemy.

"We go to Ozpin," said Jaune. "We need to let him know what happened. He's also the one who can make arrangements for us."

"What arrangements?" Nora wanted to know.

Ruby clued in quickly. "That's right, Haira told us what she was doing. She's taking Weiss back to her father."

"Which means there's only one place they could be heading," said Ren, realization striking him like lightning.

"Atlas," said Yang.

"Well, I guess we know where our next mission is going to be," said Blake sardonically.

Neo silently sighed and shrugged.

"I know," said Yang wryly, watching her roommate, "so much for getting back to our normal routines."

* * *

Getting to Beacon had been quicker than they'd thought it would be. After Ruby had placed a call to Ozpin, he had dispatched a bullhead right to their location immediately. Within minutes, they were en-route to the Academy, the pilot bypassing the landing pads and dropping them off right at the base of Beacon Tower. The seven students had rushed through the doors and piled into the elevator, heading straight to Ozpin's office.

He was waiting for them there, chairs set out and mugs of coffee waiting on the desk. Glynda was there too, standing silently behind Ozpin's seat, trying her best to maintain her stern demeanor, though the twitching of her fingers betrayed her nervousness.

"I see," said Ozpin after listening to everyone's explanation of what had happened. "So the enemy has made his move."

"More like _a_ move," said Ruby bitterly. "That Haira woman said she was doing this for fun."

"However, if they are acting more openly, then it's likely that Nobunaga himself is not far from making his move," noted Ozpin, turning his seat to gaze out the window. He sighed. "Well...no point on dwelling on what might be. We must prepare ourselves as best we can and do what we can with the time we have."

"So then..."

"The earliest I can arrange for a long-range airship that will be able to take you directly to Atlas will be at eleven-o'clock, tomorrow morning," said Ozpin. "Go back home and rest yourselves as best you can. After what just happened, I imagine that your sleep shall be troubled. However, you should try your best to get _some_ sleep. In the morning, prepare for departure."

"I'm against this," said Glynda sharply. "I don't think they're prepared for this kind of conflict. After what just happened-"

"It is _because_ of what just happened that I believe they are the best choice, indeed, possibly the _only_ choice, we have for this," said Ozpin, turning back to face Team JNNR and the remaining members of RWBY. "Ultimately, even considering the skills of veteran Huntsmen, you are the best choice for this. Because of what you have learned from Kyo, the Mibu, and me, you are the ones most prepared to confront enemies like this Haira. The only other ones capable of handling this kind of threat would be the Mibu themselves."

"Not that I want to stay home," said Ruby, "but I wonder if we can. Haira stopped us cold without even really trying."

"That she did," agreed Ozpin. "However, despite that, you were not as helpless as you seem to believe, otherwise you would not be here now. In all likelihood, you would still be standing there in the park, waiting for her illusion to fade, regardless of whether or not it actually had."

"We might still be standing there, for all we know," grumbled Ren. "This could just be an extension of that illusion."

"Perhaps," said Ozpin. "However, at some point, in a situation like this, you will have to decide where the boundary between illusion and reality lies. Ultimately the greatest power an illusionist like her can wield is the power of _doubt_."

"Doubt?" asked Ruby.

Ozpin nodded. "Regardless of what you see, hear, or feel, it is that sense of uncertainty, doubting that it is real, which holds you in place and keeps you from acting. That said, how is it that you have come this far despite that?"

"We just believed that we could," said Yang.

"Exactly," said Ozpin, nodding approvingly. "In the face of such powerful illusions, which seek to mire you in doubt, the greatest weapon against them is faith, the ability to believe in the reality before you, to believe in your ability to ultimately pierce through the insubstantial and find the real. Knowing that, it will be up to you to go after Ms. Schnee. Otherwise, we would have to leave the situation to the Mibu."

"Can we contact them?" asked Yang.

Ozpin sighed and rested his chin on his hand. "I will dispatch a courier immediately, to inform them. But precious time will be lost getting the information into their hands. However, it would be best if you set out immediately. Even if we could afford to, I don't imagine you would simply want to wait around for a reply."

"Hell no!" said Yang before flinching and quailing beneath Glynda's glare.

Ozpin chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Then it is settled," he said. "Go home and rest. Tomorrow, at ten-forty-five, be at the Vale dock with everything you need for this mission. Departure will be promptly at eleven. Do not be late."

"Yes, Sir," said the seven students.

"Good," said Ozpin, chuckling at their enthusiasm. "Dismissed."

They headed for the elevators. After the doors closed behind them, Glynda sighed and turned to look doubtfully at Ozpin. "I'm still not sure about this," she said softly.

"They've come through for us before," said Ozpin. "Hopefully this is no different. What I told them applies to us as well. At the end of the day, faith will be our greatest weapon against our adversaries, faith in our students, in their training, and in their growth." He turned his gaze up to Glynda. "However, if you wish to join them and oversee as a Huntress, I will not object. I'm sure that Peter would be more than willing to cover your classes for you."

Glynda's eyes narrowed fractionally. "Very well, I will accompany them. I get the feeling that this is far more dangerous than anything else they've ever done."

Ozpin sighed, taking off his spectacles and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "About that...you might be right."

* * *

Weiss groaned and slowly blinked her eyes open. Everything around her was a swimming, gray haze. _Where am I?_

She found herself in a darkened room. The only light she currently had to work with streamed out from beneath a door. The illumination it provided was scant, but just enough for Weiss to get her bearings. Beside the door, she spotted a light switch. Getting up, Weiss made her way over to the switch and flipped it, turning on a single light set into the center of the ceiling. Now that she had illumination, she got a better look at her surroundings.

The room was about the size of the dorm she had shared with her teammates back at Beacon. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made from pale-green marble. The simple bed she'd been in was slid up against one wall. Nearby was a bare table, occupying a spot in the center of the next wall over, while the wall opposite the bed hosted a closet and a chest of drawers. Beside the closet was another door. The center of the room was covered by a thick, soft, dark-blue rug that ran up to the edge of the bed.

Frowning, Weiss tried the door by the light switch, only to find that it was locked. _I figured as much,_ she though bitterly. Making her way to the other door, Weiss opened it to see that it led into a small and simple bathroom.

Pursing her lips, Weiss looked at herself in the mirror. Someone had removed her clothes and put her in a nightgown, like the one she usually wore. Her hair was matted and tangled, which made it look like a mess.

Stepping back into the room, Weiss opened the closet and was not surprised to see a selection of dresses, including one identical to her usual battle dress. Looking through the drawers, Weiss found a selection of her usual undergarments. After checking all the drawers, Weiss felt a shudder run through her. The one thing she wanted, needed, most was missing. Myrtenaster was gone. Its absence only put her situation in a much more dire light.

 _I'm back..._ she thought. _I figured as much, but..._ There was no question in her mind where she was. She was in her family's mansion back in Atlas. There was no telling how long she had been out. However, she knew she couldn't afford to sit around. Instead, she at least decided to shower and make sure she was ready for whatever happened next.

She took her time in the shower, making sure she was completely clean before walking out and getting dressed. Only then did she pull out the room's sole chair and sit in it, facing the door, waiting for what might come. She frowned and tapped her foot impatiently. Her scroll was gone, and there were no clocks of any kind in the room, which meant she had no idea how much time had passed.

Closing her eyes, Weiss took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Working herself into a panic would only work to her father's advantage when he finally decided to confront her. And she had no doubt that he would. If nothing else, he'd probably show up just in order to gloat over how she was finally back where she belonged.

With her eyes closed, Weiss felt a faint pulling sensation, a different one from what she had felt when that woman had been playing her mysterious song. Instead, this was a more familiar sensation, one that made her yearn for something, her left hand closing reflexively.

 _It must be...!_ Weiss' eyes snapped open at the realization. The crystal, the Etheric Crystal that now formed the core of Myrtenaster's new form was something she had bonded to. Their bond must have become strong enough that she could feel the crystal's presence, even though it wasn't in her hand and, indeed, seemed a fair distance away. Not having any experience in this, Weiss couldn't begin to guess how far away her weapon was, but she figured it was probably somewhere else in the mansion.

Seeing as doing nothing while she waited was a pointless waste of time, Weiss closed her eyes again, trying to see if she could strengthen her sense of her weapon and where it was. She wasn't sure how much help it would be, but it was better than not doing anything at all. She focused everything on her sense of Myrtenaster and its crystal. Reaching out with her consciousness, Weiss tried to contact her weapon, seeing what that might do. To her amazement, she felt a familiar sense of power flow into her. _I can still use the etheric energy,_ she realized in amazement. _Even if I'm not in direct contact with the crystal, I can still draw on it._ She hadn't realized that her bond with the crystal had become so strong, or that such a thing would be possible, regardless of how strong her bond with the crystal grew.

The sense of being able to tap into that energy reassured her. Whatever else, she now knew that she wasn't helpless. Her father might have believed that he had her at his mercy, but she would soon show him just how wrong he was. However, Weiss took another breath and calmed herself, letting her excitement die down. Now wasn't the time to play that card, not yet. She had to wait until she had a better sense of the situation. _I'm not even sure where in the mansion I am. Until I know more, I should stay put and wait._

What was more, she knew that her friends wouldn't stay put idly and wait. They would come after her. However, Weiss had no idea if they even knew where she was. She supposed getting a message to them was her next priority.

Finally, there was a click from the door, which then swung open. Weiss' eyes widened at the sight of who was standing on the other side. "Whitley?"

Her younger brother smiled his enigmatic smile as he looked at her. "Hello, Weiss. Welcome home."

Weiss scowled at him. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she asked irritably.

Whitley smirked and shrugged nonchalantly. "I suppose not," he said. "If I came home in the manner that you did, I would be irked about it too, I suppose."

"So, have you just come here to taunt me Whitley?" wondered Weiss.

"Of course not," said Whitley, his smile fading slightly, a more serious look replacing it. "Now that you have cleaned up and made yourself presentable, father is waiting to speak with you."

"Of course he is," said Weiss. "I didn't think you would be playing errand boy."

Whitley's smile was surprisingly good-humored, considering her barb. "At your service," he said, spreading his hands out to either side of him.

He stepped back to allow her into the hall. As he did, Weiss realized that Whitley wasn't alone. A pair of SDC security personnel stood at either side of the door, rifles held across their chests, expressions stony, and eyes focused straight ahead.

"Interesting company," she noted.

Whitley chuckled. "Well, yes. I'm not under any illusions, dear sister. I know full well that I'm no match for you, even when you don't have your weapon. These gentlemen are here to ensure that you don't try anything...foolish."

"Your trust in me is so moving," said Weiss.

That earned another chuckle from her brother. "Well, I trust in your desire to take action and took precautions against it...nothing more."

"Hmph!" Weiss looked away from him sharply.

With one last chuckle, Whitley led the way, leading them through the mansion's hallways. From the layout, Weiss realized that they were in the basement, which meant she had been given a room in the servants' quarters. No doubt this was a sort of punishment by her father, a way of saying that she wasn't fit to even stay inside her own room in the house. However, Weiss had grown beyond being hurt by such an indirect insult. The room she had just left was more spacious than the one she shared with Blake, back in their apartment. Her father would have to do better than that.

They made their way up the stairs and through halls of pure, alabaster-white marble. They ascended a wide, curling staircase, walking past galleries and ballrooms, and through the upper level of a massive dining room that was large enough to entertain several-dozen guests. From top to bottom, the mansion was designed to impress with its size and grandeur. The largest rooms hosted massive sculptures: kneeling knights, a King Taijitu that reared and coiled about itself with both heads open and displaying their fangs, crouching Beowolves, and snarling Ursai.

Weiss walked through it all feeling strangely detached. Aside from her brother and the two guards, she hadn't seen another soul, not even a single member of the household staff, although that was hardly strange. Though everything was familiar, though this was the house she had grown up in, it now felt wrong and alien. _This isn't my home anymore,_ she thought sourly. Even if _she_ did take over the Schnee Dust Company, she knew that she could no longer feel at home in this house.

As they continued, Weiss realized exactly where they were going. She knew this route by heart after all. She had walked it countless times in the past, for all manner of reasons. As they made another turn, a familiar, heavy feeling settled in the pit of Weiss' stomach like a lump of lead. Like the layout, that feeling was familiar too. It was the feeling she always got when she was about to face her father, in the heart of his domain.

Making one final turn, Weiss' steps faltered as she saw the door leading into the last room, the last place in all of Remnant, she ever wanted to set foot inside of again. However, steeling herself, she forced herself to continue walking. If Whitley had noticed her fractional hesitation, he made no indication, walking slightly behind and to the side of her with a surprisingly bland expression. All things considered, Weiss expected to see a little more gloating in his gaze as he watched her, but the look on his face right now was surprisingly inscrutable, even by his usual standards.

Whitley said nothing as they reached the door, merely standing to one side and motioning for her to open it. The two guards took up positions on either side of it, standing as still as statues. Weiss stood there staring at it for a moment before taking a breath to calm herself. Steeling herself, she reached out and closed her hand around the polished bronze of the doorknob, the cold metal chilling her hand. She hesitated again before finally working up the courage to twist the knob and push the door open.

Her father's office was just as she remembered. There were the bookshelves and maps, sculptures by the door, paintings on the wall. At the far end of the room was her father's desk. Behind it sat the man she'd been dreading meeting ever since waking up.

As she approached, part of Weiss wondered just why she felt so nervous now. For all the financial and political clout he wielded, her father was just a man...and not an exceptionally strong one either. He regarded fighting as barbaric and beneath him. Having married into the Schnee family, he didn't have their Semblance. He hadn't even unlocked his Aura. Even without her weapon, Weiss could have taken him right then and there and beaten him easily. All told, even the guards waiting just outside the door didn't present all that much of a threat at the moment.

So why did this man still inspire so much fear in her?

Her father was presently studying something on his scroll. At the sound of her footsteps, he looked up and smiled. On the surface, it was a pleasant smile, the smile of a father happy to see his precious and beloved daughter after an extended period apart. However, that smile didn't reach his eyes. Within those eyes, Weiss could see the simmering anger that her father was keeping repressed, just beneath the surface, waiting for the ideal moment to unleash it upon her.

"Well then," said Jacques Schnee, "you've finally returned home, Weiss."

* * *

 **And now Haira gets a proper introduction. I hope she definitely comes off as someone not to trifle with. I find writing the concept of combat illusionists to be really fun, actually. Imagine trying to fight someone who can make you see and hear any number of things, and think about what it would be like to wonder if you even know what you are seeing and feeling while you are fighting is real. Haira is the kind of character who's meant to weaponize that concept to the fullest extent. It's also a chance to show that the Junishinsho have more going for them than just brute force.**


	71. Chapter 71

**Chapter 71:**

"Don't say that as though I finally came to my senses, when you basically had me kidnapped and brought to you," said Weiss, forcing herself to stand her ground. She wasn't going to play her father's games anymore. Now was as good a time as any to stand her ground. Unlike that time at the Mibu Clan's reception, she didn't have her friends, or even Sora backing her up. But Weiss was determined not to be cowed by her father any longer.

Jacques' smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "I can see that your time with those Mibu savages has made you even more arrogant before. You are in no position to be taking that tone with me, Weiss."

"I'd say my position is fine," she said. "After all, I'm talking to a man who'd hire kidnappers like some two-bit crime boss. I guess you're no better than Torchwick."

Jacques slammed both his fists against the surface of his desk as he shot to his feet. "DON'T TAKE THAT ARROGANT TONE WITH ME, YOU BRAT!" he roared, the sudden outburst causing Weiss to take a step back, her old fear racing back.

 _Calm down,_ she thought frantically. _You're stronger now. You're stronger than he is, stronger than he could ever be. Don't let him cow you._

"I'll take whatever tone I see fit," said Weiss after forcing herself to overcome her nerves. "I'm not who I was before. You can't get me to go along with you just by shouting and posturing anymore, Father."

Jacques bared his teeth, his breath escaping in a low snarl. His fingers clenched tightly, the tips dragging across the wood of his desk. "By all rights, I should tan your hide for your impudence," he hissed.

"Go ahead and try," said Weiss. "See how well that goes for you."

"Are you implying that you'll fight me?" asked Jacques.

"I don't even need to," said Weiss. "Even if you do hit me, you can't hurt me anymore."

Jacques sucked in a deep breath, opening his mouth as though he were about to shout at her again. However, with a visible effort, he stopped himself, squeezing his eyes shut and letting out his breath slowly. After a moment, he opened his eyes again. The anger was still there, but he apparently had a lid on it now. "I should have known that your time with those so-called friends of yours would poison your mind."

"You're the only poison in my life," said Weiss. "For years, I let you control me, like I was some kind of doll, made for you to dress up and trot out for your convenience. I'd sing a few songs for charity and you'd get to pat yourself on the back in front of the world, pretending to be a generous man. You were the one always keeping me down, trying to make me into what you wanted to be."

"I was trying to make you into a suitable heir," replied Jacques, "one worthy of the Schnee Family name. I tried to show you what was necessary to succeed in the world. It's not my fault that you scorned me, and pursued some foolish ideal in a pathetic attempt to imitate your sister."

"And it's not my fault that you chose to run this company into the ground for the sake of short-term profits," retorted Weiss. "It's not my fault that the faunus now regard our name as a curse, and the White Fang continue to use your actions as proof of their cause."

"You have no right to speak to me like that!" snapped Jacques. "You have no notion of what I gave up to marry into this family, what I left behind. I sacrificed everything to build this company up into the world power that it is today."

"You toadied up to my grandfather and begged him for the chance, so that you could get your hands on the company that _he_ made," replied Weiss. "As for building the company up, I wonder how your mines have been running, now that you've run out of faunus to exploit. You can't hire humans, can you? You'd have to pay them real wages, which would cost you money that you don't want to spend. Where are the soaring profits you're so proud of now, Father? At the end of the day, this is the consequence of everything that you've done before. You've made your bed. Now you have to lie in it."

"ENOUGH!" roared Jacques. "I have had all that I can stand of your impudence. I had hoped that bringing you back home would have jarred you into remembering what's truly important, but I see that you are completely unrepentant."

"And don't expect me to 'repent' anytime soon," said Weiss.

"So be it," said Jacques. "It's just as well." He sighed and settled back into his seat. "If you're going to behave like an ungrateful brat, then you'll be treated like one."

"You're going to lock me up in my room again?" asked Weiss scornfully. "Remember how well that worked last time?"

"Oh, I'm not going to lock you up in _your_ room," said Jacques. "Your room is much too good for you the way you are now. You'll be staying in that room in the servants' quarters, until further notice. The staff will have strict orders concerning you. They are not to engage with you at all. You'll have all the time in the world to reflect upon your misdeeds. If you don't change your behavior soon, it will be a long time before you even see the light of day again."

"You can't keep me down there forever, Father," said Weiss.

"I can keep you down there as long as I need to," he responded. "I have indulged your foolish fantasies of becoming a Huntress for long enough. I've already had your weapon destroyed."

"What?" gasped Weiss, her eyes widening. She was genuinely shocked, not because she believed him, but because she knew that was a lie. She had already sensed her weapon's Etheric Crystal. Given that they had been effectively merged by Murasame's reforging, it would have been utterly impossible to destroy one without destroying the other. The fact that she could sense the crystal, and still tap into its power told Weiss that it, and the rest of Myrtenaster, were intact.

"So there's no point in hoping that you might be able to break out," continued Jacques. "It's high time you played a role that benefits this family. Whitley will inherit the company, as it should have been, before you pulled that damn stunt of yours. Once you've learned to behave yourself properly, I'll arrange a suitable marriage for you, one that will be to your brother's advantage. I've heard that Marigold's son took an interest in you..."

Weiss resisted the urge to gag. She remembered Henry Marigold well enough, when the stupid ass had tried to flirt with her at the afterparty for one of the charity concerts she had put on after Beacon's fall. The stupid, airheaded ponce hadn't even bothered to learn what the event was about, proudly proclaiming that he had only come for the food and drink. She personally never wanted to lay eyes on him again.

"Now that I've said my piece, you will return to your new quarters and think about how you should behave in front of me from now on," said Jacques. "Make no mistake Weiss. No one will be helping you this time. _I_ am the one in control of your future now. If you do not learn to accept that, your future will be a dim one indeed."

"We'll see about that," said Weiss, turning around and heading for the door.

"You had best learn your place quickly, Weiss," said Jacques.

Weiss said nothing more, leaving the room and slamming the door behind her. She knew well enough that her father was the sort to always seek the last word. It was best to just cut herself off from him. She didn't want to spend any longer trading barbs with him than she had to.

Whitley and the two guards were still waiting for her outside. "That sounded like it went well," he commented wryly.

"Shut up," said Weiss curtly.

"Very well," said Whitley with an amused shake of his head and indifferent shrug. "Let us escort you back to your chambers."

"Very funny," muttered Weiss.

They made their way back through the mansion's hallways. Weiss was vaguely reminded of the Onmyo Palace, and its labyrinthine layout. She remembered how the residents, including Kyo and his parents, poked fun at its overly elaborate structure. The size and scope of the Schnee Family mansion was not as great as the Mibu's, but she knew her father took its appearance far more seriously, relishing in its size and complexity, seeing it as a symbol of his success.

"You must be pleased," she said, glancing sidelong at Whitley. "You're now officially the heir again."

"So it would seem," said Whitley with a sigh. "That said, please refrain from venturing off on any world-saving errands again. It really throws things into disarray around here."

"I won't stay here any longer than I have to," said Weiss.

"We'll see about that," said Whitley. "Klein won't be here to bail you out this time, Weiss. It's not going to be so easy."

The mention of the faithful servant, who she saw more as family than the man she'd left behind in his office, or the boy walking alongside her, made Weiss' stomach clench painfully. After he had enabled her escape from the manor last time, Klein had ended up paying a heavy price for his loyalty. He had been formally and disgracefully dismissed by Jacques, then blacklisted to ensure that he'd never find work in Atlas again. Luckily, he'd managed to secure a job in Mistral, and had written Weiss occasionally, keeping her posted on his status.

"You must be so proud of yourself," growled Weiss. "You've been scheming and manipulating everything to get your way."

Whitley stopped cold. The two guards stopped behind him. He turned to face her directly, pivoting about with almost military precision. "Oh, and I suppose I should have defied Father too, gone out and become a mighty Huntsman doing glorious deeds...like you and Winter."

Weiss was shocked by the venom in Whitley's tone. His eyes were gleaming with fury. For a brief, terrible moment, he reminded her all too much of their Father, back in his office.

"You know I'm worthless with a weapon," said Whitley. "I never had the knack for fighting. You and Winter never let me hear the end of it before you both left. You both always acted as though I were beneath you, worthless, just because I didn't like violence. So you two won your freedom and went off to do what you wanted. And all that time, you never stopped to think that you left me here...alone...with _him_." The final word of that sentence ended with an angry snarl that made Weiss take an uneasy step back.

"What about Mother?" asked Weiss, knowing she was grasping at straws.

"What about her?" retorted Whitley. "It's not as though she actually counts for anything. She spends her days drinking and moaning. Father's barely generous enough to keep her watched, so that she doesn't hurt herself in one of her drunken stupors. She was like that before you left, and she's like that now. So no, I didn't have anyone else, thank you very much. You got to go to Beacon and make friends. I got to meet self-serving toadies who only cared for me insomuch as I could advance their lot."

Weiss shrank back. She'd never seen her younger brother this livid and angry. It was clear that, right now, he was venting several years worth of anger and...abandonment.

Whitley turned away from her and continued walking. As the guards following them started walking too, Weiss was forced to move as well, keeping pace with him.

"So I did what I had to to get through it," said Whitley. "I became the good son. I did what Father wanted, the way Father wanted. I might never have learned to swing a sword or fire a gun, but I decided to fight in my own way."

"Whitley...?" Weiss blinked, wondering where this was leading.

Whitley stopped again. This time, he didn't turn. Instead, without turning his head at all, he lifted his right hand up and snapped his fingers in an almost imperious gesture. "You can leave us now," he said simply.

Behind them, the guards turned and retraced their steps before walking around a corner.

Weiss watched them go, her mouth hanging open. "Whitley...what...?"

Whitley looked at her again. There was no mocking smile on his lips. Instead, his expression was intense and serious. Weiss could still see the anger and frustration burning behind his eyes, but it was diminished somehow. Apparently, his earlier rant had eased his temper somewhat.

"I told you I was fighting in my own way," said Whitley. "The more I did, the more Father trusted me with things, like personnel arrangements, especially when he was going to be away for an extended period for a conference in a foreign Kingdom."

Weiss gasped.

"The staff and security personnel here are _my_ people now, not Father's," said Whitley. "They answer to me. It doesn't end there. I've been speaking with the members of the board."

"You have?" asked Weiss, stunned.

"Of course," said Whitley. "What did you think you'd accomplish by becoming a Huntress? Did you think you'd just come back and point your sword at the board members, and they'd immediately reverse Father's policies?"

"Well, I..." Weiss blinked and looked down at the floor.

"You can talk all you want about our company's storied history," said Whitley, continuing to walk. At a loss for what else to do, Weiss walked with him. "You can go on until you're blue in the face about your lofty morals. But those aren't the things that will sway the members of the board. If anything, that's more likely to get them to lock you out of proceedings, than affect any real change.

"But if you talk to them about the loss of productivity, thanks to Father's over-reliance on exploitative labor practices; or about how his attitudes towards the faunus have engendered hostilities with the White Fang, which is how some of the current members got to their positions, when the Fang killed their predecessors; or how the attitudes of the governments in other Kingdoms are beginning to shift, cutting off potential markets; when you point out how Father's management strategies are now leading to losses rather than gains; when you use that language to speak to the members of the board, you'll be surprised at how amicable to change they might be."

"Whitley, I had no idea-" said Weiss.

"Of course you didn't," said Whitley. "After all, I'm just your worthless, scheming, manipulative little brother, who's come to take everything that's rightfully yours, aren't I?"

Weiss blinked furiously, fighting back tears and failing miserably. That last sentence was loaded with all the bitterness and pain Whitley clearly felt. Worst of all, Weiss knew he was right. She and Winter had looked down on him before they left. She'd remembered taunting Whitley, when he'd balked at combat lessons. She remembered Winter doing much the same before she'd left as well. They'd both seen Whitley's unwillingness to learn how to fight, and his ineptitude when they finally cajoled and bullied him into taking at least some lessons as weaknesses. Grossly unsatisfied with the kind of man their father was, the sisters had turned to the image of their grandfather, and looked to him as the kind of person they'd aspired to be, a person who'd been strong in body and spirit, channeling his martial strength into his leadership. Compared to Nicholas Schnee, they had deemed Whitley pathetic and unfit, and treated him as such. In Weiss' case, she'd never even bothered to so much as mention her brother's existence to her friends.

She remembered the last time she'd been "home," when Jacques had fetched her from Vale, after the Fall of Beacon. She remembered how cruel and manipulative Whitley had been back then, how the realization of his betrayal had nearly broken her, before she'd managed to recover her will and spirit. Now she saw the reason why he'd behaved that way.

"Whitley...I..." Weiss hesitated and frowned, suddenly remembering a situation very similar to this that she had seen. "I won't say I'm sorry. That isn't fair to you at all."

Whitley raised an eyebrow at her.

"Saying sorry wouldn't change what happened. It won't take back everything Winter and I did to you. All I can do..." Weiss blinked back more tears. "All I can do is the best I can to make things right."

Whitley was silent for a long moment as they continued walking. Finally, he sighed. "I'll say one thing about you, Weiss," he said finally. "You make it awfully difficult to keep hating you sometimes."

Weiss sniffled. "Thank you, Whitley."

"You're not out of the woods yet," said Whitley. "I told you that the personnel in the mansion are my people, but that only goes so far. Absolutely no one here is willing to openly defy him yet, and he still has control over the majority of the rest of the SDC. I've talked with certain members of the board, but we're still working on our...plans."

"What sort of plans?" asked Weiss.

Whitley frowned. "I don't think I should tell you anything yet. Discretion has never been your strongest point, dear sister. That's what's got you on the outs with Father to begin with."

Weiss huffed. "True enough," she admitted.

"For the time being, the best you can do is stay put for now," said Whitley. "Let Father believe things are going his way. That's how I've gotten this far to begin with. He's surprisingly lax on following things up, when he believes he's gotten what he wants."

Weiss frowned, wondering if there was more to Whitley's words than just what he'd said.

"In any case, I doubt he'll bother with you, until he believes you've been stewing long enough in your new quarters to have reconsidered your position," said Whitley. "So, as long as there aren't any disturbances, he likely won't even bother to think about you for the next week or so."

"Glad to hear that," muttered Weiss tartly. What kind of ridiculous world was she living in, where the idea that her father would completely neglect her existence for even a limited period of time would be considered a good thing?

"That said," said Whitley, "I can at least make arrangements to make your stay more comfortable. What would you like?"

Weiss thought it over for a moment. She figured that she had time to wait, for now. Hopefully, her friends would figure out where she had been taken...maybe. If not, then it wouldn't be long before Kyo and his friends, including Hayate, came to Atlas for their own purposes. In either case, that would be the best opportunity for her to make her own escape. So she was best served by making preparations. As bare as they were, if nothing else, her new quarters would serve as a distraction-free environment, a place where she could focus on developing her Manifestation.

"If you could, I'd like paper and writing implements," said Weiss. "If it's not too difficult, could I also get a projector, and a scroll with modeling software."

Whitley blinked at her in surprise. "Taking up art in your free time, Weiss?"

"Not really," said Weiss, smiling slightly. "I'm working on something else."

"I'll see what I can do," said Whitley, combing his hands through his hair. "The paper and pencils won't be any trouble at all. But the projector and the scroll...you realize I won't be able to get you anything capable of calling out. Too many of the people working in the Atlas Tower are on Father's payroll, officially and unofficially."

"I understand," said Weiss. "I'll make my own plans."

"I suddenly have very strong reservations about this," muttered Whitley. "But I'll do what I can. I have one condition, though."

"What is it?" asked Weiss.

"The Schnee Dust Company," said Whitley, "our inheritance. I want it."

"What?" gasped Weiss.

Whitley looked at her with an expression that was deadly serious. "Like you said, I'm a schemer and a manipulator. I'm not just Father's puppet that does whatever he wishes me to do. You forced Father to name you his heir again, when you and your friends saved the world last time. This time, you leave it to me, regardless of what happens."

Weiss opened her mouth to protest. Ever since Winter had entered the military and had been removed from the line of succession, Weiss had been raised with the expectation that she would inherit the SDC. That expectation had shaped everything about who she had been and what she had done, even after she had gone to Beacon. For years, she had labored under the aspiration of inheriting the company and setting things right.

"Whitley, I..." Weiss tried to find the words to properly protest this unfair demand. "There's no way I can accept that. I can't just-"

"Can't you?" asked Whitley sharply, cutting her off. "To be honest, the first time this happened, and Father named me the new heir, I figured you were probably happier. Was I wrong?"

Weiss worked her mouth again. But, this time, no words emerged. She had to admit that her brother had a point. Back during the fight with Salem, when Jacques had first stripped her of her inheritance, Weiss had been shocked and depressed...at first...But that had soon been replaced by a feeling of liberation. No longer having to worry about having to moderate her behavior, lest her father do the very thing he had just done, Weiss was then free to do what she felt was right, regardless of whether or not her father approved. She had been free to sneak out of the mansion, and flee to Mistral to reunite with her teammates.

And now, she had to admit that she'd been thinking more and more about leaving behind that position for good. If she wasn't going to inherit the company, she didn't have to worry about her father's approval any longer. Once she got away from the mansion again, she'd be free to go where she wanted, do what she wanted. She wouldn't have to worry about the fate of her family's company hanging around her neck like some kind of weight.

Of course, that meant saddling Whitley with it. But, right now, it was obvious that Whitley was better able to bear that burden than she was. If anything, he understood more about running the SDC than Weiss did. He was the person in a position to do what Weiss had only dreamed of doing. He was the one gaining the power to affect _real_ change.

"All right," she said finally. "But I have a condition too."

"What is it?" asked Whitley, not sounding surprised or irritated.

"Promise me you'll change things," said Weiss. "Don't let the company exploit the faunus, or any of its laborers, anymore."

Whitley chuckled. "Even if you hadn't asked for that, that's what I've been working on the past few months. Don't worry, Weiss. When I'm in charge, things will change. The company will be in good hands."

"I'll take you at your word then," said Weiss.

"Then we've reached an agreement," said Whitley. "And here we are."

Weiss looked up, seeing that they had arrived at the door to her new room. "One last thing," she said, "what's the date?"

When Whitley told her, Weiss paled. "I was in Vale last night," she said.

"I find that hard to believe," said Whitley, which Weiss understood well enough. Even with the fastest airship, travel between Vale and Atlas would have taken at least three days, maybe even longer, given that only high-end military vessels, like the one Winter used, could make the trip even that fast. Weiss found it almost impossible to believe that she had come that far over the course of a single night.

However, there was one way that she could think of that such a long trip in such a short period of time could be managed. There was one person she knew of that was capable of instantaneously moving between two points, irrespective of linear distance. The problem was that that person was Yang's mother, who was affiliated with the mysterious group known as the Junishinsho, to which Cinder also belonged. If that was the case, then the woman who had knocked her out was...

"Do you know anything about the woman that brought me here?" asked Weiss.

Whitley frowned, and Weiss noticed a nervous sweat break out across his brow. "Only that she has Father's confidence, and that she's extremely dangerous, which is why I make it a point to keep far away from her, whenever I know she's on the premises."

"That's probably wise," said Weiss. She shivered at the memory of the way in which the woman had ensnared her senses, then rendered her senseless.

"She's shown up only a couple of times, after Father returned from his trip with the delegates to Onmyo," said Whitley. "But she seems to have some hold over him."

"That's not surprising," muttered Weiss. "Be _very_ careful with her. It's in your best interests to avoid her completely."

"I figured that much already," said Whitley with a sigh. "But it's good to know my instincts were right."

Whitley opened the door for her and gestured for Weiss to step inside. Before she did, Weiss felt a sudden impulse and gave into it. She threw her arms around Whitley's shoulders and hugged him tightly. "Thank you, for everything," she said.

After hesitating in his surprise, Whitley slowly, haltingly, hugged her back. "You're welcome," he said.

They let each other go and Weiss stepped back into the room. Whitley gave her one last look. "I'll have the paper to you in an hour or so. The scroll and the projector might take longer, if I can get them at all."

Weiss nodded, watching as Whitley shut the door. She continued to stare at it, until she heard the click of the lock. Turning around, Weiss surveyed her new and, hopefully, very temporary domain. _I'll just have to make the best use of it that I can,_ she thought in resignation.

Settling onto the carpet in the center of the floor, Weiss folded her legs underneath her and closed her eyes, relaxing and allowing her senses to expand outwards as she began to go through her regular Aura practice. As she did, she could feel the connection with her weapon and smiled. Once she finished practicing the basics, she knew where to start next.

* * *

"Well, here we are," said Yang as she stared up at the elongated, angular fuselage of the airship that would take her and her friends to Atlas.

"There's no time for dawdling," insisted a commanding voice, in a tone that made Yang wince instinctively. Looking over, she saw the familiar figure of Glynda Goodwitch as she came striding up to them. "Let's get aboard and be off. The sooner we get to Atlas, the sooner we can help Ms. Schnee."

"Right," said Yang, knowing better than to make any sarcastic or humorous retorts to Glynda's words. They were on a mission. But who knew what kind of punishments the deputy-Headmistress of Beacon would come up with to make Yang regret her loose tongue.

Instead, she turned and quickly got aboard, hefting her duffle over her shoulder as she walked. Given that this was a mission, traveling light was important, regardless of how far they planned to travel.

"Don't lower your guards," instructed Glynda as they stowed their luggage and took their seats. "On flights like this, there is always a risk of Grimm attack. In the worst situations, we may be called upon to repel the Grimm, if their numbers or size are too great. If this ship crashes, we will be faced with the choice to continue to Solitas on foot or return to Vale to try again. In either case, that would expand the length of this mission prohibitively."

The students all nodded gravely. Travel between Kingdoms, even during the best of times, was fraught with danger. Airships were the safest and most reliable means of travel, able to rise up above the reach of land-bound Grimm. But there was still the threat represented by fliers, like Nevermores and Griffons. They'd even heard tales of Geists inhabiting a suitably powerful form to down airships with thrown projectiles.

Fortunately, they were the only passengers on this airship, which had been specially arranged for them. However, that meant that the lives of the pilots and crew of the ship were in their hands for the duration of their journey, a heavy responsibility.

"I guess we'll have to take watches," noted Ruby.

Glynda nodded sagely. "That is indeed wise. Hopefully, there won't be any incidents, but we can't count on that."

The students nodded. A few minutes later, everyone had settled into their seats, feeling the hum of the airship's engines as it took to the skies. There was a lurching sensation, following by the distinct sense of pressure that accompanied a rapid ascension. For airships like this one, they did their best traveling at the peak of their flight ceiling. The higher up a ship went, the less likely it was to encounter a Grimm, even the airborne kind.

Yang heard a low moan coming from the seats across the aisle from her. To her amusement, she saw Jaune, leaning forward, and cradling his face in his hands. Ruby was smiling sympathetically as she rubbed his back, doing what little she could to alleviate his suffering. This certainly wasn't like the Mibu Clan's airship. Here, Jaune was subjected to every jolt and jostle that came part and parcel to traveling by air. He'd gotten better at managing his motion sickness, but only so much. Short flights were all right, but long-distance ones were considerably harder on him. And this one had only just begun.

"Hang in there," said Ruby softly. "You can do it."

"I'll manage," said Jaune.

Yang smiled, enjoying the sight of watching the two lovebirds. Admittedly, it made her a little jealous, considering that Kyo wasn't there with her. But she was happy for her sister all the same. Of course, now that they were on their way to Atlas, Yang got the distinct feeling that she would be running into Kyo much sooner than either of them had originally anticipated. Her mind drifted back to the look of ecstatic anticipation that had decorated Haira's face, right before she had vanished from sight.

Yang shuddered, now feeling that _she_ might be the one who was going to be really sick. If the Twelve Divine Generals were beginning to move, then it was only a matter of time before their master did as well. At least, that was what Kyo's parents had told them to expect. These people were far worse than the ones who had worked for Salem. At least they had been working for a higher purpose, albeit one that made absolutely no sense to Yang and her friends. But the look on Haira's face had made it clear to Yang that many of the Junishinsho were bloodthirsty maniacs, eagerly looking forward to as much carnage as they could possibly inflict.

Another shudder ran through her, and Yang forced herself to banish that line of thought. It was merely incidental ruminating anyway. They were going to Atlas for Weiss, no other reason. Ultimately, the only thing they could do was focus on the task before them, and hope they were ready when Nobunaga made his move.

With a sigh, Yang closed her eyes and instead allowed her focus to drift to her Aura, absorbing herself within its flow. She couldn't practice Projection, not within the confines of the airship, but she could work on refining her ability to sense and control her Aura. At least that would give her something to do while they flew.

She wasn't the only one who'd decided to occupy her time with studying. Blake was a few rows in front of her, reading a scroll that Dougal had provided her, before she left. Beside her, her shadow danced and twisted as she used her Aura to manipulate its shape, even as she continued to read. Not far away from her, Ren was deep in meditation, while Nora sat beside him, taking deep breaths and then breathing out harshly, as though she were executing attacks. A short distance away, Neo remained in her seat, but her image flickered and rippled, as though she were a reflection on the surface of a windblown lake. At the moment, Ruby was preoccupied with comforting Jaune, but she too had a scroll, this one from Sora, resting her bag for her use during her free time.

At the rear of the cabin, Glynda adjusted her spectacles and frowned as she watched the students all preparing themselves in their own ways. She was reminded of what Ozpin had told her about their readiness. _I suppose I needn't worry as much as I thought,_ she mused. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards, but she fought the smile down, lest her students see her stern expression break even for a moment. _I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to leave things to them._

* * *

"And so now you're off," observed Sora with a fond smile as Kyo stood before her and the other Taishiro.

They stood at the courtyard in front of the first of the Five Gates. Behind Kyo waited Saisei, Hayate, Nigel, and Penny. After over a week spent helping Penny better understand the nuances of her weapon, as well as getting her used to fighting alongside the other members of the Shiseiten, Kyo had deemed that they were finally ready to set off.

"I guess so," said Kyo with a smile. "Thanks for seeing us off, O-Kaa-san."

Sora smiled wryly, but hid her expression behind her fan. "Just make sure you take good care of Penny-chan. This is her first excursion with the rest of you. As her senpais, I expect you to look after her."

Kyo laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Of course you're more worried about her," he observed.

"Naturally," said Sora. "Regardless of what happens, I know you'll be back, so that I can beat you for the four-hundred-ninety-first time."

"Must you put it like that?" asked Kyo, still laughing, but managing to sound exasperated at the same time.

From behind Sora, Murasame stepped forward, walking past both Sora and Kyo to Penny, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.

Penny nodded gravely before smiling up at him. "I've thought about what you've said," she said. "But I've decided that we need to go. Even if it wasn't to get revenge for my father, Ironwood still needs to be stopped. I know he hasn't stopped plotting against the Mibu and I want to do what I can to protect my home from danger."

"Of course," said Murasame with a smile. He lifted the brim of her hat so that he could duck beneath it and kiss her forehead. "Just promise to be careful, and come back to me."

"I promise," said Penny, her eyes shining.

"Then that's all I can ask," said Murasame, stepping back behind Sora once more.

Sora closed her fan with a snap, her expression now grave. "Remember, Penny-chan, once you set out, you do not do so as a representative of the Mibu Clan. While I am grateful that you would act to protect our interests, I must remind you that you won't be rewarded for it. We cannot express any approval over anything you do, nor can we object if the other Kingdoms brand you criminals for your actions."

"I understand," said Penny, nodding seriously.

"Well, now that that's settled, we should head out," said Kyo. "Fortunately, this will be a much shorter trip than the ones we usually make, right Penny?"

"Right!" said Penny, nodding eagerly.

"Hey! Hold up!" shouted a voice from behind the Elders. They all turned, surprised to see Neptune running towards them. Running past the Taishiro, Neptune came to a stop, panting for breath.

"Oh!" said Penny, blushing slightly as Neptune recovered before straightening himself up.

After that, he stared at Penny for a moment, the two of them shifting uncomfortably. "So...you're really going," he said.

"That's right," said Penny.

"You'll be careful, won't you?" he asked.

Penny giggled. "Of course I will." She pulled off her hat and handed it to Saisei, who grinned cheerfully as she watched Penny hug Neptune tightly. He hugged her back. After a moment, Penny kissed him on the cheek and pulled away.

"I guess this is goodbye, for now," she said softly.

"Wait! Hold on!" said Neptune, rummaging in one of his jacket pockets. "Here it is." He pulled out a scroll and handed it to her. It was black, but decorated with green at the corners, reminding Penny a bit of the color scheme of the clothes she wore beneath her cloak.

"I'm glad I managed to finish it in time," said Neptune. "Software isn't my specialty, but I know enough about the CCT to whip up a baffler program that'll keep Ironwood from using it to trace your location for at least a few minutes."

"Neptune, thank you," said Penny breathlessly, cradling her new scroll in her hands.

"Hopefully you won't need the program after you're done," said Neptune. "But I figured it would be a good idea, just in case. Once I get back to Haven, call me and let me know if you ever need anything. I even put all your contacts on there for you."

"Thank you," said Penny, putting the scroll away in one of her own pockets. "And I'll see you again."

"For sure," said Neptune, nodding in agreement.

He felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, gently pulling him away from Penny. Looking behind him, Neptune "eeped" to see that Murasame was the one pulling him back. However, Murasame merely favored the boy with a kind smile, before nodding to Penny and the others.

"Right," said Penny, drawing her sword from its sheath. "Let's go." She swept it through the air in front of her, clouds billowing out in the blade's wake, swirling and puffing out until they formed a solid platform large enough to support all five of them.

"My first experience traveling by cloud," said Kyo eagerly, climbing on. Chortling, Saisei clambered on after him.

Behind the two of them, Hayate elbowed Nigel sharply in the side. "Oi! Rise and shine. We're going."

Nigel's body jolted and blinked. He shook his head to rouse himself, having fallen asleep standing up and with his eye open again. "Okay," he said, before following Hayate, who had already climbed aboard their lumpy and puffy vehicle.

Once everyone was on the cloud, Penny sheathed her sword and hopped aboard herself, climbing up to the highest point on it and sitting cross-legged. The cloud began to rise upwards, turning north and east as it disappeared into the sky.

"And so they're off," said Murasame, watching them leave with an almost wistful expression on his face.

* * *

"So...this is what you've been working on, Kubira," observed Nobunaga as Kubira, aka Dr. Merlot, paced in front of him, showing his new master the occupants of the chamber below.

"Among other things," said Kubira proudly, his artificial eye gleaming red in the partial darkness of the chamber. "These hardly represent the pinnacle of my research. However, they are useful for the task you seek of them."

"They look frail," observed the slender man standing next to Nobunaga.

"No more so than the average Creep," said Kubira dismissively. "Granted, by the standards of Grimm, that is rather frail. But I feel that they shall more than make up for it in their effect."

"How so?" asked Nobunaga, sounding genuinely curious.

"For humans, one of the most effective ways to inspire fear is to take what is familiar, then pervert it into something hideous," said Kubira with a cackle. "The juxtaposition of the familiar with the wrong generates a powerful, visceral emotional reaction. Besides serving as a beacon to draw in still more Grimm, it will also cause them distress enough that their discipline will falter and their defenses will waver. More to the point, these Grimm have been cultivated to meet the requirements you set, My Lord."

"So they will not run?" asked Nobunaga.

"Correct," said Kubira. "Even if the likes of Demon Eyes Kyo approaches them, they will not waver. Granted, that comes at the cost of cutting off their self-preservation instincts completely, but that will only make facing them all the more daunting."

Nobunaga's lips pulled back in a grin, baring too-white teeth. "Excellent," he said.

"I have also prepared others, based on the prototype I tested in Mountain Glenn," said Kubira. "The seeds have germinated beautifully. Those are far more powerful and dangerous. Unlike these ones, they do have some self-preservation instincts. But they will not flee in the face of overwhelming power."

"Good," said Nobunaga. "This army will serve as the vanguard to announce my revival. Now we need only wait for the cue to unleash them."

"Then the time is nearly upon us," rumbled a deep voice as the towering, powerfully-built figure of Indara stepped into the room. "Shatora has just sent word. Demon Eyes Kyo and his friends have left Onmyo and are heading for Solitas, no doubt intent on making straight for Atlas. Once General Ironwood learns of his impending arrival, he will shift his forces to intercept them. Then we simply wait for the clash to begin."

"Perfect," said Nobunaga. "Tell the others. It is time for us to bare the fangs that we have spent our time sharpening."

"At last!" cheered the slender figure of Ajira. "My blades will finally taste blood."

"And once the fight begins, Shatora will have his chance," observed Indara cooly.

"Is that really necessary?" asked Kubira sharply. "After all the effort I have put into fashioning this vessel, it pains me to see it go to waste."

Nobunaga rested a chilly hand on Kubira's shoulder. "It is not a waste," he said. "You have fashioned an ideal vessel for my purposes. However, there is only one _perfect_ vessel for my soul. All of this is to give Shatora the chance to acquire it."

He turned to look at the other members of the Junishinsho. "Send word to the others. Tell them we set forth. When this is over, I will stand as ruler of this world and you shall all reap the rewards at my side. Then, once Shatora completes his work, the flesh of God shall be mine as well."

Indara, Kubira, and Ajira all bowed before him. "As you wish," they said in unison.

* * *

 **And now, everything is coming to a head.**


	72. Chapter 72

**Chapter 72:**

Weiss had grown to love the sound of a pencil scratching against paper. Maybe it was because of all the work she'd put into being a good student at Beacon, taking notes in the classroom and library, filling in answers on a test sheet, or simply copying down passages she found interesting. She realized that her friends, Yang in particular, would rib her mercilessly if they ever learned she admitted to liking those sorts of things. Still, Weiss liked the sound and feeling of writing even more, now that she was using her pencil to create something completely new.

Setting the pencil down, Weiss took a moment to admire her work. The glyph didn't look nearly as impressive on paper as it would when she invested it with her Aura and brought it to life, but it was a start. On the surface, it slightly resembled the snowflake sigil that formed the basis for her propulsion glyphs. However, the image of the snowflake was more jagged, its form sharper, its tips spreading out just past the containing edge of the circle. The similarity made things a bit difficult, and Weiss knew that, for the first few uses at least, she'd have to be careful not to confuse the two.

Taking up the paper, Weiss blew the excess graphite off its surface and looked at it, trying to embed its form in her mind's eye, memorizing every line and angle so that she could call up the image in her head in a moment's notice. Ever since she had first started this task, back during her stay in Onmyo, Weiss had been refining the process of creating a new glyph and adding it to her repertoire. It was tricky as she wasn't just learning a new language, but essentially _creating_ a new one from scratch. Once she had come up with a concrete form, memorizing it was the key to embedding it in her mind. That meant drawing it over and over again, perfectly replicating it time after time, until its image became fixed in her mind, along with its meaning. Then she could use her Aura to conjure the glyph itself and utilize the power she'd vested in it. She remembered what Hayate had told her before and agreed. It really was just like learning to read and write all over again, except she was creating each new letter in her alphabet herself, and deciding on the sounds each one made.

In this particular case, Weiss was working on the glyph that would enable her to use ice. By setting Myrtenaster's new form with only the four basic varieties of Dust, Weiss would have to combine the Dust's power to create the composite varieties herself, which had the potential to be a delicate process, depending on which kind of Dust she wanted to use. At first, she'd experimented with fusing the Dust's power by manipulating the Dust crystal's energy directly with her Aura, but that had proved taxing for her concentration. After a few tries, Weiss knew that, even if she refined her focus, there was no way she could manage to complete the process of fusing Dust to produce different varieties, and still have the mental wherewithal to shape the effects.

But creating a glyph for it allowed her to streamline the process. By focusing on the meaning of her glyph, until she could read it automatically, she could have the glyph do the work of combining Dust-types for her, and _then_ direct her own focus to shaping the effect, which could be further streamlined by using other glyphs, depending on her needs, like combining letters to make a word.

In the past two days, Weiss had only managed a couple of new glyphs, each one requiring extensive practice, before she was able to create it, then invoke its effect. She supposed that there were no shortcuts to this kind of development. Ironically, she was glad for the terms of her imprisonment. As she had expected, this room served as a nice, distraction-free environment for her to focus on her task, without anything else around to occupy her mind. She was sure that Jacques had actually wanted to bore her into submission, but Whitley and his people made sure that she was amply supplied with paper and pencils, though he'd yet managed to fulfill her request on the scroll and projector.

 _It might be a pipe-dream anyway,_ Weiss noted, though she still held out hope. Back when Hayate had first given her the idea for expanding the scope of her Semblance, or rather, her Manifestation, Weiss had conceived of the idea that her glyphs need not have been limited to two dimensions. In three dimensions, a more complex glyph might have been able to manifest a more powerful effect. However, actually realizing that idea was harder than she had thought. Drawing an image on paper meant it was two-dimensional by default. Even if she tried to use shading and perspective to make it look three-dimensional, that wouldn't be the same thing as actually creating a fully-realized three-dimensional glyph. To properly create one, she needed to make it and see it in its full three-dimensional form. Even then, Weiss wasn't sure if the effect she was trying to produce would fall within the boundaries of the capabilities that Hayate said her Manifestation seemed to cover.

It was a moot point anyway. Until she got her hands on the projector, scroll, and modeling program, Weiss would simply be stuck with imagining the possibilities, rather than trying to realize them, and either succeeding or failing. So, for now, she was stuck with the two-dimensional glyphs she could draw out on paper.

At least she was able to practice. Weiss had realized that, by drawing on her bond with Myrtenaster and its Etheric Crystal, she was able utilize its power even if it wasn't in her grasp, though it would be much easier if her blade was actually in hand. Furthermore, she could even utilize the power of the Dust crystals she'd integrated into the design, which enabled her to practice the effects of the very glyph she was creating at the moment.

Setting her latest sheet aside, Weiss pulled a blank one over and set it on the table in front of her, ready to begin copying the glyph again. However, before she could start, she was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking. She grunted in irritation, but was equally grateful that whoever was knocking had somehow managed to do so before she was midway through copying the glyph, as that would have irritated her even more.

Getting out of the chair, Weiss stood and stretched. "Come in," she said. She knew she didn't need to worry. Her father wouldn't have bothered with knocking, if he wanted to come see her. He would have probably thrown the door open and strode right in.

She heard the sound of the lock click and then the knob twisted. The door opened to reveal Whitley standing there, a smug smile on his face. That smile faltered, replaced by a look of surprise and confusion as he saw what Weiss had done with the room, as well as the state she was currently in..

"I would ask if you've lost your mind, but I already knew the answer to that one a long time ago," he observed.

"Very funny," said Weiss in a deadpan tone as she fixed her brother with a flat look.

It was true that she'd done a number on the room at least. The table was covered by sheets of paper that Weiss had been drawing copies of her glyphs on. More sheets had been crumpled and thrown away, the wastebasket by the table overflowing and more crumpled sheets spilling out across the floor. The side of her room that Weiss had made into her workspace looked like the lair of a madwoman.

Weiss herself didn't exactly look much better. Too busy focusing on her efforts to come up with new glyphs, as well as hone her Aura skills, Weiss hadn't bothered overly much with her appearance. Though she still wore her dress, she had dispensed with the shrug for now. Likewise, she had foregone wearing any makeup at the moment. Her hair she allowed to flow free behind her back, as she didn't have the time or energy to style it the way she usually did. Spending the past few days working late into the night, sometimes all the way past midnight and into the morning, left evidence in the forms of small bags under her eyes.

"Anyway," said Whitley with a sigh, "I managed it." He gestured to someone out in the hall, and a servant arrived, carrying a box. He set it down, then left. "Here's the projector and the scroll it uses. Like I said before, the scroll is a single-function device. You're not going to be able to use it to call out."

"I understand," said Weiss. "Thank you."

Whitley blinked and stared across the room at all the paper Weiss had used. "What are you working on anyway?"

"I'm creating new glyphs," she said.

"What?" Whitley took a surprised step back, his eyes widening. "How is that even possible?"

"These past few months, I've learned more about what's possible and what's not than I ever imagined," said Weiss. "I've learned a truth about our family's Semblance that I never even imagined before, Whitley."

She held out her hand, palm up, fingers spread. With a flash, a shimmering, pearlescent glyph, appeared in the air above her hand. This was one of the first ones she had completed. The snowflake had been replaced by a stylized symbol of the sun, its rays stretching out past the the edges of the circle. Orange light sparked in the air above the glyph, then burst into an orb of flame that proceeded to hover and burn in the air.

Whitley gazed at it in stunned awe. "Th-that's..."

Weiss smiled and closed her hand, dismissing the glyph and extinguishing the flame. "Whitley, our Semblance isn't what we thought it was. Aura isn't what we thought it was. I learned so much, while I was with the Mibu. I'd love to share some of it with you."

"You'd share it with me?" asked Whitley, stunned by the concept. "Weiss...I don't need to-"

"You don't need to fight," agreed Weiss before he could even finish. "But that's just it, Whitley. Aura isn't _just_ a weapon. It doesn't have to be used for fighting. When I was staying with the Mibu, one of them used his Aura to create the most spectacular artistic display I've ever seen. They use their Auras in so many ways there. The possibilities are limitless. Learning to use your Aura doesn't have to mean using it to fight. I've learned that we can shape our Semblance to create our own. You could create your own glyphs, and use your Aura in your own way."

"You're serious..." said Whitley incredulously.

"Very," said Weiss, her smile widening. "You'd probably be even better suited to it than I am. Doing this reminds me of our calligraphy lessons. You were always so much better at those, and you enjoyed them much more than I did."

"You just didn't like them because our instructor taped your hand to the table," muttered Whitley, his lips twitching in a smile at the memory.

Weiss grimaced. The writing teacher their father had hired to teach them, when they were younger, had been absolutely insistent on proper form, which meant that writing should be done right-handed. Given that she was left-handed, that had grated against Weiss' nerves, and her teacher had bound her left hand to the table to keep her from resorting to it. Both Winter and Whitley had had a much easier time, the two of them being right-handed. Of course, their family situation being what it was, complaining to her father about such rough treatment had been the last thing on Weiss' mind. He would have probably scolded her, or even slapped her, for her impertinence to dare complain about the instructor he had specifically selected. Fortunately, that insufferably prissy woman wasn't around to try and "correct" her form now.

"That's beside the point," said Weiss. "You really did love those lessons. Creating a glyph is just like learning a new letter. I think it's something you could do even better than I could."

"You really think so?" said Whitley.

Weiss nodded. "I _know_ so. I'm making glyphs that I can use in battle, but yours don't have to be like that."

"And what would I do with them?" asked Whitley.

"That would be up to you," said Weiss. "Would you listen, if I told you about what I learned?"

Whitley frowned and took out his scroll, checking the time. "I suppose I could spare a half an hour before my next meeting, assuming Father doesn't come up with some new errand for me in the meantime." He closed the door. "All right...tell me."

Weiss found herself smiling happily. "Thank you," she said. It was rather ironic. Now she found herself feeling grateful to her father for arranging her kidnapping. Though he didn't realize it, he had arranged for Weiss to have the time and initiative to improve her skills and, at the same time, had made it possible to mend the divide between her and her younger brother. True, it had meant giving up her claim to the SDC permanently, but she actually felt better thanks to it, unburdened by the weight of that responsibility hanging over her.

Though he'd done it with the intent of making her miserable enough to finally be made to obey him, Jacques Schnee had actually done a great deal to make his daughter happy.

* * *

"Thank you all for coming," said Winter, looking out over the faces sitting around the briefing table with her.

"A-are you really sure this is safe?" asked a mousy-looking, brown-haired woman sitting just around the corner of the table from her. "The General might have the room bugged."

"I've already swept for them," said Winter reassuringly. "I know what devices the General uses."

"I-if you're sure," said the woman, cringing at the thought of Ironwood listening to what they were about to discuss. Growing increasingly paranoid, the General had become far more-inclined to monitor his subordinates carefully, through a variety of means. The other people looked just as nervous as the woman. They had seen peers locked away on charges of treason for minor things. The issue was that, in this case, there was _no_ room for interpretation. They were here to suggest supplanting Ironwood as the supreme leader of the Atlesian Military, and driving force behind Atlas' government. If that wasn't treason, then they didn't know what was.

Winter looked at the younger woman. It was hard to believe it, considering her timid behavior, but this woman was actually an accomplished warship captain, who had been decorated several times for skill and effectiveness, using her ship to protect the outlying settlements of Solitas from the Grimm. The others were like her. Some were Specialists, like Winter. Others were commanders or officers of varying ranks. However, the majority of them worked out in the Settlements most of the time, which had kept them distanced from the situation in Atlas itself, making them less committed to Ironwood's way of seeing things, and more willing to accept the idea of change, if it allowed them to more effectively protect the people, rather than oppress them.

Of course, the issue was that this was a very small number of people, the absolute maximum that Winter was certain she could trust absolutely, and would trust her absolutely. Even if they shared her ideals, a person that was sufficiently frightened by the idea of getting caught was likely to go to Ironwood themself, in hopes of gaining leniency in exchange for turning their allies in. Fortunately, working out in the Settlements, and braving the dangers away from the protected walls of Atlas itself gave these people more spine than most, even if that wasn't readily apparent by their current behavior. However, their willingness to be frank about their misgivings was something that Winter took as another sign of their trustworthiness.

"We don't have a lot of time," said Qrow, who was standing behind Winter. "If our guess is right, Kyo could be coming along any day now. If there was a time to pull the rug out from under Jimmy, this is it."

"We can't do this with just the people we have here," said Winter. "When Kyo comes, I have no doubt that the General will order a full muster. We have to figure out which divisions and brigades we can keep back from the front and use to secure order, the people who might actually join us if they think that Ironwood is going to fall."

"So you're telling us which of our comrades should be left to face one of the most dangerous people on Remnant?" asked a man further down the table.

"Pretty much," said Qrow. "I ain't gonna try and put a pretty bow on it. We're basically picking who's gonna stay back and live, and who's gonna go out to fight on Jimmy's orders and die."

"You say it like it's a given," said an older woman incredulously. "Is Kyo really _that_ strong?"

"Well, you just have to look at what happened to the Seventh Mobile Brigade to see how dangerous he is," commented another man. "And, if these reports are true, he's going to have friends who are probably in the same league that he is."

"I have no problem with letting the Capital Defense Division go out," growled a grizzled man. "Those asses have been causing no end of trouble."

Winter nodded gravely. The Division entrusted with defending Atlas itself was made up of soldiers, commanders, and personnel who had demonstrated an almost fanatical loyalty to Ironwood, the main reason they were selected for that Division. It was made up of those who unhesitatingly obeyed Ironwood's orders without question, whether it was ransacking the homes of faunus who had yet to be uprooted, or mercilessly quashing those who protested. To a man, they were perversely proud of the actions they had undertaken to "uphold order" on Ironwood's behalf.

"I can vouch for the Outer Defense Division," said the mousy woman sitting next to Winter. "There's been a lot of grumbling in the ranks lately. Some of them are expressing worry that we'll be ordered to detain faunus in the settlements next. They're not happy with that."

"All right," said Winter. "Let's go over how we can keep them from getting involved. Even if they don't answer the muster, we'll want them here, in Atlas, to help keep order, once the whole thing is over with."

"We can keep our forces out on patrol," said the woman. "When the order comes, we'll delay our response, and make for Atlas instead of the staging point."

Winter nodded, making a note on the paper notepad she kept in front of her. With information this sensitive, she wasn't willing to entrust it to a scroll, which might be monitored or hacked. Looking out over the rest of the table's occupants, she frowned, her stomach churning as she worried about the chaos their Kingdom was about to experience. "Who else?"

* * *

"This is all very hard to swallow," said Whitley, examining the glyph Weiss had drawn on the paper. "If I hadn't seen some of the ones you've created with my own eyes, I'd accuse you of lying to me."

Weiss nodded from where she sat, on her bed. "I understand," she said.

"But there are limitations," said Whitley.

Weiss nodded. "According to my...consultant...our Semblance, or Manifestation rather, falls under three categories..." The classical snowflake of her propulsion glyph flickered into being to her right. "...evocation of force..." The clockwork symbol of her time dilation glyph appeared on her left. "...temporal distortion..." Finally, the sword-wheel of the summoning glyph appeared in front of her. "...and the formation of physical constructs."

Whitley frowned, scratching his chin. "Well, that certainly covers the three original glyphs of our Semblance we've been taught about. But why would Grandfather only create those three. From the sound of things, he knew about this Manifestation thing. So why limit himself like this?"

"It's just a guess," said Weiss, "but I think he wanted it to be thought of as a Semblance, so that people wouldn't realize what it _really_ is. So it had to be more limited in nature."

"Why would he want people to think that?" asked Whitley.

"Maybe because he was also a Dust miner," said Weiss. "For the sake of the company, or rather, the family, he decided to keep this a secret to ensure that the Dust he mined, and the company he founded, would retain their value."

Whitley frowned. "It's hard to say how I feel about that. But, then again, that's just speculation, right?"

Weiss nodded. "Unfortunately, we can't ask him directly after all."

Nicholas Schnee, the founder of their company, had passed away a long time ago. One of the reasons he had handed over control of the company to Jacques, and allowed him to marry into the family in the first place, was that his years of labor, combined with exposure to all kinds of hazardous environments in his mines and quarries, had taken its toll on his health, and he had gone into decline. He'd wound up dying shortly after Winter had been born. None of the siblings had ever actually met him.

"Well, in any case, it's certainly a lot to think about," said Whitley. "I'm not sure I have any idea where to even begin."

"I know," said Weiss. "I had a hard time coming up with new ideas myself."

"Well...I guess it's worth trying," said Whitley. "I'd have to take some time to think about what glyphs to create."

"I'm sure you'll come up with some in time," said Weiss. "In the meantime..."

Whitley sighed. "Yes, I suppose I should bite the bullet. Go ahead..."

They both stood up and moved to the center of the room. There, Weiss draped her left arm around Whitley's shoulders, resting her right hand against his chest. She leaned forward, almost resting her forehead against his. " _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee._ "

As she spoke, Weiss' body began to glow, shining with a pale-blue outline, an outline of a similar color appearing around Whitley's form. As she finished speaking, Weiss' pupils contracted sharply, a pulse of her Aura shooting into Whitley, causing his to flare up for a moment. After finishing, Weiss doubled over, gasping for breath.

"Weiss?" asked Whitley, looking at her in concern.

"I'm all right," said Weiss, standing back up. "That's harder than I thought it would be."

"So now I can do it too," said Whitley, looking at his hands.

"Sort of," said Weiss. "First we need to start with the basic exercises for controlling your Aura. Once you've practiced with those enough, you'll have enough control to start forming glyphs."

"Are you sure you should spend this much time on me?" asked Whitley uncertainly. "You've got your own work."

"It won't take too much time," said Weiss. "Once you understand the exercises, you'll be able to work on them yourself, until you're ready to take the next step."

"I hope you know what you're doing," said Whitley.

Weiss gave him a shaky smile. "So do I," she admitted.

* * *

A few minutes later, Whitley left, having already begun to learn how to Temper his Aura. Weiss hoped he managed to get the hang of it quickly. She wondered if she made a mistake in doing this. She probably didn't have time to teach Whitley, and focus on developing her Manifestation at the same time.

 _Well, I have the last thing I need,_ she thought, looking at the projector. _I guess I'll focus on this for now, and worry about other glyphs later. This was the one I've been needing to test, if I want to get out on my own anyway._

Opening the box, she set out the projector and plugged it in, before turning on the scroll and linking the two pieces of technology up. It was the work of a few minutes, and soon, Weiss was beginning to link together lines, constructing her very first three-dimensional glyph. Unlike the two-dimensional glyphs, Weiss couldn't practice this one on paper over and over again to aid in memorization. She would have to simply study it from every angle, and completely embed it in her mind's eye.

Even though it was a single glyph, it technically evoked the capabilities of all three basic glyphs that Weiss had originally been taught. Using her Manifestation's ability to evoke force, she'd put the object in motion. Through temporal distortion, she'd condensed the time it took to move across distance. Finally, using her final ability, she would physically assemble it right before her. If she could master this glyph, then she'd never have to worry about being disarmed again, as she would be able to call her blade to her hand, no matter where she was.

Granted, all that depended on the overall capability of her Manifestation, and whether or not she could manage to undertake the final step. Her summons were formed of her Aura manifested into a physical object. This glyph would take a step further and transform Aura and Etheric Energy into a real object by transitioning the object itself from its original location. In essence, she was trying to use the same ability that Yang's mother had, but linked to a single object. If it was possible at all, Weiss figured it would only be so through her bond with the Etheric Crystal, merged with Myrtenaster.

 _I hope this works,_ she thought, _otherwise I'll have wasted a lot of time to no end._

* * *

"Well, it's not as fast as an airship, but it'll do," noted Hayate as he stared over the edge of their cloud transport.

"I'm bored," groused Nigel, sitting at the back, staring off into space. "Go faster."

Saisei's tail snaked over and rapped its tip sharply against the top of his head, making him grunt in pain. "You don't get to complain, when _Penny_ is the one carrying all of us," she admonished. "You're welcome to get off and push, if you so like."

Penny giggled as she observed the other members of Kyo's companions, the Shiseiten, bickering and arguing like siblings. "Is it always like this?" she asked, looking down at Kyo, who lounged on the clouds just below her, looking as though he were asleep.

"More or less," said Kyo. "It's nice, isn't it."

"It is," agreed Penny.

"Any journey is more enjoyable, when you have friends," said Kyo. "That's what Dad always says."

Penny nodded. She missed the days she'd spent with RWBY and JNNR, when they were working together to stop Salem. She wished Ironwood had allowed her to go to Beacon, like he'd promised. At the very least, she hoped that she would be able to spend more time with her precious friends, when all this was over.

"Second thoughts?" asked Kyo, cracking open one eye and glancing up at her.

"No," said Penny with a shake of her head. "I just wish...that I didn't have to do this."

"Technically, we don't _have_ to do it," noted Kyo, sitting up. "I imagine that your father might even be upset, if he knew how far you were planning to go to avenge him. If he's as loving as you described him being, then his deepest desire, even from beyond the grave, would be for you to live a happy life with your friends and your new family."

"That's true," agreed Penny. "But it's not just about Father anymore. Even though your mother outmaneuvered him during the conference, I know that Ironwood hasn't given up on it. In fact, I'm sure now that he's planning on destroying the Mibu completely."

"He'd go so far?" asked Kyo.

Penny nodded slowly. "He...he's not the person he used to be...He used to be able to believe in people, in their potential. That's why he supported Ruby and Juniper. But...I guess that seeing them, and me, succeed where he and his greatest forces failed shook him severely. He realized how close it had been, how we were on the verge of losing everything. And he saw how all of that hinged on _us_ and, at the critical moment, he was truly powerless. Now he thinks that he _has_ to have power, _has_ to be in control, and anything that could potentially be a threat must either be confined or eliminated. The problem is that a lot of the people who serve him in the military believe that now."

"And, of course, even if he didn't have people who believed that, he makes up for the difference with androids," noted Hayate, scooting to sit next to Kyo. "He'll believe in them, even after they were made to turn on him, and the people they were supposed to be protecting, during the Vytal Festival."

"Because androids can be controlled," noted Kyo. "Even if you give a person the best training, and they pass every imaginable assessment you set out to determine their suitability to the task, whether they ultimately succeed or fail is completely up to them. They have the training. But can they use it? Can they properly apply it to the situation at hand? Will they keep cool and remember their training when things get dangerous, or will they panic and falter? Compared to them, androids are far easier to predict and control."

"I guess," said Hayate.

"Still, on the bright side, it means that the majority of the forces we'll be facing will probably be androids," said Kyo. "That limits human casualties. Hopefully Winter is having success in her endeavor to secure power, once we knock Ironwood off his throne."

"Assuming she doesn't go the same way Ironwood did," muttered Hayate.

"Well, in the end, we have to accept that, even with all the strength we have, we are powerless too, sometimes," said Kyo with a chuckle. "We have to be strong enough to believe in the people we have entrusted with responsibility."

Penny nodded and pulled out the scroll Neptune had given her. She smiled, looking at it, reminded of him. Turning it on, she was surprised to see that she already had reception. "Oh! It works."

"Yeah, we're in the range of the nearest relays," said Hayate, pulling out his own scroll.

"I didn't know you have one of those," said Kyo, looking at him in surprise.

"Of course I do," said Hayate. "It's come in handy lots of times, though I keep it off most of the time, to keep Ironwood's people in the Atlas Tower from tracking it. I suppose, since we're going to him this time, it doesn't really matter anymore."

"Planning on calling someone?" asked Kyo, looking up at Penny again.

"Uh huh," said Penny cheerfully. "I'm gonna call Ruby."

"This far out, reception is still spotty," noted Hayate. "Don't get too disappointed if your call breaks up."

"Okay," said Penny, already selecting Ruby's name from the contact list Neptune had loaded onto the scroll. Smiling happily, she lifted it up to her ear, eager to hear the voice of her best friend once again.

* * *

The sound of her scroll's ringtone, and the buzz of it in her pocket, jolted Ruby out of her doze. Surprised, she pulled it out to find that an unlisted scroll was trying to contact her. _I swear, if it's another message declaring I've won a free trip to Mistral, I'll..._ Answering the call, she held the scroll up.

" _Hello, Ruby! Are you there?_ "

The connection was tenuous, and the speakers crackled with static, but Ruby recognized that voice all the same.

"Penny!" gasped Ruby in surprise. "You have a scroll?"

" _I do now,_ " answered the android. " _Neptune gave it to me before we left for Atlas._ "

"Before you left..." said Ruby. Her friends had noticed and were gathering around her as the conversation continued. "Does that mean you, Kyo, and the others are going now?"

" _That's right,_ " said Penny, her tone a little less cheerful, which was to be expected, considering the grim point of her journey.

"So Kyo's with you, right?" asked Yang, leaning over the back of Ruby's seat.

" _Of course he is-Hi, Yang!_ " said Penny. " _Do you want to talk to him? I can put him on._ "

"No-I mean-yes, uh..." Yang grunted, then groaned, rubbing her forehead. "Yeah, put him on please. It's kinda urgent."

" _You sound upset. What's wrong?_ "

"We're on our way to Atlas too," said Ruby.

" _WHAT?_ " shouted Penny, her sudden exclamation making everyone jump. From the the faint yelps they heard from the scroll, her outburst had startled her friends as well. " _Why in the world are you doing that? It's going to be dangerous! I don't know where we'll be fighting Ironwood's forces._ "

"We had to," said Ruby.

"Listen, Penny," said Yang. "You need to put Kyo on. Weiss was kidnapped, and taken back to her father in Atlas."

" _WHAT?_ " exclaimed Penny again.

" _Penny! Keep it together, or this thing's gonna fall apart!_ " they heard Hayate's voice shout faintly from the scroll.

" _Sorry,_ " said Penny, clearly talking to Hayate, rather than into the scroll. " _Yang said that Weiss was kidnapped, and taken to Atlas._ "

Despite the severity of the situation, Yang couldn't help but smile as she heard Hayate's shocked " _What?_ " over the scroll. She was glad to know he'd be concerned by Weiss' situation.

"That's not all," said Yang, her tone grave. "The one who took Weiss was one of those Ju-Juni-Those Twelve Heavenly-or-whatever jerks."

" _That's...that's bad,_ " said Penny.

"Yeah, it is," agreed Yang. "Can you put Kyo on?"

" _Sure,_ " said Penny. " _Hold on a minute._ "

They heard the sounds of Penny speaking to Kyo, followed by clicking noises as the device itself changed hands.

" _Hello,_ " said Kyo. " _I didn't do something wrong, did I? This is my first time using one of these._ "

"You're fine," said Yang, a relieved smile on her face. It wasn't the same as being able to see or hold him, but she was glad to hear his voice again.

" _Did I hear correctly?_ " asked Kyo solemnly. " _You said that Weiss was kidnapped by one of the Junishinsho?_ "

"That's right," said Blake, interjecting herself into the conversation. "She called herself Haira."

" _That is one of the Twelve's names,_ " noted Kyo. " _What can you tell me about her?_ "

"Dark skin, white hair," said Jaune, adding his own two lien, " _really_ creepy-looking eyes."

"She's an illusionist," added Ren. "Her weapon doubles as a musical instrument, and hypnotic device of sorts. It uses sound and light, which allows her to control your senses."

"She got us good with it," said Nora glumly.

" _I see,_ " said Kyo softly. " _I'm not sure if she's one of the newer members, or one of the older generation. That does sound like one of the Junishinsho my parents fought._ "

"I don't think it really matters," said Yang. "The point is that she took Weiss."

" _But she took Weiss to her father, you said?_ " asked Kyo.

"That's right," said Yang. "At least, that's what she said she was doing. Would she lie about that?"

" _I couldn't say,_ " said Kyo. " _If it_ is _a lie, it's an odd one to tell. I'm not sure what purpose it would serve Nobunaga or the Junishinsho to link themselves to the Schnee Dust Company._ "

"She said she was doing it for fun," said Nora in a disgusted tone.

" _That makes more sense,_ " said Kyo. " _In any generation, the Junishinsho tend to largely be...eccentric...individuals. Unfortunately, their eccentricities tend towards the crueler kind. I can imagine one of them toying with a person like that for amusement._ "

"Toying with Weiss," growled Yang.

" _Toying with her father is a more likely probability,_ " said Kyo. " _If she really is retrieving Weiss for him, then I imagine that she offered him all manner of rewards for siding with them. However, it's unlikely that he will ever receive them._ "

"Wonderful," grumbled Ruby.

" _In any case, it's troubling that one of them made a move now, especially given what we're doing,_ " said Kyo. " _It has me worried. We'll try to wrap up this business with Ironwood's forces as quick as possible, and meet you in Atlas. If necessary, we'll be happy to help you rescue Weiss._ "

"Thanks," said Yang, feeling reassured. "I guess we'll be meeting up sooner than we expected, huh."

" _It certainly seems that way,_ " said Kyo, his voice tinged with amusement. " _Funny, isn't it? In the stories, when it comes to people in love, the fates are supposed to conspire to keep them apart. Yet they seem to go out of their way to bring_ us _back together._ "

Yang blushed as her friends laughed and tittered. "I guess we're just meant to be," she said with a laugh of her own.

" _I'm giving the scroll back to Penny now,_ " announced Kyo. " _Be safe. We'll see you soon._ "

"You too," said Yang, listening to the rustling of clothing and clicks, as the scroll changed hands again.

" _Hello again,_ " said Penny cheerfully. " _I meant for this to be short. This scroll has a baffler program on it, but Neptune told me it couldn't run too long, or the General will zero in on our location._ "

" _Not that it matters now,_ " Hayate grumbled in the background.

"Be careful, Penny," said Ruby. "I know you're strong, but..."

" _I promise I'll make it through this,_ " said Penny. " _I'm still going to go join you at Beacon._ "

"We'll be waiting," said Ruby.

" _Goodbye for now,_ " said Penny.

"Yeah...bye," said Ruby softly.

The connection ended.

"Was that Polendina?" asked Glynda, coming up behind the students, her sudden intrusion making them jump in surprise.

"Yeah," said Ruby with a smile as she put her scroll away.

"Does that mean Kyo and his comrades have set out for Atlas?" asked Glynda.

"Yep," said Yang.

"Hmm..." Glynda looked down. "The timing of all this is awfully suspicious."

"We were thinking the same thing," said Jaune gravely. "But we've still gotta do what we can to help Weiss."

"You have a point," conceded Glynda. "Just be on your guards. I don't like to think what the situation in Atlas might be. It's like someone is trying to ensure that we all converge there."

"And I think I have an idea who that someone might be," said Ruby grimly.

* * *

"It's done," whispered Weiss, staring at the floating image of her new, three-dimensional glyph. In a sense, it was completely different from how she had originally envisioned it.

Oriented vertically, it consisted of three major parts, arranged in a vertical formation that was slightly ovular in shape. At the top, four swords, joined at the pommels, were arranged at right-angles to one another, angled down slightly, surrounded by a gyroscopic formation of lines, within which they rotated. At the bottom, the snowflake symbol that formed the basis of her regular propulsion glyph had been miniaturized and duplicated several times over, joining together to form a lattice of snowflakes in a loose sphere. They were enclosed by four curved, wave-like lines that resembled the prongs that decorated Myrtenaster's hilt. The top and bottom were joined by a helix, two ribbon-like lines spiraling around each other, each one decorated with numerals, the spirals winding continuously, as the prongs of the bottom of the glyph rotated about the formation of snowflakes.

 _I hope it's not too complicated,_ thought Weiss. She stared at the image, rotating it on the projector, allowing her to examine it from every angle, even as she observed the motion of each of its component parts. It was, unquestionably, the most complex glyph she'd ever completed, more like joining smaller glyphs together to form this more complex one, like joining letters to make a word.

The real issue was whether or not the glyph would do what it was meant to do. Weiss hoped she wasn't overreaching, or she'd just wasted a lot of time and effort. When she actually tried it, she'd only get one chance. If it failed, she supposed she could simply break out in a more mundane fashion, later on. But, if she succeeded, then the escape was on, right then and there.

Right now, what she needed was to focus on memorizing it, so that she could produce it with her own Aura on demand. Only then could she worry about whether or not it worked. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, Weiss stared at her new glyph, absorbing her consciousness completely into the act of studying its shape. _It's nearly time now..._

* * *

"How are you feeling?" asked Kyo as Penny set her cloud down on the ground of Solitas, dissolving the construct and allowing her passengers to touch solid earth again.

"I'm all right," said Penny, looking much as she claimed, though the sheen of sweat on her forehead showed how much she'd been exerting herself. They had been traveling for several days, much of that journey across open water, with multiple passengers no less. From Onmyo, it was also a bit farther to fly than going to Vale.

"There's a town a few miles from here that we can reach by the end of the day," said Kyo, shading his eyes as he surveyed the land around them. "We can rest up there, before pressing on to Atlas.

"Should we do that?" asked Saisei. "Ironwood likely has his forces out looking for us. If they find us in that town…"

"Since he knows we're coming, he'll want to assemble all the forces he can," said Kyo. "Besides, thanks to Penny, we arrived in an unexpected fashion. The General is going to have to know _where_ to send his forces to intercept us after all. We won't be staying there long in any case."

"That'll disappoint the townspeople," said Hayate. "They won't be able to throw a festival."

"Maybe we'll visit them again on the way out," said Saisei.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Kyo as they started walking.

* * *

 **Given the course of this and the last chapter, I imagine some people are irked that I went with nice-guy-Whitley, while driving so hard at jerkass-Ironwood. I suppose part of it is that, while we've gotten some three volumes worth of Ironwood in the actual show, we've only gotten a scant bit of Whitley in Volume 4. And, while he definitely comes off as manipulative, he doesn't really actually _do_ all that much, and I feel that a good bit of his characterization is still up in the air. So this was the interpretation I went with, one where part of his issue is that he's got a pair of sisters, who've always looked down on him as a weakling, with Weiss making grand pronouncements about how she's going to change things, when _he's_ the one who's actually put the work into learning what it takes to actually _run_ the company, and has been forging the connections to do so. I mean, let's face it, Weiss becoming a Huntress, even a successful one, isn't likely to have that much bearing on how she performs in the boardroom. So, when it comes down to the actual nitty gritty of running the SDC, there's no doubt that Whitely is better-suited to do so.**

 **Aside from that, it's fun to go over how Weiss is really beginning to come into her own. Of all the characters in this story, her development is the one that really took me by surprise.**


	73. Chapter 73

**Chapter 73:**

"It's a pity you can't stay longer than a night," said the village mayor, stroking his thin, black goatee as he looked at Kyo and his friends. "I know the people here would appreciate the respite from Grimm attacks."

"Have they been bad lately?" asked Kyo.

The mayor nodded. "Because of the political climate in Atlas and Mantle, anxiety is high. Our faunus residents are living with the worry that they'll be the next ones rounded up for Schnee's internment camps, especially now that the young man with you liberated the last of them."

"I'm surprised that Ironwood hasn't already started doing something like that," commented Hayate.

"I believe that he is currently occupied by other matters," noted the mayor, raising an eyebrow towards them.

"I honestly don't know whether to apologize or say 'you're welcome,'" said Kyo sheepishly.

The mayor burst out laughing. "Well, in either case, you're welcome to spend the night here. I'm afraid the local garrison already knows your arrival and your presence will be reported to the General in due course." He winked. "However, I have convinced them that the report of your arrival can be delayed until tomorrow morning."

"That's very kind of you...and surprisingly understanding of them," said Saisei.

"Yes...well, the soldiers posted to the settlements generally have a better understanding of the threats we face out here," said the mayor. "They appreciate a respite from Grimm attacks, however brief, just as much as we do." The mayor chuckled and shook his head. "In any case, we will have rooms prepared for you five in our inn. Luckily, we don't get many travelers, so there is plenty of space. No charge, as usual."

"I'm grateful as always," said Kyo. "I apologize for not being able to stay longer."

"Well, perhaps you can grace us with your presence at a later date," suggested the mayor.

"We'll see," said Kyo.

Saisei stretched. "Well, I can at least provide some compensation," she said. "I need to burn some energy, after spending the past few days lounging around, while Penny did all the heavy lifting. Please inform everyone that I will be able to treat any and all who are sick or injured."

The mayor blinked and looked questioningly at Kyo, who grinned in reply. "Her offer is genuine. In our Clan, she is second only to our Chief Physician in skill."

"Well then, I shall spread the word around," said the mayor. "Perhaps you should visit our local garrison though. They've been fighting hard lately, and I believe they have taken some casualties."

"Gladly," said Saisei, bowing low to him.

With that, they separated, the mayor going his own way, while Saisei made her way towards the town's garrison. Kyo, Hayate, and Penny headed to the inn, along with Nigel, who was being towed behind Hayate on an improvised leash.

"Come on," complained Nigel. "Get this off me. I know where we're supposed to go."

"No," said Kyo and Hayate simultaneously, making Penny giggle.

"If we let you off your leash, you'll be on another continent by tomorrow morning," declared Hayate irritably. "We aren't taking any side trips just to track you back down after you get lost _again_."

"We'll let you off when we have our enemy in sight," said Kyo. "That's about the only time you actually have some idea of where to go."

Nigel grumbled inaudibly under his breath, making Penny giggle some more. However, she noticed that the fingers of Hayate's right hand were twitching, brushing against the handle of his sword.

"Is he all right?" asked Penny softly, leaning towards Kyo to ask her question.

Kyo's smile faltered as he saw what she was talking about. "Well, I can't blame him for being anxious," he said in a tone that was just as low as Penny's. "He hides it well, but he's worried about Weiss. I don't blame him. In all honesty, he's doing much better than I would in his situation. If I'd heard that something like that had happened to Yang, I'd go out of my mind with worry."

Penny looked down. "I'm sorry..."

Kyo rested a hand on her shoulder. "You've done nothing to apologize for," he said. "If it weren't for you, it would have taken us much longer to reach Solitas. It's only natural to ensure that you're in peak condition tomorrow. Your body is no longer robotic, so you need to rest like the rest of us do."

Penny nodded.

"Also," continued Kyo, "it's unlikely that Weiss is in any immediate danger. If she was going to be killed, I'd be surprised if her father would go through the trouble of having her dragged back to Atlas just to do it." He squeezed her shoulder. "Just relax and rest. Tomorrow, we set out for Atlas, and see what the General has in store for us."

Penny smiled grimly. "All right," she said.

* * *

Ironwood sipped from his mug, staring out the window of his office, which overlooked the campus of Atlas Academy. The morning was brisk and chilly, about as warm as things got in these northern climes. Down below, he could see students exercising in the courtyard under the strict, exacting eyes of their instructors. In the air above, several of his best warships loomed, their sensors scanning the city around the Academy, looking for signs of trouble. Knight-class androids patrolled in pairs, weapons at the ready. Everything was as it should be.

Despite that, or even because of it, Ironwood felt ill at ease. Ever since he had returned from the diplomatic mission to meet the Mibu, he had been mulling over the promised threat of Kyo's arrival, a threat that had been delivered by Penny Polendina. Even though it had been just a few months ago, he could still remember the steely look in her eyes, and the promise that she would come for his head. Likewise, he still remembered Winter's warning that Kyo intended to come along with Penny and his other friends, after the conference had ended.

His shore patrols had not spied a single boat on the water that couldn't be accounted for. The ports were heavily surveyed to ensure that no one would try to smuggle themselves in on a passenger or cargo ship. Furthermore, Ironwood was aware that Kyo and his friends wouldn't be able to take a ship directly from Leng. They might have opened their borders, the but the Mibu Clan had not yet started official trade with any of their neighbors yet, certainly not with any Atlesian settlement...nor would they, so long as Ironwood had any say in the matter.

Despite all of that, he remained concerned. He still carried the vivid memory of Kyo wiping out his forces, slaughtering his troops, and walking away unscathed. Ironwood himself had been helpless before Kyo's blade.

 _That will change, this time,_ he thought. _I won't be so easy for you to defeat, Demon Eyes Kyo._

Ironically, despite his anxiety, Ironwood actually looked forward to Kyo's arrival. After all, once he had dealt with Kyo and his allies once and for all, Ironwood could turn his attention to the true enemy, the Mibu themselves. It would take a few years to prepare his forces. He would have to find ways to delay the construction of the Mibu tower for as long as possible. Despite the other Kingdoms' promise to take up the slack, and build it themselves, if he delayed too long, Ironwood was confident he could find ways to hold them off. Once he was ready, he would set out with his forces and deal with the upstart Mibu.

He thought back to that secret meeting with the other Headmasters, where Sora and the Crimson King had explained to them the presence of the group that Cinder had supposedly joined. _Twelve Divine Generals...don't make me laugh,_ he scoffed internally. _It's clear that they were making up a larger threat to convince me to let my guard down with them. Cinder may have gained a few new allies, but there's no way that she would be serving anyone more dangerous than Salem._ His purpose was clear now. Once he dealt with the Mibu, he would scour the rest of the world, find Cinder and her new allies, then snuff them out.

A tone sounded from his desk, the projector flickering to life to produce a screen. On the other side of the screen, Ironwood saw the face of a young communications officer. Her skin was pale, and she appeared to be sweating. "S-sir," she said nervously. "We have an emergency message from Zenit. Kyo and his comrades have been spotted there."

"Zenit!" exclaimed Ironwood, jumping to his feet. _That's much closer than I anticipated. How did they get so far inland without being spotted?_ "What does the garrison commander have to say?"

"About that..." said the officer nervously, sweating even harder, "...the garrison has been taken over. K-Kyo wants to speak to you directly."

A low growl rumbled out of Ironwood's chest and he bared his teeth in anger. The unfortunate officer quailed at the sight of his fury. However, Ironwood at least knew better than to subject her to his anger. "Patch them through," he said. "I'll hear what the criminal has to say."

The officer nodded and worked the controls on her end. Her image on the screen was replaced by a holographic image of the Zenit garrison commander. His posture was stiff, arms hanging uselessly at his sides, his head tilted back. Like the communications officer, he was sweating profusely. The reason why was immediately apparent, as Kyo stood behind him, his long sword held up over the commander's shoulder, angled down so that its edge rested lightly against his neck.

"General," said Kyo, his voice buzzing slightly with the static from the connection, "a pleasure to see you again."

"Kyo..." growled Ironwood.

"Do forgive the commander for disrupting your daily routine," said Kyo pleasantly. "We left him with no other option but to contact you, if he didn't want his entire garrison slaughtered."

"What is the meaning of this," said Ironwood. "How dare you threaten my people."

"Ah, it's actually for their safety that we went through the effort of calling ahead like this," said Kyo in a cheerful tone. "As you know, we are at Zenit right now. However, we most certainly have no desire to fight your forces there, as that would present a serious risk to their civilian population. However, if you agree, we would happily select a location where we will meet your forces for battle."

"And where do you propose to meet us?" asked Ironwood.

Kyo nodded to someone off-camera, and his image was replaced by a map of Solitas. A second later, the map zoomed in on a space roughly halfway between Zenit and Atlas. "This is the Zvezda Plain. It's called a plain, but it's actually more like a tundra really. There's nothing out there but rocks and some scrub. You should have plenty of room to deploy as many troops and airships as you like, and it's a little closer to you than it is to us, which gives us more time."

"And you expect me to take you at your word?" asked Ironwood. "Why should I believe that you will uphold any agreement? I have no reason to trust you."

The map vanished, replaced by Kyo, though he'd apparently released his captive (or killed him) in the meantime. "Well, if you don't believe us, then we will simply head straight for Atlas. However, we will pass through that point on our way. We should arrive there sometime tomorrow afternoon. We'll wait a few hours. If you and your forces do not show, then we shall simply proceed onto Atlas and meet you there. But I would rather fight you in a place where civilians will not be threatened."

"So be it," said Ironwood. "I will meet you there with all the forces I have at my disposal. Our meeting shall be broadcast to the entire world. If you do not show, everyone will see you for the coward that you are."

"All right then," said Kyo with a shrug. "In that case, we'll see you there, General."

The connection cut, and the image of Kyo vanished. Ironwood clenched his hands, the steel of his cybernetic hand creaking from the strain. After a moment, he regained his self-control and contacted the very same communications officer who had informed him of Kyo's call earlier.

"Send out a call for all available forces. Tell them to assemble in Mantle or Atlas. Tomorrow morning, at O-six-hundred hours, all forces are to proceed to the Zvesda Plain." He looked down at his desk. _Tomorrow, I'll eliminate one thorn in my side, and then I'll be free to proceed onwards._

* * *

"And so it begins," said Kyo with a sigh before bowing politely to the garrison commander. "My apologies for treating you like that, Commander. I appreciate your cooperation."

"You're most welcome," replied the man in armor. "It's the least I could do for the men that your friend treated. The worst off were expected to spend at least three weeks in recovery, but she managed to heal them all completely, in just a few minutes."

"Yes, Saisei's skills are excellent," agreed Kyo.

"Do you think he bought the whole 'hostage' thing?" asked the commander.

"I believe so," said Kyo. "Though, come tomorrow, it will be a moot point whether he believed you or not. The General will not be in any position to punish anyone."

"You're that confident?" asked the commander dubiously. "Depending on who answers his call to muster, you could be facing down at least three divisions, maybe even more. You'd face hundreds of troops and tens of thousands of androids and mechs, not to mention at least eighteen warships, and all their associated fighter-craft."

"Oh yes," agreed Kyo eagerly, an excited gleam in his eyes. "We're looking forward to it."

"Oh! It will certainly be lovely," agreed Saisei.

Hayate snorted. "It'll be good to put Ironwood in his place."

"Very true," agreed Penny, a steely determination in her eyes.

"Can I go now?" asked Nigel.

"No," said the other four in perfect unison.

"You're learning fast," said Kyo, glancing at Penny, who found herself unable to keep her determined look up as she dissolved into helpless giggles.

"And you're all right with this?" asked Hayate, glancing at the commander.

The commander sighed. "I received orders from my superiors in the the Outer Defense Division. All garrisons are to maintain their positions, and ensure the protection of the settlements. I think someone up in Atlas is hoping that you'll take down Ironwood too."

"And you're okay with that?" asked Penny.

"Our duty is to the people of this continent," said the commander in a serious tone. "But lately, I'm starting to feel that the General no longer sees things that way. He's been taking actions that are far too aggressive. You only have to look at what happened to the faunus in Atlas and Mantle to understand that. Some of us are beginning to think that he's either lost his mind, or is going mad with power."

"Probably a combination of both," said Hayate with a sigh.

"In any case, all we want is to make sure the people under our protection are safe," said the commander. "Which makes me grateful that you selected a battlefield well away from anyone who might be threatened."

"That was our intent," said Kyo. "Fret not. Tomorrow, what remains of the Atlesian military will be following the orders of a new leader."

* * *

Weiss sat up with a yawn. Her eyes were still sore, not surprising her all that much, as she'd spent the entire evening before staring at her new three-dimensional glyph, committing it to memory, ensuring that she could recall it from every angle. Frowning, she closed her eyes and called it up before her mind's eye. It took a moment, but she was able to reconstruct it in her head. _Not quite good enough. I need to spend more time memorizing it._

Looking down at herself, Weiss scowled, realizing that she hadn't even bothered to change into her nightgown before going to bed. With a tired sigh, she stripped out of her sweaty, grimy clothes, and stepped into the bathroom to shower and take care of her other morning necessities. Half an hour later, she emerged, feeling refreshed. She pulled on a fresh dress and tied up her hair, applying some of her makeup as well. She couldn't say why, but she felt like looking like her usual self today. Perhaps it would make it easier for her to focus on her new glyph.

Pulling out the chair, she activated her scroll and turned on the projector, bringing up the image of her glyph. Just as she had yesterday, and the day before, Weiss locked her eyes on her newest creation, rotating it to systematically view it from every angle, committing each line and shape to memory. Once she could see it in her head, perfectly, just by closing her eyes, the memorization should have been complete. Then she could move on to the phase of producing the glyph with her Aura, then actually putting it to use.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed, when she was interrupted in her efforts by a knock on her door. "Yes?" she asked, closing down the projector.

"It's me," said Whitley, swinging the door open. "Father has called for you."

"Already?" asked Weiss.

Whitley frowned, looking slightly confused by the orders he'd received. "Yes. I'm not sure what's going on," he said. "Father seemed rather pleased by something. We'd best be on our guards."

Weiss nodded gravely. Despite how calm she looked on the outside, on the inside, she was fretting. Had Jacques somehow learned what she was doing down here? Did he realize that Whitley was helping her? Had one of the staff betrayed them? Worse still, had her father come to some kind of decision about what to do with her, such as marrying her off, or sending her someplace more secure? Depending on what he had in mind, she might have to make an effort to escape right then and there. But she wasn't ready yet. She couldn't use her new glyph. That meant she would have to rely on the glyphs she could use already.

Still, there was nothing to do but go along with it for now. Weiss fell into step with Whitley as the two of them headed down the hallway, two members of the mansion's security personnel following behind them.

"Just in case," said Whitley in a soft tone, "I had your weapon stored in my room. You know where it is."

Weiss nodded. "You kept it," she said.

Whitley gave her a smile that seemed surprisingly warm for him. "Yes, well, when father ordered me to dispose of it, I decided to hold onto it for the time being."

"Thank you," said Weiss, with a relieved smile.

"Yes," said Whitley dismissively. "Just remember to try and look suitably miserable in front of Father. We don't want him thinking that something unusual is afoot."

"Right," agreed Weiss, schooling her face to a scowl that looked more fitting for the situation she was supposed to be in. It wasn't all that hard. All she needed to do was imagine her father gloating over some perceived victory, and she was able to look as though she'd been eating and just bitten into something foul.

To her surprise, Whitley didn't take her to Jacques' office. Instead, he showed her to one of the mansion's parlors, where their father often hosted business associates, or arranged his own entertainment. It was a richly-furnished room, filled with plush furniture and soft carpeting. The stark, white shade of the marble that the mansion was made of was covered over by wood-paneled walls. One side of the room featured a fully-stocked bar that, when Jacques had guests, was manned by an actual bartender. Next to the bar was a door that led directly to a small kitchen, used specifically to supply various dainties for this room's usage. The furniture was arranged so that they were all oriented, at least partly, towards a wall that was dominated by a high-definition holoscreen.

Weiss had memories both fond and foul of this room. She remembered when she and her two siblings, back in the days before they had grown estranged, used this room to watch movies on weekend evenings, with Klein to bring them their favorite snacks right from the kitchen. However, this was also the room where she was forced to meet the suitors her father proposed, where she had to sit and behave herself perfectly in front of them, while they tried to butter her father up or made detestable advances towards her. This was also the room where she'd watched Pyrrha's victories in the Mistral's regional tournament, and had come to idolize her for her skills; good memories, until Pyrrha's death had rendered them bittersweet.

Now her father was sitting in his favorite chair, a relaxed smile on his face as he leaned into its plush confines, and sipped a glass of some expensive brandy that he favored. Aside from a butler standing beside the bar, ready to fetch food or drink on demand, her father was alone, which was a small source of relief. At least this meeting wasn't to introduce her to whatever person her father had decided to marry her off to...or something like that.

The two guards that had followed them took up stations on either side of the door as Weiss and Whitley entered. Glancing sidelong at her brother, Weiss saw that Whitley's mask was in place again, that enigmatic, slightly smug smile that he always seemed to wear.

"Father, I've brought her, as requested," said Whitley, the smugness of his smile seeming to leach into his voice.

Weiss didn't bother to hide her grimace. Even though he was faking...probably...it was that classic smile of his that had always set her nerves on edge and made her want to slap it off his face...which was probably why he used it so much.

"Ah, wonderful," said Jacques, sitting up a little straighter in his seat. His tone was cheerful, almost jubilant. "Take a seat, both of you. Today we'll be treated to a fine sight indeed."

Whitley's mask faltered and he looked at Weiss, who returned his look with one that was just as confused as his own. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen their father looking so cheerful.

"If I may ask what has you in such a fine mood, Father?" inquired Whitley as he and Weiss sat stiffly on the couch that rested in the center of the formation of furniture, arranged before the screen.

Jacques held up his scroll and used it to turn on the screen. It sprang to life immediately, with high-definition crystal clarity. It was an image of one of the newscasters of the local Atlas News Network.

 _"...is expected to be the single largest mobilization of Atlesian forces since the Great War,"_ the woman was saying, looking straight into the camera with an unblinking, almost robotic gaze. It wouldn't have surprised Weiss if the woman actually _was_ a robot, or some sort of program, like the holographic AI that manned the receptionist desks in the CCT towers. In Atlas, at least, the news was fully under the control of the Council, which was to say Ironwood. He would want someone who would say only what he wanted to be said. _"In case you are just tuning in, General James Ironwood, Commander in Chief of the Atlesian Military, and head of the Atlas Council, announced the deployment of all available forces to the Zvesda Plain, a location approximately one-hundred and fifteen miles from Atlas' borders. It is there that the General and his forces have promised to meet the infamous criminal, Demon Eyes Kyo, in battle, and either capture or kill him. At present, the last reported mobilization consisted of three total divisions, though more may arrive at the battlefield as the day progresses._

 _"Demon Eyes Kyo, of course, obtained his infamy by virtue of his destruction of the Seventh Mobile Brigade, resulting in an unprecedented bounty of one-billion lien being placed on his head internationally. Despite being subjected to that bounty for over a year, Demon Eyes Kyo managed to elude capture. However, the General has vowed to finally bring the vile criminal to justice."_

 _Kyo,_ thought Weiss, her heartbeat picking up in a combination of elation and nervousness. _So he's coming here now. That must mean that Hayate is with him._

"It's actually somewhat reassuring to see this," declared Jacques. "James has been an unusually gutless coward lately. It's good to see him finally acting to destroy our enemies."

"You seem rather assured that he'll succeed," said Whitley, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course he will!" declared Jacques, before tossing back his glass, downing its remaining contents with a single gulp. He slammed it down on the side table to his right, the butler already moving in with a decanter to refill it. "I don't know what treachery this Kyo used to manage the destruction of the Seventh, but he stands no chance against a force over six-times as large. With his death, the world will see just how pathetic those Mibu really are, and they'll understand why it's in our best interests to crush them."

He turned a taunting gaze on Weiss. "I understand that you and your...teammates...became friends with that criminal scum. One of your friends even became his lover, or so I heard. I think your attitude will take a turn for the better, once you witness him and his allies being slaughtered like sheep." He flashed his perfectly white teeth in a fierce grin. "I'm told that that despicable Lightning Lord is one of his accomplices. Once that filth is out of the way, I'll be able to reclaim my workers and ensure that they don't escape again."

Weiss said nothing. Thinking about Hayate made her heartbeat escalate alarmingly, especially the thought of him facing down that massive force with only four other people. Despite his and Kyo's assurances, Weiss couldn't even conceive the possibility of the five of them being a match for such a massive force, armed with the most advanced military technology in all of Remnant.

"And so, today is a day for celebration," declared Jacques. "Today we will be able to sit back and watch the death of Demon Eyes Kyo, live before the entire world."

"Master Whitley, Mistress Weiss..." said a butler, approaching from the direction of the kitchen. He set a plate of snacks in front of them. Another Butler set out a mug and poured some coffee for Weiss, while another filled a cup of what she knew to be Whitley's preferred variety of tea.

On the screen, the broadcast had switched to a live view of the Atlesian forces moving out to the Zvesda plain, broadcast from a hoverplane used by the network. Its cameras showed a perfect view of no fewer than nineteen Atlesian Seraphim-class warships, gliding majestically over the terrain. They were grouped into threes, flying in chevron formations. The single ship left out flew in the center of all the other vessels. Weiss recognized it as Ironwood's own command ship, the very one he had brought to Mibu for the conference.

 _"And here we can see a live view of the Atlesian forces in transit,"_ reported the newscaster in voiceover. _"With the current weather reports, the General's forces are projected to arrive at Zvesda sometime before noon. It remains to be seen whether or not Demon Eyes Kyo and his allies will meet them there. Considering that the challenge was issued by Kyo directly, failure to show up would be an uncontested demonstration of utter cowardice."_

Weiss rolled her eyes. _Of course...the man who would refuse to face Kyo without the backing of every man and weapon he can muster would call Kyo refusing to meet such an assembly cowardice._

"Now then," said Jacques smugly, "let us sit back and enjoy the spectacle of Demon Eyes Kyo's demise." _And with it, the signal for my ascension._

* * *

"I don't believe it," said Ren dubiously as he and the others watched the newscast, which was being projected up on the front of their airship's cabin, "they're actually going through with it."

 _"The present roster of General Ironwood's task force consists of the Atlas Defense Division, the Resettlement Security Force, and the First Expeditionary Division,"_ the newscaster was saying.

"Resettlement security...?" said Blake, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Yes," said Glynda. "That was the force that Ironwood created and tasked with guarding the internment camps for the faunus. Their duty was to hunt down and capture or kill any escapees, as well as prevent attempts to break them out by force."

"Well, they weren't very good at their job, were they?" asked Nora with a giggle. "Hayate got every single one."

Glynda smiled slightly. "Yes, he did. I'm sure that stung their commander's pride." Her frown returned. "However, it's the presence, or rather the _existence_ , of the Expeditionary Division that worries me."

"The word, 'expeditionary' implies that it was a force designed for expansion," noted Ren.

Glynda nodded. "According to James, its official purpose is to serve as a force for clearing ground to make way for new settlements. However, in Solitas, Grimm aren't as much a threat as the environment. You can't destroy a blizzard, no matter how many guns you have."

"So it's more likely it was meant to expand Atlas' reach to other continents," said Jaune.

Glynda nodded.

"And the fact that it's called the ' _First_ Expeditionary Division' would mean that Ironwood's going to make more," said Ruby nervously.

"Is he planning to conquer the world or something?" Yang wanted to know.

Glynda sighed. "With James, it's becoming hard to tell. I know that he has a strong desire to protect everyone that he can. However, it's quickly reaching the point that he believes the only way to do so is for him to be in control of everything...and everyone...everywhere."

"Oookay," said Nora dubiously. "Not creepy at all."

Yang frowned and clenched her right hand, her Aura crackling with her straining will. The blithe way Kyo had always spoken of this upcoming battle belied the sheer seriousness of what was at stake, as well as the forces arrayed against him and the Shiseiten. Looking at those warships, and thinking about the sheer volume of firepower they carried, Yang started to sweat at the mere thought of Kyo facing that army down. _Will he really be okay?_

To her surprise, their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Ruby's scroll ringing. Ruby pulled it out and gasped in surprise, before answering it. "Penny!"

" _Hi, Ruby!_ " Penny chirped back, her voice less buzzy and staticky, now that her scroll was well within the range of the relays connected to the Atlas CCT tower.

"Are you okay?" asked Ruby worriedly, staring at the scroll.

" _We're all fine,_ " said Penny. " _I figured we could call you one last time, before we head off to the battlefield._ "

"Penny! Are you really sure you're going to be okay?" asked Ruby. "Have you seen the fleet?"

" _Yeah,_ " said Penny. " _The people in Zenit let us watch the newscast._ " She paused for a second. " _I am a little nervous,_ " she admitted finally.

"What about everyone else?" asked Yang.

" _Well..._ " Penny's voice trailed off and, a second later, they heard the reason why.

" _Come on! Let me go! I wanna go!_ " Nigel's voice, louder and more urgent than they'd ever heard him speak before, was easily audible.

" _Hold him down!_ " ordered Kyo in the background, as sounds of a struggle emerged from the speakers.

" _If you let him get away, there's no telling where he'll end up!_ " added Saisei urgently.

" _Geez Nigel. If we get there too early, you'll just get stir crazy waiting for them to arrive,_ " said Hayate irritably.

" _Well, I don't think they're worried at all,_ " admitted Penny wryly.

Everyone on Ruby's end was dumbfounded.

The sounds of the struggle continued for another minute or so, accompanied by occasional shouts and grunts of exertion before finally trailing off. A moment later, silence fell and there was nothing but the occasional faint crackle of static.

"Uh..." said Yang, not sure what there actually was to say.

" _Oh! Hello,_ " said Kyo, having apparently taken over the scroll from Penny. He actually sounded a little winded. " _How are you all doing?_ "

"Um...are you guys okay over there?" asked Yang.

" _Yes, we're fine,_ " said Kyo. " _We had to hogtie Nigel to make him stay put, but we're fine._ "

"Is it really that bad?" asked Yang.

" _Well, I'm afraid Nigel has spent the last couple months psyching himself up for this,_ " said Kyo. " _We won't be able to keep him restrained much longer. Thankfully, I think we can hold him until this afternoon._ "

"Sheesh," said Yang. "He's a total battle maniac."

Kyo laughed awkwardly. " _Yes, well, it's one of the reasons we get along so well. Sadly, battle is about the only thing he has room for in his head. So we can't let him head out on his own._ "

Yang opened her mouth...but nothing came out for a moment. Her throat hitched, cutting off her words before she could properly form them. She glanced up at the newscast, which continued to show the fleet of warships proceeding to the battlefield. "Kyo...?"

"... _Yes?_ "

"A-are...are you sure you're going to be okay?" asked Yang.

" _Yes,_ " answered Kyo without the slightest hesitation. " _I assume you're watching the General's broadcast._ "

"That's right," said Yang.

" _Then be sure to watch it to the very end. I promise that you'll probably never get a chance to see anything like this again._ "

"How..." Jaune glared at the scroll, unable to comprehend what Kyo was saying. "How can you even say that? I know you're supposed to be strong. I know you've destroyed an entire brigade once. But how in God's name could five of you handle an army that size?"

To their surprise, they heard Kyo chuckle. " _The size of Ironwood's force doesn't matter,_ " he said. " _The General could bring twice as much firepower as he has, and the outcome would not change one bit. I am Demon Eyes Kyo, son of the Crimson King, Crimson Cross Knight of the Mibu Clan, master of the Mumyo Jinpu Ryu, wielder of Tenro. I have with me my four companions, the Shiseiten. On the battlefield, we shall be gods of destruction. Assembled together, our power is infinite. It does not matter how many ships, troops, androids, or guns Ironwood brings to the fight, because numbers have ceased to have meaning. You will see, when the time comes._ "

They heard clicking as the scroll changed hands again. " _Well, there you have it,_ " said Penny, now sounding excited herself.

"Just be careful," said Ruby softly. "I don't want to lose you."

" _You won't, I promise,_ " said Penny firmly.

" _The three of us will look after her,_ " added Saisei, cheerfully butting into the conversation.

"Three of you?" asked Blake dubiously.

" _Well, it's not like Nigel looks after anyone but himself,_ " said Hayate. " _But Penny won't come to any harm. You have our word._ "

"Try not to come to any harm yourself," said Ruby. "Weiss would probably have a fit, if something happened to you."

" _Sure,_ " said Hayate as his friends chuckled in the background. " _Like I'd let Ironwood's forces stop me here. After we're done with this, I'm heading straight for Schnee's mansion._ "

"Okay. Good luck with that, hero," said Nora with a giggle.

" _We'll talk again soon,_ " said Penny. " _Bye._ " With that, she hung up.

For a moment, Ruby and the others stared at her scroll. "I really hope they know what they're doing," said Blake.

* * *

"What is keeping you?" demanded Ironwood as he stared at the screen.

" _The announcement of the mobilization has left the population troubled,_ " explained Winter. " _The increased anxiety has led to increased Grimm activity at the borders. So far, it's nothing the automatic defenses can't handle, but we're trying to re-establish confidence. I'm using what personnel are left here to try and reassure the people. It's working, but it might take a while before I can join you out there._ "

Ironwood sighed. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped," he said. "As soon as you get things back under control there, I expect you to be on your way. This is going to be our greatest triumph, and I want you at my side for it."

" _Yes, Sir,_ " said Winter, saluting crisply. Her image winked out.

Ironwood sighed and took a deep breath to calm himself. _She's a good soldier,_ he thought. Now that the call was ended, he turned and strode to the front of the bridge, the window overlooking the bow of the ship also showed the mottled gray expanse of the Zvesda Plain. His posture was perfectly straight, his arms folded behind his back. A glance at the time on one of the displays showed him that they had a little less than an hour before noon. Kyo and his comrades, assuming that they were serious about challenging him, would be here shortly after that.

 _He foolishly left us with plenty of time to arrange our forces,_ thought Ironwood. _Assuming, of course, that he wasn't trying to lead us astray with the timing, and attack before we expect him to. Of course, if it comes to that, we still have more than enough firepower to handle him and his friends._

Already, the other warships were descending towards the tundra, landing to disembark their complements of androids and Paladins, as well as the Atlesian Specialists that were accompanying the force.

"Contact to the southwest!" shouted a sensor officer.

"What is it?" asked Ironwood.

"Distance, one kilometer from the edge of the plain," said the officer. "Identifying…they appear to be a group of five people…Demon Eyes Kyo, Nigel Whitaker, the Lightning Lord, Penny Polendina, and Saisei of the Mibu Clan."

"So they came early," growled Ironwood. "They must be preparing an ambush! Ready all forces!"

"Well, sir…actually…"

* * *

Winter let out a relieved sigh as the screen cut out.

"Looks like he bought it," said Qrow, coming up behind her.

Winter nodded, though her expression was still troubled. "All good lies contain a grain of truth after all," she said.

Unfortunately, what she had said contained more than just a grain. It was true that the massive mobilization of the military, in order to fight just a small group of individuals, had stirred a great deal of anxiety amongst the people. Ironically, mobilizing such a force in order to destroy some massive and threatening horde of Grimm would have been much easier to understand and accept. Doing something like this, just for Demon Eyes Kyo and a few of his friends, made people wonder just how dangerous he was and how great a threat he must be for his presence to incite a military action of this scale. People were anxious, nervous, frightened…the perfect recipe of emotions to entice the Grimm towards the Kingdom, a Kingdom that had just recently been vacated by the forces that were supposed to be defending it, with only a few token troops left to look after it.

Granted, those defenses were probably enough, even if the stirring negative emotions drew in more Grimm than usual. The walls were defended by powerful autoturrets that could blast a Goliath into oblivion with just a few rounds, and were swift enough to track Nevermores and Griffons on the wing. The turrets were further supported by Knights and Paladins, ensuring that naught but the most determined assaults by the Grimm could breach the defenses. Not even an attack on the level of the one that had overwhelmed Vale could get through those defenses…not unless someone subverted their control over the androids again.

However, Winter did believe that she was needed here in Atlas, to assuage the anxiety of the people. She just had no intention of actually leaving to join Ironwood's task force. Instead, she intended to leave Ironwood to his fate and, hopefully, secure control in his absence, and restore proper rule to Atlas. It would be difficult to be sure. But something had to be done. Since childhood, Winter had dreamed of ascending to such a respected position to affect great change and make the world a better place. She just wished that the methods she'd ended up embracing didn't leave such a bitter taste in her mouth.

* * *

"Wonderful," said Kyo, in between bites of the meal that he and his friends had brought with them from Zenit. "Say what you will about Atlesian society, their cooking is wonderful."

"I won't argue," said Hayate, pausing to take another bite of his own lunch.

"Is it really all right for us to be eating so close to the battlefield?" Penny wanted to know. "What if Ironwood attacks?"

"Then we'll defend," replied Saisei, handling her own food. At the same time, her tail extended outwards, having thinned out into a slender, furry tendril, forking near the end, to manipulate another fork, which she used to feed Nigel his own lunch, Nigel having been bound tightly to keep him from running off.

"While I'm sure the General is eager to press the attack," said Kyo, "I think that he's more inclined to wait to start anything until he's fully arranged all the pieces on the board."

"Let me go," growled Nigel. "I wanna fight now."

"Quiet, boy," said Saisei curtly, shoving another forkful of food into his mouth.

"Where's the fun in attacking now?" asked Kyo. "It will be much more fun when the stage is properly set."

"But wouldn't it be more sound tactically to take them while they're in such an awkward position?" asked Penny, looking down from the hill where they'd set up their lunch. It gave them a perfect view of the tundra and Ironwood's ships. All of them, except for his command ship, had landed, and were currently disembarking their complements of androids and mechs. The air around them was filled with armed fighter-transport craft, that could also serve as bombers, buzzing around the warships like wasps around their hives.

"Of course it would," said Hayate. "But it's not as fun."

"Not as fun…?" Penny looked at them dubiously.

"Hmm…think of it like…" Kyo struggled to come up with a proper analogy. "Have you ever played with dominoes."

"You mean the game?" asked Penny.

"He means setting them up so that they knock each other down, when you knock over just one," said Hayate.

"Oh…I remember seeing one of those," said Penny, blinking as she searched her memory.

"When you think about it, it seems odd that people go to immense effort and spend countless hours for a display that, when initiated, will last just a few minutes at best," said Kyo. "However, when properly executed, the display that results is well worth that effort. For us, this situation is like that. Compared to the time and energy that goes into the preparation phase, the battle itself is fleeting. However, by waiting and allowing Ironwood to set his forces as he desires, we can increase the excitement of the resulting fight."

"It's worth it," said Hayate with a grin.

"But I'm tired of waiting," whined Nigel.

His mouth was promptly stuffed by another mouthful, courtesy of Saisei's tails. "Hush," she admonished.

"Besides, we're preparing too, in our own way," Kyo pointed out.

"We are?" asked Penny.

"Of course we are," said Saisei. "We're using the time that Ironwood uses to sort out his forces to our own advantage. We're fortifying ourselves with an excellent meal. Afterwards, we'll enjoy a nice rest period for digestion. Then, we'll be able to meet Atlas' forces head-on, at the top of our game."

"Let Ironwood fret and worry," said Hayate. "No matter what he thinks, he's the one fighting on _our_ terms."

"Okay," said Penny, reassured by their words, even though she figured she shouldn't have been. On paper, her friends sounded cocky and stuffed full of hubris, ready to rush off to a glorious death in battle that would please them almost as much as winning. However, Penny could hear the utter confidence in their tones, the knowledge, supported by lifetimes of experience, that they would win. It went beyond belief. To them, it was absolute, unquestioned truth.

Kyo grinned. "This fight will make a fine debut for us."

"Debut?" asked Penny.

Saisei laughed. "Of course," she said. "This will be the first time we've fought with a full roster. Now the world will see the power of Demon Eyes Kyo, and his new Shiseiten."

* * *

 **Next chapter, the fun begins.**


	74. Chapter 74

**hapter 74:**

"Unbelievable!" fumed Ironwood, staring at the screen, which relayed a continuous image of their targets. Here he was, with three full divisions, deploying his forces, arraying an incredible display of military might. All the while, his enemies were sitting practically a stone's throw away, having a picnic. And now they were curled up on some large rocks that dotted the edge of the tundra, sleeping off their meal. Even Nigel was slumped over, a strand of drool dangling from his chin, visible to the sharp cameras of Ironwood's command ship.

"Sir..." said the captain of the ship, stepping up to stand next to him, "...what if we attacked now? Asleep like that, their guard is completely lowered. We could easily finish them off with a single salvo."

"We can't," growled Ironwood. For the first time, he regretted the public announcement of this battle, and making a spectacle of it. Because of that, the entire world was now watching their every action. It was bad enough that these scum were brazenly insulting him and his troops by eating and napping right in front of him. If he opened fire on them while they were sleeping, there was no question that it would be seen by many as the utmost expression of cowardice. He'd already deployed an overwhelming force against just five enemies. Firing on them as they slept would just put the final nails in the coffin of his reputation.

 _Fine...I'll just make the best use of the time they've given me that I can,_ he thought bitterly. "I'm going to review our formations," he said. "Let me know as soon as they awaken."

* * *

Penny yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes and blinking to clear them. "That was nice," she said, smacking her lips.

Nearby, Kyo stirred on the rock that he'd claimed and sat up as well. "Yes," he agreed. "I love a good nap. Now some post-nap exercise is in order."

Penny turned her head and surveyed the layout of the Atlesian forces, feeling oddly calm and detached, considering their overall situation. Ironwood hadn't massed his forces into one single group. Instead, the Knights had been divided into rectangular formations, several rows deep, the rectangles arranged in staggered lines so that no single formation of Knights was perfectly lined up with the one behind it. Within each rectangle, the lines of Knights were also staggered. Penny recognized it from her time as an Atlesian android herself. This was a formation for the ultimate massing of firepower, the Knights' positions staggered so that the rows behind could fire past the rows in front of them without hitting their fellows, ensuring that they could bring the maximum amount of firepower to bear at once. With humans, they wouldn't have been able to manage more than two or three rows, given the limits of human soldiers' abilities to aim through such tight openings. But, for the precise, robotic, Knights, they could stack several rows together without worry.

The Knights were supported by Paladins, the massive, looming mechs standing at the rear of each rectangle. Each formation of Knights was supported by two Paladins. Farther back, behind the Knight formations, Penny saw squads of Jaegers, each one surrounding a single flesh and blood human.

"Those would be the vaunted Atlesian Specialists," noted Kyo, coming to sit next to her, "like Winter."

"I hope she's not here," said Penny.

"She isn't," said Kyo. "I'm sure she's doing her part. The Specialists are holding back, waiting for the Knights and Paladins to wear us down with numbers before they get involved."

"Very pragmatic of them," observed Saisei, joining them, apparently fresh as a daisy, despite just waking up.

"And let's not forget what's in the air," said Hayate, directing their gazes upwards.

Eighteen Atlesian warships hovered above the infantry and armor, arranged into flying wedges. The air between them was filled with the hovering fighter transports, screening the larger ships, their guns all oriented on Kyo and his little group of friends.

"Maybe, if he had actual people on the ground, he'd think twice," said Hayate. "But with just androids on the front lines, I'm willing to bet that Ironwood would be happy to blow a few-dozen of them to pieces, if it meant a sure shot at getting us."

"We'll keep it in mind then," said Kyo. "Now that we're all rested and ready, I suppose it's about time to begin."

"Not quite," said Hayate. "Guess who's still conked out?"

They all turned to look at Nigel, still dead to the world, snoring softly and drooling. Penny couldn't help but laugh at the sight. "But wasn't he the most excited to get started?" she wanted to know, her voice still quavering with mirth.

Kyo grinned. "If there's one thing that Nigel is better at than fighting, it's sleeping. He can sleep in pretty much any situation or condition. Once he does, well...saying he sleeps like the dead is the biggest understatement of the century."

Saisei sighed and walked over to Nigel. Lifting up her hand, she curled back her middle finger and braced it against her thumb, before flicking Nigel sharply in the forehead, snapping his head back to such a degree that Penny thought Saisei might have broken his neck. However, Nigel's head quickly flicked forward and he blinked his single eye and smacked his lips, licking away the remnants of the string of drool that clung to his chin.

"Oh, honestly," groused Saisei, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping off his chin. "It's like you're three."

"Wha-?" slurred Nigel. "Are we still fighting? It's not over already, is it?"

"No, but we're just about to start," said Hayate with a chuckle.

Nigel's eye blinked and he suddenly looked completely awake. "Really?! Finally!"

Saisei gave Penny a long-suffering look, and shook her head. With one hand, she lifted Nigel up off the ground and set him on his feet, though she kept a hold on the cords that bound him, unwilling to trust him with complete freedom yet. Penny couldn't help but laugh.

"Ah," said Kyo, looking up, "I wonder what that is."

A tiny silver orb was flying through the air towards them. It stopped a few meters away, hovering well off the ground. A line appeared and its outer shell separated into two hemispheres, revealing a projector, which flickered to life, producing a life-sized hologram of none other than General Ironwood.

"That's a new trick," observed Kyo.

" _Finally awake, I see,_ " said Ironwood tartly.

"Yes," agreed Kyo. "Thank you for waiting for us."

Ironwood looked as though he were trying to ignore a bad smell. " _I don't know why I expected anything better of you._ "

"Come now," chided Kyo. "We gave you all the time in the world to arrange your forces in the best possible manner to fight us. We arrived as we promised, and we intend to uphold our challenge to you."

" _This is a farce,_ " growled Ironwood.

"Is it?" asked Hayate idly. "Sorry if we have our doubts. Despite showing all the confidence in the world, we can't help but notice that you assembled three full divisions to fight against one measly group of five."

"During your visit to the Mibu, you were brimming with confidence in the power of your forces," added Saisei. "Now you're hiding in the back of the greatest single force you've ever assembled, all for the sake of little old us. We're honestly flattered."

Ironwood's expression showed he did not agree.

"In any case, the die is cast," said Kyo, taking up his sheathed sword. "We've all come too far to back down now. Let us begin."

Ironwood's holographic gaze flicked over their faces before coming to a stop on Penny. " _You will regret this,_ " he said.

Penny felt her old rage welling up within her. This was the man who had murdered her father in cold blood, and tried to trap her so that he could pull her apart, body and soul, for the sake of making more like her. Yet, here he was, acting righteous, and believing that _he_ was the hero of this story. "No," she said in a soft, cold tone, filled with determination. " _You'll_ be the one to regret. I'll see you soon, General...in the flesh."

The hologram's shading kept them from seeing Ironwood's skin paling. However, they were treated to the sight of the cold sweat beading his brow. " _S-so be it,_ " he stammered. " _Then come to your destruction._ " The hologram flickered out and the hemispherical halves of the orb closed. A second later, it dropped to the ground, bouncing once and then settling, smoke spilling out from the seam where it had opened.

"One use," said Hayate, nudging it with his toe. "Awfully wasteful, that."

"Look," said Kyo, pointing ahead of them. With the echoing clanks of tens of thousands of robotic feet, the Knights went into motion, marching forward, rifles rising and taking aim.

"It's time," said Hayate with a grin.

"Come on, come on, come on," said Nigel, practically hopping in place.

The other four traded amused looks.

"Still feel nervous?" asked Kyo, looking at Penny.

"Not anymore," said Penny.

"Good," said Kyo. "Remember how it felt to fight against Yang?"

Penny nodded.

"This will be like that, once we get started," said Kyo. "The excitement is intoxicating."

"It's a feeling worth dying for," said Hayate.

"Though we haven't died yet," said Saisei.

"And we won't today," added Nigel, actually contributing to the conversation for a change.

"Looks like you're finally ready," said Kyo, looking at Nigel with a chuckle. He turned his gaze to Hayate. "It's time to cut him loose."

"Finally," moaned Nigel, his tone ecstatic.

Steel grated as swords cleared sheaths. Kyo tossed his own sheath to the side, and nodded to Hayate, who moved to stand next to Nigel, his sword poised to cut Nigel's bonds. They all focused their eyes forward at the approaching enemy.

"Ready..." said Saisei, leaning into a crouch, her tail lashing the air behind her.

"Set..." said Penny, reaching up to adjust the brim of her hat as she held the Kusanagi out to her right.

"Go!" shouted Hayate, slashing Nigel's bonds.

They all surged forward in unison. The five of them charged straight at the enemy lines, not seeming to give a single though towards their safety.

* * *

"Oh my God! They're really doing it!" gasped Yang, staring at the screen in awe and horror.

"We're watching them commit suicide," moaned Jaune, running his hands through his hair.

The others watched, biting lips and clenching hands, sweating nervously as they watched five of their friends rush headlong into what were clearly overwhelming odds. Behind them, Glynda watched, her arms folded to hide their trembling as she watched the battle about to unfold.

* * *

"And so it begins...and ends," said Jacques, tossing back another mouthful of liquor. He'd been chafing at how long it had taken for the battle to begin, seeing as they'd spent the last few hours watching Kyo and his Shiseiten eat, then nap, as though they didn't have a care in the world.

Weiss' heart leapt into her throat as she saw Hayate go on the attack. She wasn't sure what she'd do if anything happened to him. _Just please get through this,_ she silently thought at him, praying that she wasn't just about to watch him die on a live broadcast.

* * *

Nigel's body was an ebony blur as he shot out ahead of them, his superior speed carrying him to the front of the group, and leaving them behind as he bolted straight towards the enemy lines. However, Kyo, Penny, Saisei, and Hayate followed behind as fast as their feet could carry them, their own bodies blurs as they raced across the tundra at the gleaming white ranks of Knights.

The Knights opened fire. The air filled with the rippling crack of countless Dust cartridges being fired in near perfect unison. The Knights didn't try aiming directly at Kyo and his group, instead firing their rifles ahead in a broad volley, trying to fill the air with as much death as they could, to ensure that there were no gaps an enemy could slip through.

It wasn't nearly enough. Nigel's body seemed to stretch and bend as he accelerated, dodging between the shots and slipping through what should have been impossibly small gaps in the Dust bullets, as though they were standing still in midair. Behind them, Kyo's sword became a silvery blur as he used it to swat down the incoming bullets before they could touch him. Beside him, Penny went into a flying spin, flaring her cape around her, and channeling her Aura through it, using it to sweep aside the incoming fire with ease. As Hayate came on, the bullets' courses seemed to bend and swerve around him, as though repelled by magnets. Saisei made no effort to dodge or defend, and her body was soon riddled by shots. However, she came on as though they didn't bother her in the slightest, the holes closing almost as quickly as they formed.

The crack of the Knights' rifles was supplemented by the rushing sound of rockets, as the Paladins farther back unleashed their missiles, sending them arcing over the Knight formations, and down at the incoming fighters. Nigel was already past where the missiles would hit, but their course was perfect to intercept the rest of the group.

Penny and Hayate moved in unison, almost as though they had choreographed their attacks ahead of time. Crackling arcs of green and white electricity climbed up and down the length of Hayate's blade as he swept it above and in front of him in a broad, horizontal arc. At the same time, Penny executed a similar move with her own sword, which trailed a wave of clouds the expanded outwards. The lightning merged with the clouds, which darkened and crackled, like a line of storm clouds, before exploding with even more lightning, bolts stretching out to intercept the incoming missiles, filling the air above them with explosions, not letting a single shot through.

Then they reached the enemy ranks. Nigel arrived first, Hakuya ringing like a huge, bronze bell as it flashed out of its sheath, the blade shining pure white, seeming to slash in a dozen directions at once. The Knights were scattered every which way, their bodies sliced into too many pieces to count. The others were a fraction of a second behind him, slamming into the Knights like hurricanes.

Kyo started things off with a vertical slash of his sword, unleashing the white wave of the _Mizuchi_ ahead of him, the attack blasting a line through the ranks of Knights, reaching the Paladin at the back, and cutting it to pieces in an instant. It even continued onwards, cutting into the next formation of Knights behind the Paladin, before finally petering out, leaving a trench of upturned ground in its wake.

Penny and Hayate danced among the androids like dervishes, cutting down every one that came into their range. For their part, the Knights unfolded bayonets from the end of their rifles, in order to attack them at close range, while their fellows tried to track them with their rifles. But it was a futile gesture, the two fighters were far too fast, cutting down anything that came close and ducking, dodging, or intercepting any shots that came their way.

Saisei hit her section of Knights like a bowling ball. Her tail stretched, then split nine ways, whipping around her like a rust-red and white storm, smashing the Knights to pieces, even as she charged ahead, crushing the ones in front of her with her hands and feet, unleashing blows that looked like little more than the flails of a child, yet possessed the power to shatter steel. She didn't slow down in the slightest, plowing straight through the Knights, and right to the waiting Paladin in the back

The pilot of the Paladin was clearly intimidated by her rapid approach, opening up with its arm-mounted cannons and trying to gun her down before she came within melee range, not caring that he was blasting several Knights to pieces in the process. Saisei didn't even flinch as the shots rained around her, her approach too swift for the mech to get a proper shot lined up. As she pushed through the back ranks of the assembled Knights and leapt into the air, the Paladin's cannons folded back into its arms as it deployed its steel fists for melee combat. Saisei raised her own fist and punched forward at the same time as the Paladin, their two attacks meeting head-on.

It looked ridiculously farcical. Saisei's fists were as childlike as the rest of her physique, comically small, compared to the massive metal fists of the Paladin. Yet, when their attacks met, the Paladin's arm shattered like glass, a shockwave blasting out ahead of Saisei's punch that ripped apart its shoulder. She continued on, not having lost an ounce of momentum, before bringing her other fist around in a haymaker that she slammed right into the Paladin's front. Again, it looked ridiculously comical, until her attack smashed the Paladin to pieces, sending the unfortunate pilot falling and tumbling across the ground.

Saisei landed on the largest remaining piece of the Paladin, resting her fists on her hips as she laughed uproariously, her tails still lashing the air around her, batting away the Knights that tried to attack her like toys. "Oh yes!" she crowed. "It feels so good to be able to finally cut loose!"

The sight was so shocking that Penny just had to stop and gape for a second, nearly missing a Knight that was about to stab her with its bayonet, when Hayate stepped in and cut it in two.

"Yeah...she really needs to get out more," said Hayate glibly as his intervention jolted Penny into action again. "I guess she's been feeling wound a little tight, given that she's one of the Mibu's top healers. Her position as the Wood of the Goyosei doesn't exactly give her a lot of leeway either."

"It's like she's a completely different person," commented Penny as she resumed the fight.

"And here I thought Nigel was the one we'd have to worry about running wild," said Kyo with a laugh.

* * *

"Well...I wasn't expecting that," said Jaune as he and the others stared at the battle, which continued to be broadcast.

"What do you think, Neo?" asked Yang.

They all turned to see Neo's response, only to find that she was staring at the screen with blank eyes.

"Yeah...that pretty much says it all," said Nora sagely.

* * *

Though they were moving separately from each other, the general path each member of Kyo's group followed was the same. They had attacked Ironwood's formation right in the center, and were pressing straight back towards the middle. As they proceeded, the right and left flanks of the front lines turned about, beginning the process of surrounding and ensnaring Kyo and the others. Despite that, none of them displayed, or even experienced, the slightest trace of fear.

For Penny, it was a genuinely odd feeling. Thanks to the training she'd done, prior to their departure, her situational awareness had increased dramatically. More importantly, she felt a sort of gestalt with her comrades. Without even looking, she knew where each of them was. She knew who was being pressed harder, and where she needed to go to relieve the pressure on them. Even though they were all fighting separately, they were also somehow fighting together, cooperating without even needing to exchange words or signals of any kind. The reason she could press forward without fear, even though she knew that the rest of the front ranks of Knights were pressing in from behind, was that she knew her friends had her back, and she theirs.

 _Something like this really makes me want to see what I can really do,_ she thought eagerly, the blade of the Kusanagi beginning to ring and shine as it resonated with her eagerness.

Nearby, Hayate's sword crackled with more electricity as he plunged it into the chest of a Knight. A bolt jumped from the stricken android to the next and the next, joining over a dozen of them in a chain before overloading their systems and blowing them all apart at once.

Nigel seemed to be swinging his blade wildly in every direction. Crescents of pure white flashed out, faster than the eye could follow, mowing down countless androids. A Paladin unfortunate enough to be in his range was sliced in two, as one of his slashes passed through it without the slightest resistance.

And then there was Kyo. His blade blazing and ringing, he plunged it into the ground, sending a wave rushing through the earth. Serpentine tendrils of air twisted up from the ground to wrap around every android and Paladin in his vicinity. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Yato_." Lifting his head, Kyo grinned wildly and yanked his blade free of the earth. The winds suddenly became a virtual forest of twisters, ripping their captives apart. "Feel the embrace of the night serpents," he intoned, before moving on to his next chosen target.

"I'm going on ahead!" shouted Saisei cheerfully as she pressed onwards, moving even faster now as she rushed ahead, diving ever deeper into the ranks of Ironwood's forces.

* * *

"We can't stop them!" shouted one of the controllers on the bridge of the command ship. "They're cutting everything down!"

"Hold steady!" snapped Ironwood. "They've only destroyed a small portion of our forces so far. They can't keep up this pace forever. And even if they could..." His gaze alit upon the contact marker that designated Saisei, watching as she moved farther away from her allies. His lips turned up in a smile. "...they aren't a match for the best that we have to offer."

* * *

Laughing loudly, Saisei crashed through another formation of Knights, scattering them in every direction.

"You pushed ahead too far, young lady," commented a distinguished-sounding voice, as an older man dropped down in front of her after executing a surprising leap. He was an Atlesian Specialist, dressed in what looked like a butler's uniform, though it was in the colors of the Atlesian military. His face was slightly wrinkled, giving him an aged, but not elderly, look. His dark-gray hair was combed back over the top of his head, while his steely eyes glinted over a neatly-trimmed mustache.

He wielded a weapon that resembled an unusually thick staff, at least three inches in diameter. Its segmented construction, and the bent, bladed "legs" that extended from the end of each segment made Saisei think of a centipede, an impression that was reinforced as the man whipped the staff at her and the segments separated, revealing that they were linked by chains, allowing it to wrap around her so that the blades bit into her flesh. Pulling on his weapon induced it to tighten around her, constricting Saisei and pinning her arms.

"I do hope you'll forgive me for causing your unsightly death," said the man politely.

Saisei opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off as three bullets pierced her skull from the right, left, and behind, three Jaegers having moved to flank her in the same instant the Specialist had tied her up with his weapon. Three more dropped down from the same directions, right in her vicinity, rushing forward and deploying arm blades that they then swiftly slipped between the pieces of the Specialist's weapon that held her captive, plunging their blades all the way through her.

"It's time to bring this battle to an end," said the Specialist gravely.

* * *

"One down," said Ironwood, his face not betraying the elation that he felt that one of their foes had finally been brought down.

* * *

Weiss gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she watched the Specialist capture Saisei with a hideous-looking weapon before she was shot and stabbed almost simultaneously.

"Ha!" barked Jacques. "It's a shame that Lightning Lord wasn't the first to die. But this is gratifying in its own right. The first of those Mibu mongrels is finally down."

"S-Saisei..." whispered Weiss in horror.

* * *

"It's a pity, really," said the Specialist. "I much prefer hunting you faunus mutts down, and giving you a taste of fear before you die. Unfortunately, it's much too dangerous to take my time with you."

The three Jaegers that had stabbed Saisei quickly withdrew their blades and leapt back. He gave his weapon a powerful yank, putting his entire body into the movement, and turning away in the process, the pull ripping its bladed legs free of Saisei's body and setting her to spinning. The Specialist turned to look at his handiwork, expecting to be treated to the sight of blood flying in all directions. But as he turned his body, he felt something impact the side of his head, spinning it around, and making him dizzy.

One of Saisei's tails had whipped about and smacked the man's head, spinning it around a full three-hundred-sixty degrees, snapping his neck in the process. He stared at her in shock, before his body collapsed to the ground. There was no trace of the wounds that had been inflicted by his weapon, nor the blades and bullets of the Jaegers, which Saisei's other tails smashed to pieces, before they could even react.

"Unfortunately, you'll have to try much harder if you want to kill me," said Saisei cheerfully.

"Perhaps the answer then is slicing you into even smaller pieces!" shouted another Specialist, closing in, wielding a pair of massive, broad, sickle-shaped blades, mounted on hinges, and joined at the end of their handles by chains. He whirled them around his body, before swinging them out at Saisei, the blades cutting effortlessly through her flesh, splitting her head and torso, as well as removing her legs.

"There," said the man with evident satisfaction, "that should do..." His voice trailed off as he watched Saisei's severed parts almost immediately rejoin, so that she was whole and untouched, even her clothes mending themselves.

"Not good enough, I'm afraid," said Saisei with a teasing grin, clicking her tongue disapprovingly.

The Specialist growled and hefted his blades, probably planning to hack her into smaller pieces still, when a blur of black and white passed behind him.

" _Koryuha._ "

Hakuya blazed as it launched from its sheath, its shape becoming lost in a swarm of white lines that cut into the Specialist from all directions. When Nigel had finished, all that remained of the Specialist was bloody chum, his weapons reduced to metal slivers.

"Lovely," said Saisei. "You know, just because he was whipping his weapons around like that didn't mean he was trying to show you up."

"I win either way," said Nigel firmly, before pressing on, rushing towards another packed formation of Knights, which opened fire.

Saisei shook her head, clicking her tongue again, and picked another direction to go, throwing herself back into the fray.

* * *

"You okay, Neo?" asked Yang, looking at her friend. She figured that watching Saisei get torn and hacked to pieces like that had to be traumatizing, despite the fact that Saisei had treated it like it was nothing.

Neo nodded shakily, her skin still pasty-white. Ren and Nora had each taken one of her hands, and were rubbing her arms reassuringly. However, Neo appeared to be making a comeback, her smile returning as she watched Saisei launch herself back into battle.

"So that's the Wood Art, huh?" mused Jaune, his eyes glued to the screen. "She's practically immortal."

"I guess," said Ruby, nodding in agreement. "If we hadn't spent so much time with her, I'd be pretty freaked out right now."

"Uh...I _am_ pretty freaked out right now," conceded Jaune.

* * *

Weiss should have taken some satisfaction from seeing her father at a loss for words. After Saisei had spun the first Specialist's head around like a top and emerged, looking none the worse for wear, from the coordinated attack of the Jaegers and that strange, segmented staff, the smug look on his face was gone, replaced by one of abject horror. For the first time, she was seeing her father demonstrate genuine fear.

Sadly, she wasn't in much of a state to take satisfaction. She was glad that Saisei was all right. But it was unnerving seeing her take lethal wounds, only for them to disappear, and for her body to mend itself almost instantly. In those moments, Saisei didn't seem like a flesh-and-blood person, but a gelatinous mass in the shape of the faunus she knew. She wondered if Saisei's biology was even recognizable in her current state.

The cameras used by the news aircraft flitted about the battlefield, the view jumping from one combatant to another. Each one of them was wading through that virtual sea of enemies without the slightest hesitation, and no sign that their strength was flagging. Even Penny looked positively gleeful and energized as she hacked her way through another formation of Knights, taking nearly all of them, and their attending Paladins, down on her own.

The view jumped to Kyo, who was hemmed in on all sides by several-dozen, if not over a hundred Knights. The ones closest to him were using their bayonets, trying to run him through, while the ones in the ranks behind opened fire with their rifles, not caring that missed shots might hit their fellows (the advantages of being unthinking androids). The black and red blurs of a squad of Jaegers wove through the crowd, using the Knights to disguise their approach, as a Specialist also closed in with Kyo, twirling a set of chakram, studded with Dust crystals, around his index fingers. Several of the Jaegers opened fire, alongside the Knights, while the Specialist hurled his weapons, fire, wind, and lightning lining their edges as they swooped around the ranks of androids, and zeroed in on Kyo's neck.

For a second, Kyo stood perfectly still, his sword arm held low and at his side, as though he wasn't even thinking of fighting. Then, as all the attacks closed in, he blurred into motion. The attack was too fast to be captured, even by the high-quality cameras being used by the news crews. All Weiss could see was the end of the attack, Kyo seeming to have swept his sword around in a single motion. However, all around him, the Knights and Jaegers collapsed, hacked to pieces. She could even see the bullets themselves, all cut in half and falling to the ground, their momentum somehow having been absorbed. The Specialist's chakram were cleaved in two as well. The Specialist himself stared at Kyo incredulously for another few seconds before he too fell to pieces, blood spraying through the air.

The camera zoomed in on Kyo, showing them a sight that sent chills down Weiss' spine. Kyo was grinning like a maniac, his Crimson Eyes blazing. Far from tiring, it seemed that, the more this battle went on, the more invigorated he became.

 _No wonder they call him the Demon Child,_ thought Weiss, chewing on the inside of her lip.

* * *

Lightning crackled down the length of Hayate's sword as he slashed in the general direction of a Paladin. A whip of lightning snapped out with a crack of thunder, striking the Paladin. Green and white lightning danced across its chassis and along its limbs before the mech blew apart into pieces. A squad of Jaegers rushed in, some jumping into the air to shoot at him, while the others closed in, deploying their blades.

Hayate merely swept his sword around in an almost casual motion. The bullets flying at him swerved in midair, their flights curving to intercept the Jaegers that were trying to close to melee range. Their bodies lurched as the shots punched through them, but they pressed on, the redundancies built into their bodies easily able to shrug off a few bullet holes.

" _Die_ , you faunus brat!" roared an Atlesian Specialist with a cybernetic arm, as he charged at Hayate from behind, trying to take advantage of the distraction the Jaegers afforded to hit him.

Hayate reacted without even needing to look, ducking under the first punch, and spinning around and sweeping his blade out in a rising, backhanded slash. The Specialist stopped his charge, pulling back so quickly that the white duster he wore flared out in front of him. He held out his equally white cybernetic arm. Several arcs of electricity jumped from the edge of Hayate's blade, but they sparked harmlessly against that cybernetic arm and went no further.

Hayate blinked and paused, only going into motion again to cut down a Jaeger that tried to stab him from behind. "Ceramic?" he asked.

The Specialist grinned, and his messy brown hair blew back, revealing a patch over his left eye. "Of course," he said. "After you cut my original arm off, and took my eye, I came prepared to face you again."

Hayate tilted his head quizzically. "I did that?" he asked.

The Specialist's grin disappeared. "You don't remember...?" he growled. He held up his right hand, spreading the fingers. It was apparently a signal that the Knights responded to, as they paused in their attack.

"Can't say I do," said Hayate, squinting as he scrutinized the Specialist's face. "I'm gonna take a wild guess, and say that you were guarding one of the internment camps."

"You're damn right, I was!" snarled the Specialist. "You maimed me, and left me for dead. And you dare to say you don't remember my face?"

"Uh..." Hayate shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, you're not ringing a bell. I'll say one thing though."

"What?" asked the Specialist.

"This world is awfully hard on people's left eyes," noted Hayate. "Weird that..."

"You son of a bitch!" snarled the Specialist, closing his right hand back into a fist.

The Jaegers all swarmed Hayate, none of them trying to shoot him from a distance. Instead, they all closed in with their blades out.

Hayate smirked and spun in a motion that was as graceful as any ballerina's pirouette, sweeping his sword around him in a wide slash that cut down all the incoming androids with a single motion. However, the Specialist took the opportunity to close in, rushing in at Hayate's left side.

"You leave yourself wide open, you brat!" he shouted. A blade extended out from his arm, sliding out over the top of his hand as he slashed at Hayate's unprotected flank...or, at least, it seemed unprotected.

The clang of the Specialist's ceramic blade meeting steel rang out and his eye widened as he saw the single-edged sword Hayate had used to intercept his attack. During that wide, sweeping attack, Hayate's blade had split lengthwise, down the middle, one sword becoming two, the second going to Hayate's left hand, which he then raised over his shoulder, so that it passed vertically down by his left side, so that it stopped the Specialist's blade cold.

"Sorry," said Hayate, looking at the Specialist out of the corner of his eye, "I probably won't remember you after this time either."

Before the Specialist could react, Hayate vanished in a blur of motion, reappearing behind the man, his arms crossed in front of him.

"You-" The Specialist's voice failed him as his body split apart, cut into neat quarters by a pair of slashes, so fast he hadn't even seen or felt them.

Hayate rejoined his blades and glanced around, before picking another direction, seemingly at random, and throwing himself back into the fray.

* * *

Weiss shivered, both relieved and unnerved by Hayate's defeat of that particular Specialist. Her heart had leapt into her throat when she'd seen the man apparently flank Hayate, before seeing Hayate split his sword and counter, which relieved her. However, she was also left with the unnervingly detached expression Hayate had worn in her memory. She supposed that, in a fight like this, it was hard to remember everyone you cut down.

"This is ridiculous!" thundered Jacques, his glass forgotten as he leaned forward in his seat, glaring at the screen as though he could change the course of the battle through the force of his sheer consternation. "How can they be so strong?"

Weiss frowned, wondering that herself, somewhat. Of course, she remembered Kyo and his friends talking blithely of this coming battle, speaking of it as though it were some simple, easy thing. But those had been just _words_. Now she was watching Kyo and the others put them into action, and it was...terrifying. They were mowing down Knights right and left. Atlesian Specialists, Jaeger squads, and Paladins hardly even inconvenienced them. All that left were the...

 _What happens when Ironwood's air-force enters the fight?_ Weiss wondered. Neither the warships, nor the fighter-transports hovering over the battle had made any contribution yet. She could only assume it was because Ironwood didn't want to decimate his own forces with their firepower, just to gun down one or two people, if he could avoid it. But as his ground forces continued to be annihilated, there would be fewer risks to opening fire from above, and he would have more opportunities and reasons to do so.

* * *

Penny jolted slightly as Kyo seemed to suddenly appear at her back, the two of them now facing away from each other, more androids and Paladins closing in from all sides. Through the ranks of the Knights; she could see the flitting, black forms of the Jaegers; and the flashing, white uniforms of Specialists; using the cannon fodder to mask their approach, all while Paladins thundered forward, their guns deployed.

Surprisingly, even for her, the only feeling that welled up in her was a sense of elation. Her sword was in hand, ringing with its own eagerness for battle, sending a reassuring thrum up her arm. She felt as though she could fight at full strength for days on end, and never tire. And now, in the midst of all that eagerness, she decided to try something new.

"Jump!" she shouted over her shoulder.

Kyo hadn't actually needed her warning, his feet already leaving the ground as a sheet of white, smooth cloud completely covered the surface of the Kusanagi. Penny spun about in a complete circle, swinging the blade out and around her as she did. It trailed a sheet of smooth cloud in its wake, expanding outwards. As it spread, the cloud began to change shape, its form dividing, segmenting into countless facsimiles of her blade, their number increasing as the cloud form spread out around her in a ring. " _Kusagiri no Kaze!_ "

The blades whirled around her, their overlapping forms lost in the sheer blur of motion, spreading out through the crowd of enemies that came at them from all sides. In an instant, the Knights and Jaegers had been mowed down. The incoming Paladins toppled forwards, their legs cut out from under them. Sprays of blood shot upwards from where her attack met some unfortunate Specialist or another.

As her attack faded into white mist, Penny stood proudly amidst the crowd of the fallen. Kyo landed behind her again, whistling appreciatively at her handiwork.

"Unfortunately, we have a different problem now," he said.

A shadow covered the ground in front of her and Penny looked up. "Oh..."

Three warships hovered nearly directly overhead in a triangular formation, their bows pointed inwards towards each other, a formation she recognized from the time Ironwood had tried to capture her with the Seventh Mobile Brigade. In between them flitted the forms of the fighter-transports, approaching in obvious attack runs.

The problem was that there was no intent to capture this time.

"Whoops," said Penny, surprised at how little panic or distress she felt at the sight.

"My turn," said Kyo cheerfully. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu-_ "

The sound of his voice was drowned out by the thunderous roar from above.

The warships fired simultaneously, their weapons raining beams of blue and red destruction down on the two tiny figures trapped between them. At the same time, the fighter-transports flashed overhead. Given that the Knights had all been deployed on the ground, their payloads had been replaced by Dust-powered firebombs. Their rear hatches disgorging the rounded forms of bombs that plummeted downwards.

Kyo and Penny vanished in a massive explosion, the ground shattering into massive chunks as the rain of death from above splintered rocky earth of the tundra, waves of fire and crackling lightning billowing out in a wide radius. Penny's attacks had leveled everything in a wide area around her, but the explosion of so much combined firepower spread wider still, catching many of the Knights, and even a few Paladins that had survived Penny's attack, by virtue of being outside its range. The debris from the explosion did more damage still as chunks of rock the size of bullheads were sent flying to slam down amidst other formations. One unfortunate Atlesian Specialist perished, screaming, crushed beneath a several-ton rock. The barrage sent a geyser of smoke, flame, and dust erupting skywards, the plume shooting between the three hovering warships and proceeding over a hundred meters farther upwards.

Across the rest of the battlefield, things momentarily came to a halt. Even the androids froze in place, as though confused by what happened. Specialists stopped moving, their attention drawn by the devastation unleashed by Ironwood's warships. Saisei, Nigel, and Hayate all stopped as well, a temporary, unspoken truce seeming to settle in place as everyone's gaze turned on the site of the barrage.

A massive chunk of rock came hurtling at Saisei, propelled by the explosion, but one of her tails swiftly whipped it aside, sending it tumbling through a mass of Knights, crushing them into pieces. After a moment, she sighed and scratched her head, then rested her hands on her hips as she watched the smoke, waiting to see what it would reveal.

* * *

 **And the chapter ends with a bang.**

 **...**

 **Sorry, couldn't resist.**

 **Fans of the _GetBacker_ manga/anime series might recognize certain Atlesian Specialists. In order of appearance; with the Kurobe Brothers (minor villains), who go after Saisei; followed by Takuma Fudo, (a less-minor villain) who goes after Hayate.**

 **And Hayate makes an observation that I've found rather compelling. Anyone else notice that the character designers of the show seem to have a thing for mutilating people's left eyes? For a start, we have Weiss, and her signature scar. Then there's Cinder, after getting a blast of Ruby's Silver Eyes. And now, with Volume 6, we find that Adam too is hiding a nasty-looking brand over, guess where...his left eye. Kinda weird, when you think about it. And to think, I wrote that particular line well over a year before Volume 6 even came out.**


	75. Chapter 75

**Chapter 75:**

Cheers erupted around the command ship's bridge as Ironwood smiled in satisfaction, watching the plume that marked the death of two of his enemies rise skywards. _This is what I should have done from the beginning,_ he thought, _not just with this battle, but with the Mibu in general. It doesn't matter what esoteric skills they have mastered. Nothing compares to the sheer, unadulterated might of the greatest military force in the world. I'm actually disappointed that the Mibu don't have CCT access right now. I would have liked for them to watch, as I showed just how insignificant their strength really is._

Instead, he schooled his expression back into its usual stern, commanding one. "Enough!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the bridge and immediately silencing its officers. "Two of our foes have been dealt with, but three still remain. It looks as though aerial bombardment is a sure bet. We'll use our ground forces to pin them in place, then deal with them the same way."

The crew turned back to their duties, speaking into microphones, relaying his orders to the divisions and brigades that made up this task force, who would then begin commanding their Knights to carry out his plan.

* * *

"Kyo!" shouted Yang, nearly toppling over as she lurched towards the screen.

"Penny!" shouted Ruby almost simultaneously, actually pitching forward. She was saved by Jaune, who grabbed her arm and helped hold her up. Both of them leaned towards the screen, as though their movements could clear the obscuring smoke being broadcast from a world away, and reveal the fate of their loved ones.

Blake was in shock, sitting back in her seat, her hands clamped over her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. Beside her, Nora was sobbing softly against Ren's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. Neo had covered both her eyes, her body shaking as she tried to avoid looking at the screen.

Jaune held Ruby tightly, wrapping his arms around her, and allowing her head to rest against his chest as she began to cry softly. He looked sympathetically at Yang, who stared uncomprehendingly at the screen, tears spilling from her eyes, her mouth hanging open slightly.

Behind all of them, Glynda watched attentively, her riding crop clenched tightly in her right hand as she also grasped it in her left, the leather creaking as her fingers twisted.

* * *

Weiss lurched to her feet, her legs banging painfully against the table in front of her, upsetting her coffee mug and making it roll, before it came to a stop, resting against its handle. Fortunately, she had drained it only a minute earlier, which kept it from spilling over the table's surface. However, that was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. Even the pain in her shins failed to register to her mind. "No!"

Jacques tossed back his head and laughed uproariously. Whitley looked at his father coldly, wondering whether Jacques was laughing at the image on the screen, or the pain on Weiss' face, probably some combination of both. He held his tongue, and tried to keep his expression neutral, even as he glanced at his sister, worry welling up within him.

"And soon the rest will follow," crowed Jacques triumphantly as he once again put his glass to his lips and took another swallow of liquor.

* * *

"This is Green Leader," said the captain of lead warship of the trio that had opened fire on Kyo and Penny down below, as the shadow of the plume darkened their view, "begin the sweep and confirm the targets' destruction." Besides being the captain of this warship, he was also the commander of the brigade, giving him command over the other two warships, and the remaining androids that had survived Penny's attack and the ships' barrage.

"Is that necessary?" asked a sensor officer. "There's too much interference for the scans to penetrate the epicenter, and the air won't clear for several more minutes. Besides, there's no way the targets could have survived that."

"Be that as it may, we should stick to procedure," said the captain calmly. "We will proceed after we confirm the targets' destruction."

"Yes, Sir," said the officer, turning back to his screen before suddenly paling. "Aura response detected! It's massive!"

"What? Where?" snapped the captain.

"It's coming from inside the plume," explained the officer. "This...can't be...What...?"

The smoke and dust suddenly exploded outwards. The fires that had been burning were snuffed out like candles. Streams of white lashed out from the smoke, shining ribbons. The captain's eyes widened as he saw them rise up, spreading around his vessel. He took in the sight of their heads and fanged mouths. _Snakes?_

Countless serpents lashed out at the warship, their coils undulating through the air. An unfortunate fighter-transport strayed too close to one of them and was struck by a coil, breaking it in two. The snakes stretched out, wrapping around the hull of the warship, metal groaning and creaking as the pressure rose.

"Green Two! Green Three! Fire!" shouted the captain. "Get these things off of us."

" _This is Green Two! Unable to fire. Our targeting sensors can't find anything!_ "

" _Green Three! Same here!_ "

"Are you blind?" shouted the captain as he grabbed a nearby console. The ship was beginning to list, and anyone who wasn't buckled in or holding onto something was sent stumbling across the bridge. "They're completely wrapped around us!"

" _We can see them, but the sensors can't detect any target. All we're picking up is extreme wind turbulence, beyond typhoon-force._ "

"What?" shouted the captain, gazing at the white coils that constricted all the harder around the ship, the metal beginning to buckle beneath their might. _It can't be! Are these things just wind currents? How is that possible?_

Then he noticed something. The plume had been dispersed, yet the darkness remained. Looking up, his eyes widened and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. _Are those...stars?_

Indeed, all of a sudden it looked as though they beneath the dome of the night sky...in the middle of the afternoon. Looking closer, he noticed strange patterns between the stars, slight distortions that looked like hexagonal plates, linked together. It took him a moment to realize that he was looking at the outline of a massive turtle shell. Tracing its shape, he found the head and the body resting against the ground.

"Wha-what is this?"

 _"Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Genbu."_ intoned Kyo's voice, seeming to come from the very air itself. _"The heavens are its shell, the earth its belly, and the air between an endless mass of writhing serpents. Countless layers of air are woven into a protective lattice...the ultimate defense."_

"It can't be," whispered the captain, falling to his knees. "He stopped our barrage...with this?"

 _"And now...you have the opportunity...to feel the caress of Genbu's serpents."_

The coils of air suddenly tightened dramatically, the coiling bodies of the snakes becoming a series of massive whirlwinds, crushing the ship between them. Armor plates rent and tore, the once mighty warship torn to pieces as metal crumpled like paper. The power of the vortex pulled in the other two ships, slamming them together. Crew members screamed as they were yanked out of the vessel, and torn apart by the streams of air crashing together. For a moment, it seemed that all three ships would compact together. Then, with another thunderous sound, they exploded, their Dust ammunition going off, flooding the air with fire and lightning, filling the sky with shrapnel. Over a dozen of the fighter-transports were blown apart too, as others were ripped to shreds by the winds.

The flaming remnants of the trio of Atlesian warships plummeted to the ground, triggering even more explosions, and crushing entire formations of Knights beneath their bulk. In the midst of all the destruction, standing on a piece of earth completely untouched by all the chaos, stood Kyo and Penny, completely unharmed.

* * *

"Well...that was a thing..." said Yang weakly. Inside, even she cringed at the jest. She was relieved beyond words to see that Kyo and Penny were all right, as were her friends. However, that relief was overshadowed by the shock of the force being unleashed before their very eyes. _This is what Kyo is capable of?_

The shock stunned her to her core. This was the power she'd heard of, the power that rendered numbers meaningless, the power that enabled just a few people to fight with force surpassing that of an entire army. It was extraordinary...and terrifying.

"Yang...no offense..." said Jaune weakly, "but your boyfriend scares the crap out of me."

"None taken," said Yang, her voice emerging as a hoarse squeak.

* * *

Weiss slumped back into her seat, feeling completely numb. Her heart just couldn't take any more of this, the continuous oscillation between so many different feelings, relief at Penny and Kyo's survival, shock at the demonstration of Kyo's true strength, trepidation for the remainder of the battle, even her satisfaction at seeing her father once again at a loss for words, looking genuinely afraid. It was all too much for her. At this point, she didn't want to see any more, but she also couldn't make herself turn away.

 _This is absolute madness,_ she thought.

* * *

Ironwood's arms dropped to hang limply at his sides as he gaped unashamedly at the spectacle of three of his warships crashing to the ground. In his mind's eye, he saw the scene over again, in a different context, the memory of Kyo wiping out the Seventh Mobile Brigade. Now Kyo had repeated that same calamity all over again, before his very eyes.

"S-sir..." said one of the communications officers tentatively, "...what now?"

"Now...now..." Ironwood rolled the word around in his mouth, unable to formulate an answer. "What now?"

He blinked and sucked in a deep breath, forcing his runaway emotions under control. He had known that Kyo was capable of this much, maybe not fending off such an intense barrage, but certainly bringing down at least a few of his warships. That was why he'd brought six-times as many as last time. "Continue as planned," he ordered. "Order Red Squadron to deploy the capture system to counter the Lightning Lord. Have the other ships move to support positions and give them the order to fire if they have a shot."

"Y-yes sir..." said the officer nervously, before turning back and relaying the orders to the task force.

 _I'll make you pay for this, Kyo,_ thought Ironwood, fury humming through his veins as he surveyed the wrecked ships once more.

* * *

Hayate carved his way through another host of Knights, arcs of lightning jumping out from his blades, racing between the androids and frying them, destroying even those well outside the reach of his sword. He emerged out the other side of the Knight formation to find a pair of Paladins approaching. One thundered forward, its fists raised to strike, while the other fired a barrage of cannon shots and missiles. Hayate skirted around to interpose the charging Paladin between him and its fellow.

The mech faltered and stumbled, as cannon shots slammed into it from behind. A couple of missiles detonated against its shoulder, while the others arced around, still managing to find their actual target. Hayate charged right in, closing with the first Paladin. It swung its massive, metal fists at him, but Hayate easily slipped between them, passing right between its legs. The mech tried to turn, but caught the missiles that had still been pursuing Hayate, blowing it apart.

Hayate continued on, jumping into the air. The second Paladin switched to melee, the guns in its arms folding back, and its fists folding out. It too tried to catch Hayate with a punch, but he seemed twist in the air, suddenly altering the arc of his jump so that he floated just over the Paladin's fist, before landing on its arm. Running up the arm, he plunged his sword into its chassis. A surge of electricity rushed out and into the mech, which spasmed wildly, before it was rocked by several small explosions. Pulling his blade out, Hayate leapt away, leaving the Paladin to slump forward, smoke streaming from its joints.

Landing on the ground, Hayate cast his gaze around, looking for his next opponent. To his surprise, he found himself surrounded by three Specialists, accompanied by their Jaeger squads. A shadow fell over them, and Hayate looked up to see a trio of warships hovering directly overhead, in a formation nearly identical to the one that had just attacked Kyo and Penny. Smiling, Hayate raised his sword, holding it up horizontally in front of him. More arcs of lightning began to climb up and down the length of the blade, spreading out and filling the air around him.

One of the Specialists raised his hand. From the bow of each warship, a trio of laser-like lines, black, edged with yellow, lanced downwards. They weren't aimed at Hayate himself, but the ground around him. The lines intersected, forming shimmering, pale-yellow, yet mostly transparent planes of energy, until Hayate, the Specialists, and the Jaegers, were enclosed in a shimmering forcefield. As the field closed, a shiver ran through the air, and the electricity that Hayate had built up suddenly scattered in a shower of impotent sparks, leaving him with just his sword.

"Well," he said after a moment's pause, "that's new."

"We have studied you very thoroughly, since you destroyed our resettlement camps," explained the lead Specialist as he, along with his fellows and their Jaegers closed in. "You can convert your Aura into electricity, and control it quite well. It's impressive, the amount of power that you can muster. However, we developed this technology specifically for your elimination. Lightning-Dust, specially modified with earth-Dust, to disperse your electricity as soon as you generate it..."

"Lightning," said Hayate softly.

"Pardon?" asked the Specialist, hesitating slightly.

"It's not electricity," said Hayate, "it's _lightning_. Sure, from the perspective of physics, that's merely semantics. But for me, it's a difference that's fundamental to my power."

"What do you mean?" asked the Specialist.

Hayate's smile widened. "Lightning is a pure manifestation of the raw power of nature itself, a destructive force born from the natural world. Commanding electricity is a simple matter, for those with the proper tools and the knowhow. But commanding lightning..."

The darkness deepened, and the Specialists looked up, their jaws dropping in shock and awe. Black clouds were spreading across the sky, a low rumbling building in the air.

"...that requires the skill to command _nature itself_ ," finished Hayate turning his wrist, so that his sword pointed upwards.

"Wha-how?" gasped the Specialist that had addressed Hayate initially, his eyes widening as he tried to process what he was seeing.

White flashes lit up the darkening sky above as lightning jumped between sections of the clouds, accompanied by cracks of thunder. Finally, a single mighty bolt blasted down. However, an airship was between it and its target. The bolt slammed into the airship, sending arcs of electricity climbing across it, before it shattered from explosions triggered within its hull. The lightning jumped out the other side, and rushed straight to the tip of Hayate's sword, the flash of its arrival casting his entire body into shadow, before completely washing him out.

For a moment, his enemies dared to hope that he had been killed by the bolt from the heavens. However, the light faded, replaced by a jumping, flickering, but no less intense light, as the lightning now curled around Hayate's blade, more powerful than before. " _Raikoken,_ " he intoned grimly.

Above them, the stricken warship listed and began its fiery descent towards the earth. The formation broken, the other two were unable to maintain the field that had entrapped Hayate on their own. They reversed, gliding backwards.

The Specialists all faltered, then began to step back, signaling their Jaegers forward as they tried to retreat.

"Oh no you don't," said Hayate, reversing his grip on the sword, taking the handle in both hands and driving it straight down into the ground.

The Specialists, the Jaegers, even the two withdrawing warships overhead all came to a halt. On the ground, the Atlesian Huntsmen felt something pulling at their bodies and limbs, accompanied by a tingling sensation akin to static. The more they tried to move, the more the sensation intensified, feeling as though they were wrapped in stinging cables. Before long, it became visible, allowing them to see what was binding them.

Intersecting lines crisscrossed in their vision, rising up from the ground and filling the air around Hayate, even stretching upwards to the level of the two warships, whose engines strained as strands of lightning bound them ever tighter. It was a web woven from pure lightning that had bound them all. Even as they watched, a nearby fighter-transport swooped in too close, its pilot not seeing the web until the last second. He tried to swerve the aircraft out of the way, but failed as its wings and engine caught on the strands of the web, binding it in place.

" _Raijin: Moraien,_ " said Hayate, smirking as he casually rested his palm on the pommel of his sword. "Welcome to the lightning's web. Once my prey is captured, the web will only bind it all the tighter, and never allow it to escape."

"So you're going to hold us here then?" asked the Specialist.

"Hardly," said Hayate, his smirk widening. "Remember, above all else, this web is made of _lightning_. Now that I have you, you're at my mercy. Sadly, I do not have any to spare for you right now."

The web blazed with light, and the captured Specialists screamed as their bodies were completely encased in cocoons of electricity that seared them to a crisp. The Jaegers jolted, and their bodies exploded. Up above, the warships and transports broke apart as explosions emerged from within, shattering them to pieces, which rained down on the battlefield.

Surrounded by the destruction he had inflicted, Hayate withdrew his sword from the ground and calmly walked forward.

* * *

Another trio of warships was making their way to where Kyo and Penny were. They were preceded by over a dozen fighter-transports, swooping down, their chin-mounted guns opening up and peppering the earth around Kyo and Penny with bullets.

Kyo braced the flat of his blade against his left hand, holding it out horizontally in front of him. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Timbei._ " The atmosphere around him congealed into a dome of hardened air that deflected the bullets. In the meantime, Penny took flight.

Clouds streamed from the edge of her blade, forming a platform that she immediately rode up into the air. It carried her above the line of incoming fire, her unexpected course throwing the pilots of the fighter-transports into disarray. They peeled away, trying to escape as she held her sword up over her head, holding it horizontally. She swept it in a wide, circular motion, unleashing streams of clouds that enlarged into four spiraling, tooth-lined jaws that reached outwards. " _Ame no Makigumo!_ "

Several of the ships were unable to escape in time, their metal bodies shredded by the beastly mass of clouds as it spiraled through the center of their formation. However, the majority of them managed to escape. But they had never been Penny's real target to begin with, as those four jaws wrapped around the protruding bow of the lead warship, before closing tightly, rending and shredding the metal, crushing it until explosions rippled up and down the ship's length, shattering it completely.

Penny rushed forward, seeming to be running towards the gap that was opened up between the other two warships. However, they were already shifting to try and cut her off, their guns tracking towards her, ready to open fire with another stream of death. Penny's response was to smile and take a deep breath, resting the first two fingers of her left hand against the flat of her blade as she held it at the level of her forehead. She heard the ring, and felt the blade's Aura course up her hand, and merge with her own. She began to chant, remembering the lesson she'd been taught by her new father.

* * *

 _"A mantra?" asked Penny, staring in confusion at the sword in her hand._

 _Murasame nodded. "Think of it as an extension to using a technique's name. It serves the same purpose, to align your mind, body, and soul into the technique's execution. The more advanced the technique, the more focus required to bring it out. A mantra can be used as a method to produce that kind of focus. Technically, the words themselves don't really have to have any particular meaning. However, by aligning them to the nature of the technique itself, it will help guide its form."_

 _"So I should use a mantra for this technique?" asked Penny._

 _"I would advise it," said Murasame. "Of the people who have been entrusted with that sword over the millennia, very few have been able to summon the great serpent, whose soul slumbers within. For you to have called forth even a single one of its heads, after so short a time training with it, is remarkable indeed. You have a tremendous affinity. The mantra will serve as a means of allowing you to unleash all eight. Summon them forth and manifest them through the sword's clouds, and you will create an unstoppable attack."_

 _"Could I do it without the mantra?" Penny wondered._

 _Murasame smiled. "Indeed you could. Both Keikoku and Shinrei made use of mantras for their strongest techniques. However, as their familiarity with the techniques themselves grew, they became able to unleash those techniques without needing a mantra. However, it requires consistent practice and experience to do that. It will probably be a while before you have that level of familiarity with this technique, as you'll rarely have reason to need so much destructive power at once."_

 _"All right," said Penny._

 _"Then let's start," said Murasame. "I will teach you the words. I want you to repeat them and focus on the form that appears before your mind's eye, when the sword responds. Don't actually try to use the technique right now. I don't want you wrecking half the Palace..."_

* * *

" _Oh great serpent of eight heads and eight tails,_ " intoned Penny, her eyes closing, " _whose mighty body spans eight hills and eight valleys. Rouse from your deathly slumber and bare your fangs, devouring all who stand before you... **Yamata-no-Orochi!**_ "

The light of the Kusanagi's Aura blazed brighter than the sun itself. Serpentine clouds appeared, their coils winding around the blade's length, as strange characters appeared, running along its spine. Penny swung her sword in a downwards slash, and the clouds became white dragons with glowing red eyes, their snake-like heads decorated with backwards-sloped horns. Eight of them lashed outwards from the sword's blade in undulating motions that carried them at the two incoming warships, which began to turn and dip as they tried to evade.

Their efforts were too little, too late. Four fanged mouths closed on one ship, four on the other, crumpling metal effortlessly, and tearing open rents in the hull before they plunged inside. They tore through the ships' interiors, occasionally ripping their way out, before turning around and plunging back in, their winding coils wrapping around the vessel, both inside and out. The two sets of four heads, working in tandem with each other, tore the warships apart. Only when the ships were reduced to scattered chunks of debris, falling to the earth, did the monstrous clouds disperse on the wind.

* * *

Ironwood's stony facade crumbled like the squadron of airships that Penny had just demolished. _Nine ships...half my fleet...just like that..._ It had been difficult to swallow, when Kyo had annihilated three of them. Now Penny and Hayate had each destroyed three more. Amongst their ground forces, they had lost forty-seven-percent of their overall strength. Thirteen Specialists, and their Jaeger squads, remained. The trap designed especially to ensnare and neutralize the infamous Lightning Lord had proved useless. Despite how much they had done, their enemies showed no signs of flagging. If anything, they seemed more invigorated than ever.

"R-reinforcements," Ironwood shouted. "What's the status of the rest of our forces?"

"There are no contacts to the limit of our range," reported an officer from the sensor station.

"There's been no report from any of the other divisions," added the communications officer. "All comm activity is local."

"There's no one coming," whispered a despairing voice. "We've been abandoned."

"WHO SAID THAT?" roared Ironwood, whipping his head around to look for the voice's source. However, no one dared to meet his eyes. His hand twitched, fingers brushing against the handle of his revolver. In his current state of mind, had he identified the culprit, he would have likely shot the unfortunate man on the spot. However, he still had enough control not to lash out blindly at a possibly innocent crew member.

Something flashed outside, lighting up the sky, throwing the scenery of the command ship's bridge into stark relief. Everyone's head, Ironwood's included, all whipped to stare at the source of the light.

Nigel Whitaker had somehow launched himself into the air, rising up to the level of another of the warships. He raised his sword over his head, the blade shining a brilliant white. From either side of it, three more blades of light fanned out, forming a row of seven blades, all lined up above Nigel's head. He swung straight down, launching seven white crescents that carved through the warship, slashing open its hull and cutting through it, severing it into pieces that crashed towards the earth. Nigel's attack continued onwards, destroying at least seven fighters in its path, before cutting the wing off of another warship, causing it to list dangerously, as its nearest neighbor rose up, trying to get out of the way before they collided.

A figure appeared on the ascending warship's bow. It was Saisei, her tails winding through the air around her. From their distance, Ironwood and his crew could barely make out her shape. However, they saw the distant figure raise a fist and then punch straight down, slamming it into the hull at her feet. All nine of her tails whipped upwards at the same time. The ship shuddered and rocked, the force of Saisei's punch exploding out from the bottom, the entire vessel breaking in two as it began to fall...right on top of the ship whose wing had been damaged by Nigel's attack. It dipped as pieces of the broken ship pierced its hull. Then, with another flash, both ships exploded, their demise lighting up the sky, and throwing the command ship's bridge into relief once again.

"B-B-Black Squadron...destroyed," reported the sensor officer, his voice laden with horror and disbelief.

"Order all remaining ships to commence bombardment!" shouted Ironwood, sweat streaming down his face. "Hit the enemy with everything we've got!"

"But, Sir...our ground forces-" protested the communications officer.

"SACRIFICES MUST BE MADE!" roared Ironwood. "We must destroy these monsters, no matter the cost!"

"But-" tried the officer again, his skin paling.

Ironwood's revolver cleared its holster, and the unfortunate officer found himself staring down its barrel. "DO IT!" Ironwood bellowed.

"Y-y-yes, Sir," replied the officer before turning back to his work and relaying Ironwood's orders.

"Once you're done, raise Specialist Schnee on the CCT," snapped Ironwood. "She _must_ be on her way with our reinforcements."

* * *

Penny dropped down to the ground, her cloud platform dissolving. She sank to her knees, holding herself up by pressing her sword's tip into the earth, and leaning on it like a walking stick. She supposed it wasn't the most dignified use of her venerable weapon, but she needed its help to remain upright. Otherwise, she would have collapsed like a sack of potatoes. That last attack had taken far more out of her than she'd originally thought.

The ground lurched as an explosion blossomed nearby, nearly knocking Penny over. Raising her head, she saw a cloud of fire and smoke blossoming not too far away. Above it glided the form of an Atlesian warship. Another crimson bolt lanced down at some target too obscured for her to see, unleashing another explosion, this one closer than the last.

A shadow fell over Penny and she looked up, seeing another warship coming to hover over her. Her throat bobbed nervously. Even though she couldn't see it, she could practically feel the sensors painting her body, the guns orienting on her position, and the intent behind them as the person manning those weapons pulled the trigger.

A shining red bolt rushed down at her. Penny stared at it, not wanting to look away. If this was where she died, she'd look her death in the face, even if it didn't really have any face to speak of.

The incoming bolt was intercepted by a white, crescent-shaped wave that split it in two, so that the divided halves impacted the ground on either side of Penny, prompting her to cry out as her body was peppered by debris and scorching embers. Then she felt something soft, warm, and strong wrap around her midriff and pull her off the ground. Looking down, she found a familiar rust-red tail wrapped around her. Following it, she saw the smiling face of Saisei, whom she was being pulled towards.

"Overreached a little, I see," said Saisei wryly. Shimmering motes of pink light climbed the length of her tail until it reached Penny. Suddenly, Penny's limbs no longer felt like so much jelly. New strength surged through her, and her hand clenched tightly around the handle of her sword. When Saisei set her down, Penny was able to stand on her own.

"I had no idea you could do that," said Penny in wonder.

Saisei giggled. "Well, I might be a brawler, but my true specialty is my support skills. Not only can I heal my allies and restore their strength, but I can also enhance it briefly. Do you want an enhancement?"

"Not right now," said Penny. "This is enough."

A flash from above drew their attention upwards. They saw another bolt of fire flying down towards them. However, it was met by another slash from Hakuya's blade, which divided the bolt so that it exploded to either side of them. Saisei's tails whipped out, shielding her and Penny from the rubble and flames. Above them, the black-garbed figure of Nigel appeared, spinning his body to put the whole of his strength into a single, mighty slash, which unleashed a white wave that slammed into the warship's ventral hull, splitting it open from stem to stern. Trailing fire and smoke, the warship veered away, crashing towards the ground.

The sound of more shots reached their ears, and more shockwaves buffeted their body. Looking around, Penny could see more warships firing at targets on the ground, though it was hard to make out what they were trying to hit. "What's happening?" she asked as Nigel dropped down to land beside them.

"We've passed the tipping point," said Saisei. "The General is beginning to panic, probably from seeing so many of his warships destroyed at once. He's ordering them to destroy us, regardless of who else might be in the line of fire."

"I see," said Penny.

The whine of engines prompted them to look up. A formation of fighter-transports, repurposed as bombers, swooped down at them, their chin-mounted guns opening up, chewing up the ground around them. Penny swept her sword up, streams of clouds spiraling outwards to form a pinwheel-shaped shield that deflected the incoming fire. She didn't even see Nigel's arm and sword move, only catching a flickering white line in front of the fighters, before they all exploded.

Up above, Penny noticed two more of the five remaining warships banking towards them. "Now what?" she wanted to know.

"Let's regroup with the others," said Saisei. "Doing that will draw Ironwood's forces in." She grinned fiercely, flashing white teeth. "Let's end this with a bang."

* * *

"Winter! What's taking so long?" demanded Ironwood, glaring at her image on the screen. From the scenery behind her, he could see that she hadn't moved from where she'd been, when he'd last called her.

" _I'm sorry, Sir,_ " said Winter. " _Conditions in Atlas are still uncertain. We're still trying to restore order here._ "

"Never mind that!" snapped Ironwood. "We'll take care of that when we get back. I need you here... _Now_! And bring every ship, android, and fighter you can find."

Winter closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and apparently steeling herself to deliver some very bad news. " _I'm sorry, Sir. But I'm afraid that won't be possible._ "

Ironwood's jaw dropped, hanging slack as he took in the determined, yet saddened, expression on her face. "Winter...you can't be...not you..."

" _I'm sorry, Sir,_ " said Winter. " _I wish there was another way._ "

"You...betraying me..." said Ironwood, his face reddening.

" _I am afraid so, Sir,_ " said Winter, looking to be on the verge of tears. " _I wish it hadn't come to this, but you've left me with no other option._ "

"You...you fool!" snapped Ironwood. "I thought you wanted to protect Atlas!"

" _I do,_ " said Winter. " _Which is why I can no longer, in good conscience, continue to allow you to follow your agenda. All that would accomplish would be dragging us into another Great War._ "

"I DO WHAT MUST BE DONE!" howled Ironwood. "IF A WAR IS NECESSARY TO SAVE US FROM DESTRUCTION, THEN SO BE IT!"

Winter sighed and shook her head. " _And that is why I can no longer follow you,_ " she said. " _This is plain madness. You've shown that you're beyond the reach of reason. You've committed unforgivable crimes, crimes that I am also guilty of for supporting you throughout all of them. The only thing I can do to atone is to try and steer Atlas away from this path of madness in your stead, and fulfill your desire to protect the people. This will be the last time we speak._ "

"NO IT WON'T!" roared Ironwood. "I _WILL_ SEE YOU AGAIN, WINTER. AND WHEN I DO, I WILL HAVE YOU TRIED FOR TREASON! I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET THIS BETRAYAL, UNTIL YOU SCREAM FOR DEATH! AFTER I KILL THESE MISCREANTS, I'M COMING FOR YOU NEXT!"

On the screen, he saw Winter salute, tears flowing openly down her face. " _Goodbye, Sir._ "

"WINTER! DON'T YOU DARE-!" Ironwood shouted. However, his words were in vain as her image winked out, and the connection cut.

A dread, tense silence fell over the bridge, lingering for several seconds, interrupted only by the muted sounds of explosions from outside. Finally, the comm officer spoke. "Connection lost," he said in a quiet voice, as though he were afraid to speak. "I can't raise the tower anymore. No relays in range are responding either. Only local channels are still active. We've been completely cut off."

Ironwood stared at the blank screen, his entire body trembling. The crew members nearest him began to edge away, looking at him warily. Finally, with a wordless scream, Ironwood raised his right arm and brought his cybernetic fist down on the console, crushing it, sending fragments of glass and angry sparks shooting out in all directions.

"Ground losses are at sixty-seven-percent," reported another officer. "Five ships remaining..."

Outside, a keening shriek, like that of a bird of prey, echoed across the battlefield. Red wings of fire spread outwards, and a great bird of flame rose upwards, its ascent so fast that it seemed barely visible as an afterimage. It split a warship in two lengthwise, as it soared up into the sky.

After a moment's pause, the same officer amended his count. "Four...ships...remaining..."

The vermillion bird vanished into a cloud of scattering feathers. From within them, a dark figure dropped downwards, the arc of his movement allowing him to land directly on the bow of the command ship. Demon Eyes Kyo smiled cheerfully at Ironwood through the windows of the bridge.

"Hello, General," he said, his voice just barely making it through. "I figured I would join you up here. This is a perfect view to observe the battle's conclusion from."

* * *

Outside, Penny, Saisei, and Nigel met up with Hayate, cutting down still more Knights as they closed in from all sides, using various methods to evade or deflect the mounting fire from the ring of androids and mechs around them. Above, the warships moved to encircle them from above, their guns firing furiously.

Hayate split his sword, arcs of lightning jumping between them, forming a wide arch of bolts around his back. " _Raijin: Raikaran!_ " The arch split and the bolts erupted in every direction, striking upwards and downwards, detonating shots from the warships cannons before they reached the quartet and dancing amongst the ranks of the Knights and Paladins, triggering countless explosions. More than a dozen of the remaining fighters were caught as well, their payloads exploding.

For a moment, a strange lull seemed to occur. In the ring around them, it seemed that the androids and mechs were massing for one last assault, while the warships above primed their cannons for the most powerful concentrated barrage they could muster. In the center of it all, the Shiseiten stood back-to-back.

"Well now," said Saisei cheerfully. "It's been so much fun."

"Haven't gotten a chance to rampage like this in a while," said Nigel with a blissful sigh.

"Sure brings back memories," said Hayate.

"It...really is sensational," said Penny with a giggle.

"Sadly, all good things must come to an end," said Saisei. She glanced over her shoulder at Penny. "Remember what we've been practicing?" she asked.

"Yep," said Penny, her eyes gleaming.

Saisei's tails spread out amongst them, and their Auras all flared, mingling and resonating with one another, just as they did with their weapons.

"Go!" shouted Saisei as the intensity of their Auras reached its peak.

" _Shisei Shitenshou!_ "

The combined force of their Auras surged and exploded outwards in a wave of pure white that expanded in every direction, pushing a mighty shockwave ahead of it. The Knights and Paladins, the remaining Specialists lingering at the fringes of the battle, the fighters and warships above, none of them were able to escape as the wave of oblivion washed over them.

* * *

The windows of the bridge shattered. The command ship jolted sharply, suddenly scudding to the side. Amidst the screams echoing across the bridge, Ironwood caught snatches of dialogue from the few crew still trying to do their job. He heard one shout the engines were failing, another that control of the stabilizers had been lost. Someone shouted that their altitude was dropping. The loudest voice of all, maybe his own, yelled for everyone to brace for impact.

When it came, it was deafeningly loud, and a confused mess as everything was thrown one way then another. Crew members bounced off consoles, hull panels, and even each other, as they were thrown about. Ironwood sank the fingers of his cybernetic arm into the nearest wall plate, and held on with all his enhanced strength. Even then, he was still slammed against the floor and the wall, still feeling the pain as his Aura ablated the impact. Fortunately, it was over quickly. When the all-encompassing roar of the crash faded, Ironwood blinked and lifted his head. Looking around, he saw a few men twitching here and there, their groans signaling that they were still alive. There were only a few.

Getting to his feet, Ironwood stumbled and sagged as he struggled to shrug off the pain and dizziness of the crash. Not far away, he heard the faint sound of footsteps on the metal floor. Looking up, he found himself staring at a smiling Kyo, standing no more than a few feet away.

"Well, that was an appropriate conclusion, don't you think?" asked Kyo cheerfully. "You were warned repeatedly, General. You were given every opportunity. You did not listen...and this is the result."

"This was all your doing," growled Ironwood, before spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Well, mine and my friends," said Kyo. "Admittedly, we both started and ended this conflict. I take responsibility for that, as well as all the lives lost. But...remember, they would not have been here, but for you. We came here for _you,_ and you chose to hide behind your machines and your soldiers. You did not wish to be made to answer for your own crimes, so you tried to have others die in your stead."

He turned around and began to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?" snapped Ironwood, trying to follow, but stumbling and needing to brace himself against the remains of a console to remain upright.

"I'm going to meet the others," said Kyo. "When you're ready, come on out after us, General. There remains one final scene to this drama...one final grudge to settle. We'll give you a chance to live."

"How?" asked Ironwood.

Kyo continued to walk, not looking back. "By killing before you can be killed. That's the same chance we had, after all."

* * *

Outside the warship, Kyo smiled as he saw the Shiseiten approaching. Penny was at the lead, rushing at him. Resting the blade of his sword over his shoulder, Kyo held out his left arm to catch Penny as she threw herself at him, hugging him tightly.

"So, was it fun?" asked Kyo.

"It was amazing!" shouted Penny. "I've never felt such a rush."

"She did very well for herself," said Saisei approvingly.

"Good times," said Hayate.

"I'm hungry again," said Nigel.

Everyone stopped and stared at him.

"What?" he asked blankly.

In unison, they all sighed in resignation. "Well, whatever else, Nigel is still Nigel, I see," said Kyo with a laugh as the others joined him.

"I still don't see what's so funny," said Nigel. "If the fight's over, then why are we still here?"

"Well, the fight isn't quite over yet," said Kyo, glancing back at the smoldering remains of the command ship. "It remains to be seen whether he'll face us in the end."

"Well, I'm going to be busy," said Saisei stretching. "Whatever else happens, I'll leave it to you. I've had my fun, but it's time for me to work." She blurred and vanished from sight.

"Well, let's see if the General chooses to answer our final challenge," said Kyo.

The sound of metal creaking underneath a heavy tread reached their ears. A section of the ship's hull bulged outwards, before tearing apart to reveal Ironwood, the earth jumping with each step he took.

The reason why he hadn't bothered to exit through the same opening as Kyo was readily apparent. Ironwood's body was now enclosed within a steel-gray suit of powered armor, sporting powerful arms of pure artificial muscle that looked like that of a massive living person with their skin removed, ending in large hands with plated fingers. The legs were similarly designed, ending in heavy boots that sank over an inch into the solid rock with every step. Pale blue lights shined out from the chest in a pattern reminiscent of that of a bodybuilder's pectorals and abs. Ironwood's head looked almost comically small, set between a pair of massive shoulders. It was the only part of his real body visible. He glared at them, a soundless snarl on his face as his lips pulled back, baring his teeth.

"Wow," deadpanned Hayate, "a robo-six-pack. Wasn't expecting to see that."

"It must be new," noted Kyo. "He definitely didn't have anything like that the last time we fought. Is that for me, General?"

"This is the product of all our research, the pinnacle of weapons' design," declared Ironwood proudly. "Once we are able to mass-produce it, it will render all other weapons and fighting forms obsolete. This is the future of warfare, the powered suit, Prometheus."

"What a grandiose and fitting title," noted Kyo with a chuckle.

Beside him, Nigel's hand went to the handle of Hakuya. However, Kyo stepped in front of him and rested a hand on Hakuya's pommel.

"Hey," protested Nigel, "no taking the tastiest bits for yourself."

"I'm not," said Kyo, turning to face Ironwood once again. "Though I don't doubt that the General prepared this particular weapon specifically with me in mind, I'm afraid that suit will never see use for its intended purpose."

"What are you saying?" growled Ironwood.

"I am not the one who will fight you today," said Kyo. "This moment belongs to the one of us from whom you've taken the most. Our challenge, this battle, everything we've done to reach this moment, was for the sake of allowing her to face you herself. Isn't that right...Penny?"

Penny strode forward, her cape flapping in the wind, her eyes shaded by the broad hat over her head. Her hand rested on the handle of the Kusanagi, ready to draw at a moment's notice. She lifted her gaze, allowing her emerald-green eyes to meet Ironwood's, the fury and determination there making him take an involuntary, earthshaking, step back.

"That's right," she said grimly. "Ironwood, today I make you answer to _me_."

* * *

 **And so the last boss is finally dragged out into the open. Okay...so Ironwood doesn't really count as a last boss, but you get the point. And, of course, if he's gonna build a piece of super-tech to fight in, he's going to call it Prometheus. Subtlety was never his strong suit. Going batty definitely didn't help in that respect.**

 **Well, that was a fun bit to write. If you're gonna write a story with SDK elements, you've pretty much gotta put in segment where a tiny handful of characters completely _wreck_ a massively numerically-superior force. Of course, compared to what's coming, this fight is just a warmup.**


	76. Chapter 76

**Chapter 76:**

Weiss stared up at the screen, feeling numb.

"It's impossible...how could anyone be so powerful?" growled Jacques, quivering in his seat.

Weiss wished she could summon the wherewithal to gloat, at least a little, at her father's shock and horror. This result was the absolute furthest from what he had expected. Not only had Kyo and his friends survived, but they had come through the battle unharmed. On top of that, they had completely wiped out Ironwood's army. And the whole world had seen them do it. Five people had taken on three whole divisions of the Atlesian Military, and dominated them completely.

Though Kyo did not officially represent the Mibu Clan in this fight, he and his friends, to an extent, represented the Mibu philosophy of combat, the limitless potential that came along with developing one's Aura. Five people had just rolled over an army of tens of thousands of androids, dozens of fighters, nineteen warships, and several of Atlas' best Specialists. It wasn't just Atlas, the other Kingdoms had seen this battle too, Weiss was sure of that. Though the fight was actually an extremely personal one, it would have ramifications that would stretch across the entire world.

All of that left Weiss feeling very tired. About the only feeling she had energy for now was relief at the fact that Hayate was all right, and it wouldn't be long before he came for her. Otherwise, she felt as though she'd just spent all day fighting Grimm. Right now, what she wanted to do was go back to her room, or prison cell rather, and sleep for a few hours.

But the fight wasn't completely over, it seemed. Ironwood had emerged from the wreckage of his command ship, wearing a suit of bulging powered armor. Penny strode forward to face him alone, finally confronting the object of her grudge, after all the obstacles she had overcome to reach him.

It amazed her that the news vessel had come through the battle unscathed. It had been hovering well above the fight itself, even above the level of the warships, using its incredibly powerful cameras to record the action as though it were only a few meters above everything. It was far enough away that it had only experienced slight turbulence, when the Shiseiten had unleashed their ultimate attack, which had obliterated the remainder of the task force, and brought down Ironwood's command ship.

Weiss' eyes went to Whitley, whose eyes were glued to the footage, his expression stern and calculating. At least he hadn't been completely overwhelmed by this turn of affairs.

Jacques' chair creaked as he got to his feet.

"Not going to watch to the end, Father?" asked Weiss, finally able to summon the energy to at least feel smug.

Jacques snapped his head around to glare at her. "I've had my fill of this farce," he growled. "None of this matters in the end anyway. You might be feeling smug now, Weiss, but your situation hasn't changed. You had best reflect on that."

He stalked away, his sudden seeming indifference making Weiss' nerves tense. For all that he had been rattled by Kyo's victory, Jacques still seemed confident that things were going his way. Weiss wanted to believe that he was simply deluding himself, trying to escape the reality of what had just occurred. But then she remembered the woman who had brought her here, and a knife of pure ice slid into her spine. _Just what is going to happen?_

Once Jacques had gone, a cough from Whitley drew her attention. "Well," he said, "your friends are something else."

Weiss couldn't help but giggle. "At the very least, that is certainly true."

* * *

"I can't believe it," whispered Jaune incredulously, "they did it. They really did it."

"They took down an entire army like it was nothing," said Ren.

"I can't believe they were this strong," added Blake.

Yang smiled. She wanted to rejoice at Kyo's victory. However, she had to admit that watching what had just happened was intimidating. She had grown so close to Kyo, had come to see what an amazing person he was, that she'd all but forgotten the true power that he could unleash. He was practically a force of nature. Dust was sometimes referred to as "Nature's Wrath," but that didn't come close to what Kyo and the others had done.

She held up her right hand, looking closely at the Aura construct that had taken the place of her severed arm. _Could I do that?_ she wondered. _Could I fight at that level?_ It made her feel somewhat inadequate. As she was now, did she stand even remotely close to the same tier as Kyo and his friends?

 _His friends..._ Yang remembered her fight with Penny a few weeks ago. Already, it seemed like a distant memory. However, she could remember the two of them trading blows with all their might. She and Penny had been roughly equal not so long ago. Sure, Penny might have trained some more in the time since then, but Yang got the impression that she was using strength she had already had when they had fought each other, which meant that maybe she _was_ at their level. _I guess I'll probably find out soon,_ she thought, wondering once again what awaited them in Atlas.

"Penny..."

Yang glanced beside her to see Ruby staring at the screen, still enthralled by the drama taking place. Looking back at the screen, Yang could see why. Now that the army was down, and he had no more troops or weapons to hide behind, Ironwood had finally come out to face them in person. Saisei was nowhere to be seen. Kyo, Nigel, and Hayate had all stepped back. Penny stood alone before Ironwood, who was clad in some kind of hulking powered armor.

"That actually looks kinda badass," commented Nora. "I wish I had one of those."

"He can't really think that thing is going to be any use in this, can he?" asked Jaune. "Kyo and the others just took down all those warships. One piece of powered armor can't stand up against that kind of power."

"If it were against all of them, I'd say no," said Blake. "But if it's just Penny...I think Ironwood must have had that suit made specifically to try and fight at Kyo's level. With everything that's already happened, Penny can't be at full strength anymore. There's no telling what might happen."

"I don't know," said Yang. "From the way they're acting, they don't seem too worried about it."

"We'll find out," said Ruby, still not taking her eyes away from the screen.

* * *

The chilly winds of the tundra whipped past them, making Penny's cape fold around her body, completely encompassing it as it blew out to her right side.

"You're making a mistake, Polendina," said Ironwood, trying to inject calm into his voice. "Everything I have done until now I've done for the people, for their sake, for their protection."

"You're still hiding behind that?" asked Penny coldly. "You've completely lost sight of what it means to protect someone. What kind of protector murders, imprisons, and exploits the people he's supposed to protect?"

"I did what was necessary!" shouted Ironwood. "Your father was a traitor. He refused to follow orders and suffered the consequences for it. He gave up everything, even his life, for the sake of a puppet that thought it was a living person."

"I am alive and I am a person," said Penny. "I am no puppet. And my father didn't give anything up. You took it from him because you think that you can do no wrong."

"I AM NOT WRONG!" thundered Ironwood furiously. "I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS WHAT'S AT STAKE! I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE THIS WORLD!"

Penny shook her head. "There's no point to words anymore," she said. "I'm going to end this now, regardless of what you believe."

"We'll see about that!" exclaimed Ironwood.

Reaching behind her, Penny drew forth the Kusanagi, holding it up while angling her head so that the brim of her hat met the collar of her cloak, leaving a small opening for her eye to glare through. Swirling clouds streamed off her blade.

Ironwood charged forward. The acceleration was incredible, completely belying the bulk of his battlesuit. The rocky ground crumpled under his tread. His body became a blur as he closed with Penny, cocking his left fist back to deal a mighty blow. Penny jumped aside just as the punch hammered down, splitting the earth and sending cracks spreading across the ground. Chunks of rock flew through the air in all directions. The force of the blow was such that Kyo, Nigel, and Hayate all had to jump back to avoid being caught by the shower of debris.

Penny rapidly circled around to behind Ironwood, raising her sword, she swung at his back in a downwards slash. However, Ironwood spun about, swinging his right arm around in a sideswiping swing that slammed into Penny's blade. Penny yelped in surprise as her sword was almost wrenched from her grasp by the impact, and jumped back. As she did, she swung her sword sideways, sending several clouds weaving through the air at Ironwood like missiles.

Ironwood slammed his arms together, holding his hands out in front of him, fingers spread. With a rapid series of clicks and the sounds of shifting internal machinery, the components of both arms of his battlesuit merged together an opening emerging in the center, where the heels of his hands met, a glowing red light welling up. Just as Penny's clouds were about to reach him, he unleashed a powerful beam of pure fire-Dust energy, which tore through the clouds, evaporating them with an angry-sounding hiss. The beam lanced on at Penny, threatening to burn her to cinders. Fortunately, Penny interposed her sword, turning it so that she caught the beam on the edge of her blade, splitting it around her.

Landing on the ground, Penny hefted her weapon, more clouds welling up from the sword's guard, swirling up and around the blade. Raising it, Penny swung it down in a circular motion, twisting the blade as she did. " _Ame no Murakumo!_ " A single stream of cloud came spiraling out, its form swelling and elongating, teeth running down either side of it, giving the impression of a single, spiraling jaw reaching out for Ironwood, trying to devour him where he stood.

The arms of Ironwood's battlesuit separated. He drew back his right arm and swirling, silver streams of wind whirled around the arm, intensifying until it looked as though his arm was wrapped in a silvery tornado. With another roar, Ironwood punched forward, unleashing a powerful torrent of wind that tore through Penny's attack, shredding and scattering the clouds, though the power required to do so kept the blast from advancing any further.

Both Penny and Ironwood charged, coming together, blade meeting fist with an impact that sent a deafening clang ringing through the air, along with a shockwave that blew a swirling cloud of dust away from them in a perfect circle. Ironwood swung his left arm straight down at Penny's head. She sidestepped just enough to avoid the strike by the barest of margins, thrusting forward with the sword and aiming directly for his chest.

The lights that decorated Ironwood's chestplate switched colors, going from blue to yellow. Penny stopped her thrust, barely avoiding making contact. Ironwood stepped forward, but she managed to dance back, pulling her sword away before the charge of lightning-Dust could strike.

Ironwood struck down at her again, this time aiming right at the ground where she was standing. Penny jumped back again, avoiding his fist. However, a rocky spur erupted out of the ground where it hit, nearly slamming into Penny's chest. A slash from the Kusanagi took the top off the spur before it could strike her. Penny kicked the detached piece of stone, sending it flying right at Ironwood's face. Holding up his arm, Ironwood blocked the chunk of stone, which shattered against his suit.

Jumping back farther, Penny opened up the space between them again.

"Give up!" shouted Ironwood. "This battle shall be mine."

Penny glared and growled, her body tensing as she prepared for the next strike.

A gentle breeze bushed against her. Unlike the winds whipping about the tundra, this one was warm and gentle. As it flowed around and through her, she felt it almost seem to sweep away her anger like a set of cobwebs. Looking for its source, she saw Kyo, who was smiling at her, having raised his left hand, and gently projected his Aura through the air to wash over her.

The feeling made her smile. _He's right,_ she thought. _I can't let my anger take control. I have the strength to win this fight._

She closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly, relaxing her body and lowering her sword. Her anger was still there, like a steady thrum against her bones. But it was no longer making her muscles tense up like springs, and dulling her movements. It was there for her to use, to provide her with power, but it would no longer interfere.

Raising her sword, Penny held it over her head, resting the fingers of her left hand against the blade. She opened her heart and mind, and felt the Kusanagi's presence. Her blade let out a mighty, bell-like tone, blazing with pure, white light. Its Aura surged, merging with her own, the two becoming one, resonating, surging, increasing to a level far beyond the mere sum of their respective strengths.

In front of her, Ironwood took an uncertain step back. In the face of this phenomenon, which had taken down countless soldiers, and even entire squadrons of warships, he found himself feeling unbelievably small and powerless. His mighty battlesuit, the pride of all the research and development the best scientific minds he had at his disposal, all bent towards the purpose of being used against Demon Eyes Kyo, felt like little more than a toy.

 _Why?_ The question rattled around his head. _Why do I keep failing? Why are all my efforts rendered worthless? What does she have...what do_ they _have...that I don't?_

In front of him, Penny opened her eyes again, fixing Ironwood with a determined gaze. "This is where it ends, General."

"No," growled Ironwood, his massive, metal fists clenching. "Never! I won't be defeated here...not by the likes of you. I will-!" He never got a chance to finish that sentence.

The light issuing forth from the sword resolved itself into the form of four serpentine dragons, winding about the blade. Their sinuous forms merged with the clouds that the blade produced, and then lashed out at lightning speed. In the time it took for Ironwood to utter that last syllable, four of Orochi's heads crossed the distance between them, their fangs sinking into each of his limbs. There had been no time to react or counter. The powerful artificial muscles were crushed and torn like tissue paper, tearing off both arms below the elbows and both legs below the knees. The dragons' passing was so swift that Ironwood was left hanging in space for an instant, now bereft of his limbs.

Before gravity could take over, and his body could begin its short drop to the ground, Penny seemed to materialize behind Ironwood. He had been so shocked by the serpents' strike that he hadn't even noticed her leave her previous position. Now, from behind him, she swung her blade one last time, cleaving right through his armored torso, and the vulnerable flesh it protected with a single stroke. The two halves of what remained of Ironwood's body struck the ground and lay still.

"It's over," said Penny, letting out a breath.

"It's...not...over..." Ironwood's voice was little more than a faint wheeze, but Penny's ears, sensitized by the rush of combat, picked it up with no difficulty. She turned to look down at the upper half of Ironwood's body. His blood was beginning to spill out from the severed section, spreading across the ground. His face was pale and drawn, the light in his eyes flickering and fading. "I...will...not let...you..."

Whatever he was about to say, he didn't get to say it. His voice trailed off, the last of his breath leaving through his mouth in a tiny exhalation. His eyes faded, but did not close. He was left staring sightlessly at the girl who'd brought him down.

"Now it's over," said Penny, sheathing her blade and kneeling down. She gently closed Ironwood's eyes for him.

Despite the fact that she had won, Penny felt no rush of victory, unlike how she had felt after defeating his army. Instead, she realized that she felt almost sad, as though she lost something important.

"And so you've done what you came to do," said Kyo coming up behind her and resting a hand on her shoulder. "Do you feel all right?"

"I...I don't know," said Penny softly. "I don't feel like I did something wrong. I just thought I would feel more...I don't know...fulfilled by this."

"Vengeance can be like that, I suppose," said Hayate. "But, by this point, it was more like putting down a rabid animal than anything else."

Penny nodded. "He was a good man, once. I liked and respected him. But then he...Why did he...?"

"It's hard to say," said Kyo, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Even the best of men can fall into the madness of fear and aggression."

"What should I do now?" asked Penny.

Kyo smiled. "Go home. Once Saisei is finished, the two of you should head back to Onmyo. Spend some time with your new father, then go to Beacon and be with your friends. You have nothing to fear, and your foe is dead. All that's left to do now is to live your life how you want to."

Sniffling, Penny nodded.

"Where is Sasame anyway?" asked Hayate, looking around.

"She's searching the wreckage for survivors, and healing them," replied Kyo. "If they perished in battle, then there's nothing to be done. But we didn't come here for the purpose of wholesale slaughter."

"What are we gonna do with them once they're healed?" asked Hayate. "We can't exactly leave them out here, but they're still enemies, right?"

"That remains to be seen," said Kyo, glancing upwards. "I think we'll have an answer momentarily."

Hayate followed Kyo's gaze up and saw a small airship descending. "A news agency aircraft?"

"Probably," said Kyo. "I'm sure the General wanted everyone to see his glorious victory over us. It's only natural that the media would be present to watch the battle."

"Geez, it never occurred to me," said Hayate. "I'm glad they weren't caught by our combo."

"They were keeping plenty of distance," said Kyo. "Now it appears we're about to get an interview."

Hayate fixed him with a deadpan stare. "You...giving an interview."

"Well, after what they just saw, I'm sure the people of Atlas are quite rattled," said Kyo. "Ironwood's regime was an oppressive one, but it remains that people felt that their security was his priority. Now that he's dead, it must feel as though the world has been turned upside down. I thought at least a few well-chosen words might reassure them. I think we owe it to Winter to do what we can to make her job easier, so that she can consolidate enough authority to begin to truly change things."

"Makes sense, I guess," said Hayate. "I'm not all that interested in posing for the camera though. They're probably still calling me the Lightning Lord, if they haven't switched over to some other, even more absurd, title in the meantime."

Kyo laughed. "Perhaps," he said. "But...I think you should stick around. You're heading up that way anyway. Besides, it'd be a good opportunity for you."

"For me?" asked Hayate, befuddled.

"Yes," said Kyo. "It's a chance, perhaps, to deliver some well-chosen words to someone important."

"Oh..." said Hayate, his eyes widening.

* * *

"It's over," said Ruby, slumping down into her seat.

"Yeah," said Yang, resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Now Penny can come see us at Beacon. There's nothing to keep her away any longer."

"Uh huh," agreed Ruby, wiping away tears.

"It's weird," said Jaune.

"What?" asked Blake.

"It's just...I thought I'd be glad to see Ironwood gone," said Jaune. "But I feel kinda sad about it. I don't really know what to think anymore."

"I understand," said Ren. "He was an ally once, someone we could trust."

"He sent me my first prosthetic, without even needing to be asked," said Yang, looking down at the Aura construct that was her right arm. "It was state-of-the-art at the time, and made just for me."

"And he kept supporting us during the fight against Salem," added Blake dourly. "I don't think we'd have been able to win, if we hadn't had his help."

"What changed then?" asked Nora, drawing everyone's eyes to her. "He used to be so good..."

"Some people lose loved ones in war," said Glynda, now drawing everyone's attention. She had tears leaking out of her eyes as she stared at the screen. "Some lose friends. Others lose possessions and property, precious things...James...James lost his faith, his ability to believe in others."

"Didn't he still believe in others?" asked Yang. "I mean, he believed in Winter and his soldiers."

Glynda closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "That was because they were his subordinates. James believed in them because he believed they were under his control. That is what came to replace his faith, a desire to control everything, the belief that only with control could he keep people safe. That's why he became so dependent on automation, why his rule over Atlas became so draconian. His ability to trust in people was a casualty of the war."

"Are you okay, Professor?" asked Ruby.

"James and I were...close...once," said Glynda sadly, pulling off her spectacles so that she could wipe away her tears with a handkerchief. "We were never able to make it work. James would be stupidly, bullheadedly, stubborn at times. He absolutely refused to compromise, unless he was left with no other option. Sometimes that was a good thing. Other times, well..." She sighed. "In all honesty, by now, he was so far gone that only killing him would have stopped him, otherwise he wouldn't have rested until the entire world was under his thumb. He would have come up with excuse after excuse to extend his power further, first Atlas, then out to the other Kingdoms. This is perhaps the best end he could have hoped for."

"It really is sad," said Nora. She felt a gentle hand on her arm and looked over to see Neo smiling at her. Nora smiled back and leaned her head against Neo's shoulder.

"So now what?" asked Blake.

"Now we do what we need to do," said Ruby, wiping her eyes. "Ironwood's gone, but Weiss is still being held by her dad. We've got to get her back."

"Awesome!" cheered Yang somewhat sardonically. "Kyo and Penny get to take on Ironwood and the army, we get to handle the SDC."

"It would be best to remember that Jacques Schnee is a very dangerous man," said Glynda darkly, "far more than Ironwood ever could be. Ironwood did have some semblance of standards that he adhered to, in order to justify his actions, if only to himself. But Jacques...there is no low that man will not stoop to, in order to get his way."

"Not to mention the other thing," muttered Ruby, thinking back to Haira's blood-maddened smile.

"Yeah...that too," said Yang, a shiver running down her spine. Who knew what was waiting for them in Atlas.

* * *

"I don't believe it," said Whitley, staring at the screen in shock. "Ironwood's dead."

"He is," said Weiss, wishing she could feel better about what she had just seen. Unfortunately, her feelings were mixed. Ironwood had been an ally, and a trustworthy one at that, at one time. He had changed, and become someone that they could no longer trust, or even respect. But she couldn't bring herself to feel any elation at his death, only a sense of melancholy.

"Why is the ship descending?" asked Whitley, snapping Weiss out of her reverie. "You don't think they're going to...?"

Weiss looked back at the screen, and nearly dumped her mug of coffee across the table. The airship the news agency was using was quickly descending towards the ground, coming in for a landing even. _Why would they do that?_

 _"...and despite what has just happened, we are risking ourselves in hopes of finding out more about the people who have just taken down the world's mightiest military force,"_ the reporter was saying in voiceover. _"Specialist Winter Schnee, acting commander of the military now, has granted us permission. Kyo and at least two others appear to be waiting for us. We can only hope that they will be accommodating, and not see us as enemies."_

Weiss frowned. She could only see Kyo, Penny, and Hayate on the screen. She wondered where Saisei was.

The ship landed, throwing up a cloud of dust and grit. None of Kyo's group seemed fazed by it. The ship's engines wound down, and the reporter and her camera crew disembarked, walking towards Kyo.

 _"Excuse us,"_ said the reporter, as though she were trying to catch Kyo's attention, even though he was already looking right at her. _"We were wondering if you would be willing to...to...um..."_

Weiss wondered if the woman was too unnerved by Kyo's eyes to finish her request. She could understand, remembering how imposing his presence could be. They had had a front row seat to him and his friends' complete domination of Ironwood's task force after all.

Kyo merely smiled pleasantly and waited for her to finish.

 _"would you be willing to...answer some questions for us?"_

 _"Of course,"_ replied Kyo.

* * *

"Can you tell us what this was all about?" asked the reporter. "The General never fully explained the circumstances that led up to this fight, nor the reason for bringing such an immense force, although I suppose that the latter is maybe self-explanatory."

"Ah, well, there were a number of reasons, I suppose," said Kyo. He glanced over his shoulder at Penny, who nodded, prompting him to explain in more detail. "Our main reason for coming here was to help Penny settle her grudge with the General. You recall her, right?"

"Yes," said the reporter. "Ms. Polendina was in the news quite a bit, after the Fall of Beacon. Wasn't she an android though?"

"She was," said Kyo. "You could say she went through a metamorphosis of sorts, as she is now a flesh and blood human being. The circumstances behind that change...I can't exactly relate."

"All right..." said the reporter. "What was the basis for this grudge?"

Kyo sighed. "Well, the long and short of it is that the General made certain promises to Penny that he later reneged on. Because Penny was an android, even though she possesses and Aura, which marks her as having her own soul and being a living being in her own right, the General decided that this left him free to make or break promises to her at his leisure. He sought to confine her, then study her, so that he could produce more like her to fight for him. He tried to recruit Penny's father to this purpose. When her father refused, Ironwood murdered him."

The reporter's gaze and the camera both drifted to Penny, silently requesting confirmation, which she provided with a grim-faced nod.

"Penny fled Atlas with the General, and a full brigade, in pursuit," continued Kyo. "During her flight, we crossed paths, and I wound up fighting off Ironwood's brigade to protect her. If you'll recall, that's how I earned my bounty."

"Right..." said the reporter. "But the official report stated that Penny was killed along with the Seventh and that you were the one who killed her."

"Remember who authored that report?" asked Kyo, nodding towards Ironwood's corpse. "Penny and I decided to fake her death to make Ironwood think that she was out of his reach, and I then arranged to take her to some friends of mine who facilitated her...recovery would be the best word, I suppose. After she returned, she revealed herself to Professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy, who reported Ironwood's falsehoods to Vale's Council, and those of the other Kingdoms. That was why they dropped my bounty outside of Atlas."

"I see," said the reporter.

"The reason we ultimately came here was to allow Penny to finally settle the matter with Ironwood, regarding his treatment of her, and her father's murder," said Kyo. "It was Ironwood who chose to respond by fielding the force that you...well...you know the rest."

"I see..." said the reporter, clearly unnerved by the reminder of what had just taken place. "May I ask what your intentions towards Atlas are?"

"I have none to speak," said Kyo. "None of us harbor any grudge against the citizens of Atlas. We have no intention of threatening them."

"What about the two not present?" asked the reporter.

"Two?" Hayate blinked and looked around. "Wait...Where's Nigel?"

"You didn't notice?" asked Kyo. "He left as soon as the fight with Ironwood was over. The only reason he was hanging around was so that he could call the next round, if Penny lost."

"Oh," said Hayate.

"And where might your friend be heading?" asked the reporter warily.

Kyo exchanged glances with Penny and Hayate. All three of them then shrugged in unison. "Who knows," they said simultaneously.

"Huh..." The reporter blinked. She could practically hear a similar response from her audience the world over.

"Don't worry about Nigel," said Kyo waving a dismissive hand. "He'll turn up...somewhere...Getting lost is his speciality, even more-so than combat. We had to keep him on a leash just to get him this far."

"Is he a threat?" asked the reporter.

"Only if someone threatens him first," said Hayate. "He's harmless otherwise. The only ones he'd actually be aggressive towards are us, really."

"I'm not sure I understand," said the reporter.

"Well, let's just say you don't need to worry about him and leave it at that," said Kyo cheerfully.

The reporter's expression indicated that she was a long ways from not worrying. All the same, she decided not to press the issue, doubting that she would get much of an answer. "And your other friend?"

"Sasame is tracking down the injured survivors and treating them," said Kyo, prompting Hayate to raise an eyebrow at the use of her birth-name.

"She'd do that?" asked the reporter incredulously.

"She is, first and foremost, a healer," replied Kyo. "She will give no quarter in battle. But once the battle is over, she'll heal any survivors, regardless of whose side they were on, even if that means they bear her a grudge for that."

The reporter clearly didn't know what to think about that.

"Afterwards, she and Penny will be returning home," said Kyo.

"And the rest of you?" asked the reporter warily.

"Well, Hayate and I will be continuing on to Atlas," said Kyo, looking at Hayate, who nodded in agreement. "I am going to rendezvous with some friends there."

"What for?" asked the reporter, taking a nervous step back.

"A private matter," said Kyo. "I will remind you that I have no intention of harming the citizens of Atlas."

"Well...I can't completely make the same promise," said Hayate. "There is a particular citizen I have a grievance against, and I will be taking this opportunity to pay him a visit."

The reporter fixed her eyes on Hayate in a nervous look. "W-would that be Mr. Schnee?"

"It would," said Hayate. "I've no real interest with the SDC, now that I've dealt with the faunus internment camps he was running. But he recently had someone very important to me abducted. So I figured I would take a page from Penny's book, and go express my displeasure...regardless of what obstacles are in my way."

"I...I see," said the woman nervously.

* * *

"Well now...you and him..." said Whitley, turning his eyes to Weiss. "That's...unexpected..."

Weiss' face had flushed completely red, and she was hiding it behind her hands. Though he couldn't see it, Whitley knew that her expression must have been mortified. "I can't believe he said that," she squeaked.

"You're not happy?" asked Whitley.

"Shut up!" snapped Weiss, her face still flushed as she lowered her hands in order to glare at Whitley. "Of course I'm happy."

"Really?" said Whitley, raising an eyebrow. "And here I thought you fancied that blue-haired fellow from Haven."

"We...we broke up," said Weiss, looking away. "There weren't any hard feelings, but we just couldn't make it work."

"Hmm..." mused Whitley with a smirk. "So, instead, you apparently attached yourself to Father's number-one enemy. Quite bold, if I do say so myself."

"Shut up," said Weiss, her tone a bit more resigned.

A silence fell between them, and Weiss looked over at Whitley, surprised to see him smiling at her. "What?"

"Actually, I'm glad," said Whitley. "He cares enough to come for you, even knowing what he has to face to reach you."

Weiss smiled back. "After what you've just seen, you think he regards anything Father could throw at him as a genuine threat?"

"Point taken," said Whitley. "However, we'll have to be careful. Father might take drastic measures against you."

"I'm as prepared as I can be if it comes to that," said Weiss.

"Then we'll just take things as they come, I suppose," said Whitley, leaning back in his seat.

* * *

"My my, quite the display," observed Dr. Merlot, otherwise known as Kubira, his cybernetic eye glowing red as he watched the feed on the monitor.

"Hmph," grunted Adam Taurus, otherwise known as Basara. "They are nothing."

"Oh?" Kubira turned to look at Basara. "Are you saying that you could do as well, when faced with the full might of Ironwood's armies? There's a reason the White Fang has relied upon such subversive tactics. You couldn't even draw the Crimson King's blood. What gives you the right to posture so?"

Basara growled under his breath, his hand straying to the hilt of his weapon.

"Basara," rumbled Indara, who stood behind him, "lower your hand."

Baring his teeth, Basara did as he was told.

"Kubira is right," said Indara. "Kyo and his compatriots are beyond the reach of your blade. Do not spend your wrath, or your strength, in fruitless endeavors. Focus on the task ahead of you. We are likely to confront Kyo and his allies ourselves. However, it has been ordained that we leave him to Nobunaga-sama."

"I thought that was only if he was strong enough to make it," noted Kubira idly.

"It remains to be seen," said Indara. "However, we have not been ordered to specifically seek him out.

"Then I will do as I please," growled Basara.

"Then you will die," said Indara. "As you are now, it would take Kyo little effort to dispose of you."

"Enough." Cinder's...or rather, _Mekira's_ voice cut through the tension in the air like a knife as she strode into the room, every fiber of her being exuding a confidence that had not been there before. There was still an unmistakable rasp to her voice, but she spoke surprisingly loudly, given her condition. "Our Lord has given the order for us to depart. The time has come for us to strike."

"Ha!" barked Kubira in a laugh. "It's about time. I can finally show the world the fruits of my brilliance."

"Don't get carried away," rumbled Indara. "We each have our part to play." _Even if that part is simply letting some run wild._

"There is nothing to worry about," said Kubira with another laugh. "I shall send forth my creations. Let the people of this world bask in the fear that the revelation of their obsolescence shall invoke."

From deep within the Junishinsho's lair, a chorus of eerie, unearthly howls echoed out, belonging to something that should not have ever been in this world. They were soon accompanied by shrill screeches, and a sound that was a mix of a roar and a despairing wail. Such was the cacophony's strength that its force shook the rock, and made dust and tiny pebbles fall to the floor.

* * *

"Well, I've treated all the survivors," said Saisei, reuniting with the others.

"Good," said Kyo. "So you'll be heading back with Penny, right?"

Saisei nodded. "That's the plan."

"I'm ready to leave whenever you are," said Penny.

Saisei nodded. The two of them turned, already heading south and west. Penny's hand was already moving to the hilt of her sword, ready to create a cloud platform to fly them back to Onmyo.

But, at that moment, everyone paused, a deathly chill falling over them, settling into their very bones. None of them could put their finger on it, but their finely-honed instincts, sharpened through numerous battles, immediately told them that something was very, _very_... ** _very_**...wrong.

"I don't like this," said Kyo.

"Well, there's nothing here," said Hayate. "Something feels off...but not directly threatening."

"It feels more like something has been set in motion," added Saisei. "I don't like it, but I don't know what else to do."

"Hmm..." mused Kyo. "At this point, I still want to head for Atlas. At the very least, we can cast a wider net of inquiry there, if something is happening, even if it is occurring somewhere else."

"I agree," said Hayate. "Besides, from this feeling, I think whatever is happening must be going on close to Atlas."

"We'll need to move quickly then," said Saisei.

"You're coming with us?" asked Kyo, looking at her in surprise.

"Of course I am," said Saisei. "Whatever that feeling was, it wasn't something good. I suspect there will be injured before long. I should be there to treat them."

"Then I'm coming too," said Penny, pulling her sword out. "We need to get to Atlas quickly."

"Wait!" protested Saisei. "What about the people I just healed? Right now, the Grimm are keeping away because we're here. But once we're gone, it's going to be like an open invitation to them."

"I don't think we'll need to worry about that," said Kyo, pointing upwards. "It appears that Winter has already been planning for this eventuality."

Another warship loomed on the horizon, approaching rapidly.

"She must have had it waiting outside of the sensor range of Ironwood's forces, and then sent it in once his defeat was confirmed," noted Hayate.

"Very considerate of her, that she anticipated the possibility of survivors and despatched a ship to their aid," said Kyo. "Now that we don't have to worry about that, we can depart with all due haste."

Penny swept her sword out in front of her, clouds trailing out and forming into a floating platform that they all quickly climbed onto. A few seconds later, they rose up into the sky, riding the clouds towards Atlas. Their course carried them right past the incoming airship. The vessel made no move to intercept or pursue them, instead proceeding towards the battlefield.

"Well, I'm glad we made the right call at least," said Saisei.

The others nodded, and Penny silently urged their cloud platform towards Atlas.

"I wish we still had Nigel with us," commented Hayate.

"Well...if something is really going to happen at Atlas, then I get the impression that he'll be drawn there either way," said Kyo.

"Regardless, we'll just have to continue as though he won't be there," said Saisei. "It's no different from usual, really. This fight was the special exception."

Penny ignored their conversation, and silently urged their cloud to pick up speed. For whatever reason, she had a bad feeling about something happening in Atlas...which meant that Ruby would be heading right for the middle of it.

* * *

"So, what do you think that Lightning Lord kid was talking about?" asked Qrow, frowning as he stared out the tower window.

This had once been Ironwood's office. Of course, now that he was dead, he no longer had any use for it. Winter had appropriated it for her own purposes, while she proceeded to further consolidate her control over the military. Once that was done, she could begin the process of rolling back Ironwood's authoritarian policies, and returning power to the Council, as well as making sure that the next elections were carried out fairly.

"I have my suspicions," said Winter, already calling Weiss on her scroll. "There's no answer."

"So you think your old man had Weiss abducted?" asked Qrow.

"That seems the only viable answer," said Winter.

"I guess I'll call my nieces and try to confirm it," said Qrow, pulling out his own scroll.

Before he could begin to make the call, they were interrupted by another call, this one routed through the communications system in Ironwood's desk, which gave them access to Atlas' entire tactical network.

"What is it?" asked Winter anxiously.

A holographic screen appeared, bringing up an image of the commander of the perimeter guard. "Ma'am, we have contacts to the northeast, thousands of them!"

"What?" gasped Winter. "Do you have visual?"

The commander nodded.

"On screen!" snapped Winter.

The image switched to a view of the northeast. It was mostly mountains. However, there was some space between them, forming a wide pass. Through that pass ran a road that had once connected Atlas to its northeastern settlements. Keeping it maintained was hard though, and maintenance had fallen off after Atlas had switched primarily to airships for commerce.

Now, what looked like a pitch-black carpet, dotted with white, was rolling down from the mountain pass.

"Grimm," snarled Qrow.

"I've never seen so many congregating since Salem..." Winter's skin paled even more than usual. "Zoom in," she ordered.

The image focused on the approaching hoard. What they saw made both their stomachs drop.

"What the Hell are those?" asked Qrow.

"I don't know," admitted Winter. "I've never seen anything like them before."

The Grimm actually looked vaguely human in shape. Standing roughly six-feet tall, their figures were gaunt, with black skin stretched over skeletal bodies, seemingly devoid of muscle or fat. Spikes of white bone emerged at the joints of their elbows and knees, ribs broke through the skin of their chests, while white claws protruded in a painful-looking manner, from the tips of their fingers. However, their most disturbing feature was their faces. Their faces were covered with white masks with smooth, wide, ovular openings for the mouth and eyes. The eyes themselves were pools of pure darkness, devoid of even the normal fiery-red of regular Grimm.

Winter shuddered. These were not any kind of ordinary Grimm. Just looking at them filled her with a sickening feeling of revulsion. Even by the standards of Grimm, these were unnatural and abhorrent. At her command, the camera zoomed in to focus on one in particular. Then, to her shock, the strange, humanoid Grimm began to move, its motion twitchy and spasmodic, reminding her of an android whose joints had been jammed with debris. The head appeared to move independently of the rest of its body, jerking and twitching, until it suddenly snapped and turned on its neck...to look right into the camera, as though it was looking through the camera and right at her.

With a gasp, Winter jerked back from the image. "Zoom out!" she ordered.

The camera obliged and they were once again treated to a view of the entire horde, which covered a significant portion of the ground between the mountains and Atlas' perimeter wall. At the moment, they were standing completely still, reminding Winter of the Knights and Jaegers, when they awaited activation.

"Look up," said Qrow, his voice tense.

Winter adjusted the angle of the camera, and saw the sky covered in circling specks. At first, she thought they might be Nevermores or Griffons. However, the creatures that circled through the air were much more intimidating.

At least they resembled regular Grimm more than the ones on the ground though. They flew on wide, bat-like wings. Their heads were angular, with a white, flat, triangular plate over its top, one point ending just ahead of the tooth-filled mouth, before extending up to cover the top of the Grimm's head. At the top, there was a v-shaped space opened up between the other two points of the triangle, giving the plate the impression of a crest of sorts. A pair of fiery red eyes glared out from beneath its edges. Their hind legs ended in three claw-tipped toes, and there was a fairly short reptilian tail stretched out behind them.

"Those things look nasty," muttered Qrow uneasily. "They look pretty quick on the wing to boot."

"Where did they all come from?" wondered Winter. "How could so many Grimm have gotten so close without us knowing?"

"It's like they sprang up out of the ground," said Qrow, nodding in agreement, "like daisies."

Winter brought her right hand up to her mouth and began to gnaw anxiously at her thumbnail. This was the worst possible situation for Atlas to face a massed Grimm attack. They only had another three warships to their name right now, and one of them had been sent away to extract survivors from Kyo's battle. Aside from the perimeter guard, there was only a token garrison left in the city. The automated defenses were powerful. But with numbers like that, the Grimm would overwhelm them sooner or later.

 _But what drew them here?_ she wondered. Certainly, the anxiety of the people had been building since Ironwood had launched his campaign against Kyo. But the interview at the end of the fight had seen fears calm and people seem more at ease. If anything, the mood was lighter now that Ironwood's oppressive reign was at an end.

So what had drawn such a massive hoard of Grimm right to their very borders? Winter supposed the question was a moot point. The way things were now, if those Grimm charged the walls, it was only a matter of time before the defenses were overrun. Once that happened, Atlas was doomed.

* * *

 **Yeah, Ironwood was basically an anticlimax boss. Well, when our "heroes" have already taken down an entire military force, one guy isn't going to be able to do that much, no matter how fancy that armor of his might be.**

 **And so, in order of appearance, we have our two new Grimm types.**

 **Ghouls: This story being written well before Volume 6 came out, these were the humanoid Grimm that I envisioned, before the Apathy were a thing. They aren't meant to have any special powers, certainly nothing like what the Apathy are capable of doing. But they were conceived to be creepy as all get out. If you'd want a specific allusion, I guess you could call them Ghostface Grimm, since that Ghostface mask from Scream was the basis for the idea I had for their faces.**

 **Gyaos: Not gonna lie...I straight up pinched these from the _Gamera_ series, mostly because they're badass, and definitely would look good...Grimmified...I suppose.**

 **Next chapter: The _real_ villains make their move.**


	77. Chapter 77

**Chapter 77:**

"Wait! Look at the center of their lines," said Qrow, pointing at the spot on the screen.

"Zoom in," Winter ordered again, and the camera responded.

The ranks of Grimm were parting to make way for something-No!-someone. At least...it looked like a man. He rode astride a horse that was clearly another kind of Grimm, sharing a gaunt, starved look with the humanoids on either side of it, with ribs breaking through the skin of its chest, and its skeletal legs exposed. Its posture was slumped, as though it were on the verge of collapsing. Yet it continued to plod forward.

The figure on its back was clad in white robes, a kimono, not unlike the kind Kyo wore. Yet his body was unquestionably like the Grimm. Ebony skin was stretched taut over powerful muscles, and locks of slightly curling, white hair spilled down from his head. Both eyes sported the fiery red of the Grimm, yet the one on the left was larger; a full, wide circle, the skin around it looking charred and blistered, as though fire had burned away the eyelids. The figure wore a sword at his waist, a katana with a white-wrapped handle.

"Oh crap," grumbled Qrow. "Don't tell me that's the guy Kyo and his family were warning us about."

"What guy?" asked Winter.

"Long story," answered Qrow.

"Wait!" said Winter, her attention going back to the image. "There's more coming!"

Other figures, actual people, were coming to join the rider at the front. Some of them were even familiar. Both Winter and Qrow recognized the masked face of Adam Taurus. Beside him stood a towering, muscular man with long, silver hair, who surveyed everything in front of him with a stony gaze. They were joined by Santera, the mysterious girl in the black hood who'd bailed Cinder out in Onmyo. To the rider's other side, more people emerged, including none other than Cinder Fall.

"Looks like we're all in deep shit," muttered Qrow icily.

* * *

"Ha! What a splendid metropolis," rumbled Nobunaga, grinning and baring too-white teeth. "I shall enjoy bringing its inhabitants to their knees."

"I'm hungry," complained a voice to his left. "Can I eat some?"

Nobunga's gaze went to Bikara. In the light, there was no denying the man's (indeed, even if he could be called a man) hideous aspect. Trunk-like arms dangled from broad shoulders over a wide, round, flabby stomach that itself spilled over a wider waist, all of which was held up by thick, muscular legs. His body was covered with skintight, black fabric that, thankfully, covered his torso and legs, ending in straps, like a tank-top's, over his shoulders. What skin that was visible was covered in veins, and patches of unhealthy-looking rash. Above it all, he sported a head that seemed almost comically small, compared to the rest of his physique. Swollen cheeks framed a pair of pinprick eyes that were featureless white. Scraggly black hair grew from the top and back of his head, tied into an untidy topknot. His lips seemed to be pulled back in a perpetual grin, baring broad, yellowed teeth. His arms ended in broad, meaty hands, that themselves ended in pudgy fingers that were tipped with what appeared to be his weapons, rings with a section that extended over his fingernails, and out in front of his fingertips, like a set of ten tiny spades.

Even worse than his appearance was his stench. Each breath he exhaled carried with it the stench of rotting human flesh. He seemed perpetually surrounded by buzzing flies. Every part of him looked unhealthy and diseased. Even his fellow Junishinsho were discomfited by his presence. Only Nobunaga and Indara seemed unfazed by his disgusting nature.

"Once we begin, you can feast to your heart's content, Bikara," said Nobunaga with a trace of amusement in his voice. "We will drown this Kingdom in blood and, upon its ashes, we shall build the foundations of my new rule."

"What are your orders then?" asked the man who came to stand between Indara and Nobunaga.

In contrast to Bikara's ugliness, the most homely of people would be called handsome. However, this man would be considered by most to be nothing short of beautiful. Tall and slender, he nonetheless possessed a magnificent build, much like a statue by a master sculptor of a vision of masculine beauty come to life. His chiseled face sported clear, blue eyes, while his head was covered with steel-gray hair, bound into a a tail that reached down to the small of his back. He wore loose pants of white linen, and a sleeveless vest without a shirt, showing off his toned body and flawless skin. He wore a pair of sheathed scimitars, crossed over his back so that the handles extended down and out to either side of his torso. Standing amongst the others, he seemed a paragon of masculine beauty.

"We storm the city," rumbled Nobunaga. "Turn loose the Grimm, and slay all who stand in our way. Those are my orders, Ajira."

"Very well then," replied Ajira, sweeping into a low bow.

"The only other thing that I require is that the tower is left intact," said Nobunaga. "We will want the rest of the world's inhabitants to see the fate that will soon befall them."

"Of course," said Ajira with an amused smile.

"My Ghouls await your command, My Lord," said Kubira with an eager grin.

Drawing his sword, Nobunaga held it above his head. With a loud, bell-like ring, white light issued forth, bathing him and his warriors. The Grimm shifted, leaning forward. The Ghouls' faces began to change, their mouths stretching open wider than any such orifice should on a natural creature. They began to wail, an eerie sound of countless souls writhing in torment.

On the walls, the human defenders flinched back, covering their ears. A few even fainted away on the spot. The sounds easily reached past the wall and into the ears of the city's inhabitants, infecting them with fear and anxiety, a sense that was palpable to those who lived to inflict it. In the air above, the winged Grimm screamed, their demonic shrieks echoing through the air, inflicting real pain on all who heard them.

"GO FORTH!" roared Nobunaga. His Grimm horse whinnied in excitement, actually rearing, something that the gaunt-looking creature should not have managed.

The Ghouls surged forward, some running upright, others dropping down to all-fours and skittering in an unsettling, insectile motion. Above, the winged Grimm shrieked again, and swooped down towards the wall and its defenders.

The response was almost immediate. Even if the Kingdom's human defenders were rattled, the automated defenses still responded flawlessly. White streaks erupted upwards from behind the wall, missiles climbing up into the sky above. At the same time, Dust-powered turrets rose up, barrels extending, and laid down a ferocious barrage of fire that mowed down the front ranks of the Ghouls. Other, faster-moving, turrets quickly fixated on the diving fliers, and blew them out of the sky with pinpoint accuracy.

The consequences were impressive. As the front ranks of the Ghoul assault were shot down, they fell, their bodies not yet dissolving, instead tripping up the ranks behind them as the mindless creatures tried to clamber over the bodies of the fallen. Slowed by the unexpected task, they too were shot to death, and collapsed, forming an embankment of Grimm corpses that rose higher with each successive attempt, even as smoke-like streams from within the pile indicated that the ones at the bottom were beginning to dissolve.

At this point, the rest of the Ghouls were piling in behind their fallen, the sheer volume of numbers crushing the forward ones against the barrier of their dead, and beginning to slowly roll it forward. But that was when the missiles struck. Their ascent had terminated in them arcing downwards, straight at the densest portion of the mass of Ghouls, right behind the wall of their own dead. As they dropped, the missiles burst apart, separating into countless bomblets that then rained down on the packed mass of targets. Explosions ripped through the horde, blowing untold numbers of Ghouls to pieces, and completely obliterating a substantial portion of the horde in a matter of seconds.

"A waste," grumbled Indara, cupping his chin, observing quietly, even as countless more Ghouls streamed past him, their numbers seeming infinite.

"Hardly," replied Kubira, tapping commands into his scroll, which he'd unfolded into tablet mode. "We know the shape of their automatic defenses now. Breaching them will be a simple task. We have enough Ghouls to keep this up for a week, if we have to. However, the Gyaos will speed speed things along nicely. If things end up taking too long, we can send in the Nuckelavees to hasten things further, but I think we should hold them in reserve, in case the defenders manage to push us back."

"I'm fine with waiting," said Nobunaga. "I have no doubt that the new Kyo is on his way to confront us. Depending on how that goes, Shatora's work may end up being an unnecessary redundancy."

"I would hardly say that Shatora's efforts are redundant," remarked Ajira. "If anything, the current Kyo is our fallback plan. Capturing him alive will be very difficult, especially if we don't wish to cause undue damage to the vessel. In that sense, Shatora is more likely to succeed, especially as Shindara will be on hand for extraction."

Ahead of them, the wall of slain ghouls was beginning to melt away, now that the missiles had cleared enough of the hoard behind it that no more were adding to its bulk. As it did, more Ghouls rushed forward, the craters left behind by the bomblets seeming to be no obstacle as they scrambled towards the wall, spreading like a black and white carpet rolling across the earth.

The turrets opened up again. Now that the Ghouls were closer, the human defenders, those that hadn't succumbed to the initial panic, along with the Paladins and androids on the wall, opened up with their own weapons, adding a substantial amount to the storm of fire that scythed through the incoming Ghouls, building up another barrier of their dead bodies. Behind the wall, more missiles rose up into the air for another arcing barrage.

The winged Grimm, the Gyaos, continued to stoop towards the wall, mouths open, displaying rows of hooked teeth. Some of the turrets continued to blow them away with impressive accuracy. But they couldn't account for the sheer number of Gyaos in the air, the way the other turrets could for the Ghouls on the ground.

As the missiles shot upwards, a few of the Gyaos began to scream. This wasn't their animalistic battlecry though. Instead, their scream rose with pitch and intensity, its sound making vibrations run through objects on the ground. Humans clamped hands over their ears as the intensity became painful. Ripples began to appear in the air directly in front of their mouths, a mysterious light issuing forth. Several of them were shot down in the process, but at least three continued on, their shrieks terminating in an incredibly high-pitched keening sound that then manifested as a yellow laser of what appeared to be pure sonic energy, lancing through the air and scything through the ascending missiles.

The beams of sonic energy cut effortlessly through the rising missiles. Some exploded on the spot. Others broke apart, scattering their bomblets into the air. A few missiles fell in their entirety. Some managed to complete their arc, and descend as designed, dispersing their deadly payload over the horde of Grimm below. However, their numbers drastically reduced, the missile barrage didn't do nearly as much damage as the previous one had. The ones that were broken up by the Gyaos' attack had dispersed their bomblets, many of the tiny, but powerful explosives falling on the ground between the encroaching tide of Ghouls and the wall. However, a few struck the wall itself. There were screams as human defenders were blown apart, while two turrets were destroyed. A Paladin erupted in flames.

One of the intact missiles that had lost its thrusters dropped back down, nearly directly onto its original launcher, the explosion destroying it, setting off the remaining missiles within it and causing a wave of fire to erupt from behind the wall, stretching out to either side of it.

"And there go their missile defenses," said Kubira proudly. "And now for the rest..."

The Ghouls continued to surge forward. The barrage of fire that had been suppressing them previously had weakened somewhat. It wasn't by a tremendous amount, but still enough to be noticeable, and enough for them to begin advancing slightly faster than the remaining weapons could cut them down. Furthermore, now that no more missiles would be decimating their back ranks, they were able to press forward the piles of their dead, pushing tirelessly closer to the wall.

While this was happening, the Gyaos swooped down from above, the anti-air guns on the wall blowing several of them out of the sky. But, like it was for the Ghouls on the ground, the damage from the fallen missiles had led to a lessening in the volume of fire being directed their way. Several of the diving Gyaos began to scream, the sound intensifying before manifesting in a lance of shrieking light that stabbed downwards.

The screaming Gyaos were targeted right away. But one or another would score a hit. A turret toppled forward, sliced off at the base. Another was cut right through its internal ammunition feed, setting off the Dust rounds within, triggering a series of explosions that blew a chunk off the top of the wall and killed a half-dozen human soldiers near its base. A Paladin tumbled over backwards, its cockpit and pilot severed in two. The rest of the turrets managed to kill several more the Gyaos, but a new wave came sweeping down in their wake, each successive attack slowly but surely chipping away at the wall's defenses. The Gyaos themselves were getting close enough now that the wall's human defenders and the Paladins were targeting them, rather than the oncoming Ghouls.

The slacking of the fire raining down on them meant that the Ghouls were advancing even faster now, clambering across the ground, their wails increasing in volume as they drew nearer to their prey. It seemed that it was inevitable that the defenses would be overrun.

Then, a hundred meters from the face of the wall, a new defensive measure revealed itself. Hidden panels slid open, revealing rows upon rows of new gunports, from which extended the revolving barrels of countless miniguns. They opened fire on the incoming Ghouls, sweeping back and forth as much as their mounts would allow, sending a new storm of Dust-rounds scything through the incoming Grimm, and cutting them down like grass, driving the entire horde back.

* * *

"Well, Jimmy's pretty thorough, I'll give him that," grumbled Qrow as he and Winter watched the battle unfold. He hadn't been expecting the hidden guns concealed in the wall itself. Perhaps it was a testament to the sheer degree of overkill in Ironwood's defensive measures. But it had certainly saved their bacon this time.

"But it's only going to buy us time," said Winter nervously. "They've already taken out our missile launchers, and each successive attack by the fliers is inflicting new casualties on our troops, and weakening our defensive fire. At this rate, our defenses won't last for another three hours."

"What other assets have ya got?" asked Qrow.

"There are two warships remaining in our airspace," said Winter. "We also have two squadrons of fighters, which can hopefully counter the airborne ones. That will buy us a little more time."

"Time, huh..." Qrow mused darkly. "That's it! Dammit! We've been had!"

"What do you mean?" asked Winter.

"It's way too obvious now," said Qrow. "This is exactly what the bad guys were waiting for. They waited for Jimmy to answer Kyo's challenge, and go to meet him, taking the biggest chunk of Atlas' defenses with him. Now they're hitting us while we're short on troops and materiel."

"They used the initial phase of their attack to analyze our defensive measures, and then developed countermeasures," added Winter grimly ( _How appropriate,_ she thought). "Normal Grimm, even the intelligent ones can't come up with advanced tactics like that. These ones are being coordinated...controlled..."

"Yeah," said Qrow, his gaze fixing on the white-haired old man with a cybernetic eye, who stood among Nobunaga's companions. "And I think I know who it is."

"I suppose we'll have an advantage, if we can kill him," said Winter crossly. "But, right now, that's impossible. We don't have anything that can reach their current position and, even if we could, aside from Fall and Taurus, we have no idea about the others' capabilities."

"So what's the plan then?" asked Qrow.

Winter swallowed, her expression despairing. "We continue the evacuation. The civilians are being moved into their respective shelters, secondary fortifications are being raised for when the wall is breached."

"I don't know how much good that'll do," said Qrow, staring almost despairingly at the tide of Ghouls streaming towards the wall, while more Gyaos rose up to join those already in the air. "Besides the obvious fact that we can't hold out against that horde forever, not with how many of those things there seem to be, I still haven't seen Raven."

"Your sister?" asked Winter.

Qrow nodded. "That ability of hers is a pain in the neck. She could open up portals behind our lines, and bring God-knows-how-many of those things through. If that happens, our goose is well and truly cooked."

Winter shivered, and Qrow took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"We'll have to do what we can," said Winter. "We don't have any counter for that kind of ability, I'm afraid. In the end, the only hope we have is to stall...for as much time as we possibly can. We'll fight for every minute and second we can get."

"Until what?" asked Qrow.

"Until Kyo gets here, hopefully," said Winter.

"That's...not a bad plan, actually," said Qrow. "It's probably our best bet for making it through this."

Winter nodded, her expression grave. "We just have to hope that he hasn't been too worn out by his earlier fight."

"Yeah...that might be an issue," admitted Qrow.

They turned their attention back to the battle at hand, which was going about as poorly as they expected.

* * *

The unveiling of the hidden ranks of guns within the structure of the wall itself had driven back the Ghouls a considerable distance. However, none of those guns were in any position to intercept the Gyaos attacking from above. Their design kept them from elevating their aim enough to hit aerial targets. However, their deployment allowed the troops and turrets on the wall to reshuffle their priorities. They turned their aim upwards, even as the guns within the wall continued to push back the waves of Ghouls. The next three attack runs by the Gyaos ended without a single one managing to land a hit on the remaining defenses.

"We've managed to achieve a stalemate," noted Ajira. "Perhaps it is time for us to enter the fray ourselves."

"Not yet," said Nobunaga calmly. "Rather, I would prefer it if we broke through with the Grimm alone. You all will be at your most effective by inflicting a final despair on the enemy." He grinned savagely. "If we can break through with our pawns alone, imagine the fear they will experience when the pieces of the back rank finally begin to move."

"Ha!" barked Ajira. "I like it."

"Aw...but I'm hungry," protested Bikara.

"Patience," said Nobunaga. "You'll be able to sate your appetite soon enough." He turned his gaze to Merlot. "Kubira, I assume that you are capable of tipping the balance."

"But of course, My Liege," said Kubira confidently. "It is time to send in our most powerful pawns." He tapped a command on his scroll.

Low, wet, gurgling neighs echoed from behind them, accompanied by feral screams that were far more terrifying than even those emitted by the Gyaos above.

* * *

"Oh crap..." muttered Qrow. "We should've known they hadn't played all their cards yet."

New figures joined the constant stream of Ghouls surging towards the wall. At first, they looked like shadowy humans mounted on black, one-eyed horses. However, a closer look showed that the figures of the riders emerged directly out of the horse's backs. They galloped forward, not seeming to care that they trampled numerous Ghouls beneath their hooves. The riders brandished long arms ending in long, thin, need-like fingers that terminated in sharp points. The horses trailed noxious-looking, green gas from their nostrils.

"What are those?" gasped Winter.

"Nuckelavees," said Qrow. "My nieces and their friends met one in Mountain Glenn, a couple months ago. It took all eight of them to put it down. I hope your people have gas masks."

"Are they poisonous?" asked Winter.

"That gas they're breathing out might as well be," said Qrow shifting forward. "Also, if they wound anyone, they apparently host an infection-type Grimm that'll kill the poor sod, even if he manages to survive the mauling."

"So we'll need to prioritize their elimination," said Winter, already issuing a command through the CCT to the turrets. "This isn't good. Our defenses are already spread too thin."

"Well, like you said..." said Qrow, licking his lips, his throat dry, "...stall like there's no tomorrow. That's our only hope now."

* * *

The Nuckelavees galloped towards the wall, their riders leaning forward, long arms dangling. As they approached, the remaining turrets suddenly turned downwards, directing their aim at the large Grimm. They fired a steady barrage. However, the Nuckelavees proved to be quite nimble, more than a few of them leaping aside from shots and continuing forward, their pace not slacking. One dropped, then another, but others continued on, vaulting over the front ranks of the Ghouls with ease, and rushing straight towards the wall...

...Only to run straight into an almost solid wall of Dust rounds as the countless miniguns embedded in the wall opened up again, completely shredding their forms. More Nuckelavees came in from behind, and were mowed down just as quickly, even as the guns continued to chew their way through the endless ranks of Ghouls that tried to follow their larger, more mobile brethren.

Considering that they were unable to last against the guns embedded in the wall, targeting the Nuckelavees with the turrets mounted on top was most likely unnecessary. However, Qrow's awareness of their capabilities, and his warning to Winter ,had turned out to be a double-edged sword. With the turrets prioritizing the approaching calvary, the volume of fire being directed at the Gyaos above had begun to slacken again. It was a costly mistake.

Gyaos swooped down, a new wave finally making it through the barrage of fire coming from the soldiers, androids, and Paladins. Shrieking lances of yellow light raked along the top of the wall, slicing down everything in their path. One Gyaos dove straight down towards the ramparts, pulling up at the last second to reach out with its clawed feet, snatching a screaming soldier off the wall with impressive speed, and then climbing back upwards with its prize. Even as it did so, it ducked its head to close its toothy jaws around its prey and, with another stroke of its wings that sent a jerk along its neck, tore the poor soul in two, before the monster swallowed down the top half.

Another Gyaos landed on the wall directly, perching like a monstrous bird, and ducked its head to snap a Knight in two. It was immediately subjected to a hailstorm of fire from the androids and soldiers on either side of it, causing it to practically dance in place as its body was riddled with countless shots, before it finally tumbled back over the side and down to the ground at the base of the wall.

However, with each successive attack, the Gyaos were beginning to get through, gradually overwhelming the defenders, and reducing their ability to keep fighting with each member of their flock they sacrificed. The soldiers and their supporting machines fought doggedly. But it was like trying to stop a crack in a dam with a piece of chewing gum, as even more cracks appeared by it, slowly spreading across the dam's surface.

Abruptly, more missiles streaked by overhead, these ones homing in on the swooping and darting Gyaos. They were followed by a stream of rapid-fire shots as swift fighters flew past, their forward-mounted guns blazing, more missiles streaking out from beneath their wings, blowing countless Gyaos out of the sky. They were followed by a barrage of blue and red beams, a pair of warships gliding forward, their guns rapidly blasting the attacking Grimm from the sky, and pushing them back. Their fire gave the defenders a reprieve. Moving just a little further forward, the warships also opened fire on the tide of Ghouls below, decimating their numbers further, and driving them back.

"That was slightly unexpected," observed Kubira disappointedly. "I didn't think Ironwood would have left any of his warships behind."

"Perhaps whoever was left in charge in his absence had some degree of canniness," suggested Ajira. "I could imagine a wise leader withholding at least some forces, if it meant ensuring that the Kingdom itself wasn't left completely defenseless."

"Whoever it is is fairly competent," observed Indara. "The warships have stopped their advance. If they allowed themselves to be drawn out, they could be surrounded by the Gyaos, and brought down rather easily. As it is now, they have moved just far enough forward that they can use their guns to support the ground defenses while defenders atop the wall can supply them with additional covering fire."

"And so the stalemate is back in place," said Kubira. "Unfortunately, sortieing the Nuckelavees was supposed to be the tide-turning trump card in this game." He turned and bowed to Nobunaga. "I have failed you, My Liege."

"Hardly," said Nobunaga. "This has always been the possibility. Those defending their home and country are always at their most tenacious, when their backs against the wall. It is only natural that we would run up against unexpected resistance." He chuckled. "At the end of the day, this is what the Junishinsho are for. I had wanted to keep them back a little longer. However, this will serve as the ideal time to plunge our foes into the pits of despair."

He leveled the tip of his sword at the distant wall. "Forward! Slaughter all that stand before you!"

Indara and Ajira accelerated so quickly, their bodies seemed to simply vanish from sight as they rushed forward, dashing between the Ghouls, dodging them with practiced ease. Behind them, Basara also leapt into action. Instead of trying to weave amongst the Grimm, he used their heads of stepping stones as he charged forward. Bikara was nowhere near as subtle, instead happily bowling Grimm out of the way as he moved with a speed that belied his sheer bulk, tossing unlucky Ghouls in every direction. Santera's cloak seemed to dissolve and swirl around her, enveloping her in a black whirlwind, before dispersing, the girl herself disappearing.

"I'll have the Nuckelavees pull back," said Kubira, tapping new commands in his scroll. "We can use them when our comrades force a breach."

"Wise choice," said Nobunaga. "Unlike the Ghouls, you were not able to produce near as many of the Nuckelavees. I would prefer not to waste them all."

"I assure you that we will be able to make as many as you desire, My Liege," promised Kubira. "Once we have secured what remains of Atlas, we shall turn it into a factory for the Grimm, and churn out endless armies for your use."

Up ahead, Indara and Ajira were already almost within range of the guns on the wall. Breaking through the front ranks of the Ghouls, they charged forward through the veritable hailstorm of incoming fire. Ajira moved to hide behind Indara's bulk as towering man charged straight through the storm of bullets without flinching. He was struck by countless rounds in less than a second, but did not so much as waver as he continued onwards, reaching the wall in a matter of seconds. As he came to within reach of the wall, he drew back his right fist, which flared a brilliant magenta, edged with gold, before he punched forward.

The wall exploded upon contact with his fist, chunks of it flying in all directions. A shockwave spread out from the point of impact, crumpling the metal and cement that made up the defensive wall. Several guns were thrown out, their ammo feeds trailing behind them like ribbons, their barrels warped uselessly. A few exploded, widening the breach further. The force of Indara's blow carried all the way through the structure, sending masonry exploding out in a hail of shrapnel. Soldiers and support personnel who had thought they were safe on the ground behind the wall found out they were very wrong as they were bombarded by the remains of the wall itself.

In the meantime, Ajira jumped, using Indara's shoulder as a stepping stone. His leap took him up ahead of the wave of destruction Indara had unleashed, using the rotating barrels of the guns themselves as leverage, kicking off them so quickly that he didn't have time to lose his footing from the barrels' rotation, or when the guns themselves were sent tumbling by Indara's strike. In this manner, Ajira ascended the wall in just a few seconds, leaping up over its edge, and landing on the ramparts amongst its startled, confused, and terrified defenders.

Standing up, he took a moment to bask in the shock of the people around him. "Greetings all," he said pleasantly as the entire wall shook from the force of Indara's blow. "I wanted to take a brief moment to show my appreciation for your valiance in the face of what is, unquestionably, a hopeless battle."

"Who the Hell are you?" demanded one of the soldiers, training his gun on Ajira.

"Ah, where are my manners?" said Ajira pressing the tips of his fingers against his forehead. "I am Ajira, swordsman of the Junishinsho, and devoted servant to His Majesty, the great Demon King, Oda Nobunaga-sama. Though it may be abrupt, I am afraid that I must kill you all now."

"Just try it you son of a-!" yelled the soldier, already pulling the trigger of his weapon. However, he never got to finish his sentence. The round that his weapon fired was split in two. A second later, the rifle itself split as well, followed by the man behind it as his body fell in two separate directions, blood fountaining upward.

Ajira stood before him, sword raised elegantly over his head, as though he were posing for a portrait, rather than having just killed a man. No one had even seen him draw. "Alas, the more valiant and determined your efforts, the more crushing it shall be for those you are charged to protect, when you fail."

"Kill him!" shouted one of the other soldiers on the wall. Every man and android in his vicinity turned their guns on the lone swordsman.

"Yes," said Ajira, already sliding his other sword from its sheath in a smooth, graceful motion, more like that of a performer than a fighter, "do endeavor to make your deaths as glorious as possible."

With that, he turned and rushed for the nearest man, his swords a blur. The soldiers and androids opened fire. But their bullets never seemed to find their mark. Instead, blood and body parts from both man and machine scattered in all directions as Ajira efficiently and gracefully mowed down all who stood before him.

Down below, Basara reached the breach in the wall that Indara had just opened. He was just ahead of a stream of Ghouls, which were taking advantage of the interruption of fire caused by the destruction of a significant portion of the guns shooting them. Along the rest of the wall, the guns blazed, continuing to mow down countless Grimm. But the Ghouls were rapidly being funneled towards this one opening in Atlas' defenses.

Adam darted through the opening, and was confronted by an entire squad of soldiers.

"Open fi-!" the leader began to shout before Basara's blade flashed from its sheath and removed the unfortunate man's head from his shoulders. The rest of his squad carried out his command anyway, firing on Basara, whose sword flashed through the air, cutting down the bullets coming at him, before he dove into their midst, both his blade and the rifle built into his sheath bringing down the entire group in a matter of seconds.

Behind Basara, the Ghouls streamed through the opening, scattering and bounding towards the nearest available prey. Groups of soldiers met them with all the firepower they could muster. But the majority of the defenders were on the wall. Those behind it were unprepared, their numbers already reduced by the explosive aftermath of the missile launchers' destruction. They were unable to stem the tide of Ghouls streaming into the city, who leapt onto the soldiers with reckless abandon, and no regard for their own safety, pilling onto soldiers, suffocating them beneath the sheer weight of their numbers, clawed fingers tearing through armor to reach the flesh beneath it. In their eagerness to kill, many Ghouls ripped each other apart as often as they ripped apart human soldiers. But that hardly seemed an inconvenience, considering the sheer number of them.

More terrifying still was when they brought their mouths into play. There were no visible jaws or teeth. Yet, when a Ghoul cornered one unfortunate soldier, knocking the rifle out of the poor man's hands with a wild blow, the Ghoul latched onto his shoulders and loomed over him. The wide, circular opening of its mouth widened further, until it was wide enough for the Ghoul to lower it completely over the man's head. The soldier's head disappeared into the black void of the Ghoul's mouth and, when it pulled back, the mouth had returned to its normal size, but the man's head was gone, leaving nothing but blood fountaining out from the stump where it had once resided.

Up above, Ajira's decimation of the defenders on the wall was making the battle for aerial supremacy more desperate. Gyaos swarmed about the airships, screeching and firing off brilliant lances of sonic energy. A fighter dropped from the sky, cut in two by one such beam. Another found a Gyaos right in its path. The canopy shattered as the flying Grimm struck it head on, the Gyaos, not seeming to care for its own life, instead focused its attention on ripping apart the screaming pilot, even as the ship itself plunged down, both disappearing in an explosion amongst the black tide of the Ghouls below.

On one of the warships, a swirling, black dust devil appeared on its bow, resolving into the black cloak and hood of Santera, unseen eyes staring impassively through the windows of the bridge at the captain and crew. Her cloak exploded outwards into countless ribbon-like tendrils that sliced effortlessly through the windows, which fell apart, allowing the screams of the crew to reach the open air as they were mercilessly butchered. The warship's guns fell silent.

The other warship, now that it had lost its fellow, was swiftly overwhelmed by the Gyaos, which raked it with their screaming, yellow beams, slicing open rents in the hull. One dived directly into the bridge, thrashing its way inside, tearing apart a couple of crew members before others, including the captain, were able to draw their sidearms and kill it with several shots. However, the damage was done, and more Gyaos broke in, splashing blood throughout the interior as others on the outside took advantage of the guns' silence to attack the engines and gunports. Trailing smoke and fire, the two warships dropped downwards, Gyaos crawling and swarming across their hulls, and tearing through their interior, heedless of the danger as the ships struck earth and exploded.

* * *

"Air support is gone," said Winter softly. "The wall's been breached. Casualties are mounting. The evacuation is only partially complete. We've at least managed to get everyone inside the secondary fortifications. But they won't last half as long as the outer wall did."

"Well, all we can do is keep at it," said Qrow, straightening up with a grunt.

"What are you doing?" asked Winter.

"The obvious thing," said Qrow. "I'm heading out. I've gotta do my part to hold those freaks off until help can get here. You sent out the distress call, right?"

Winter nodded. It was the sort of thing that Ironwood would have probably rather died than done. She could imagine that the Council members of the other Kingdoms were having a good laugh at the idea of the mighty Kingdom of Atlas begging for help, though she also imagined that they were terrified at the idea that the most powerful military in the world was being overwhelmed by this attack. The things she had seen so far were horrifying enough.

"Be careful," she said a shiver of worry running through her at the thought of Qrow going out into that.

Qrow leaned over and kissed her on the lips. "I will," he said. "Take care of your people Winter. I'm gonna do everything in my power to help."

Winter nodded. Qrow left the room, the door sliding shut behind him. She returned her attention to the feed from the defenses. She winced as she saw an image of another Gyaos alighting on a wall turret, ripping the weapon emplacement apart with its claws even as it lunged down to close its jaws around a screaming soldier. The man apparently had enough presence of mind to draw his sidearm and blast the Gyaos in the eye. The two of them tumbled over the side of the wall and down into the mass of Ghouls outside, where they were torn apart.

The Ghouls themselves were spreading along from the site of the breach, attacking the guns now that they were inside their range, taking advantage of the miniguns' inability to rotate too far to either side, nor up or down. They were spreading across the wall's face like a black infection, climbing upwards in the process. It would be only a matter of time before they joined the Gyaos and that...man...in attacking the men on the ramparts.

Biting the inside of her lip, Winter ordered all available forces to abandon the outer wall and fall back.

* * *

Basara heard the soldiers calling to one another to retreat. He grinned savagely. "It's too late," he said, not caring that there wasn't really anyone around to listen. He had slaughtered a few of these pathetic humans to sate his hunger for blood for the moment. Now he was content to watch as they desperately fought their losing battle against the Grimm.

To his right, he watched a squad of soldiers falling back in disciplined order, their coordinated fire keeping the swarm of Ghouls at bay, until one that had found its way atop a building dropped right down in their midst, tearing open a man's neck, and sending his blood fountaining through the air. The squad quickly turned to deal with the enemy in their midst. However, that momentary lapse allowed the remaining Ghouls to close the distance, swarming over them, the men disappearing from view, their screams rapidly silenced under the Ghouls' wails.

To his left, he saw a Paladin also falling back, its guns blazing, and missiles streaking from the pods on its shoulders. It took a moment to see what it was firing at as still more Ghouls swarmed towards it like a black river, flecked with white. They swarmed closer and closer, heedless of their losses, before closing around its legs, then climbing their way up its chassis. The Paladin shook about desperately, trying to toss them off, but there were more Ghouls than it could get rid of. One of them found its way to the machine's top and began prying back the hatch into the cockpit. It was having a difficult time. But it was eventually joined by another, and then a third. More clambered up, using their collective strength to claw their way through the Paladin's hull at its weakest point. As they bent the metal of the hatch back, there was a flash from within, and the machine erupted in a ball of fire, taking dozens, if not over a hundred, Ghouls with it. But that still left plenty more to wreak havoc as they rushed past, into the city proper.

Above, Gyaos swarmed overhead, screeching victoriously. Now that the first wall had fallen, they were winging their way into the Kingdom's center. Sporadic fire rose up from the secondary fortifications, dropping a few, but there were always more, and they quickly stooped down, aiming not for the defenders, but swooping down to drop amongst the helpless citizens as they scrambled for shelter. The sound of their screams was audible underneath the continual wail of Ghouls, combining with the shrieks of the Gyaos and the guttural sounds of the Nuckelavees in an orchestra of the purest carnage.

Basara sucked in a deep breath, taking in the scents. The air was filled with the smell of blood, the acrid stench of discharged Dust, and the cruel, sulfurous smell of Grimm, living and dead. To Basara, there was no finer scent imaginable. He imagined that he, like the Grimm, could smell the stench of the humans' fear as they fled to their feeble shelters, while their defenders dropped like flies. He hadn't experienced anything this satisfying since the Fall of Beacon.

* * *

Both attackers and defenders were so preoccupied with their battle that almost no one noticed a single long-distance passenger airship gliding into Atlas' airspace from the south.

* * *

 **The Bloody Battle for Atlas has begun. And it isn't looking good for the good guys.**


	78. Chapter 78

**Chapter 78:**

A swirling black and red vortex opened up, and Raven Branwen, now Shindara of the Junishinsho emerged. Looking around, she relaxed when she sensed no enemies in her vicinity. She had made it in undetected.

"Ah, you're here then."

Shindara nodded.

"So Nobunaga-sama has begun, has he?"

Shindara nodded again.

"I see...That would mean that it's time for me to do my part. Come, Shindara. Let us secure the vessel of our master's future."

Shindara's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing, merely choosing to follow.

* * *

"What the...I can't believe this!" said Yang, staring out the viewport in horror, watching as the winged forms of Grimm circled over the city, shrieking triumphantly. Flames and smoke streamed skyward from the direction of the northeastern border of the city.

"What's going on?" asked Jaune. "Why are the Grimm here? What did we miss while we were traveling."

"It can't be because of Kyo, can it?" asked Ruby incredulously. "I mean, people would be nervous when they heard he was coming, but I don't think they'd panic enough to draw in the Grimm like this."

Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin when her scroll chimed. In her panic to fish it out of her pocket, she nearly dropped it as well. But she managed to juggle it until she could get a proper hold in it and answer it. "Hello?"

" _Ruby, is that you?_ " came Qrow's voice from the device.

"Uncle Qrow! What's going on?" asked Ruby.

" _We're under attack,_ " said Qrow. " _I guess that much is obvious if you're already in the vicinity. That bastard Kyo's parents were talking about...he launched an attack, after Kyo and his friends took out the bulk of Ironwood's forces._ "

"Nobunaga!" gasped Yang, her eyes once again going to the tableau of destruction before them. "He's here?"

" _That's my best guess,_ " said Qrow. " _Saw some big shot assembling his posse amongst that Grimm army before they attacked. Cinder and Adam were with them too._ "

"Adam?" gasped Blake, her already pale complexion turning several shades whiter.

"Wait! Was...was Mother, I mean, was Raven there?" asked Yang.

" _Didn't see her,_ " admitted Qrow, his voice coming in rapid bursts between panting breaths. " _She's probably somewhere around though. That's beside the point though. We'll worry about her later, if she shows up. I'm guessing you kids came up here for your friend, right?_ "

"Yeah," said Ruby. "Weiss was kidnapped, and they took her to her dad."

" _Figured as much,_ " said Qrow. " _Sorry everyone, but I think that's gonna have to wait. We need all the help we can get, here on the ground. The Grimm have already broken through the outer wall, the secondary defenses aren't gonna hold much longer, and the fliers are already attacking the civilians._ "

"We understand," said Jaune, forcing calm into his voice. "We'll be there as soon as we can." He gave Ruby an apologetic look. "Sorry, Ruby."

Ruby gave Jaune a sad smile. "I know," she said. "Our jobs come first after all."

"Well, let's get out there and crack some Grimm skulls," said Yang, smacking her fists together. "We'll clean this mess up nice and quick and then go pick up Weiss."

"Sounds like a plan!" cheered Nora.

" _Attention passengers,_ " the pilot's voice crackled out from the speakers. " _We have inbound aerial Grimm, please repel them while we look for a proper landing spot._ "

Ruby went to the nearest intercom panel and pressed the speech button. "Roger," she said. "Please try to get us as close to the fighting as you can. We need to help fight back."

" _Acknowledged,_ " the pilot said back. " _Good luck out there._ "

The students filed towards the external hatch. Behind them, Glynda took a deep breath to try and calm herself, adjusting her spectacles before following after them. _Of all the people here, why do I feel like I'm the one furthest out of my depth?_

* * *

Qrow dropped down on a Gyaos, which was looming over a small family of people who'd been slow to evacuate, the large pile of belongings spilling out of an overturned cart being the possible reason why they'd been delayed. Swallowing his frustration at fools who valued their property over their lives, Qrow pulled his sword off his back, and swept it down and around, beheading the Gyaos with a single strike.

The Grimm's body dropped limply to the ground, allowing Qrow to hop off right in front of the group of terrified people.

"Get moving!" he shouted. "Forget your stuff, and get your asses to a shelter, otherwise this is just gonna happen again. Now get!"

It seemed as though their brush with death had inclined these people to listen more carefully. They quickly set off, leaving the scattered remains of their belongings behind.

"Now then," said Qrow, "time to-"

He was cut off by a pair of screams emerging from around a corner. Cursing under his breath, he rushed around and saw a pair of children cowering against the wall of a building. It wasn't hard to see what they were cowering away from. A vaguely human figure was crouched a short distance away, his flabby flesh wobbling with each motion, accompanied by ripping and tearing sounds. Qrow figured he didn't have to wonder what happened to the kids' parents.

"Mmmm...Tasty," mused the freak as he rose up from his meal, leaving behind bloodstains and fragments of gnawed bones. "But young ones have the sweetest flesh yet. Thank you for staying, children. I enjoyed the steak. Now it's time for the sweetbread."

"I don't think so, pal," said Qrow, coming to stand between the monster and the children. "I don't know who you are, but I saw you with tall, dark, and ugly out there."

"That's right," said the flabby monstrosity, strings of drool with each motion of his mouth. "I am Bikara of the Junishinsho. Nobunaga-sama said that I could eat my fill, so I will."

"Yeah, well...try eating me first," said Qrow, brandishing his blade. "I make quite the mouthful."

Bikara's beady eyes narrowed in a glare. "I don't want to," he said petulantly. "You look all tough and stringy. You won't taste good at all."

"Too bad," said Qrow. "I'll chew you up instead!"

He rushed forward, swinging his sword down in a powerful slash. Bikara's expression morphed from one of distaste to grinning amusement. He made no effort to dodge or block as Qrow attacked, catching the slash on the elbow of his right arm. Qrow's eyes widened as the flesh deformed from the force of his strike, bending and stretching, but not breaking. _What the Hell? Is this guy made of rubber or something?_

Bikara swung his left arm at Qrow, raking at him with the five, strange, spade-shaped weapons that extended out over the tips of his fingers. Qrow threw himself back, barely escaping the strike. He was taken off-guard when Bikara advanced, moving with speed that seemed completely at odds with his bulky, flabby physique. Bracing the back of his sword against his off hand, Qrow caught Bikara's swinging right hand with the edge of his blade. But, again, the skin bent and stretched but didn't break, refusing to be cut. Instead, Bikara pushed forward, his incredible strength knocking Qrow back. Qrow was sent flying into the air, going into a backflip that allowed him to hit the wall behind him with his feet.

Kicking off, he launched himself at Bikara, his body becoming a blur as he passed by. Putting the full force of his strength and momentum behind the strike, Qrow slashed at Bikara's stomach. Once again, he felt that sensation of the skin and flesh beneath it stretching and deforming to absorb the hit, without being cut. Slipping by, Qrow continued his movement, escaping as one of Bikara's large hands slammed down on the ground where he'd landed, splintering the asphalt.

Spinning about, the blade of Qrow's sword flipped down, revealing a pair of shotgun-barrels, which sprayed a burst of Dust-buckshot into Bikara's ugly face. The monster didn't even flinch, shrugging off the attack effortlessly as he plowed forward in pursuit, once again moving much faster than something with his size and physique should have. Qrow barely managed to escape another wild swing of those arms.

 _What is going on here?_ he wondered. _This guy isn't even using Aura. I'm cutting right through to the skin, but I can't cut the skin. Is he even really human?_

"Ha! You look confused," taunted Bikara. "Wondering why your sword can't cut me?"

"Well, you're certainly smarter than you look," noted Qrow. "Though that ain't sayin' much at all."

Bikara didn't seem to mind the insult, instead cackling loudly. "You can't cut me, little man! I am the the magnificent Bikara, the pinnacle of Nobunaga-sama's creative drive."

"You ain't the pinnacle of anything, pal," retorted Qrow.

"No matter how hard you can strike, my flesh can't be cut!" declared Bikara.

"Let me put that to the test," said Qrow, pumping his arm.

With a click the mechanisms hidden within his sword went into motion. The blade segmented and bent, forming a graceful arc, while the handle extended. A crimson edge extended out from within the arc of the blade as the sword became a massive scythe.

"Let's see how you handle this!" shouted Qrow, charging forward, swing his scythe with all his strength, slashing at Bikara's stomach and chest, spinning the shaft of his weapon in his hand to bring it around for another slash. Each time, Bikara's body seemed to deform and stretch to absorb the slash's force before snapping back to the way it was before without showing the slightest hint of damage.

"Boring!" shouted Bikara, lunging forward with both hands.

Qrow grimaced, ducking beneath Bikara's arms and rushing right for his stomach. Dodging to the side, he ran past Bikara, hooking the edge of his scythe around the swell of the monster's stomach. The barrels of his guns, which were attached to where the blade met the shaft of the weapon rotated so that they pointed parallel to the shaft. Firing them, Qrow tried to use their recoil to increase the force of his attack, seeing if that could counter this monster's unnatural resilience.

One of Bikara's arms rotated unnaturally, reaching over his shoulder, but rotating far more than a human arm should have been able to. Along with that, his elbow and wrist rotated as well, making it almost look as though his entire arm had changed the way it was attached to his body. That massive, meaty hand closed tightly around the back of Qrow's head. Before Qrow could even realize what was going on, he was abruptly flipped around and slammed face-first into the ground, his scythe clattering across the ground, landing out of his reach.

Qrow coughed, spitting out blood, more leaking out of his nose, making him realize that the impact had broken through his Aura, though his Aura itself was still intact. Grimacing, he tried to force himself up. However, Bikara struck again, this time driving his fingers, and the spade-shaped weapons that extended over their tips, directly into his back. The blades pierced his Aura and plunged into Qrow's flesh, making him yell in pain.

Bikara let out a wheezing, laugh as drool dribbled from his lips, slimy droplets splattering on Qrow as they fell. "You're all tough and stringy," said Bikara. "But I bet that, with some tenderizing, you might be edible, maybe even appetizing. I'll take my time and make you fear...Yes! Fear is a magnificent spice."

His fingers tightened, moving the blades imbedded in Qrow's back, making him scream.

* * *

Indara strode calmly forward. Ahead of him stood a full two squads of soldiers, accompanied by a Paladin. Behind them was a wall that had risen up between the streets, a portion of the secondary fortifications meant to slow down the attack. At the sight of him, they had immediately opened fire, a barrage of rounds rushing right at him. Indara did not flinch or falter in the slightest, striding forward confidently. The bullets bounced off his body as though it were made of something stronger than forged steel. The Paladin, seeing that its guns were useless, rushed forward, seeking to switch to melee combat and beat him down with pure power.

The Paladin closed in rapidly, raising its right fist in preparation to strike. Indara raised his left hand and caught the incoming punch on his palm, stopping the Paladin's attack cold. Indara's fingers closed and tightened, crumpling the metal as though it were paper. With a pull, he yanked the Paladin off-balance, causing it to stumble forward. As it did, Indara stepped forward and punched out with his right fist, slamming it right into the center of the Paldin's hull. A low roar, accompanied by the scream of twisting metal, sounded out as the force of Indara's punch passed through the Paladin's body and blasted out through its rear, the pilot offering no resistance at all. The machine slumped down, its limbs going limp.

With a sharp jerk of his arm, Indara tossed the entire machine by its left arm, slamming its body into the building on his left with a crash, leaving the soldiers trapped and outmatched.

To a man, they raised their weapons and sighted on him, pulling their triggers and unleashing another hailstorm of fire at him. Indara strode forward once again, his powerful Aura shrugging off anti-personnel rounds that could drop an Ursa Major without the slightest twitch.

The fire tapered off, accompanied by a clicking sound as a magazine emptied. The soldier in question searched his belt for any more ammunition, only to find that it was all spent. Cursing, he drew a combat knife from his side and rushed Indara, a foolish last resort that was just about as effective as one could expect. His arm blurring into motion too fast for the eye to follow, Indara punched the man's head, which exploded like an overripe fruit. The headless body slumped to the ground as Indara continued on.

The others continued to fire until they too ran out of ammunition. One by one, they switched to melee or pulled out sidearms. One man closed in, feinting with his knife. When Indara's powerful fingers closed around his skull, the man instead drove his pistol directly up into Indara's chin and pulled the trigger at point-blank range. Once again, Indara didn't even flinch, his head not even twitching at the bullets' impact. He remained still, until the soldier had fired every shot in his pistol, before closing his hand and crushing his enemy's head.

The last man expended his rifle and pistol. Indara came to a stop just within the man's reach.

"You have fought well," said Indara. "Though they were in vain, I respect your efforts."

"Respect this then!" shouted the man, pulling out a small, cylindrical device.

Indara immediately recognized the grenade. However, he made no effort to attack or defend as the man activated it with a flick of his thumb. There were a series of beeps with a shortening interval between each one before the grenade exploded its load of fire-Dust. The explosion killed the soldier instantly. But Indara was left unscathed.

"Soldiers who give their lives for those they fight to defend," said Indara softly to himself. "How sad..."

He continued on to the wall itself. Looking up at it, he took in its features. It was nowhere near as tall or imposing as the outer wall. It was thinner and more compact, not even having space at the top for the soldiers to stand. Instead, they typically took up positions on the roofs of the buildings between the walls to turn the street the Grimm would rush through after breaching the outer wall into a shooting gallery. It was an excellent defense in that sense, more than adequately serving its purpose.

However, the majority of the soldiers that would have been holding these positions had gone with Ironwood to confront Kyo and his friends. Of the remaining forces, most had been slaughtered on the outer wall, while many of the rest had fallen as they fell back. Now, only the wall stood between Indara and his master's objective.

Raising his hand again, Indara pulled his arm back, preparing to punch right through the wall, just as he had with the outer one. His right fist began to shine with the bright magenta of his Aura. He paused as a faint whistling sound reached his ears, growing louder with each passing second. Looking up, Indara saw what looked like a golden comet descending towards him. He jumped back as it slammed into the ground where he had been standing, unleashing a powerful shockwave that ripped up asphalt and sent chunks of it flying in all directions. A few pieces bounced harmlessly off Indara's own Aura.

Landing on his feet, Indara blinked as he analyzed his new opponent, taking in the young woman, her shining golden hair, and her lilac eyes, which were narrowed in a determined glare. He noted there was most certainly something familiar about her face.

"Not so fast there, pal," said Yang Xiao Long, rising out of the crouch she'd landed in. "You're not getting past me."

* * *

Basara's sword flashed, a crimson streak that cleaved a man in two from his waist to his shoulder. At the same time, he angled his sheath behind his back, pulling the trigger so that the shot took out another man who had been trying to come at him from behind. Spinning about, Basara slammed his sword back into his sheath before pulling it out partially to intercept a shot from a nearby Paladin. Slamming the blade all the way back in, he dashed forward, pulling the trigger, using the recoil of the rifle built into the sheath to accelerate his draw even more. The powerful slash cut the Paladin's legs out from under it, dropping its body to the ground. Basara was atop it in less than a second, driving the point through the hatch, and through the head of the unfortunate pilot inside.

Sheathing his sword again, Basara dropped to the ground and looked around. The soldiers were all dead. Ahead of him lay the wall of the secondary fortifications. Smiling, Basara strode forward, ready to cut an opening in the wall to let the Grimm stream into Atlas proper, and feast on the flesh of its civilians.

He froze when he realized that he couldn't hear any of the Grimm around him. In the distance, he could hear the shrieks and wails of the Gyaos and Ghouls, along with the howls and neighs of the Nuckelavees. But the Grimm that should have been in his vicinity had fallen mysteriously silent. Turning around, Basara's smile vanished, replaced by a confused frown, when he saw several Ghouls sprawled on the ground, their bodies dissolving.

Out of the corner of this eye, Basara caught a flicker of motion. He spun about, his sword flying out of its sheath to catch his attacker. The red blade of Wilt met the black blade of a familiar katana. His eyes locked with a familiar pair of golden ones. "Blake."

"Adam," said Blake, her voice laden with sadness.

The two of them broke apart, Blake holding her sword and sheath, ready to fight. Basara sheathed his own sword, holding it ready to draw at a moment's notice.

"I figured that I might find you in this position," said Blake sadly. "How could you do this, Adam? How can you condemn thousands to death like this?"

"What do you know, coward?" growled Basara. "This world is beyond salvation. I understand that now. It must be cleansed. Its sins can only be washed away in blood."

"Adam..." Blake's voice hitched, making her barely able to even pronounce his name.

Basara relaxed his stance. "It needn't be like this, My Love. My Lord is powerful and all-consuming. No one can stop him, least of all you and those pathetic friends of yours. If you fight, you will have no choice but to die in fear and agony. But, if you beg my forgiveness, I will intercede for you, and convince him to spare your life."

Blake lowered her own arms, staring blankly at Basara.

"Come, My Darling," said Basara, reaching out to her with his right hand. "Let's fight together like we used to. Together, we can dispense the justice this world so richly deserves."

Blake closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them again, Basara flinched back. After Blake abandoned the White Fang and ran to Beacon, the next time she had seen Basara, or rather, Adam, had been during Beacon's Fall. During that time, Basara remembered all too well the terror written across her face as she had forced herself to confront him. They had crossed paths again since. Each time, Blake's fear of him had faded, little by little. But it had always still been there. It had never entirely gone away.

But now, there was no trace of fear in Blake's eyes, only sadness...and pity.

Basara growled. It was a low, animalistic sound, the kind of noise a truly racist human would expect to come from a "beastly faunus." Rage surged through Basara's body, his limbs trembling. His sword rattled in its sheath as his grip tightened so hard that his entire arm shook. Blake Belladonna had once been his partner. More than that, she had been his lover. They had once vowed to fight together for the sake of faunus rights to fight for a just world. _She_ was the one who had lost her stomach and fled. _She_ was the traitor. _She'd_ chosen those filthy humans over her lover. And now, _she_ was the one looking at him with pity. Worse still, he had seen that look of pity before...

* * *

 _Shining crimson eyes stared down at Adam Taurus. There was no anger or condemnation in that gaze, only disappointment. The man he had sought to kill stood atop a tall dais. Adam had attacked with all his strength, using every weapon in his arsenal. His opponent hadn't been fazed in the slightest. Finally, he had ended the battle when he had risen from his throne. Adam hadn't even been able to see the attack that had sent him crashing down into the floor at the foot of the dais, hitting so hard that the stone tiles had cracked, and an impression of his body was left in the floor. Trembling with pain and exhaustion, Adam barely had the strength to raise his head, glaring from behind his cracked mask at the face of the one who had beaten him so easily._

 _"Such a sad sight," said Mibu Kyoichiro, the Crimson King of the Mibu Clan. "You have fallen so far. You once wielded your blade with true righteousness, embracing a just cause. But you have drowned in your bloodlust, becoming absorbed with the act of killing for its own sake. What were once your convictions are now nothing more than an excuse to inflict pain on those you see as having wronged you, whether they have or not. Your blade is dull and rusted. It's no surprise, then, that it could not even draw my blood. You are nothing more than a shadow of what you once were."_

* * *

"You ungrateful _bitch!_ " snapped Basara. "After everything, you dare look at me with _those_ eyes?" His hand once again went to his sword's handle. "After I've cut off your arms and legs, my first act will be to pluck those eyes out of your head!"

"Not this time," said Blake calmly. "Not ever. I'm stopping you, here and now."

"You will try," growled Basara.

* * *

"Hmm...No one left?" asked Ajira, holding his swords down and at his sides as he surveyed the wall. All around him were the scattered remains of both human soldiers and androids. It seemed that he had killed everyone who had remained on the wall, though at least some of the soldiers had managed to flee.

"So disappointing," he sighed, his shoulders sagging. "I had hoped for more entertainment. However, it seems that it was not meant to be. As first engagements go, this is seriously lacking."

His musings were cut short by a shrieking sound from behind him. It wasn't the animalistic shriek of the Gyaos. Instead, it was a sound more like a firework being launched right at him. Turning sideways towards the sound, Ajira saw an orange and yellow flare flying right at him.

Even though his movements were blindingly fast, they were also so fluid and minimal that it appeared he was carrying them out much more slowly than it seemed, as though he had all the time in the world to respond to this sudden attack. He didn't swing his sword at the incoming shot, but instead raised his arm slightly and rotated his wrist, bringing the edge of his blade up and interposing it between him and the incoming bolt of Dust. The bolt struck the edge of his sword, and was immediately split in two, the two halves whistling menacingly as they rushed past him, the wind of their passage stirring his hair.

Looking in the direction the shot had come from, Ajira saw no one. Despite that, his lips stretched into an amused smile. "Very impressive, young lady. Even invisible, not many people can approach so close to me without being noticed. You even managed that shot before I realized you were there."

With a flash of light, Neo appeared, smiling politely, gripping her closed umbrella by its canopy with both hands, her arms hanging down in front of her in a characteristic pose of feigned innocence.

Ajira's smile faltered slightly. "Alas," he said. "While you are most certainly far superior to the unfortunate soldiers that occupied this wall, I'm afraid you are far from my level, Miss. Still...if you insist upon death, I am not one to deny you."

Neo cheerfully bobbed her head before beginning to twirl her umbrella by its crook around the wrist of her right arm.

With a sigh, Ajira resigned himself to the fight, raising his blades. "Very well then," he said. "I hope you at least provide me with some amusement before you die."

* * *

The Nuckelavee shrieked victoriously as it bore down on the two squads of soldiers before it. Their shots stung and irked both horse and rider, but didn't cause enough damage to concern it. Half the soldiers were almost completely incapacitated, coughing and vomiting as they were treated to the noxious fumes the Grimm exhaled. It charged closer, the rider raising its claws to cut them down.

A person dropped down in front of them. Standing upright, Jaune Arc raised his shield, which blazed white, projecting outward into a replica of the shield, seemingly forged from pure light. The horse's head struck it first, neighing in pain as the shield stopped it cold. Its forward momentum caused its body to buck and twist, coming about to slam the rider's body into the shield as well. The Grimm stumbled backwards and sideways on its four legs, dazed and in pain, its flesh actually sizzling from where it had made contact with the shield of Aura.

A flash of red passed behind the Nuckelavee, leaving a trail of drifting rose petals. Before the Grimm could recover enough of its senses to try and track the fast moving object, Ruby passed in front of it, her scythe whipping around. The edge of the scythe's blade shined a brilliant rose-red as she sliced the rider's head from its shoulders with a single stroke.

The rider's body went limp, while the horse portion reared and whinnied in pain and rage. Ruby reversed course, becoming a red blur again, then turning at nearly a perfect right angle to slam her feet down right on the horse's withers, putting all that extra momentum into her scythe as she plunged the tip right through the top of the horse's head. The scythe punched through the Grimm's skull and exited out the other side. The Nuckelavee froze with a jerk. Grunting with the effort, Ruby yanked Crescent Rose's blade out of the Grimm's skull and jumped clear as it collapsed, black, smoky motes already streaming away as it began to dissolve.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Jaune, looking back at the soldiers.

Some of them were still coughing and vomiting. Their fellows were steadying them and helping them up. One of the two squad leaders nodded at them. "We'll be all right," he said. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem," said Jaune. "You guys have a plan?"

"Our orders are to hold the secondary fortifications as long as possible," explained the commander. "We need to to try and keep the Grimm out until the citizens have reached the shelter. Afterwards, we're to fall back and protect the shelter entrances as a last resort."

"Well...that's probably the best plan we've got under the circumstances," said Jaune. "We've got about two teams here now. We'll try to ease up the pressure as much as possible."

"Be careful," advised the commander of the other squad. "There are people aiding the Grimm...At least, I think they're people. They're stronger than an ordinary Huntsman."

"We know," said Ruby gravely. "I think some of us are tied up with them right now. We'll do what we can to take the pressure off."

"Right," said the commander.

The two soldiers turned and began to issue orders to their squad mates. Ruby and Jaune turned their attention outwards, preparing to take down any Grimm that came their way. Because of that, they almost missed the black whirlwind that suddenly swirled into being amidst the soldiers. However, Jaune caught it out of the corner of his eye and immediately spun around.

"GET AWAY!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, already charging it.

The soldiers had noticed before Jaune had and were diving to either side, making room as he rushed through. Jaune thrust forward with his shield again, a wave of light pulsing out of it once more. This time, the construct of light seemed to bend, becoming concave as it folded around the black whirlwind. He was just in time, as it suddenly exploded into an entire forest of black, ribbon-like, razor-edged tendrils. Had he not been there, the tendrils would have butchered both squads of soldiers in just a couple of seconds at most. However, the flexible blades instead glanced off Jaune's shield. He grimaced, feeling a faint buzzing sensation as they grated against his defense. He could see lines appear in the light of his Aura, a sign that the tendrils might cut their way through.

 _No!_ he thought, reinforcing the shield of his Aura completely with his intentions. _My shield is absolute. I won't let a single one of her attacks hit them._

The Aura shield solidified and completely repulsed the tendrils, which rapidly retracted, reforming into a familiar black cloak and hood over a girl. Her figure was completely hidden by the cloak, while only the lower portion of her face, from her nose down, was visible under her hood.

Jaune's heart jolted. He wasn't sure why. However, there was no way he could afford to hesitate now. Instead, he took the initiative, slashing forward with his sword, the white glow of his Aura transferring from his shield to the blade, which blazed at an almost blinding intensity as he swung it in a vertical slash, aiming to split her in two.

Santera's black cloak flared up, a portion rising to intercept Jaune's sword. Jaune felt his blade coming into contact with something metallic, but his weapon, reinforced by the strength of his Manifestation, cut straight through it. As he did, he felt something jolt again, this time within his sword. _What's going on?_

His attack had missed Santera though. It had looked like she'd tried to block his attack. In reality, she'd used her cloak to temporarily break his line of sight so that she could slip just to the side of it, the severed portion of her cloak drifting slightly away like a cloud of wind-borne dust, separated from the rest of it by the clean line Jaune had cut through it. However, it appeared that Santera could control the severed portions of her weapon without problem. The cloud suddenly condensed, then erupted into a series of flat, black lances that streaked out at Jaune, their forms suddenly bending and changing directions as they dispersed to come at him from a variety of angles.

New shields of light winked into being around Jaune, appearing with perfect timing to intercept the incoming attacks, which glanced off harmlessly, before disappearing again. Jaune no longer even needed to think about it, carrying out the exercise on pure reflex, which had been honed in the time he'd spent practicing with Chika and Taihaku back in Onmyo. His shield rang like a large, bronze bell, channeling and shaping his Aura, Crocea Mors' will aligning perfectly with his own. Yet, at the same time, there was still something amiss.

With a flash of red, Ruby appeared behind Santera, petals scattering around her. Whirling her scythe, Ruby aimed her weapon's blade a Santera's neck, aiming to behead her, like the Nuckelavee she'd killed about a minute earlier.

Her blade cut through Santera's hood with ease. However, just like it had for Jaune, the black hood drifted upwards slightly, becoming a cloud of black dust, revealing that Ruby had missed her target. The angle had hidden it from Ruby's eyes, but Santera had ducked, her hood and cloak remaining in the same position to make it seem that she hadn't noticed Ruby's approach. Because of that, Ruby's attack missed entirely, Ruby's body spinning into an awkward position, thanks to the misplaced momentum of her missed swing.

"Ruby!" shouted Jaune.

It was too late. The portion of Santera's cloak that Jaune had severed rejoined with the rest of it, and the entire mass exploded into another tangle of cutting tendrils that slashed and lanced through the air, homing in on Ruby from all directions, leaving her no avenue of escape. However, from her position, Santera couldn't see Ruby's eyes change.

The silver of Ruby's irises vanished, replaced by black, as though her pupils had spread out and completely overshadowed the irises themselves. In the center of each eye, a strange, rune-like symbol suddenly appeared. The petals of her Semblance changed, going from red to silver. Santera's tendrils pierced and slashed through Ruby's body in over a dozen places.

Santera barely had any time to notice that the expected resistance of a physical body was no longer there. To Jaune, it was like watching a film that had suddenly skipped a frame. Now Ruby was no longer where Santera's tendrils were, but slightly off to the side. Now she swiped her scythe, the blade trailing silver light, at Santera's side. It struck the folds of Santera's cloak, and rebounded with a clang of metal against metal. Ruby dashed away, her body becoming shrouded with red and trailing her regular red petals again, allowing her to return to Jaune's side before Santera could counterattack.

"I...I did it," said Ruby triumphantly, panting for breath.

"God!" exclaimed Jaune, barely glancing her way, not willing to take his eyes off their opponent completely. "Don't scare me like that. Is that what Sora taught you?"

"Yep," said Ruby. "I don't completely have the hang of it yet. But it's nice to know I can get it to work at least partly."

"If you're not completely sure, don't rely on it too much," warned Jaune. "I don't want to lose you."

"I know," said Ruby, giving him a shaky smile. "What the hell is up with her weapon anyway?"

"I wish I knew," admitted Jaune as they edged back from Santera. "But something doesn't feel right here. I can't say what..."

"I feel the same," said Ruby, her grip on Crescent Rose tightening.

Though they hadn't managed to beat Santera, they'd at least managed to buy time for the soldiers to escape into the buildings on either side of the street. From the orders he'd heard the commanders shouting, Jaune knew that they were going up to the roofs in order to fire down on the Grimm that came down the street. He wished they could provide more assistance, but keeping Santera from turning on the soldiers would probably take everything they had.

Jaune just wished that he could shake the uneasy feeling that filled him. Crocea Mors, both the sword and the shield, were practically alive in his hands, their Auras merging with his own, making him feel invincible and unstoppable. But, at the same time, there was something about the way his weapons responded to Santera that made him feel like something was off. He could sense a faint pulling sensation, almost like the sword and shield were being drawn to Santera...like magnets.

 _Magnets..._ Jaune's eyes widened. _Wait! That cloak...It can't be...could it?_

"What is it?" asked Ruby, suddenly noticing Jaune tense up.

Jaune swallowed, suspicion solidifying into a metal lump of almost-certainty within his gut. "Something I really hope I'm wrong about," he said.

"Jaune...?" Ruby frowned, looking back and forth between Jaune and Santera.

"Stay back for a second," said Jaune. "I wanna try something."

Ruby was reluctant, but she ultimately relented and nodded, taking a couple steps back as Jaune strode forward, his eyes locked on Santera. The black-cloaked girl showed no reaction as Jaune approached, her expression not having changed in the slightest since the fight began. In fact, aside from what she needed to do in order to fight, she made no motion whatsoever, her nature reminding both Jaune and Ruby more of an automaton, like the Knights or Jaegers, rather than a living person.

Another two steps, and Santera attacked again, her cloak suddenly exploding into a blizzard of tendrils that whipped, slashed, and stabbed at him from countless directions. Jaune's response was to thrust his shield forward with a loud shout, a shout that was echoed by the ring from the shield as a wave of light erupted from it slamming into the tendrils before they could fully spread out. Upon contact, the tendrils shattered and dissolved into black dust.

 _I knew it,_ thought Jaune, thinking back to what Taihaku had said after the fight with Cinder, Santera, and Raven back in Onmyo. _He found traces of iron-sand left behind by her weapon, not because it has to do with the weapon's forging, but because it_ is _iron-sand. That "cloak" is a manipulated mass of iron-sand that she can use to form any weapon she desires. She can extend it to make those ribbons and, if I'm not mistaken, they cut so effectively because she's making the edges vibrate. And, of course...the force she'd be using to control such a ferromagnetic substance would have to be..._

Jaune charged forward, keeping the shield in front of him, spreading the protective Aura it generated in an impenetrable wall as he pressed in on Santera, leaving her with no angle to attack from. Santera drew the tendrils back in and flared her cloak so that it became a single, swirling mass that covered her front to protect her, a shield against a shield. Jaune's own shield struck it, and he felt as though he had hit a solid mass. What was more, he could feel more than just the cloak itself fighting him. It was as though his shield was being repelled by an invisible force.

Gritting his teeth and straining, Jaune fought to push forward further. However, it was hard going. Using his shield like this ran counter to the Manifestation he'd been honing amongst the Mibu. The shield was supposed to be used for defense, to protect him and others. Using it offensively like this didn't match the mental sense of purpose he'd been trained to imbue it with. However, he didn't want to use the sword at this stage.

A pair of hands pressed up against his back. "Keep going," Ruby whispered into his ear before pushing, adding her own weight to the task. Granted, as light as she was, Ruby didn't have much weight to lend. But she added her Aura to Jaune's, the two of them merging together. The white of Jaune's Aura became tinged with red and, together, the two of them began to press Santera's defense back.

Though what little of her face that was visible showed no sign of it, Santera was straining to hold the two of them back. Her feet began to skid across the asphalt. Her back was gradually pressed up against the wall of the secondary fortifications

"Come...oooooon...!" growled Jaune, straining forward another step. He felt Ruby pushing even harder behind him.

One more step and Santera's back met the wall. There was a feeling, a sense of something breaking. Santera's cloak exploded outwards in a shower of black dust, while Jaune's Aura shield shattered like glass from the strain. For a moment, the whole world seemed to turn white.

Blinking furiously, Jaune managed to clear his eyes. Looking up, he finally beheld what lay beneath Santera's cloak. When he did, his jaw dropped. His arms both lost their strength, limply dangling at his sides, the muscles in his hands barely managing to remain closed around the handle of his sword and the strap of his shield. He felt sick to his stomach, like he'd just breathed in a fresh lungful of a Nuckelavee's fumes. Tears sprang unbidden to his eyes, horror and sadness filling him with equal measure.

"J-Jaune...?" asked Ruby from behind him. With him in front of her at the moment, Ruby couldn't see what Jaune was. When she peeked around him, her jaw dropped as well and she took a couple of steps backwards, her hands going to her mouth, tears streaming from her eyes, slowly shaking her head as she whispered words of denial. "No no no no no no no no..."

Both of them saw the same thing and both of them wanted to deny the evidence of their own senses with all their strength. However, there was no mistaking that tall, athletic figure, that beautiful face, those green eyes, or that long, red hair, which ran down past the small of her back. There could be no doubt to the identity of the girl who stared at them with eyes like glass.

"Pyrrha!"

* * *

 **Well, I hope that came as a surprise. Normally, when it comes to foreshadowing, I tend to overdo it, and basically spill my secret way early. So I tried to keep any indicators or hints to an absolute minimum, much less the notion that Santera was someone who might be familiar to our heroes.**


	79. Chapter 79

**Chapter 79:**

Yang Xiao Long roared like her namesake as she charged Indara head on. Ahead of her, the imposing man sank into a combat stance for the first time that day, stepping back and raising his left arm, while keeping his right in close to his chest, prepared to defend and counter at the first possible opportunity.

Not hesitating at all, Yang charged right in, unleashing her full strength, lashing out with Ember Celica and Kiren Kaina. Orange bolts of fiery Dust and golden bursts of Aura flared out as they clashed against Indara's magenta Aura. Yang's arms blurred, seeming to be in multiple places at once as she unleashed a powerful barrage of punches against her opponent. Indara had to work his own arms furiously just to keep up with her onslaught. Despite that, the slight rise of his eyebrows was the only response his face gave to the attack, otherwise not seeming pressured at all.

Despite that, Yang's offensive drove him back one step, then another. Sometimes he deflected her blows off to one side or the other, other times, he caught her attacks head-on with the steel-like muscles of his forearms. Abruptly, he shifted his weight forward, using a block to catch Yang's left-handed punch, and knock her arm off to the side, disrupting her balance and rhythm. Before she could recover and renew her attack, Indara clenched his right hand into a fist, the fist shining with his Aura as he struck at her.

Yang brought her right arm around, bracing it against her body, Kiren Kaina shining white and gold as it met the full force of Indara's strike. Yang grunted and growled in exertion, straining against the force of the blow, which was monumental. Despite her best efforts, she was sent skidding back, her feet plowing furrows through the asphalt, her slide stopping just a meter ahead of the secondary fortification's wall.

Despite the sudden shift in momentum, Indara did not press the attack, instead lowering his arms and adopting a more casual stance as he surveyed his opponent. Yang glared at him over her shoulder, Kiren Kaina still raised in its defensive posture.

"Hmm..." he mused, his voice like the distant rumble of thunder. "I see...So you are Shindara's daughter. I am Indara of the Junishinsho. Your strength is impressive. It's been years since I was pressed this hard."

 _Pressed? Who does he think he's kidding?_ wondered Yang in irritation as she lowered her right arm, noting that Indara didn't seem interested in pressing the attack just yet. That was just fine by her. Her arms were shaking, feeling like jello. _I've been putting my all into every punch, trying to break through his defense. But I'm barely even chipping at his Aura. At this rate, I could probably pound him for a week straight, and not make a dent. His Tempering is unreal._

She had to admit that her experience with the mysterious group called the Junishinsho was somewhat limited. But the members they had encountered so far, Cinder and her Fall Maiden powers, Santera and her formidable transforming cloak, Shindara/Raven's portals, and Haira's mysterious hypnotic powers, all gave the impression of foes with a wide variety of special abilities. However, all her experience told her that Indara sported no such special or unusual powers...that he didn't _need_ them.

During their exchange, she could see that he'd been trained in Aura control in the same style that the Mibu used. All he had shown were the most basic aspects of that art: Tempering, Flow, and Projection; and probably Suppression, though he didn't need that portion at the moment. His Tempering in particular was astounding. Yang had been putting as much strength as she could spare into every punch, but his Tempering made her feel like she was punching against a plate of solid steel...from a time before Yang _could_ punch through steel. She was willing to bet that the hail of fire that he had waded through to get this far hadn't done any damage to Indara's Aura in the slightest. His Tempering was so strong, so perfect, that most regular attacks didn't even do minor damage to his Aura. It was the ultimate armor.

What was more, she was surprised at his offensive abilities as well. She understood the principle of using Flow to concentrate the Aura in an attacking extremity to enhance its strength. But it had never before occurred to her to combine that with Projection in the same concentrated manner to enhance the force of the blow even further. Now that she thought about it, it was a fairly obvious step in application.

The level of mastery to maintain that incredible Tempering, the skill needed to employ even the basic techniques of Flow and Projection in such an effective manner, just how long had Indara been training and honing his skills? Looking at him, Yang thought he was almost literally a mountain of a man, tall and imposing. But beyond that, his skill and strength reminded her very much of a _real_ mountain, years of painstaking work and effort, piled upon one another like layers of shifting sediment that were piled up, until they were compressed down into rock. She imagined that she could see those layers, those months and years of continuous, careful effort. The man before her was a true warrior of the highest caliber, which begged the question...

"Why would someone like you serve a monster, like Nobunaga?" asked Yang. "He's evil!"

Indara closed his eyes, bowing his head by the tiniest of increments, seemingly conceding Yang's assertion without contest. "It is true," he said. "However, I have sworn to serve Nobunaga-sama with every ounce of my strength. As savage and monstrous as he may be, he is a true conqueror at heart. One who conquers does not do so unless they intend to rule. Brutal and relentless though he may be, Nobunaga-sama will unite the world under his rule."

"But what kind of rule will that be?" demanded Yang. "You think this kind of bloodshed is going to stop, just because he wins?"

"Bloodshed occurs either way," said Indara dismissively. "Kingdom against Kingdom...humans against faunus...humans and faunus against the Grimm...Whatever the age, bloodshed is an inescapable aspect of this world. Even as people fight to bring and hold others together, their own natures ultimately clash and threaten to tear apart the tapestry of the world apart at the seams.

"But Nobunaga-sama is different. Humans and faunus...Creatures of Grimm...monsters beyond your imagination…Nobunaga-sama has brought all these disparate forces together beneath his banner, their reins gripped by the strength of his sheer will. In all the world, only Nobunaga-sama has the disposition of a _true_ ruler. All others are but pretenders."

Yang growled, baring her teeth in frustration. She supposed there wasn't really any other legitimate explanation for why someone like Indara would follow a monster like Nobunaga, and partake in this horrid kind of warfare. He was calm, rational, and almost gentle in his manner of speech. But he was a fanatic all the same. Yang realized that he was fervently devoted to his master from the very bottom of his soul. There would be no talking him down then.

But that ultimately worked out for her, she supposed. After all, this brief interlude and argument had given her the chance for her arms to recover somewhat from their previous exertion. They still hurt from the impact of all those hits against Indara's unyielding Aura. But at least they didn't feel like a pair of limp noodles. In fact, Yang's right arm felt fine, from below her stump, her Aura construct holding steady, supported by the strength of her weapon, which hummed against her Aura in a comforting manner, reinforcing it and enhancing it. In fact, if it hadn't been for Murasame's masterpiece, Yang figured that last hit might have been the end of her right then and there.

She frowned thoughtfully. Her opponent was out of her league in both strength and experience. If he started fighting seriously, Yang figured that she'd wind up overpowered and outmatched in a matter of seconds. If she took one of those hits anywhere except Kiren Kaina, her Aura would probably break on the spot.

 _But those hits..._ Yang found herself smirking as she realized that that single hit Indara had landed had already charged up her Semblance a considerable bit. There was a nice pool of power waiting in reserve, helpfully stoppered by Kiren Kaina for when she needed it. A few more hits like that, and she'd have enough power to launch an attack capable of breaking through that absurd Tempering of his. Her ultimate attack, which transformed her right arm and fist into a dragon of pure Aura to rip into an opponent, would be able to penetrate Indara's defenses.

However, that wasn't going to be an easy thing to pull off, especially not against an opponent of this skill and strength. She couldn't afford a single mistake. One tiny error, and Indara would probably smash her body just as easily as he had those of the unfortunate soldiers scattered around her. She would have to take his counterattacks head-on, without allowing them past her defenses, so that she could charge her Semblance up to its maximum level.

Then came the attack itself. In her past uses of it, it had taken her anywhere from several seconds to a minute or more to charge it up and unleash it. An interval of that length was fatal against an opponent of this caliber. Indara would see it coming a mile away, and kill her before she could even get it off. She had to build it up while still fighting, and then fire it off without any warning, right up next to him, and in the midst of their exchange, to ensure that Indara didn't get any time to react. Was something like that even possible? _It might be,_ thought Yang. _I can take a page from his book._

She swallowed, even as a nervous excitement buzzed through her veins, making her hairs stand on end. Pulling this off would be like walking a tightrope the width of sewing thread. The slightest mistake would end up with her dead before she even realized what went wrong. She couldn't afford any margin of error. This had to be absolutely perfect. _I'll just have to do it, and complain when I'm dead,_ she thought resignedly.

Taking a deep breath, she raised her arms, sank into a crouch, and narrowed her eyes. _Let's do this._ With a powerful shout, she charged forward, her fists raised as she closed with Indara. Indara apparently decided not to simply wait for her to come to him. He surged forward, moving with such incredible speed that Yang would have missed the movement altogether, if she'd blinked. Before she even realized it, he was right in front of her.

If she'd been less skilled and experienced, she would have died right then and there. The shock of Indara's sudden shift to the offense neatly derailed her thoughts and plans. Luckily, after all the battles she had been through in her life, all the training she'd undergone, Yang's body knew what to do without even needing to consult her brain. Her right arm lanced forward, Kiren Kaina shining and ringing as it met Indara's first punch head on. The shockwave of impact crushed the ground around them.

Yang wasn't sure how long the exchange lasted. It could have been a minute. It could have been thirty seconds. It could have been even less. All Yang knew was that it was the busiest brief frame of time she'd ever been in. Everything seemed like a blur to her as she exchanged punches, blocked, and even kicked for good measure. Indara hit harder than anyone she'd ever gone up against. Every time she blocked one of his blows, her entire body jolted. She was forced to defend exclusively with her right arm, relying on Kiren Kaina's strength and coverage to withstand the mighty blows.

Once again, Yang was overcome by that sense of futility. Every time her fist struck, she felt that same painful jolt that came from striking an unyielding surface. Indara's Aura was Tempered to perfection and, at best, she was only taking tiny little chips out of it. On the other hand, she could feel her Aura drop by a noticeable margin, each time he attacked, even though she blocked all his attacks perfectly. If Yang had intended for this to be a battle of attrition, she might as well have committed suicide.

The clash of their Auras against one another sent bright sparks of gold and magenta dancing in colored bursts in front of Yang's eyes. Sweat rolled down her forehead, dripping off her cheeks, when it wasn't being blown away from the continuous, rapid shockwaves of their exchange. At least that kept it from getting in her eyes.

Her arms trembled. Her legs were beginning to feel weak. She was sure that her punches were getting weaker. But every one of Indara's blows hammered home, just as strong and fast as before. Her entire body was becoming sore from the strain of standing up against his attacks. If this kept up much longer, she would wind up collapsing.

Fortunately, she could feel her Semblance gaining power. Even though her Aura weakened, the store of power built up her her Semblance, helpfully contained by the weapon Murasame had forged for her, had reached heights that it never had before. She could feel the incredible power ready to be unleashed. If she had been her old self, with both her flesh-and-blood arms, Yang had the feeling she'd never be able to pull a tactic like this off. Pushing that much power through one arm, in a single attack, would have probably ripped her original arm apart.

There were so many things to try and keep track of that Yang nearly missed Indara's sudden change in tactics. He struck her with a swift, powerful left, one that she managed to block. However, she was driven back several meters. Growling, Yang surged to get back into the fight. She was almost caught completely off-guard when Indara revealed his right arm. At some point, he had condensed his Aura into a sphere that hovered over his open hand. As Yang came at him, he hurled the sphere of Aura at her like a baseball.

Caught off-guard, Yang did the first thing that came to her, she punched the incoming sphere with all the strength she could manage. She was lucky she'd used her right arm, as her left would have probably shattered from the impact. As it was, she felt a jolt down the Aura construct that nearly made her arm unravel, which would have spelled the end of her plan, along with her life. She managed to hold on though, shattering the sphere of Indara's Aura and pressing forward. The rise of Indara's eyebrows confirmed his surprise at her success.

They closed again in another flurry of blows. Yang grunted with each hit she took. She could feel her Aura nearing its limit, while her Semblance had stocked up as much power as she thought she could. It was now or never...

Pressing forward, Yang almost walked straight into one of Indara's punches. This was her opportunity though. Instead of trying to block like usual, she put as much strength as she could into a hooking left that she used to hit his incoming left from the side, the punch knocking his arm out to the side. At the same time, Yang stepped in so that the two of them were nearly face-to-face, Indara's eyes widening at finding his target suddenly so close.

Even as she had been creating her opening, Yang was already preparing to unleash her final blow. Her Aura flowed out into her right arm as she stepped into the punch. Kiren Kaina rang, blazing silver light from the steel, while golden flames streamed from the inlays. Yang felt her arm shift in conjunction with the motion, its shape changing. While she wasn't conscious of it, her eyes turned Crimson.

Indara glanced down at Yang's incoming attack. His eyes widened in shock and fear. A fanged, reptilian maw was lunging straight at him, flames spilling from its mouth, eyes glowing the same red as Yang's. With a final roar, Yang punched, Projecting her Aura out the way she had felt Indara do when he attacked her. It was as though she had practiced it a thousand times. There was the distinct feeling of disparate parts clicking into place, something coming together in a way that Yang could only describe as perfect. She realized that this no longer qualified as a Semblance, a power she'd awakened to, that was hers, more or less, by coincidence. It was something that she had shaped, refined, worked at, until she had achieved her current form. This was technique, a true Manifestation.

And yet...it didn't feel complete quite yet. However, that was a moot point at the moment.

Over the roar of her attack, and the explosive sound of impact, Yang could barely make out Indara's bellow of pain. Her attack ripped its way across the ground, excavating a trench, plowing straight through the side of a building and emerging out the other side, ripping a swath through a swarm of Ghouls roaming the streets, continuing on its way, until it reached the outer wall, which it punched through as well.

Gasping for breath, Yang sagged forward, her eyes returning to their normal color. She barely had the presence of mind to draw in the Aura of her right arm, collapsing Kiren Kaina back into its inactive form. She sagged down to one knee, strands of her soaked hair swinging down to dangle in front of her face, her entire body now soaked with sweat. Almost automatically, Yang Suppressed her Aura, doing her best to build it back up so that she could fight again.

Once again, she was struck with the sense that her new technique wasn't complete...not yet. Just as it had been with her Semblance in its previous form, it was a spectacular finisher, able to turn the tables on a superior opponent in an instant. However, right now, she was barely able to remain upright. She had spent too much of her strength to absorb the force necessary to empower her attack. Even if she'd defeated Indara, the battle was a long ways from over, and Yang wasn't in a position where she could continue to fight.

From within the cloud of smoke and dust that filled the space in front of her, Yang heard the sound of dragging footsteps. They were staggered, uneven, and accompanied by pained grunts. At the very least, she had managed to injure Indara, possibly even severely. If she could take him out of the fight at this juncture, then she supposed she could be satisfied.

The dust cleared to reveal her opponent. Indara was upright, but blood was leaking out from his mouth. His right hand had reached around to clench the left side of his torso. Yang could see more blood streaming out from between his fingers and, from the position of his hand in comparison to the rest of his body, she realized her attack had taken a sizable chunk out of the side of his stomach. It was nothing short of a miracle that the man was still standing.

But she could sense that his Aura was still there. She hadn't broken it completely, just overwhelmed it at one point. Even now, Indara's Aura was pooling around his wound, working to stop the bleeding and beginning the healing process. It was nothing particularly effective, but Yang realized that he would probably survive, at the very least. She growled and tried to force herself to her feet, but the best her legs could manage was a slight twitch that enabled her to lurch upwards briefly, before she collapsed back down onto her knees again.

Indara, in the meantime, continued to lurch towards her. There was no anger in his eyes, only a dogged determination. Yang realized that, even in his condition, Indara was aiming to finish this fight. He was struggling to reach her, so that he could finish her off. The realization sent a thrill of fear running through her. Her Aura was all but completely depleted. She couldn't even bring herself to stand. Right now, she was all but helpless against even a weak attack, and she knew that any attack Indara launched, even in his condition, would probably be more than she could survive.

 _No!_ she thought abruptly. _Don't panic. I have time._ Indara was struggling her way, but his process was slow, hampered by his wound, and the fact that he was using almost all his remaining Aura to keep from bleeding out. She couldn't move, but she was already Suppressing her Aura. She had to make the most use of every _second_ her last attack had bought her to try and regain as much Aura as she could. If she could manage that, then maybe she could fend off Indara's weakened strike. It was a long shot. But it was the best option she had at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, Yang closed her eyes and allowed her body to relax, evening out her breaths as she calmed herself, doing everything she could to avoid burning extra energy as she devoted all of her focus to recovering as much Aura as she could, her ears following the sound of Indara's steps as he inched closer and closer.

She heard Indara's steps falter. It was taking him longer to make each one. Finally, there came a moment where he stopped. Hesitantly, Yang opened her eyes. Indara was just a few meters away, almost within striking distance. Her eyes locked with his. For a moment, they simply stared at each other. Then, the determination that had filled Indara's gaze drained away, replaced by a look of resignation. His body sagged, and he too sank down to one knee.

The shock was so great that Yang nearly released her Suppression. Luckily, she kept a lid on it, and simply stared as Indara coughed up more blood, the last remnants of his Aura pooling around his wound, leaving him unable to move or attack.

Yang wanted to sigh in relief, but knew better than to lower her guard. Indara might be down, but there were other Junishinsho around, not to mention the Grimm. Even one of those spindly stick-man Ghouls could end her in her current state. She had to focus on recovering her strength and getting moving again.

Then a new sound reached her ears, the clop of hooves against asphalt streets. _Oh crap!_ The last thing she needed now was to face down a Nuckelavee. Even if she'd had an hour to recover, one of those would be too much for her in her current state. The clopping sound came closer and closer, making Yang wince nervously, expecting to see the hideous figure of the Grimm come around the corner any minute now.

When it arrived, it took Yang a moment to realize that it _wasn't_ a Nuckelavee. It was indeed a horse and rider, but they were two separate entities, not joined together. Furthermore, the horse looked gaunt, almost skeletal, hardly threatening as a Grimm. But the rider... Taking in his robes, his white hair, and those mismatched eyes, which focused on her almost immediately, Yang felt her heart lurch to a stop as a sense of overwhelming dread settled on her like a stifling blanket.

Indara noticed the new arrival as well. "Master..."

Even without his utterance, Yang had realized who was now before her. Silently, she cursed her awful luck. This was worse than any Grimm or member of the Junishinsho.

Oda Nobunaga himself was before her, his presence washing through the air like a pronouncement of death.

* * *

Qrow growled and tried to push himself back up to his feet. However, Bikara merely tightened his grip again, sinking those spade-like claws into his back, making Qrow howl in pain. Bikara giggled sadistically, sounding like an oversized child, the kind of nasty child that enjoyed pulling wings off helpless butterflies.

"Yes, yes, scream some more for me," squealed Bikara. "I want to hear your agony. It will make such a sweet accompaniment for your meat."

"Go...to...Hell..." gasped Qrow through the haze of pain.

"Hmph," snorted Bikara. "What a bad sport. Your meat's still going to be pretty tough, when all's said and done. I guess I should stop wasting time with you. I can find much better meat elsewhere."

His hand tightened again. Qrow grit his teeth, straining to keep from screaming and giving the monster anymore satisfaction. However, with a painful pop from his back, the feeling suddenly disappeared from his legs. Qrow's control slipped and another scream of pain echoed out.

Bikara squealed and giggled reaching up with his free hand to wipe away the drool leaking out of his mouth. As he lowered his hand, he failed to notice a flash of pink off to his left side. Therefore, he didn't react at all when the head of a massive war-hammer slammed into the side of his skull. There was a delay of a fraction of a second before the hammer discharged a powerful, pink explosion that sent Bikara flying, wrenching his claws free from Qrow's back and scattering arcs of the Huntsman's blood through the air as Bikara was slammed bodily into the side of a building.

"Urgh...who did that?" demanded Bikara crossly as he pulled himself out of the crater his body had left, dislodging masonry in the process. Despite the hit he'd just taken, he seemed none the worse for wear. Looking around, he was shocked to notice something else. "And where's my meat."

"Right here, chubby!" shouted a voice from in front of him, making Bikara realize the presence of an orange-haired girl, hefting her massive hammer as she readied herself for the fight. Nora grinned fiercely. "Try chewing on me for a change."

Drool spilled out from Bikara's lower lip to splash on the pavement. He wiped the spittle away with his arm before grinning madly, displaying his blood-splashed, yellow teeth. "Oh yes..." he moaned. "Young girls like you have the sweetest flesh. I can't wait to sink my teeth into you."

"That's gonna be hard to do when I knock them all out," declared Nora, rushing forward at him.

Bikara crouched, the flab of his legs seeming to bunch up, giving the appearance of a coiled spring. A second later, he launched himself at Nora, his rubbery limbs giving him a burst of speed that allowed him to close the distance much faster than expected.

Despite that, Nora wasn't caught off-guard. Instead, she grinned and whipped her hammer around to slam its head into Bikara's stomach. With a loud yell, she discharged another burst of Dust from her weapon's head, combined with a surge from her Aura that enhanced the force of the explosion. The resulting impact caused Bikara's stomach to deform, so that his back was actually stretching out behind him before he was sent rocketing away by Nora's hit.

The attack slammed him into the side of another building, making the entire structure shake. When he dislodged himself, Bikara dropped to the ground, cracking it with his landing. Clutching his stomach, he coughed and then growled, for the first time betraying true anger as he stared at Nora. "That hurt, you bitch."

Nora grinned and rested the shaft of her hammer over her shoulder. "Not sorry," she replied nonchalantly. "You're not good enough to get a taste of me, chubby."

With an angry shriek, Bikara threw himself at Nora, his jaws opening wide, spreading out his arms to try and catch her if she tried to dodge. Nora simply whipped Magnhild around, swinging it upwards so that the hammer's head connected with the bottom of Bikara's jaw, slamming it shut and knocking his head back. Before he could react, she reversed the direction of her swing, swinging it around, up, and over, to bring it directly down onto the top of Bikara's head with sufficient force to slam it into the ground, stopping his charge cold. Pulling the trigger, she unleashed another explosive burst of Dust from her hammer for good measure.

After finishing her attack, Nora jumped away. Her caution paid off as Bikara planted his hands on the ground and pushed, yanking his head out of where it had been stuck. Shaking it, he growled angrily, and focused his beady eyes on Nora again.

Nora frowned. She was hitting Bikara as hard as she could, even applying what she'd learned in Onmyo from Keikoku to ensure that she could hit her hardest. However, nothing seemed to faze Bikara for long. His rubbery body seemed to stretch and deform to absorb the impact of her hits without really taking any damage. A normal person would have suffered severe internal trauma by now, but Bikara largely seemed only inconvenienced and annoyed by Nora's attacks thus far.

If she had been facing him alone, Nora might have been more worried. As it was, a smile soon found its way back onto her face. Bikara might have wondered why, however, he quickly understood when he felt a presence behind him, followed by the sensation of something sharp sinking into his shoulders on either side of his neck.

With an angry roar, Birka reached up and around with his arms, the shoulders rotating much farther in their sockets than any human limb could, his meaty hands reaching swiftly for the source of the irritation. However, the sensation of someone behind him vanished, and Bikara's fingers closed around empty air.

With another frustrated growl, he started to turn and look for his tormentor, only to suddenly sense his presence in front of him. Bikara's head snapped back to the front as twin lines of pain seared their way across his stomach. Looking down, Bikara spotted the young man, dressed in green, vaulting away to land next to Nora.

"More?" growled Bikara in irritation. "I just want to eat. Stop interfering!"

"Nope," said Nora with a cheerful grin.

"I'll kill you!" shouted Bikara, lunging forward at them, his arms outstretched.

Nora and Ren leapt apart from one another and came at Bikara from different directions. To their surprise, the monster grinned, seeming to track both of them as his arms suddenly changed direction, swinging at them, those spade-like claws he wore on each of his fingers leaving tracks of grayish-white light in the air behind them.

Nora caught the attack coming her way with the shaft of Magnhild. However, the force behind the swing sent her flying back. On his end, Ren went into a jumping spin that carried him in an arch over Bikara's swing, coming back down and closing in. As he did, Bikara swung across his body with the arm he'd used to strike out at Nora, aiming to gouge out Ren's stomach.

Ren jumped back from the attack, but immediately found himself in the path of Bikara's other arm, which had reversed its direction, flying at Ren, threatening to close those powerful fingers around his skull. Ren barely managed to duck under it, continuing to fall back as Bikara turned to pursue him.

In the meantime, Nora turned her flight backwards into a flip, allowing her to plant her feet against the side of the building she'd been about to hit. Swinging her hammer down, she slammed it into the side of the building, between her feet, and triggered its charge. The resulting blast launched her after Bikara like a missile. Bikara must have heard the explosion, or sensed her approach through some other method, because he spun about to face her as he came in. Nora didn't care.

Swinging with all her might, she utilized the momentum of her flight, combined with her strength, and finally, another charge of dust from her war-hammer. The powerful swing would have connected with Bikara's skull again, but he managed to get an arm up to intercept the swing. As a result, Bikara was only sent tumbling sideways, grunting and making wet, spitting noises as he rolled to a stop several meters away before getting back to his feet like nothing had happened.

"Geez, he's tough," grunted Nora, getting frustrated with the monster's insane durability. It was as though his body were made of some kind of rubber that continually bent and absorbed the force of their blows. With the hits he had scored with the blades of his own weapon, Ren hadn't even broken the monster's skin, merely annoyed him

"We need to find a way to break though," commented Ren as he came to stand beside her. "His skin is tough. But it has to have a limit. Otherwise, we need to find a weak point of some kind."

Nora nodded, sensing her partner and lover's anxiety. While Bikara had been distracted by her, Ren had used his Semblance to conceal Qrow and pull him to safety. The problem was that they couldn't leave Qrow unattended forever. He'd been hurt badly. They needed to get him to a doctor, and get him some proper treatment, or he might die, in spite of their assistance.

"You won't be able to kill me!" yelled Bikara, looking none the worse for wear. "You should just go ahead and let me eat you. You look like you don't need any extra tenderizing, so I want to savor your fresh, raw taste."

"Okay...gross," said Nora. "What the heck are you anyway?"

"I am Bikara of the Junishinsho!" shouted Bikara as though that were already evident. "I am a descendant of the Mibu's greatest creations, the original berserker servants of Nobunaga-sama."

"Berserker servants?" asked Ren.

"The Mibu created you?" asked Nora, worriedly.

Bikara grinned, flashing them another look of his wide, yellow teeth. "When the Mibu first created Nobunaga to be their ultimate weapon, they created several flesh-eating berserkers to serve him. But they were too powerful and fierce to be controlled, so the Mibu locked them away. I am the descendant of those berserkers, refined and perfected to serve my master, so that he will let me feast to my heart's content!"

Ren and Nora shared unhappy looks. The last things they would dare to call this monster would be refined or perfected. However, from a functional standpoint, it seemed that _someone_ had done something right. Considering his capabilities, Bikara's greatest strength seemed to be his supernatural resilience. He wasn't even using Aura to absorb the force of their blows. His body seemed to be more than capable of that on its own, which meant that his Aura was instead being employed for purely offensive purposes.

Ren swallowed and glanced at Nora again. "I have an idea," he said. "Can you keep him busy?"

Nora gave him her brightest, most confident smile. "Can do!" she shouted cheerfully before rushing at the monster, her hammer raised, a war cry emerging from her throat.

In the meantime, Ren closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. He still wasn't very good at this particular skill, not having been able to practice it much. Still, if he could pull it off, he might have a technique that could pierce that monster's hide.

* * *

 _"So...what do you think?"_ _asked Chinmei, as Ren stared at the stone pillar that had just been sliced in two._

 _"Gravity can do that?" asked Ren skeptically._

 _Chinmei grinned, resting the back of his sword over his shoulder, in a manner that Ren had seen Kyo do several times before. "When you use it right," said Chimei. "When you Manifest your Aura to create a natural force, like gravity, it's only natural that you can use it to evoke phenomena that would normally never occur in the world. That technique is something passed down through the_ Mumyo Daion Ryu _. In broad terms, we call it a Gravity Blade."_

 _"Gravity Blade..." said Ren, frowning. When he had first seen the technique, the crescent wave of pure black that had extended from the edge of Chinmei's sword, he'd thought it to be nothing more than a basic Aura-strike. However, it had cleaved through the stone so quickly and cleanly that Ren had known there had to be something more to it. But gravity..._

 _"When you push the power of gravity to its limit, all kinds of crazy things can happy," said Chinmei, jumping back to a spire a short distance away, perching atop it. Lifting his left hand, he extended his index finger, pointing it straight up. Ren saw the space above his finger twist, seeming to bend inward before expanding out in a black sphere that seemed to be a void made manifest. He could feel the pull, as everything in the orb's vicinity seemed to gravitate towards it, including him._

 _"Controlling gravity doesn't just mean controlling how hard something is pulled down," said Chimei. "It also means being able to control just which way_ down _is."_

 _"And when you're doing that..." pressed Ren._

 _"When I do it like this, I'm not merely making 'down' a vector," said Chinmei. "I'm making it into a point, focusing my gravity like this into a single point creates a phenomenon called a singularity, a black hole. At its highest level, not even light can escape it. This is one of the ultimate techniques of my school."_

 _"And what does that have to do with the Gravity Blade?" asked Ren._

 _Chinmei sighed and relaxed his body. The orb shrank and vanished, the pulling sensation vanishing as Chimei jumped back to where Ren was watching._

 _"At its extreme limit, gravity can do a lot more than you realize," he said. "At its greatest level, gravity doesn't just affect matter, but space, and even time itself. That's what a Gravity Blade is. It's an edge of compressed space. You use your Aura as a conduit to give it shape and direction. When you do that, it becomes a blade capable of cutting through nearly anything."_

 _Ren frowned. "That seems rather difficult."_

 _"It ain't the easiest thing in the world," admitted Chinmei. Pulling a bundle out from behind his back, he tossed it to Ren. "I got those for you. They ain't Murasame customs, but they're made by a decent smith, who knows his job."_

 _Unrolling the bundle, Ren was surprised to see a pair of sheathed daggers, their blades shaped to match the contours of the blades of his StormFlower. "What are these?"_

 _"Practice blades," said Chinmei. "When you're practicing with a force that can turn the fabric of the universe inside out, I don't think you'd want to risk your own weapons, until you're fairly sure you've got a handle on it. So, until you're confident of your control, use those. I can get replacements easily enough, if you wind up warping or breaking them."_

 _"Thank you," said Ren, staring down at the daggers in his hands._

* * *

Ren wished very badly that he had those practice blades on him now. They had been in such a hurry to get ready to leave for Atlas that he hadn't even thought to pack them. He supposed he would just have to risk it. As it was, holding StormFlower in his hands felt much more natural than those daggers did. Taking a deep breath, Ren calmed his mind. Even if he managed the Gravity Blades, it wouldn't mean a thing if he couldn't connect.

For all that Bikara had a one track mind that revolved around sating his unnatural gluttony for human flesh, he had actually shown himself to be fairly intelligent in how he fought, employing his rubbery, unnaturally flexible and resilient body to his advantage. Ren got the distinct impression that Bikara's uncouth behavior was at least partly a ploy to make his enemies underestimate his intelligence. Bikara could probably at least guess whether or not an attack would injure him. So it was a matter of making sure that he couldn't see a potentially lethal attack coming.

That meant that Ren had to use more than just the Gravity Blades. He also had to employ his Semblance. It was what had allowed him to spirit Qrow out of harm's way, while Bikara had been distracted by Nora. After studying with Chinmei and the other Mibu for so long, Ren had come to better understand how it operated. Chinmei had been especially impressed by it.

 _"That goes way beyond Suppression,"_ he had said. _"Suppression completely shuts off your outward flow of Aura, which means opponents can't sense your presence. But they can still see and hear you, even if it's a bit trickier to notice you, when you're like that. But your Semblance completely erases all traces of you from the awareness of the people around you. In that sense it's even better than full-on invisibility. It's almost like applying the principle of Suppression to your entire being. I hadn't even thought that something like that was possible, until I saw you do it...for a given definition of 'seeing you.'"_

Right now, Nora was keeping Bikara engaged. But Ren could sense Bikara keeping at least part of his awareness on him, which cemented Ren's impression of Bikara's intelligence. Closing his eyes, Ren drew upon his Semblance, feeling like he was sinking beneath the surface of a tranquil lake. The world around him seemed to shift, colors fading, shadows deepening. He no longer felt Bikara's scrutiny. Instead, he was unnoticed, utterly forgotten by enemy and friend alike.

Now he turned his attention to his weapons, while carefully maintaining his Semblance. It was hard for him to describe the mental impression of focusing gravity. He made the edges of his blades into the focal point for the gravity, focusing it and condensing it. It was difficult. If he slipped, the blades themselves would become subjected to the forces he was wielding, which would probably warp them beyond repair.

A shimmering black field, that seemed to drain the light out of the air itself, manifested, outlining each blade, and then extending downwards, doubling their length. _Here we go,_ thought Ren, opening his eyes.

In front of him, he saw Nora flank Bikara from behind. However, Bikara's head rotated all the way around backwards to look behind him, the sight shocking Nora, leaving her unprepared as Bikara's right arm once again rotated around unnaturally. Ren could see the muscles twisting so that, not only at the shoulder, but the elbow, the wrist, and even the joints of his fingers were rotating around, twisting and tightening, the tension increasing. As he met Nora's attack, Bikara lunged back at her, his arm extending, the twisted muscles suddenly releasing their tension, resulting in an accumulated spin that turned his hand and each finger into a complete blur, like a drill. Nora tried to block with her weapon, but Bikara's response had caught her off-guard. His fingers, each tipped with those spade-shaped claw weapons, plunged into Nora's stomach. She screamed in pain.

Ren's horror was such that he nearly lost his hold on his Semblance and the Gravity Blades. At the last second, he managed to maintain his focus, instead rushing at Bikara's front, while his attention was on Nora. At the last second, Ren's Semblance released. Bikara noticed him, but it was already too late.

Ren's black blades drew crimson lines across Bikara's chest and stomach in an X-shaped slash. Now it was Bikara's turn to scream as his blood arced through the air. He turned, swinging his arm back around at Ren in one last-ditch attack. But Ren easily dodged it. Bikara's swing carried him forward, causing him to fall onto his front, probably the only thing that kept his innards from spilling across the ground. However, from the stench of bile, and other smells, Ren knew he'd cut deep into Bikara's internal organs.

However, he could hardly afford to be preoccupied by that. Instead, he dashed past the enemy and straight to Nora, who'd fallen onto her back, her hammer landing out of her reach.

"Nora!" Ren immediately moved to cradle her back as he inspected her. Her stomach was a bloody mess, Bikara's claws having sunk deep after penetrating through Nora's Aura. Worse still, the rotation had done God-knows-what kind of damage to her organs.

Nora coughed, blood spraying out of her mouth. "R-Ren..." she whimpered, holding up her hand, which Ren immediately took, squeezing it tightly.

"Just hang in there," said Ren. "We'll get you help."

"Ren...it...hurts..." whimpered Nora, tears escaping from her eyes. "I don't want to...d-die."

"Then don't," said Ren urgently, looking around. There had to be somewhere he could take her.

A shadow loomed over them, prompting him to look up, his eyes widening. Bikara's condition was similar to Nora's, ironically, though the damage to his stomach was much neater. One hand was held over the intersection of the two cuts to keep his belly from spilling open, but blood continued to spill out, running down his legs, and pooling at his feet. Despite that, he looked a long ways from dead.

"Gonna kill you for that," growled Bikara. "Gonna rip your flesh...enjoy every bite."

Ren looked urgently between Bikara and Nora. He'd have to hold the monster off on his own. But right now, the Gravity Blades, the only attack he had capable of inflicting harm, took him at least several seconds of work to build up. Bikara wouldn't give him that time.

Then Ren saw the shadow of something...or someone...slip behind Bikara. Bikara's body abruptly rocked, as though he'd been struck, and he was sent flying across the street and into a storefront, shattering glass, and the metal counter behind it. Where Bikara had been standing before, a diminutive fox-faunus now stood, her nine tails waving in the air behind her as he beamed down at Ren and Nora.

"Hello," said Saisei cheerfully. "It looks like you could use some help here."

* * *

 **When it comes to the Junishinsho, I took inspiration from all over the place. Some of you might recognize Indara, as he's based off of Silva Zoldyck, from _Hunter X Hunter_. Meanwhile, Bikara's design was twofold; combining elements of Gluttony, from _Fullmetal Alchemist_ ; with Iwanbo, from _Rurouni Kenshin_.**


	80. Chapter 80

**Chapter 80:**

Ren couldn't help but sigh in relief at the sight of Saisei. "You made it," he said.

"We double-timed it, after our fight with Ironwood's force," explained Saisei. "We had a bad feeling about something happening up here, so we came as fast as we could. We suspected it was bad, but we had no idea that Nobunaga and the Junishinsho had decided to launch an attack."

Behind her, the storefront shattered again, what parts of it not damaged by Bikara's impact were scattered about as he threw himself out, his own wellbeing forgotten, intestines dangling out of the cut through his stomach as he threw himself bodily at Saisei, a wordless scream of rage emerging from his mouth, ropes of drool and spittle flying out. His hands were outstretched, reaching for her, ready to tear her apart.

Saisei's tails were faster and stronger. They became a blur of rust-red and white, lashing through the air, slamming into Bikara's body from all directions. For a brief moment, Bikara looked as though he had been caught in a blender, the impact of Saisei's tails ripping him into unidentifiable, bloody chunks. Saisei hadn't even glanced in his direction.

Ren's jaw dropped, his surprise making him almost miss Saisei kneeling down and slowly inserting her hands into the gaping wound of Nora's stomach. "How-?"

Saisei giggled. "You did more than you realize," she said. "I can tell he was quite resilient. But that resilience relies on his physical integrity, just like how, if you make a small incision in a rubber band, you can snap it without needing stretch it near as far as you would otherwise. He was definitely finished. Unfortunately, he's the sort who can continue to be a threat, even while sporting a fatal wound."

"What about Nora?" asked Ren.

Saisei's hands and Nora's wound glowed with the light of Saisei's Aura as she continued to work her hands inside Nora's body. "She definitely wouldn't have lasted long in this state," Saisei admitted. "It's taking quite a bit of work to put her internal organs back into order, but I _can_ save her. She'll make a full recovery."

Ren breathed a sigh of relief. He'd never been so terrified as when he had been struck with the notion that he was about to lose the single most important person in his life. Speaking of someone important being hurt...

"By the way, Ruby's uncle, Qrow, was hurt fighting him too," said Ren. "I moved him into a relatively safe place nearby, but..."

"Oh, I found him already," said Saisei cheerfully. "He's resting now. It's a good thing I'd gotten to him or he'd probably end up spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair."

Ren smiled and nodded, glad that Qrow's condition was no longer a weight on his mind. Far more importantly, if Saisei was here, that meant Kyo and the others were as well. If that was the case, then the situation might not be so dire after all.

* * *

Ajira looked right. Then he looked left. A moment ago, he had been standing atop the wall, facing down the girl with pink and brown hair. He had blinked exactly once. Now they were standing in an empty room. "That's odd," he noted. "Is that your doing?" He looked back at Neo.

It really was as though they had completely relocated. The sounds of the battle raging around them, the presence of other powerful Auras in the vicinity, all of them had disappeared.

Neo beamed and nodded, looking quite pleased with herself.

"I see..." said Ajira, looking around some more. "That's very interesting. What manner of ability is this?"

Neo's smile was replaced with a smirk and she placed a finger to her lips.

"A secret, eh?" mused Ajira. "I suppose I should have figured that was the case. An ability like this isn't something you'd want to give away to an opponent." He shrugged indifferently. "Still, it doesn't change the basic issue. You cannot really hope to match me, no matter how you change the venue."

Neo merely hooked the crook of her umbrella around the first two fingers of her right hand and twirled it around.

Ajira sighed. "Well, if that's the case, then so be it. We'll see just how warranted your confidence is."

He took a step towards Neo. All of a sudden, he was falling. His foot had apparently stepped out into space. Ajira's natural sense of balance took over, and his feet hit the floor. He blinked and looked around. Nothing had changed. But Neo had vanished from sight. His right arm moved automatically, his blade sweeping up overhead. Neo was above him, holding her umbrella so that it pointed downwards, a slender blade extending out from its tip. Ajira's sword had moved and intercepted her weapon so that her tip was stopped by the edge of his own blade.

Neo's eyes widened in surprise. However, she had the wherewithal to push off before Ajira's left blade blurred up to slice at her. All of this had taken place before Ajira had even looked in her direction.

Neo came down, landing in front of Ajira again. Pulling the shaft out of the umbrella, Neo pointed it at Ajira and pulled the trigger, sending a bolt of orange fire screaming at him. At the same moment, Ajira brought his left blade back down slightly, holding it vertically so that it was positioned out to his side, pointing up, the edge facing outwards. The orange bolt struck the edge and split, the two halves of the shot going to either side of him. Ajira blinked in confusion and looked to his left. Neo had attacked from the front, yet, somehow, the shot had actually come from his left side.

"Well now...that's odd," noted Ajira. He frowned and stared at his sword. Then he looked over at Neo and smiled. "Please try that again. I would like to experiment some more."

Neo frowned and glared at him. She darted straight at him. As she approached, her body shattered like glass, the fragments of her image scattering around Ajira. They flashed again, and suddenly Neo attacked from several directions simultaneously, appearing to be in multiple places at the same time. Her bodies and the edges of her weapon all gleamed with light.

Ajira's swords were a blur around him, intercepting all attacks and parrying them aside, even though he continued to look stoically forward. It was as though the rest of his body, his arms in particular, were working automatically, not even relying on his conscious control. Throughout all of this, he wore the same bemused expression on his face as before, like that of a man trying to work out a particularly perplexing puzzle.

* * *

 _"Your ability is actually quite remarkable, in terms of its potential," said Sora as she stood before Neo. "The reason I wanted you to focus on using it in small ways is so that you could refine your control. In a sense, you have been using this ability in small ways for as long as you've had it."_

 _Neo blinked and cocked her head to the side._

 _"You don't think so?" asked Sora rhetorically. "Then how is it that everyone has such an easy time understanding what you're saying?"_

 _Neo's eyes widened._

 _"It's not merely gestures and body language," explained Sora. "For as long as you've known about your Semblance, you've been using it unconsciously. You use it to produce subliminal bursts of light, so quick that they don't even consciously register to someone looking at you. Those bursts work in conjunction with your body language to convey meaning that the mind of anyone who you're speaking automatically decodes to put together a full meaning behind your gestures."_

 _Neo's jaw dropped by the smallest of increments._

 _"The eye is actually quite a remarkable thing," said Sora, "as are the components of the brain that are responsible for decoding the light stimuli received. They can actually perceive far more than most people realize. Right now, you're using that capability to facilitate communication, but you can actually take it a step further."_

 _Sora held up one finger, a blue light dancing at the end of it. "A basic example is that the color blue is considered a calming color, a color that evokes a sense of relaxation. In contrast, red evokes agitation. Our minds can respond in multiple ways to even simple visual stimuli. By invoking this, you can create effects that draw a response from multiple senses, even though you are only actually affecting them visually."_

 _Neo leaned forward eagerly._

 _"This is a good bit more complex than what you've been doing before," said Sora. "But I believe it actually won't be that much trouble for you to master. You've shown a great deal of skill in utilizing your Semblance. Are you ready?"_

 _Neo nodded eagerly._

* * *

Another bolt of fire flew at Ajira. This time, he was too preoccupied with fending off the assault from the different Neos. It came at him from the left, but abruptly hit him from the right. Ajira was knocked off his feet, burned fragments of his clothes scattering in the air as he landed hard before flipping back onto his feet.

He blinked. "Ah...I see now. So that's how you're doing it. Your technique isn't all that different from Haira's, now that I think about it. Unlike Haira, you don't even need to use sound to produce your illusions. You refract the light as it enters my eye to give the impression that the world itself has changed, completely altering my perception. We never relocated anywhere. That falling sensation I had earlier was me actually stepping off of the wall." He frowned. "I see...I've been remiss, it seems."

Neo frowned as well. It wasn't just Ajira's unshakable calm that unnerved her. It amazed her that it had taken so much effort just to land a single blow against him. Even caught by her illusions, his swords seemed almost to react on their own, knowing where the attack was coming from, even when their wielder didn't.

Ajira smiled. "Well...I apologize, Miss. I have clearly underestimated you, and done you a grave disservice. I will now take the appropriate measures to achieve victory."

Raising his swords, he did the last thing Neo expected, using his wrists to whip them around in precise slices...that cut right through his eyeballs.

Neo gasped in horror, her illusion shattering to pieces in an instant, not that Ajira could see it. His eyelids closed, but streams of red still spilled out, like bloody tears. Despite what he had just done, Ajira had shown no hesitation, not even a sign that cutting his eyes out pained him in any fashion. "I'm grateful to you," he said. "You have done what no opponent before has ever managed. You showed me my limitations, and made me realize that I must make a difficult sacrifice in order to advance my mastery to the next level."

He leveled one blade straight at Neo. "Rejoice! You shall be an offering to my pursuit of perfection of the Art!"

Neo swallowed, a cold sweat breaking out across her forehead.

* * *

"It can't be," said Jaune, even though there was no denying the evidence of what was before him. Part of him wished that this was another of Haira's illusions. Maybe it was. There was a certain amount of solace he could take in that. However, even as he indulged that whim, he _knew_ it wasn't true.

There was no mistaking it. Pyrrha Nikos, his former partner, the girl who'd loved him, the girl who'd died at the hands of Cinder during the Fall of Beacon, was standing right in front of him. Had he not been too busy being utterly shocked by the sight of her, he would have been turning red from embarrassment. She was naked underneath that cloak of iron-sand, her sleek, toned body, and impressive assets on full display. However, that was the furthest thing from his mind, as he was too preoccupied by the completely empty expression on her face, and her glassy, lifeless eyes. It really was as though he were standing before a corpse, freshly risen from the grave.

Beside him, Ruby had fallen to her knees, tears spilling out of her eyes. She had been the absolute last person among their friends to see Pyrrha alive, and had borne witness to her final moment. Ruby still remembered, all too clearly, the sight of Cinder's arrow piercing Pyrrha's chest, the sound of that last gasp leaving her lips, Pyrrha's body slumping limply, then being incinerated by Cinder's mere touch, until only her circlet remained. Therefore, everything about this situation was completely wrong.

" _Ah yes...amazing isn't it...the power of My Lord, Nobunaga._ "

Ruby blinked, clearing her eyes of tears, the rending turmoil within her heart cleared away by a single, perfect emotion...hatred. The voice was hoarse and gravelly, yet carried a sultry, taunting quality. She knew that voice all too well. It was the voice of the person she most despised in the world. "Cinder!"

A sinister keening sound filled the air. Beside Pyrrha, a column of flames swirled upwards before dissipating, revealing Cinder, in the flesh, wearing the dress she'd worn back then, at the Fall. She was still as badly scarred as ever, but there was a smile on her lips, though her one remaining eye still glittered with hatred as it focused on Ruby.

"What the hell did you do?" demanded Jaune, immediately moving into a combat stance, readying both sword and shield, as well as angling his body to keep Ruby covered as she stood back up.

Cinder's smile widened. "I did nothing," she said. "This is possible only through the power of My Lord." From the sound of her voice, Jaune and Ruby guessed that it was still painful for her to talk. But that didn't seem to bother her anymore. Cinder seemed to be brimming with renewed confidence, compared to when they had seen her at the gates of the Onmyo Palace.

"What do you mean?" demanded Ruby.

Cinder let out a throaty chuckle, that quickly dissolved into wet coughs, though she recovered quickly enough. "In passing his soul from body to body across centuries and millennia, My Lord has had many hosts. Some of them have hosted special powers, unique abilities, abilities that My Lord acquired, and kept with him, even when he left the host in question behind. According to him, one of the most powerful hosts he ever possessed was a Shaman provided by the Mibu Clan, named Shiina Nozomu. He was considered to have the highest class of powers, including the power to look into a person's past and see the souls of those that person had met. If they were dead, he could then summon them back into the world to do his bidding."

"So then he..." said Jaune hesitantly.

Cinder's smile widened. "Yes...He used his power to look into my past and call forth the person that I had killed, your beloved Pyrrha Nikos." Her smile was replaced by a contemplative frown. "However, for reasons we don't quite understand, it appears her resurrection was incomplete." Reaching up, Cinder prodded Pyrrha's forehead with a finger, with Pyrrha showing no reaction. "As you can see, it appears that something is missing, namely her will." She shrugged indifferently. "Oh well, I'm sure it will be rectified in time. As it is now, Pyrrha has much better command of her powers than she ever did when she was alive, isn't that right...Santera of the Junishinsho."

Black dust swirled around Pyrrha in a whirlwind, before reforming into the cloak and hood of Santera once again.

"Why?" gasped Ruby. "Why on earth would you do that?"

Cinder smirked. "Though it irks me to admit it, your friend was strong. Even though I'd obtained the Fall Maiden's power, she managed to put up a decent fight. It did irritate me to see her back, at first. But now, I have to admit I _enjoy_ the look the sight of her has put on your faces." Cinder reached up and brushed aside her hair, revealing the scar tissue that covered the left side of her face, including where her left eye had once been. "At my moment of triumph, you went and maimed me like this with those abominable Silver Eyes of yours. I'll never be able to make you repay all the suffering you've caused me, but this will be an excellent start."

"Shut up!" shouted Ruby. "You brought that on yourself. You're the only person you care about, and you don't care how much misery and pain you cause others, so long as you get what _you_ want! You don't get to complain if all you got was a few scars."

Cinder snorted. "Hmph! A pathetic brat like you can't understand what it's like to experience true powerlessness, to be willing to do anything to get stronger."

"I do," said Ruby, glaring through her tears. "I know what true powerlessness is. I experienced it the day they declared Mom dead. I experienced it that night on Beacon Tower, when you killed Pyrrha right before my eyes." Hefting Crescent Rose with her left hand, Ruby pointed sharply at Cinder with her right. "So don't talk to me about powerlessness. You're nothing more than a selfish bitch!"

"Ruby!" gasped Jaune, a bit shocked by her language, even if what she said was true.

Cinder snorted. "It matters not," she said. "I was worried, when you first scarred me. I was sure that ruined me before the eyes of My Lord. Fortunately, he is not so shallow."

"And what about Salem?" asked Jaune. "What was she to you?"

"Just a means to an end," said Cinder calmly. "Though I am grateful for her help in mastering the Maiden's power. At the end of the day, all we truly needed from her was the power to command the Grimm. After I acquired that, we really had no more use for her, though she served as a fine distraction."

Cinder's eye narrowed as her gaze fixed on Ruby. "Now all that is left is to kill you, and snuff the light out of those detestable eyes."

"Just you try," growled Ruby, hefting Crescent Rose. "I've been preparing for this. I'll get revenge for Pyrrha."

Cinder gave Ruby a taunting smile. "Whatever is there to get revenge for? She's right here, can't you see?" She gestured to Santera, who made no response.

"That's not her!" shouted Ruby. "That's a doll you've made in her shape. She's not alive anymore."

"Is that so?" asked Cinder with a wry smile. "Are you really sure of that? Or are you simply saying that, so that it's all right for you to kill her again?"

"Wha-what?" gasped Ruby.

Cinder drifted behind Santera and rested her hands on the girl's shoulders, her fingers sinking through the shroud of iron-sand. "I imagine it is a rare opportunity," she teased. "Very few people get the opportunity to experience death more than once. I'm sure that Santera will find it enlightening. It would certainly be a load off your shoulders, wouldn't it?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

Cinder's smile widened. "I can understand why it's in your best interests to pretend that your friend is still dead. After all, if she were alive again, what would that mean for you and your boyfriend, hmm?"

"Say what?" gasped Jaune, while Ruby's mouth worked silently.

"If I recall correctly, this poor girl was head-over-heels for you, young Mr. Arc," said Cinder with a throaty chuckle. "Sadly, her life was snuffed out before the two of you could build any kind of life together. But think about this for a moment. Thanks to the power of My Lord, this tragic child has been given a second chance to breathe the air of the living world once more. She has the chance to be with you again. And yet, that selfish little girl in the red hood would rather kill her all over again, so that she can have you all to herself."

"That's not...that's a lie...I wouldn't...I don't..." Ruby was having difficulty coming up with a response to that. All the things she was trying to say were technically true. Yet it was also true that Cinder's words stirred up a sense of fear-No!-terror within her.

She remembered the discussion, where they had learned about the true nature of Kyo and the Mibu Clan, of the potential power the Mibu had to resurrect the dead, like Pyrrha. Yang had explained how Kyo's father had confronted her with his reasoning behind the decision to _never_ tap into that power. At the time, they had all accepted it, even if it was with some reluctance.

But here, Nobunaga apparently possessed the same power, and had used it without hesitation. Pyrrha was alive again. She was standing right in front of them, though her will seemed absent. If her resurrection could be completed, and she could live again...what then? Ruby _did_ wonder what that would mean for her relationship with Jaune. Would he be forced to choose between her and Pyrrha?

But all of that was a moot point, wasn't it? It didn't change the fact that Santera was an enemy, fighting alongside Cinder. She had to be brought down. It wasn't because Pyrrha's sudden return threatened what Ruby and Jaune had...was it?

Cinder's lips pulled back, baring her teeth in a sultry grin. "What do you think, Mr. Arc? It's not such a bad idea, is it?" She hefted up a hand and an orb of flame flickered into existence, dancing in the air over her palm. "All you have to do is stand back and watch, then your beloved Pyrrha will be yours once again." Her eye fixed back on Ruby. "And you, you little, red brat, should stand by and die like a good girl. You want your beloved to be happy, don't you?"

"I...I..." Ruby blinked, trying to clear away the tears that were threatening to completely cloud her vision. Her hands clenched so tightly around Crescent Rose's shaft that her knuckles had turned white and her arms were trembling. A host of baffling emotions raced through her. She didn't want Jaune to have to choose between her and Pyrrha. If Pyrrha really was alive again, then she deserved a chance to be happy too. And Ruby knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing, and no one, made Pyrrha as happy as Jaune had. She couldn't do that to Pyrrha. But she didn't want to die. She didn't want to lose Jaune either.

Cinder smiled and thrust her hand, palm out at Ruby, a jet of flame exploding outwards and rushing towards her. In her current state, Ruby couldn't even react, only watch in horror as the wall of fiery death raced straight at her.

Then Jaune stepped in front of her, raising his shield. It blazed pure-white, a wave of light spreading out, the flames scattering across its surface before dissipating entirely.

"J-Jaune...?" said Ruby, blinking furiously, not sure what to think.

"What are you doing?" yelled Cinder, her voice so gravelly and hoarse that yelling like that must have hurt something fierce. "Don't you realize what you could have?"

Jaune stepped back and turned around. However, the barrier of light that he'd created remained in place. He turned to face Ruby and smiled warmly at her, a feeling that made butterflies whirl madly in her stomach. Carefully Jaune wrapped her in a hug, which was a bit awkward, given the fact that it meant the shaft of Crescent Rose was pressed between them, while Jaune was holding both his shield and sword, trying not to drop them as he pulled her close. All the same, he lowered his face to hers and pressed their lips together.

"Jaune..." whispered Ruby again as the pulled apart.

"It's okay," he said.

"But Pyrrha..."

"Pyrrha's dead," said Jaune with firm conviction, smiling. "Not even this can change that. You heard what Cinder said. Santera was brought back incomplete, her will missing. I think I know where that will is."

Ruby gasped, her eyes going to Jaune's weapons.

"Pyrrha loves you too," added Jaune. "She's giving me the power to protect you, and I'm going to use it."

With that, Jaune pulled away and turned to face Cinder and Santera once more, the light of his barrier finally fading.

"You insolent fool," hissed Cinder, her eye narrowing in an angry glare. "Despite what I offer, you still spurn the one who loved you so?"

"It's because she loved me that I'm turning you down," replied Jaune firmly. "A witch like you doesn't know a thing about _real_ love anyway. That's not the real Pyrrha, not anymore. It's just something wearing her shape and wielding her power. It's missing the thing that really made Pyrrha _Pyrrha_ , the most important part of her. And I know for a fact that your master won't get his hands on it."

"Don't count on it," snarled Cinder. "Even now, My Lord strives for ever greater heights. Even if Atlas doesn't fall today, it won't matter. The Flesh of God shall be his, and his power will be absolute."

"What does that mean?" asked Ruby, having recovered her composure.

Cinder blinked, her eye widening as she apparently realized she'd said something she shouldn't have. Then she frowned, a low growl struggling out of her throat. "You don't need to know about that," she said, "because the two of you are going to die, here and now."

"Try it!" snapped Ruby, her Silver Eyes flaring, shimmering waves of silvery light spilling out of them and spreading out to either side of her face. "I'm ready for you now. Your Maiden's power won't stop me."

"Gladly," intoned Cinder, hefting another fireball. Beside her, Santera made no move, but her cloak of iron-sand billowed ominously.

Ruby and Jaune exchanged looks, both of them weighing the situation, now that they were back to thinking rationally about things. They had to be careful about what they did. The street wasn't too narrow, but not very wide either. More importantly, Cinder and Santera had their backs to the wall of the secondary fortification. On either side of them were the buildings, the roofs of which were crowded with Atlesian soldiers tasked with holding off the Grimm. A fight with two powerful opponents, one who had a gift for massive, fiery explosions, and another whose power allowed her to control almost any metal, had the potential to cause some very problematic collateral damage. They had to move this fight to a better location, preferably somewhere closer to the outer wall, or even outside it, if they could manage.

At the same time, if they tried to retreat too eagerly, Cinder would clue in to their intentions, and she was exactly the kind of person who would be all too happy to use threats against the soldiers or the secondary wall as a means of forcing Ruby and Jaune to stay in a disadvantageous position.

So then, the best way to play defensive at this point was to go on the offensive. Ruby and Jaune charged. Ruby shot forward in a red blur, trailing a cloud of petals behind her as she closed with Cinder, her Scythe raised to deliver a devastating slash. Jaune was not far behind her, though he couldn't keep up with her speed. He rushed at Santera, his shield raised ahead of him, while he raised his sword up behind him to attack, when he closed.

Santera and Cinder responded in unison. Cinder swept both arms forward, flames spilling out from her palms as she oriented them on Ruby, another torrent of fire rushing forth. At the same time, Santera's cloak exploded into a forest of razor-edged tendrils, weaving and darting through the air, mixing with Cinder's flames, both attacks rushing out to meet Ruby and Jaune.

Ruby swung her weapon forward, not actually attacking, but bringing the barrel of its built-in rifle to bear, as she fired a shot that killed her momentum, her hand cranking the lever to load another round as fast as she could to fire another, which reversed her momentum. Both shots were also aimed at Cinder. However, they both exploded against an invisible shield that surrounded Cinder, bursts of fiery light erupting from both points of contact, not that Ruby could see that through the cloud of fire and the swarming tendrils. She hadn't even aimed to actually hurt Cinder, just reverse her own momentum, which allowed Jaune to get in front of her, and raise his shield again.

With a loud yell, Jaune sent his Aura surging out through the shield, which resonated with his power to create another wall of white light, spreading out to fill the street, cutting off Santera's tendrils and blocking Cinder's blaze. They struck his shield with force like a cannon. Jaune grunted and strained. With his current mindset, his determination to protect Ruby, the shield itself was in no danger of being breached. However, the sheer kinetic force behind Cinder and Santera's combined assault made his feet skid back as he strained to hold it back. It was like trying to hold back a flood. Before long, Jaune's footing gave way, and he was sent flying back with a yell of surprise.

His flight carried him into Ruby, who was almost directly behind him, slamming into her with a combined "Oof!" from the two of them as they were flung down the street, Jaune's Aura-shield and Cinder's flames dissipating as Santera retracted her tendrils. The two of them were blown back over a block by the attack...which was exactly what they had been hoping for.

Had Jaune wanted to, he could have used his shield to cancel out the kinetic force of Cinder and Santera's attack. But this would allow them to draw their opponents out more naturally, hopefully without cluing Cinder in to their actual intentions. To cement the appeal of following them, Ruby sent a parting shot at Cinder, leveling Crescent Rose's barrel at where she knew the evil woman was standing, and pulling the trigger once more. This time, she sent something else with the Dust-propelled bullet she sent Cinder's way, a determined smile gracing her face as her Silver Eyes shimmered.

* * *

 _"It would seem you're coming along nicely," noted Sora as she stepped into the room, where Ruby had been practicing. "How do you feel?"_

 _"Like I'm gonna throw up," admitted Ruby woozily as she slumped to her knees._

 _"That is understandable," said Sora. "Until you've fully acclimated to moving at that speed, it will cause strain to your inner ear. Overusing it could destroy your sense of balance."_

 _"Can I really get used to it?" said Ruby, taking deep breaths to calm the raging turmoil in her stomach, glad that breakfast had been a while ago, which meant there might be less for her to upchuck, if push came to heave._

 _Sora smiled and produced a thermos, not something Ruby had expected to see in the hands of a Mibu. It seemed so...modern. But, then again, the Mibu apparently had their own appliances, even if they were powered by geothermal energy, rather than Dust, and lacked advanced electronic components. Compared to that, a simple thermos was probably an easy thing for them. It was like any other basic thermos Ruby had ever seen or used, with a cap over the sealed lid that could double as a cup. Sora pulled off the cap and unscrewed the lid, pouring a pale-yellow liquid into the cup, a sharp, spicy scent wafting to meet Ruby's nose._

 _"Ginger tea," explained Sora, holding it out to Ruby. "It's good for combating nausea."_

 _Taking the cup, Ruby sipped from it carefully. The liquid inside was hotter than she was used to, and it wasn't sweetened at all. Still, the flavor and smell of the ginger seemed to quell the threatened riot by her stomach._

 _"You're making fine progress," said Sora, screwing the cap back on and settling onto the floor next to Ruby, crossing her legs beneath her robes._

 _"Can I ask you something?" asked Ruby, looking up from the cup._

 _Sora nodded. "Of course."_

 _"Do you know about the Silver Eyed Warriors?" asked Ruby._

 _"Ah, curious about your other power?" said Sora, raising an eyebrow._

 _Ruby nodded._

 _Sora hummed thoughtfully and let her eyes drift up to the ceiling. "I'm afraid we don't have a great deal of knowledge concerning them. After you came here, I read up on what information we have. They are what we refer to as Shamans."_

 _"Shamans?" asked Ruby, blinking in confusion._

 _"Like the Maidens," explained Sora, "people who possess abilities that don't fall within the scope of things we know about, like Dust or Aura. It's a very broad category that covers a wide range of...unique things. Saisei's ancestor and the founder of her house, Mitarai Tokichiro, better known as Akari, was categorized as a Shaman once, before her abilities were better understood. Now her healing arts are taught and practiced throughout the Clan."_

 _"So my eyes are like that?" asked Ruby._

 _"Perhaps, perhaps not," said Sora with a shrug. "Amongst those our Clan has studied, we've come to understand the nature of the power of certain Shamans. But others continue to defy explanation and elude understanding. Each different Shaman's power has its own idiosyncrasies and unique qualities. There is no guarantee that they will conform to a common set of rules."_

 _"Anything would help if it would help me understand them better," said Ruby, raising her fingers up to press them just below her left eye._

 _Sora frowned. "Well, we have learned a few things. I don't believe that the Silver Eyed Warriors are a type of Shaman that we've studied extensively. All I can provide you is conjecture based on the information we have._

 _"Shamans, as we understand them, can fall under certain categories, though often we are forced to revise what classifications we have for them. Some are Innate Shamans, those born with unique abilities that cannot be learned by or passed on to others. Others, like Akari, merely practice arts that we have yet to build a functional understanding of. As you might guess, your status falls under the former classification."_

 _Ruby nodded._

 _Sora continued. "Furthermore, amongst Innate Shamans, there are more classifications. There are those who inherit their abilities through their blood. Then there are Shamans who are incidental, those who come by their abilities uniquely, such that they are specific to an individual, and not those connected to them by blood. Sometimes that unique ability is specific to that person, and disappears when they die. Other times it might arise in the hands another. Sometimes it transfers from one person to another, such as the Maidens' powers."_

 _Ruby blinked, her head now spinning from the deluge of information._

 _Sora's eyes narrowed as they focused on Ruby. "From what I've gathered, the Silver Eyed Warriors' power is inherited. Your mother had those eyes as well, correct?"_

 _Ruby nodded._

 _"It seems to me that your powers then belong to a specific bloodline, which makes it not altogether different from the Mibu Clan's Crimson Eyes in that respect. However, what matters most is how your powers function, which, sadly, is where our information is most lacking."_

 _"Figures," muttered Ruby petulantly._

 _Sora sighed. "Well, it might help to hear from you. You can probably help us fill in the gaps. What do you know about what your Eyes do?"_

 _Ruby frowned. "Well, when they shine, they can kill weaker Grimm instantly. Stronger ones will be petrified, if they aren't destroyed. I also know the Maidens seem weak against it. That's how Cinder, Mekira, ended up with those scars."_

 _"I see..." said Sora. "And can you consciously use them?"_

 _Ruby nodded. "But it hurts to use them. It feels like my eyes are gonna explode or pop out of my head. And afterwards, I wind up feeling really weak, sometimes for days at a time. The first time I used them, I was out for two weeks."_

 _"Then it is either an extremely draining ability, or one that you need to acclimate towards using," said Sora, "not unlike what you've been practicing in here. Either that or your need to refine your control, to reduce the amount of energy you expend when you use them. How often have you used them before."_

 _"Not very," said Ruby. "I mean, it's cool and all, being able to wipe out a pack of Beowolves just by looking at them, but it's not worth how miserable I feel afterwards."_

 _"But you can use your power at will," noted Sora. "Which means it isn't limited to an involuntary trigger. Some Shamans have abilities like that, abilities that only operate under specific circumstances or react to some particular stimulus."_

 _Ruby stared into her cup. "Well, it was involuntary the first time," she admitted. "I didn't even know about the Silver Eyes, when I first used them. It was during the Fall...I'd just gone up Beacon Tower to get Pyrrha. When I got there, Cinder had already beaten her. I was too late. I saw Cinder shoot her, right in front of me, and then..." She looked back up at Sora. "Everything went white. I couldn't remember anything after that and, when I came to, it was on Patch, two weeks later."_

 _"So your power was triggered by a traumatic incident," said Sora. "That's not uncommon. However, you've since managed to learn to control_ when _you use it, at least."_

 _Ruby nodded gravely. In the end, it had proven essential, what had allowed her and her friends to defeat Salem finally._

 _"Are there any particular things you must focus on to call forth this power?" asked Sora._

 _Ruby swallowed. "Well...I always thought about Pyrrha and how angry and helpless I felt and it just, sorta comes out. It's like the power pours out of me, and I can't stop it."_

 _"That may be the way of it," said Sora. "It sometimes is. However, if nothing else, this is a safe place for you to practice all manner of things. For starters, try and call forth your power and then try to stop it, learn to turn it off and on, in other words. Then try and see if you can direct its flow outward. See if it can be shaped or channeled. Try and combine it with the things you can already do. It might seem like a lot, but I suspect it actually won't take all that long for you. If that power is innate to you, then you are the one best equipped to build an understanding of it."_

 _"Okay," said Ruby eagerly._

* * *

Ruby was glad she'd followed Sora's advice, and was amazed how easy it had turned out to be in the end. Because her previous uses of her Silver Eyes had been so draining, she had come to see it as a last resort, something to rely on when her back was against the wall. She figured it was too draining to rely on, in the normal course of things. But, as it turned out, all she needed in order to control and focus the power of her Silver Eyes was one thing.

She needed a target...and the perfect one was right in front of her.

The power streaming from Ruby's eyes formed twisting strings that wove around one another as they curled down to wrap around the shaft of her weapon, wrapping around it like ivy, climbing towards the barrel to swirl around it, as her finger pulled the trigger. With an echoing crack, the bullet shot forth, the energy of Ruby's eyes wrapping it in a shroud of silver light and leaving a trail of glittering motes in its wake as it flew forth.

The bullet flew straight at Cinder and struck her shield with a fiery flash as it clashed against Cinder's power, before breaking right through it, and grazing Cinder's right shoulder, searing her flesh as it flew past. Cinder shrieked in pain and anger, her legs threatening to buckle. Though it was just a minor graze, the pain that flooded Cinder's body was almost overwhelming, the pain of something that was antithetical to her nature as the Fall Maiden.

Worse still, it brought back vivid memories of that night, the night that should have been her moment of triumph. Instead, it had become the night she had been maimed and humiliated by a fifteen-year-old girl, afflicting her with scars she carried to this very day. And now, that same girl had inflicted her with yet another scar.

Her teeth bared in absolute rage, Cinder's eye blazed, literally, fiery light spilling out of it. With a scream of pure rage, she charged, a column of fire erupting out from her feet to propel her up and then after Ruby and Jaune as they continued to fall back, balls of fire appearing in the air around her as still more flames gathered in her hands. In her wake, Santera also moved to go on the attack, going into a spin as she leapt into the air, her cloak swirling about her and splitting into more tendrils.

Ruby and Jaune split apart as they reached an intersection. Predictably, Cinder veered off to pursue Ruby, while Santera homed in on Jaune. As they closed, Ruby hefted Crescent Rose. With a flash, a pair of swords of black glass appeared in Cinder's hands as she closed. The fireballs swirling around her flew ahead of her at Ruby, who blocked them with deft spins of Crescent Rose. Ruby abruptly reversed direction and charged to meet Cinder directly.

The pair of them were a blur as they closed with one another, flashes of fire clashing against arcs of red as Cinder's blades met Ruby's scythe. They burst apart, before coming back together again, dancing around one another as they jockeyed for position, even as they worked their weapons to try and break one another's defenses. Crescent Rose was a spinning blur in Ruby's hands, knocking away Cinder's sword one second, before arcing around to cut at her the next. Cinder's own blades were just as fast, parrying Crescent Rose's slashes and returning the favor. Ruby tried to use her weapon's greater reach and weight to her advantage, while Cinder tried to counter that advantage by getting closer. Her speed, enhanced by the power of the Fall Maiden, was a match for Ruby's Semblance.

At the moment, the two of them seemed evenly matched. However, in a battle of attrition, Cinder's Maiden powers would outlast Ruby's Aura easily. Fortunately, Ruby had no intention of letting things drag on for that long.

Not that Cinder had any such intention either. Blocking another slash from Ruby, Cinder leapt back, bringing the pommels of her swords together and forming them into a bow. Drawing back on the string that appeared, three arrows formed together. Releasing the bowstring, Cinder launched all three arrows at Ruby. However, rather than firing them directly at her, she aimed for the ground around Ruby. The arrows sank into the pavement. Ruby's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen.

Cinder gestured upwards with her right hand. There was a sinister keening sound as orange and red light welled up around the arrows before they detonated in a trio of fireballs. They should have engulfed Ruby completely, but she shot out from between them in a blur of red before they could explode, riding the wave of the explosions, and combining it with her Semblance to close in on Cinder all the faster, aiming a lightning-fast cut at her.

Cinder separated her bow into its component swords and crossed them in front of her. They shattered from the force of Ruby's strike, scattering black fragments into the air around them. Ruby's slash continued on to strike Cinder's body, but was stopped from doing any damage by the fiery shield that appeared on contact.

Smirking, Cinder allowed the force of Ruby's strike to knock her off her feet, and send her flying backwards. As she did, she reached out with her hands, moving them like she was conducting a symphony. The scattered fragments of her broken weapons swirled about and merged together, this time forming shards of glass that glowed with molten light from within, arranged in a hemisphere around Ruby, their needle-sharp tips all oriented on her, leaving her with no room to escape. A simple gesture from Cinder, and they converged on the girl from all directions, their tips piercing her body before they would explode.

Something went wrong. In the fraction of a second between the shards hitting and them exploding, Cinder saw them pierce Ruby's body from all directions. But then something changed. It was like watching a film that had just skipped a frame. Ruby was no longer in the center of the swarm of death that Cinder had sent at her, but off to the side slightly, already jumping clear as the shards passed through the empty space, where she was _supposed_ to be, colliding against one another, and exploding all the same.

 _What?_ Cinder blinked furiously, wondering if her eye had been playing tricks on her. Had her aim been off? Had she been fooled by some sort of illusion? As fast as she was, Ruby's Semblance couldn't help her, if there was _no_ safe place for her speed to take her.

She didn't have time to think it over. She felt a presence at her back. Spinning about, Cinder's eye widened as she saw Ruby there, scythe raised, its blade already sweeping towards her neck, the edge lined with the same silver light that gleamed from Ruby's eyes.

Cinder leapt back, barely escaping out of the arc of Ruby's swing, only to suddenly be beset by the same feeling again. Even though Ruby was right in front of her, she had somehow taken Cinder's back again...like she was in two places at once. _A cloning ability? But that's not possible! That's never been the kind of power she possessed!_

Cinder ducked under another slash from Crescent Rose, her eyes following the silver tracks of light that trailed off the blade as it cut through the air above her. She went into a forward role, seeing that Ruby was no longer in front of her. Rolling back onto her feet, Cinder screeched in rage and crossed her arms in front of her. Swirling arrays materialized in the air around her before she swept her arms out, sending a storm of fire flying out in all directions, powerful enough to incinerate everything in her vicinity. Not even Ruby Rose could escape this kind of attack.

Except that she did. As the fire cleared from the space around Cinder's immediate vicinity, Ruby was suddenly right in front of her. Their distance was close, too close for Ruby to swing her scythe. However, Ruby's eyes met Cinder's sole remaining one, and narrowed in a glare, before suddenly bursting into a blaze of blinding light. Cinder screamed as she was thrown back, her flesh smoking beneath her clothes. Landing hard on her back, she struggled to her feet.

"H-how...what are you...?" Now it was Cinder's turn to be befuddled to the point on being incoherent. Ruby's every action defied explanation, yet it was something apparently separate from the power of her Silver Eyes.

Ruby faced Cinder with a grim, determined smile. "I've been getting ready for this day for a long time," she said coldly. "Now I'm going to pay you back for all the pain and destruction you've caused. Cinder Fall, today's the day you go _down!_ "

* * *

 **Having Santera as a resurrected Pyrrha was mainly for the chance to really show the dark side of how the power could raise the dead could be abused. Granted, that's something of a cliche in fantasy literature, where necromancers raising armies of zombies or whatnot abound. But the idea of a dear friend, a paragon of goodness, being raised from the dead; having their efforts and sacrifice be completely nullified, then sullied; really shows just how profane an act it can be.**

 **And yeah, once again, that standard disclaimer of how far back this was written raises its head again, as Ruby's Silver Eyes apparently do _not_ work the way they are depicted as working in this story; particularly as far as the stimulus needed to activate them, the side effects to using them, and how the power itself can be used; are concerned.**


	81. Chapter 81

**Chapter 81:**

Yang immediately had to give up on her plan to maintain Suppression, to recover as much Aura as possible. It was the only way to save her life.

Oda Nobunaga, the great enemy the Mibu had been fighting for millennia, the one who was always spoken of in such ominous tones, hardly seemed so dangerous, just by appearances. Certainly, his figure was imposing, the openings in his robes exposing a muscular, sculpted body, the form of a true martial artist. However, his stature was hardly as imposing as Indara's had been. Had his skin not been pitch-black, and his eyes glowing red, like a Grimm's, he might have even been handsome. It certainly looked odd, like a Grimm had been molded into the perfect semblance of a human shape, complete with long, white hair that streamed back over his head and down to his shoulders. However, given that he was neither exceptionally large nor powerful-looking, it was hardly intimidating. The horse didn't help matters, looking badly malnourished, for a Grimm, like it was just a few inches away from the grave.

But Nobunaga's Aura made it clear that Yang was up against something she could not handle. Just the faint sense of it was enough to turn her mouth drier than a desert. During the conflict against Salem, Yang had encountered many strange and terrifying things, Auras that felt just plain wrong, like they shouldn't even have existed. Salem's had been the worst, dark and cold, full of malice, and a burning hatred for humanity, and the world in general.

Nobunaga's Aura made Salem's seem positively benevolent by comparison. The moment Yang had felt it, she'd canceled her Suppression and brought up her Tempering again. She was sure that impulse had just saved her. Just coming into contact with Nobunaga's Aura had made feel like the life was about to be forcefully ripped out of her body. Even now, she had to strain to hold up her Tempering, feeling like she was struggling to hold out against a persistent gravitational pull, threatening to yank her headlong into oblivion.

Her throat working furiously, even though there was nothing left in her mouth to swallow, Yang stared at Nobunaga, able to see his Aura swirling about him, like a dark maelstrom. She thought her eyes might be playing tricks on her, as she was certain she could see outlines and shapes within the dark, swirling mass, shapes that looked vaguely human, but stripped of flesh and organs, leaving only bone, a host of skeletal figures writhing in agony, constantly trying to struggle away, but forever pulled back to suffer in damnation. Just looking at it made Yang want to throw up.

Nobunaga's Aura was a cold, gnawing, ravenous void, threatening to swallow up everything good and right in the world. It was the antithesis of everything, _everything_ , Yang had ever known or experienced. It was wrongness and evil personified. Yang felt more than confident in calling it evil. She had perceived Salem and her minions as evil, of course. But they had always been possessed of that natural madness that made them assume they were on the side of justice, even when they weren't. But there was no question that Nobunaga was pure evil. Yang even got the impression that he wouldn't dispute the designation, probably even own it, if she dared to bring it up to him.

How could the Mibu have created something like this?

Yang had to strain, and force herself to finally avert her eyes away from the sight, lest it drive her mad. Just the feeling of being in proximity to such a horrendous Aura was threatening to make her go insane from fear and panic. Perhaps, if she hadn't been feeling so drained from her fight with Indara, she would have held up better. But, as it was, she felt weak and vulnerable and helpless...a bad combination, when confronted with a monster that made the previous Enemy of the World look tame by comparison.

Nobunaga urged his horse forward, its black hooves clopping along, the only sound on the now silent street, as he approached Indara from behind, skirting the edge of the trench Yang's attack had dug. Indara sensed Nobunaga coming, and twisted his head around, as much as his current position would allow, to regard him. "Master..." he rumbled softly, before turning his head forward again, and bowing it in subservience, his expression tranquil and resigned.

It made Yang try to swallow again, though her mouth continued to refuse to produce saliva. Indara looked as though he expected to be executed for his defeat. What was more, Yang could easily see Nobunaga being exactly the kind of monster who would punish failure with death. Still, Nobunaga did nothing, except to steer his horse forward, until he had come up alongside where Inara knelt.

"Indara..." said Nobunaga, the sound of his voice making Yang flinch, "...how long...how many years...has it been...since the last time I saw you _bleed_ , much less forced to your knees like this?" His voice was deep, but carried a grating, whispering quality that made Yang think of graveyards beneath the dark of a moonless sky.

"Not since our battle against the previous Kyo," answered Indara wryly.

"Indeed," agreed Nobunaga. "If I recall correctly, his lover was the last person to bring you down."

"Yes," agreed Indara.

 _So Sora was the last person to actually hurt this guy?_ thought Yang, her eyes widening. Perhaps she should have been proud that she had matched the feat of Kyo's mother. But, right now, all she could manage was a sick feeling of dread, a feeling that Nobunaga inspired with his mere presence.

Nobunaga barked out a harsh laugh that made Yang jolt nervously, flashing a mouth full of too-white teeth as his gaze turned on Yang, making her skin crawl and making her want to actually crawl, if that was what it took to get away from him. "So..." he said speculatively, his eyes running over her hunched, quivering body, "...this is Shindara's daughter. You most certainly have her eyes."

Yang was surprised, wondering when her eyes had turned crimson again. She'd thought they'd gone back to normal, now that she'd burned up all her stamina.

It was hard to see against the pitch-black of his skin, but Yang could tell that Nobunaga was smiling approvingly as he inspected her. "Yes, yes," he muttered. "I see how you two could be related. I'm almost disappointed. Though Shindara's unique skills have proven to be essential to my plans, I wish I had you instead. You are, far and away, her superior."

Had the assessment not come from some humanoid abomination, Yang would have felt flattered that he considered her better than her mother. However, that was the furthest thing from how she felt now. Nobunaga's every word merely filled her with quivering horror. Simply hearing his voice was making her want to gouge out her ears, and she'd almost rather claw out her eyes than look at him and his Aura again.

"Ah, yes," said Nobunaga, inhaling deeply. "I can smell your fear; not the mindless panic of the weak and helpless cattle, but that of one who is truly strong that has met her superior. It is a delicious scent. You understand that you cannot hope to fight me."

Yang shuddered.

Nobunaga grinned down at her. "I would very much like to take possession of you. I had thought that Mekira would be a fitting consort, but her spirit is a smoldering, sputtering ember, next to your blaze."

The very thought made Yang sick to her stomach, and she had to choke down the bile that rose in her throat. Being a consort to this...thing...? The very notion was something she rejected on such a visceral level that she was amazed she didn't puke right then and there.

"Fat chance of that," she managed to force out.

Nobunaga threw his head back and laughed uproariously, the sound making Yang want to curl into a ball and cry. "Such spite. Well, I can't fault your hatred and fear of me." His gaze burned into her with such intensity that Yang could feel it viscerally, even though she was doing everything she could to avoid meeting his eyes.

He urged his horse forward, the Grimm slowly clopping towards Yang, each sound of a hoof against pavement making her heart lurch, as she felt her death getting closer and closer with every step. "It disappoints me that you've already spent yourself fighting Indara. I would have liked to have seen your strength for myself. Still, I imagine that is more prudent to dispose of you now, before you become a threat to my plans in the future."

Yang grit her teeth. She couldn't produce her right arm right now, and her left arm felt limp and useless. She might be able to launch a shot from Ember Celica. But it was a useless gesture. She knew that any attempt she made now wouldn't so much as scratch Nobunaga. She couldn't use Suppression to help bolster her recovery anymore, and her Aura wasn't recovering even remotely quickly enough with her Tempering in place. _I have to do something though._

She felt Nobunaga come to a stop right next to her. She heard the whispering grating of steel as his sword cleared its sheath. Even though she couldn't see it, she knew he was raising it, ready to take her head with a single stroke. She wanted to do something, anything, to offer at least some token of defiance. But his Aura was surrounding her, feeling as though it was stealing the very breath from her lungs.

And then...a warm wind swept over, seeming to blow Nobunaga's Aura away, like dispersing a bad smell. Its warmth filled Yang almost immediately, soothing her, embracing her, filling her heart and mind, and easing her fear. Her entire body relaxed, and relief filled her to such a degree that she was completely taken off-guard by the accompanying roar.

The Grimm horse Nobunaga rode whinnied loudly, rearing as a wave of white swept over it. Nobunaga vanished from its back, his movement well-timed, as the horse suddenly disintegrated, as though it had been sliced apart by countless blades. Nobunaga himself touched back down next to Indara, the wall of white threatening to wash over them both. Nobunaga roared, and his Aura exploded out from his body, countering the wave of atmosphere barreling at him, and blasting it away, before it could do him or Indara any harm.

As the roar of the attack faded, Yang heard the faint, scratchy sounds of sandals against the pavement, the sound of someone walking slowly and deliberately. The warmth of the wind that had eased her before was replaced by an equally warm and familiar sensation, an Aura Yang had just been afraid she would never get to feel again. Tears gathered, unbidden, in her eyes as she turned to look towards the source. "Kyo!"

Her boyfriend smiled brightly as he came closer, walking as though he were out on a casual stroll, and not about to face a formidable enemy. Only the fact that his sword was unsheathed, with its back resting over his shoulder, betrayed that he intended to fight. "Well, I didn't expect to find you like this, Yang," he observed, stopping and crouching down next to her. "I'm glad to see you again."

"So am I," admitted Yang. Part of her balked at the lack of control she was showing. But her heart was thundering against her chest as she realized how much she had missed him, and how much of a relief his arrival was. That sensation was elevated when he leaned in to kiss her lips before resting his forehead against hers for a second.

"I just wish we didn't have to meet again in this situation," said Kyo softly, pulling back and standing back up. "I'm afraid we can't catch up properly right now."

"I know," said Yang softly, turning her gaze back to Nobunaga. His Aura was as terrifying as ever. But Kyo's warm Aura seemed to wrap around her, shielding her from the worst part of its effects. It almost gave her the feeling that everything was going to be all right...except that Yang was beset by a troubling sense of unease, that something was wrong. Reaching up weakly with her left hand, she brushed it over her forehead, wiping off some sweat, sweat that she had felt wasn't entirely hers.

"Kyo..." she said softly.

"These aren't the most ideal circumstances," said Kyo, speaking more to the monster in front of him than Yang. "But I suppose we shall just have to do what we can. Shall we begin, Nobunaga-san?"

Nobunaga chuckled and grinned widely, flashing those too-white teeth once again. His Aura surged around him, swirling and roiling like a maelstrom. Once again, Yang caught sight of countless skeletal figures writhing in torment. "Yes," he agreed. "I was worried that you might not make it in time. It is past time that I faced the Kyo of the new generation."

Kyo lifted his sword off his shoulder and leveled it at Nobunaga. "Then let's not mince words," he said, his Crimson Eyes shining.

The two of them faced off against one another, their Auras swirling and striving against one another, as though the fight had already begun. The tension of the air ratcheted up by an order of magnitude, a sense of foreboding that both Yang and Indara felt keenly in their respective, helpless states. Silence filled the air, the wails of the Ghouls and the screeches of the Gyaos fading almost completely into the background. It was as though this space, where these two were facing off, had become the entirety of the world.

Then the two of them vanished, blurring towards each other, meeting almost exactly halfway, their raised swords clashing, their Auras sending sparks cascading outwards as a shockwave rushed away from them, shattering the earth, and threatening to blow both Yang and Indara over. Eyes of shining Crimson locked with a mismatched, fiery-red pair, the two fighters grinning like madmen as their battle began.

* * *

"All right! Bring the wounded over here!" shouted Saisei, her tails waving around her as she beckoned soldier and civilian alike. Wounded soldiers were brought, some supported as they limped along, others carried by their comrades. With them came civilians that had been injured, whether trampled in the panicked rush to evacuate, battered by debris, or mauled by Grimm that had made it past the defensive cordon.

Saisei worked furiously, her hands and tails passing over wounds and closing them with flashes of her Aura. She swiftly identified those who were closest to death, and treated them immediately, while also stabilizing others in preparation for later treatment.

Ren worked as hard as he could to help, moving patients where Saisei directed him to. He tried his best to do some basic first aid on them, when he had the time, trying to ease Saisei's workload as much as he could. Unfortunately, what little he knew about treating injuries completely paled in comparison to Saisei's mastery of the healing arts. Often he would kneel down beside a wounded soldier to try and at least staunch the bleeding of a wound, only to find that one of Saisei's tails had already brushed over the unfortunate man, and done the job already.

A few of the healed were trying their best to help, but their efforts were lethargic at best, and many more simply lay down, barely able to move. Ren couldn't hold it against them. From what little he understood about Saisei's healing skills, she was tapping into her patients' Auras to boost their bodies' healing abilities as much as possible, in order to be able to spread her own power out amongst as many people as possible, saving her strength for the absolute worst cases. Even Nora, who was a perpetual bundle of energy at the worst of times, had been completely drained by her own healing, laying unconscious on a cot, the best place Ren had been able to find for her. Qrow wasn't in any better shape, slumbering nearby.

Occasionally, Ren's eyes drifted to Saisei as she worked, and he saw the sheen of sweat on her brow, the shaking of her limbs, on those rare occasions where she was still for more than a few seconds. He realized that even her stamina and energy had their limit. It wasn't just this situation. Saisei was fresh off a whole other battlefield, where she had taken on an entire army with only four comrades and then, afterwards, had worked to patch up all the survivors. He figured that, for someone as powerful as her, that was pushing even _her_ limits.

Saisei met his gaze and, seeing the concern in his eyes, gave him a warm smile. "I'll be fine," she said. "I can manage perfectly well for a good while longer. I'm not the personal apprentice to the Mibu's Chief Physician for nothing, you know. Not even the Imperial Guards can hold a candle to me."

"Well, I certainly hope you can back up those claims, young lady," commented an elderly voice from above them.

Ren and Saisei's heads snapped up, looking for the source of the voice, along with the head of every man, woman, and child still conscious within the broad plaza Saisei had chosen to use as her impromptu hospital. Atop one of the buildings overlooking the plaza stood an old man in a white lab-coat. His left eye glowed red from the cybernetic lens that had apparently replaced it, while his right arm had been replaced with a black prosthetic that glowed with red lines. His messy, gray hair, short, bushy beard and mustache, and prominent eyebrows, all combined to form a look that practically screamed "mad scientist," even if Ren didn't already know who he was.

Ren's eyes narrowed as he recalled Team RWBY telling him and the rest of JNPR about their mission in pursuit of a mysterious mastermind who had been experimenting on the Grimm in Mountain Glenn and on an island, a man whom they had thought had killed himself by self-destructing his base. "Merlot," he growled.

"That is Kubira, now!" shouted the old man. "I am the greatest of the Junishinsho, as the one who fashioned our master's new vessel."

"Well, it seems Nobunaga has found another true believer, and made him think he is indispensable," commented Saisei wryly.

"I _am_ indispensable!" shouted Kubira. "I fashioned Nobunaga's vessel and I hold the reins of his Grimm army. I am the one leading the sack of this city."

"That's helpful to know," muttered Saisei. "And I suppose you're here because you think you've already won."

"Hardly," observed Kubira. "However, my master has gone to confront the Demon Child of the Mibu. He told me to plunge these people into the pits of despair."

Saisei sighed and shook her head slowly. "Attacking the weak and the wounded is always a good way to do that, I suppose," she admitted, though her tone sounded disgusted.

"Yes," agreed Kubira, nodding sagely. "Granted, I had hoped there would be more here to resist. But I suppose one strung out healer will have to do."

Ren growled, his hands blurring to the holsters for StormFlower, pulling them out and leveling the barrels at Merlot. "Just try it," he said.

Merlot laughed loudly. "I am not some brute like the others, boy," he said. "I did not come here to fight you personally. Fortunately, I have just the thing for that." He pushed his prosthetic arm into his pocket, and pulled it back out. Sweeping it into an arc, he tossed a trio of black seeds into the air.

As they fell towards the plaza, their forms exploded outwards, expanding like swelling balloons, their forms becoming liquid, roiling into new shapes, shapes that Ren, unfortunately, was all too familiar with. The pavement cracked and broke as three fully-formed Nuckelavee landed in the plaza, small clouds of green fumes leaking from the mouths and nostrils of the horse heads, while the riders' too large mouths opened up, displaying jaws full of needle-like teeth. They advanced on the wounded and treated, who were huddled on the opposite side of the plaza, advancing with deliberate slowness to stoke the fear and despair of their victims further.

Ren turned his guns towards the advancing Grimm, but froze when a pink-garbed blur rushed past him. Saisei's body accelerated to such an extent that she seemed to vanish from where she had been, crossing the plaza and closing in on the Nuckelavee in the center of the group, before it could react. Ren didn't even see her first attack, probably a kick of some kind, connect with the horse head, before she was suddenly at the level of the rider's head. The rider's mouth opened to scream at her, and its arms began to move to try and claw at her with those needle-sharp fingers. But it didn't get the chance, as Saisei's fist connected with its skull, exploding it like an overripe fruit being smashed, scattering black dust and red particles through the air.

The rest of the Grimm's body slumped limply, beginning to dissolve. Before gravity could take over, and Saisei could even begin to fall back to earth, the other two Nuckelavee oriented on her, their own bodies blurring with sheer speed, long arms lashing out and clawing at Saisei from either side, cutting effortlessly through her clothe,s and opening long gashes on either side of her torso.

Despite what should have been lethal wounds, Saisei appeared to not be inconvenienced in the slightest. Two of her tails whipped out, curling around the necks of the rider portion of both Grimm and tugging mightily, pulling them together, the movement also levering Saisei upwards, so that she could slam their heads together with enough force to shatter their skulls. The horses flailed and whinnied, apparently sharing their pain at the riders' destruction. However, their pain was short-lived as Saisei descended, dropping her fists on their skulls, and smashing those as well. The other two Grimm slumped, and also began to dissolve.

Despite witnessing the death of three of his monstrous weapons, Merlot, or Kubira, seemed untroubled. Instead he laughed loudly. "Oh, very well done, my dear," he crowed. "But your foolishness will cost you dearly. My creations are far more lethal than you realize."

It took Ren a second to realize what Kubira was talking about. Then he remembered what had happened to Neo, when they had encountered that Nuckelavee, back in Mountain Glenn. "Saisei!"

Sure enough, black lines were crawling along Saisei's body from the already-healed cuts on her torso, reaching up her neck, towards her head and face, and also climbing down her legs.

"Normally the infection-types like to take their time, and bask in their victims' fear before killing them," observed Kubira. "But, in your case, they will make an exception, killing you quickly, so that all those who depend on you can see it before they die." He grinned and reached into the pocket of his lab coat once again, withdrawing another handful of seeds, more than just three this time.

Ren frowned with worry, though feeling somewhat confident. After all, Saisei had easily dealt with the infection-type that had been attacking Neo. Surely these ones wouldn't pose any threat to her.

"I know another thing," added Merlot casually. "Your precious healing arts can't be used to heal yourself, can they? You could kill those infection-type Grimm, if they were in someone else. But if they infest your own body, you are powerless to stop them."

Ren's jaw dropped, horror flying through his veins, turning his blood to ice. "No!" He focused on Saisei, mentally begging her to deny Kubira's words.

Unfortunately, Saisei merely closed her eyes in resignation and sighed. "Very true," she admitted. "That is the limit of the healing arts passed down through the Mitarai House. Our powers enable us to treat others, but not ourselves."

"No..." whispered Ren. He couldn't imagine what it would do to these people, to see the girl who had treated and protected them killed from within, by a type of Grimm more insidious and monstrous than any other, right in front of their eyes. Worse still, he couldn't imagine what it would do to Neo to learn that Saisei had died like this.

Then he noticed that Saisei hardly seemed concerned by her plight. Instead, her smile returned. "However, you forget that I am _not_ just a master of the healing arts, but the Wood Arts as well. I am Saisei, the Wood of the Goyosei."

"And just what does that mean?" asked Kubira, scowling down at her.

Saisei giggled, and held out her left arm as though admiring it. "A master of the Wood Art has complete control of her own physiology, which allows me to regenerate instantly from virtually any wound. Furthermore, thanks to that, my own biology is...fluid."

The black lines invading her body suddenly shifted position, flowing from her torso and out into her left arm, leaving the rest of her body pristine and untouched. "I simply shift the infected portions like so. Then..." Her right hand formed a knife-hand and blurred, cutting her left arm off cleanly at the shoulder. Her left arm twirled through the air for a second, before one of her tails arced over her head to curl around it and hold it in front of her. "Now this part of my body is no longer part of my body, which means..." He held up her right hand again, curling her fingers, which shined with the light of her Aura, which she than sank into the flesh of her detached arm. " _Reject!_ " Sweeping her fingers through the flesh of the severed limb, Saisei pulled them away, revealing a puddle of black goo that she now cupped in the palm of her right hand, before tossing it aside to the ground, where it evaporated with an angry hiss. "And finally..." Her tail moved the severed limb back to the shoulder, pressing the severed ends together, which immediately joined, as though they'd never been detached in the first place.

Saisei flexed her left arm experimentally before beaming up and Kubira. "And voila! All better. You're going to have to do better than that, Kubira-san."

Behind her, Ren lowered his weapons, standing slack-jawed as the sight of what he had just witnessed. Behind him, he could hear the rest of the people occupying the plaza cheering and applauding. Instead of Kubira's efforts sapping their morale, Saisei's effortless-seeming counter had boosted it.

Kubira's jaw worked silently as he glared down at Saisei, clearly incensed at having one of his "brilliant" creations being dealt with so easily. "Tha-that's impossible! There's no way! How could you do that so easily?"

Saisei giggled cheerfully. "Oh please, Kubira-san. It would take a lot more than one of your half-baked creations to do more than inconvenience me. I am Sasame of the Shiseiten and Saisei of the Wood. My power is to make war upon that which would do harm to others, whether it be man or disease. You are an affliction upon this world. Fortunately, _I_ am the cure."

Kubira's left hand curled into a fist, clenching so tightly that the limb trembled. "Oh, are you now?" he asked, his lips curling back, baring his teeth in his rage. He lifted his head ,while his non-cybernetic eye rolled down slightly to continue glaring at her. "You think you have the cure for me, you brat? We'll see about that!"

Tensing, Ren waited for Kubira to toss the handful of seeds he cupped in his right hand. However, to his surprise, Kubira returned them to his pocket, before reaching for another pocket. From this one, he pulled forth a large syringe, within which Ren could see some sort of black liquid.

Saisei's face twisted into an expression of disgust. "Ew," she said. "Please tell me you're not going to do what I think you are."

Kubira' grinned. "Of course I am," he said. "The Grimm are the ultimate lifeforms. Their capability for evolution is limitless. It's only natural to wish to harness that power for myself."

 _Oh my God!_ thought Ren in shock. _That's...He's going to..._

Kubira lifted the needle of the syringe up to his neck and inserted it, his thumb moving to press the plunger, injecting the black substance into himself. Black lines veined out from the injection point on his neck, reaching up and down, branching and dividing. His skin darkened, gradually taking on an ebony tinge, while his biological eye began to glow the fiery red of a Grimm.

His body convulsed, muscles bulging up from beneath his clothes, ripping them to shreds as Kubira roared, his voice deepening. His prosthetic right arm shattered, black, tar-like substance bubbling up from the stump to form a new one as his stature doubled, then tripled. His body lurched and twisted, his limbs swelling up unevenly in sharp spurts, joints contorting unnaturally, before settling back into their old positions. His cybernetic eye shattered, but that side of his face remained dark, no new eye moving to replace it. Kubira's hair pulled back into his face and head, seeming to almost grow in reverse, black, wiry fur replacing it, and expanding to cover the rest of his now naked body.

"Behold!" he rumbled as his body stopped convulsion, the transformation seeming to settle. "Now Merlot is no more. Before you stands Kubira, the Gensokwa!"

Kubira's body had transformed into that of a hulking, ape-like Grimm. Its posture was more upright than a Beringel. Bony plates covered its forearms and tusks curled outwards from the corners of its mouth, which was lined with pointed teeth. The muscles on its limbs bulged, seeming perpetually tense, and on the verge of tearing from some kind of constant strain, as though it was fighting to keep from being torn apart from the inside. Ren wondered if Kubira's decision was really all that wise. To him, it looked as though fusing Grimm and human biology had produced something that was on the verge of tearing itself apart.

From the disappointed look on Saisei's face, it seemed that she agreed. "That was decidedly unwise," she said. "I doubt you will be able to reverse that transformation."

"Why would I want to," roared Kubira, leaping off the roof of the building, falling like a massive, humanoid boulder, landing in front of Saisei with an earthshaking impact that nearly knocked Ren off his feet and, from the sound of things behind him, actually _did_ knock some of the audience behind him off their feet.

Kubira advanced, his steps making the ground vibrate, a miniature earthquake with each one he took. "I'm brimming with power. I've never felt more alive! From the moment I crafted My Lord's new vessel, I figured that this was possible. I will usher in a brand new age for mankind."

"I think not," replied Saisei, huffing an irritated sigh as she rested her hands on her hips, her tails waving lazily behind her. "You're going to die here, today."

Kubira laughed uproariously. "You? Kill me? As if you could. I am not like those last three. My strength is of another order entirely. Besides, what could you hope to accomplish, as drained as you are?"

Ren gasped in shock, looking at Saisei. He could see the sweat shining on her skin and, more importantly, also see the faint pants of breath she was taking. She was winded, something that should have hardly been happening, considering how easily she had torn through those three Nuckelavee earlier.

Kubira advanced forward. "I saw your battle with Ironwood's forces earlier. After that, you came straight here, and started healing those pathetic people to the best of your ability. After wasting all that strength, you don't have a hope of defeating me."

Saisei huffed in irritation. "Well, you're not wholly wrong," she admitted. "As I am now, I'm in no shape to fight you in that form. It's irritating really. I don't want to resort to such drastic measures."

Kubira came up short, hesitating as he stared at Saisei in confusion. "Drastic measures?"

Saisei nodded. "I hate revealing my true form like this, but you really haven't left me with much choice." She groaned, stretching her arms over her head.

"True form...?" rumbled Kubira worriedly.

Ren blinked and stared, wondering just what he was about to see. Saisei became quite belligerent whenever Kyo brought up the topic of her true form in the past. It worried him, making him wonder if she was hiding some kind of disfigurement that she thought would make her friends think less of her. Whatever horrifying sight it was, he was determined to weather it, and hold Saisei in as high a regard as ever.

Saisei's entire body began to glow, turning her into a shining silhouette. As the light flared out from her, Ren saw Saisei's shape grow, limbs stretching and elongating. Then the light of her Aura became positively blinding, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut. Before long, he felt the pressure of her Aura diminish, signaling the end of her transformation. When he opened his eyes again, Ren's jaw dropped.

Saisei, in her true form, was over seven feet tall. There was no way that anyone could consider her ugly. The most conservative term Ren would ever use for such a woman was "bombshell." Saisei sported long, sleek, powerful looking legs, slender arms. Her reddish-brown hair was a cascade down her back, framing a flawless, womanly face that contained all the maturity that Saisei's preferred form seemed to lack. Her pale-pink kimono had separated, the top barely restraining the pair of massive breasts that Yang would have been envious of, while the skirt just barely managed to stretch around her hips, and was almost too short to properly conceal her other...assets.

Something wet trickled down over Ren's upper lip. Wiping it away, he noticed that he'd apparently developed a nosebleed. _It's a good thing Nora's out cold,_ he thought nervously.

In front of Saisei, Kubira was clearly even more floored than Ren was, the Grimm/human's jaw hanging slack in an expression that looked absolutely comical on such a monstrous face. "That's your true form?"

"Of course," said Saisei, her voice deeper now, having gone from girlish to womanly. Just the sound of it made Ren shiver, as it was like smooth silk being, ever so gently, rubbed over his ears. "Let's finish this quickly, Kubira. I don't like to show this off more than necessary."

From the sound of cat calls and wolf whistles behind him, Ren got the impression that the other onlookers would disagree, and rather that Saisei remained in her true form as long as possible.

"Ha!" shouted Kubira. "I can't imagine what you believe turning into that will do for you, unless you were hoping to seduce me with your feminine wiles. I'll enjoy ripping that sexy body of yours apa-!"

Kubira's voice was abruptly cut off as Saisei swept one long, muscular leg out in a rising, roundhouse kick. The force of the impact tore Kubira in two, Saisei's kick cutting him as effectively as any blade. Kubira's eyes widened as his top half was thrown into the air. Before he could even scream in pain or surprise, Saisei had jumped into a forward flip that allowed her to bring her opposite leg down on top of his head, splitting him from top to the bottom of his severed torso. Saisei touched down on the pavement with all the grace of a dancer, as the pieces of Kubira's body landed with wet slaps, dissolving into black mist, and leaving behind a bloody mess that was completely unrecognizable.

Behind the remains of Kubira, the building that he'd been previously standing on shattered, cracking lines splitting its facade in the same cross-shape that Saisei's blows had split Kubira's body with...before the whole thing crumbled to pieces from the collective shockwave of her attacks.

"Well, that takes care of that," said Saisei, stretching one last time, before grunting and scrunching her face. Her Aura flared up again, and Ren could hear her groaning and grunting with exertion as her form compacted back down, accompanied by faint popping sounds. When the light faded, Saisei had returned to her usual, diminutive, stature. She was panting a little bit harder now.

"Much better," she said with a sigh.

"Why would you ever want to hide that form?" asked Ren in awe. "I can't believe that you'd ever think it was ugly. That was...uh..."

"Sexy," suggested Saisei, glaring sourly at Ren.

Gulping, Ren nodded.

Saisei sighed and lowered her head. "That's exactly the point," she said. "I never claimed that my true form was ugly, and I don't think anyone who has seen it, like Kyo, has ever made that claim either. But, just as you've noticed, it is what most people would consider sexy and sultry." She scowled at nothing in particular. "I hate it! It makes me feel like an object of lust. I much prefer being my cute little self to looking like that, even if it is liberating to be able to fight at full strength, once in a while."

"I'll...I'll take your word for it," said Ren.

"Good," said Saisei. She beamed at him, but the sense of threat Ren felt from her seemed to multiply exponentially. "However, I expect you to be a good boy and not breathe a word of this...to _anyone_...especially not Neo. Is that understood?"

"Um...uh...s-sure," said Ren, turning pale with fear.

Saisei turned her attention on the crowd of future, current, and former patients gathered on the other side of the plaza, her cheerful expression, and the air of intimidation around her not fading in the slightest. "Do you hear that, everyone? What we saw today will be our little secret. I hope you understand." As she spoke, she cracked her knuckles for emphasis.

"Yes, Ma'am!" replied every person in perfect unison.

"Good," said Saisei, the angry Aura around her fading away as she gave them a more genuine smile. "Now, let's get back to work, and make sure that you're all taken care of, shall we?"

Ren moved to help her, but froze, noticing something. An abrupt silence had fallen over Atlas. The cries; the distant shrieks, roars, and wails of the Grimm; had vanished. Looking up, he realized that the sky was empty. The Gyaos that had been swooping and circling overhead were gone. With them, the wails of the countless Ghouls had vanished, along with the cries of the other Nuckelavee that had undoubtedly invaded the city. Blinking, Ren realized that the sound of gunfire had vanished as well, the few remaining defenders having apparently run out of things to shoot.

"The Grimm are gone," he said breathlessly.

"It would appear that they all died along with Kubira," said Saisei. "He must have linked them to his lifeforce, so that they would live only so long as he did."

"But why?" asked Ren.

"Kubira did claim to be indispensable, even though his primary purpose, fashioning Nobunaga's new vessel had already been served. I assume that he meant for this to be his insurance against the Junishinsho or Nobunaga turning against him. If they killed him, their new army would die along with him." Saisei sighed and shook her head. "I imagine he was deluding himself quite effectively. Nobunaga would hardly even rate this as an inconvenience."

"But this is good for us," said Ren. "It means that the worst of the threat is over."

"Hardly," said Saisei, frowning darkly. "The greatest threats to this city and the world still remain.

As if to underline her point, a loud ring of metal on metal echoed through the air, accompanied by a faint shockwave that made Ren's entire body jolt. He suddenly felt as though his entire body was being jabbed with thousands, millions, of tiny needles, all over. His hair stood on end, and his breath caught in his lungs. Whipping his head around, he searched for the source of the sound and the feeling, finding it all too easily.

A fair distance away, but still much too close for comfort, a pair of Auras surged up above the level of the buildings of Atlas, like raging infernos. One was a blazing, vivid crimson that Ren knew could only be coming from one person. The other was dark, writhing, and sickening, filling Ren with a sense of dread deeper than anything he had ever experienced before. The two massive Auras had surged up, side by side. However, Ren could see them churning against one another, no doubt reflecting the fight that was taking place below the level of the buildings. "Is that...?"

Saisei nodded gravely. "It would seem that Kyo and Nobunaga have finally come face to face. Their battle has begun."

"That Aura is Nobunaga's?" said Ren breathlessly, having to wrench his eyes away from the grotesque Aura straining against Kyo's.

"Yes," said Saisei. "It's quite potent. Whatever else Kubira did, it's apparent that he fashioned a vessel more than capable of supporting Nobunaga's evil soul." She looked at the two competing Auras, worry stamped on her face. "I hope Kyo is up to this task."

Ren wanted to reassure her, but was hardly in a position to do so. After all, Saisei knew Kyo's capabilities much better than he did. What was more, he realized that Kyo must be in the same straits that Saisei was in. He had just come off of an intense battle against an entire army. Unlike Saisei, Kyo hadn't spent a lot of his strength afterwards on healing everyone he could. But Ren knew that Kyo could hardly be at full strength right now.

That being the case, Ren wondered just how likely it was that Kyo could win against such a monstrous force. He couldn't even see Nobunaga himself, but just the sight of the Demon King's distant Aura filled Ren with a crushing sense of despair. It was more terrifying and ominous than anything he had ever experienced. "What can we do?" he asked.

"Right now, we help these people as best we can," said Saisei, turning her attention back to the wounded. "That's what I intend to do in any case. Then we can worry about evacuating them farther away from Kyo's battle. This is something we don't want them getting wrapped up in."

Ren's eyes went to Nora's still-unconscious form and he nodded. "I understand," he said.

"Good," said Saisei, lacing her fingers together and pushing the palms of her hands out in front of her as she stretched, making the joints popped. "At least, now that the Grimm are gone, we don't have to worry about a constant stream of casualties and we can focus on finishing with the rest."

"Right," said Ren.

"Well then," said Saisei calmly. "Let's get back to work."

* * *

 **Kyo vs Nobunaga begins, while Saisei vs Kubira also begins...and then ends.**

 **The idea of Saisei's true form struck me as funny, 'cause fiction is loaded with women who'd prefer being considered "sexy" to "cute." So I made Saisei's preferences the inverse. She absolutely loves being in a smaller, "cute" form, and loathes the idea of her natural state being so "sexy."**


	82. Chapter 82

**Chapter 82:**

Winter had many misgivings about what she had done, by leaving Ironwood to be slain by Kyo and his friends. She'd resorted to tactics that she felt were dirty and dishonorable. The fact that they had been for the sake of Atlas didn't make her feel any better about them. After all, hadn't Ironwood been using that same justification for all the horrendous things he'd done? She'd probably spend the rest of her life mulling it over, and wondering if she'd done the right thing, if there wasn't some better way. Maybe there wasn't. But that didn't make what she had done inherently right.

The fact that some mysterious warlord, whose existence she had only just learned about, had chosen this exact time to launch an attack on Atlas, whose defenses were now undermanned, only made her feel worse about her past decisions. She had sent a massive portion of her Kingdom's soldiers off to their deaths, and now it seemed that that decision was going to result in the annihilation of the majority who remained.

The worst thing about being in charge was that you couldn't risk your own life. Standing in Ironwood's office in Atlas Tower, watching live feeds of their defenses being overrun, watching as her men were cut down, or overwhelmed by endless waves of Grimm, watching as those mysterious killers cut down just as many by themselves, Winter felt the twitch, the desire to get out of that office and _do_ something, contribute what strength she could to the cause of saving Atlas, like Qrow had done. But no, she was in command now. If she went haring off on her own, she ran the risk of leaving her troops devoid of direction, in this critical time. She had to stay where she was, keeping an eye on proceedings, only able to issue orders to shift the lines here, or redistribute troops there that might, hopefully, buy them just a little more time.

Her relief was nearly overwhelming, when Kyo and his friends, minus one of their number, had been spotted entering the Kingdom borders. Saisei had almost immediately set about aiding the wounded. Kyo had gone to confront the leader of the enemy directly. Penny had flown out to the outer wall, and touched down. Now Winter observed her through a screen, watching as Penny wielded the Kusanagi, unleashing storms of clouds that ripped swaths through the approaching waves of Ghouls, completely stemming the tide of Grimm into the Kingdom by herself.

She also saw Weiss' friends hard at work, fighting for the sake of Atlas, confronting the enemy's elites face-to-face. Thanks to their intervention, it appeared that Nobunaga's attack on the Kingdom had been stymied...and then the Grimm all died. Winter had missed the fight between Saisei and Kubira, but had been able to observe the aftermath, namely all the attacking Grimm abruptly stopping in their tracks, freezing in place, before dissolving into ebony dust that was blown away by the wind.

"Thank goodness," she whispered, slumping over Ironwood's desk. She dared to think that the worst might be over.

Then she had seen the two massive Auras clashing. Their flare was overwhelmingly bright, so bright she was sure that it was visible, even to those whose Auras weren't unlocked. More to the point, she could see it all the way from the tower, as twin, towering Auras roared upwards like massive infernos. One was a beautiful crimson color, the other dark and twisted. Not for the first time that day, Winter suddenly felt very small and powerless. The crimson Aura could only belong to Kyo. Winter could scarcely imagine what kind of monster could fight him on even terms, and she wasn't sure she wanted to see it with her own eyes.

Just like that, the sense of hope that had been rising within her was mercilessly quashed. The fact that the threat of the Grimm had been eliminated didn't matter. She now realized that, unless Kyo could stop the owner of that ominous Aura, it didn't matter whether the Grimm were still attacking or not. The owner of that Aura could finish the destruction of Atlas all on his own. That meant that the conclusion of this conflict came down to Kyo. Their fate was in the hands of someone who had previously been considered their worst enemy. She hated irony like this.

* * *

Basara growled under his breath, slowly moving his head from one side to the other as he searched for Blake. Her shadows had always made her an elusive opponent, difficult to land a hit on. Adam knew more about how Blake fought than just about anybody, having helped her to create her original fighting style, alongside her favored weapon. But now, she had apparently changed completely. Right now, he couldn't sense a trace of her. _Where are you hiding?_

At the last second, his instincts screamed at him to duck, which he did. He heard the familiar whistle of a blade parting the air over his head. Glancing up, he saw the black blade of Gambol Shroud's katana whipping in an arc above him, before it passed out of his field of vision.

Basara pivoted around, Wilt flying out of its sheath, a streak of crimson, slicing through the air faster than most people's eyes could follow. He pulled Blush's trigger for good measure, the recoil of his shot accelerating the blade even more. However, there was no sign of Blake at all behind him. She had vanished into nothingness. His blade sliced a blood-red crescent through empty space.

"Where are you?" he growled as he turned, surveying the alley that Blake had led him into. "Where are you hiding? You're always hiding from me, aren't you? If you aren't hiding, you're running. Do you think you can defeat me by hiding a little bit better than you used to?"

His ears twitched, picking up the crack of a pistol shot. Whipping around, he saw a sickle, attached to a black ribbon, hurtling at him. Basara shifted to the right to avoid it as it flew past him on his left, leveling Blush back along the ribbon, he fired it into the shadows. He couldn't tell if it hit anything, and wasn't even able to examine the situation more closely, as the sickle suddenly slashed at his neck from his right. His Aura took the hit, keeping him from having his jugular sliced. However, the attack connected full-on. He stumbled to the left instinctively, but was caught by the ribbon, pressing against his neck. There was another shot from the pistol mounted on the sickle, sending it whipping back the way it had come, vanishing into the darkness, before retracting to slash again at the left side of Basara's neck, sending him stumbling the other way.

"Gah!" Basara grunted as he looked around frantically for something to cut. Something was wrong. Blake's sickle had flown past him on the left, but had then looped around to cut at him from the right, before retracting and hitting him from the left again. That wouldn't have been so surprising, if there had been something for the chain sickle to loop around to come at him from the opposite side, like a pole or some such thing. But, looking behind him, Basara saw nothing, just more of the alley.

It occurred to him that something wasn't right here. The alleyway was dark, but unusually so, even given that it was the evening, and the sun was starting to lower towards the horizon. However, the shadows in this alley seemed deeper and blacker than usual, like inky abysses that completely obscured anything within their depths.

Growling in frustration, Basara cast his gaze about for any sign of Blake once again. However, all he saw was more shadows. Abruptly, he felt her presence from behind him again and spun about, drawing his sword to slash through her. As he expected, his blade cut through her abdomen, slicing her body in two. However, both halves turned into a shimmering, black haze. Already, Basara was tracking Blake's new angle of attack. She had circled around to his left, and was coming at him from just behind and to his left, trying to take advantage of the opening created by his draw.

However, as Basara shifted, he also leveled Blush at where he knew Blake was coming from, its shot taking her right in the stomach. To Basara's surprise, this Blake too, proved to be a shadow. At the same time, he felt her presence back where her first shadow had been, as though she had been there all along. He hadn't even felt her change in position. It had been completely instantaneous. Even as he tried to reorient on her, he wound up falling back as he was slashed several times by her sword and her cleaver-like sheath. Falling back, Basara returned Wilt to its sheath and then launched several rapid quickdraw attacks at Blake. However, she fell back and vanished into the darkness, before any of his cuts could land.

With an angry hiss, Basara looked around once more, searching for any sign of Blake. His senses were completely unable to track her movements. _How is she doing this? It's almost as though she's moving through the shadows themselves._

Another pistol shot cracked through the alley. Basara whirled around, ready to deflect the incoming sickle. However, instead of coming at him, the sickle swung just short of him, arcing down on its ribbon, and sinking its point into the pavement of the alley.

"Sloppy, Blake," said Basara, grinning maliciously.

Blake seemed to materialize out of the darkness in front of him, her right hand still holding the ribbon attached to her sickle. Her sheath held tightly in her left. Her expression was calm. She seemed oddly at ease, despite the fear she normally held towards him.

Basara made to lunge at Blake. However, his body refused to budge. His muscles felt as though they had been locked into place by invisible thread winding its way through him. "What-? Blake? What is this?"

" _Kagenui_ ," replied Blake softly. "I didn't hit you with Gambol Shroud, because I was aiming to pierce your shadow. Now you're trapped, with no way to escape or defend."

"How could you...?" growled Basara. "You were always weak and afraid."

"I got stronger," replied Blake. "I've learned new skills, skills that will allow me to fight you." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm still afraid, Adam. I'm terrified of you. But I've learned to master my fear. I have to, because, as much as I fear you, I fear what you will do to my friends, or innocent people, even more. That's why I'm going to stop you, here and now."

"As if you could," scoffed Basara with a harsh laugh. "You don't have the spine to kill me, Blake. That's why you ran in the first place. You don't have the strength to finish me off!"

"We'll find out," replied Blake grimly, raising her sheath for a powerful slash at Adam's neck. She was about to bring it down, when she felt a chill run down her spine. She jumped away, landing several meters back, staring at the space in front of Basara in confusion.

A strange haze seemed to manifest between her and Basara, much like static appearing on a screen as the connection began to break up. However, in this case, the static seemed to be resolving into a humanoid form, becoming solid and substantial. A pair of glowing, white eyes opened up on its face, and stared at her. It swept its foot along the ground, the foot seeming to solidify as it connected with the handle of Blake's sickle, knocking it free of the pavement, and Basara's shadow, freeing him from Blake's technique.

"Our master dotes on you a little too much, Basara," noted the figure, his voice just as buzzy and staticky as his appearance. "Circumstances have changed. We cannot afford to waste any time. This opponent is clearly too much for you."

"Nonsense," growled Basara. "I trained her myself."

"Once, many years ago," noted the strange figure. "However, she has clearly broadened her repertoire of instructors. If I am not mistaken, I believe I see her practicing the Shadow Arts taught by the Imperial Guard to Mibu Sora."

Blake frowned, and took a cautious step back. She had been glad that her limited skill with the Shadow Arts had given her the edge she needed against Adam. But her instincts told her that this newcomer might be too much for her.

The figure bowed to her, though, from Blake's perspective, it looked like he had suddenly lost height, his appearance being almost completely two-dimensional. "I am Makora of the Junishinsho, it is an honor to make your acquaintance. I respect your sense of caution."

"Cowardice, you mean," growled Basara from behind Makora.

"Caution," reiterated Makora. "Unlike you, she does not make a habit of foolishly underestimating her opponents."

Blake shivered and took another step back. Things being what they were, she figured that a retreat would be necessary. She didn't want to run away again, not with her being so close to finally dealing with Adam for good, but she didn't see much option. Makora struck her as being _much_ more dangerous. If he and Adam attacked together...

"Be at ease," said Makora softly. "I have merely come to retrieve Basara. Unfortunately, the invasion is over."

"What?" gasped Basara, glaring at Makora's back.

"Kubira was slain, not five minutes ago," reported Makora. "He foolishly anchored the Grimm to his own life force, so that they would die if he fell. He likely intended that to serve as a bargaining chip to use, if he ever thought we intended to dispose of him. However, it has now left us without our host to storm the city."

"But the Master can-" protested Basara.

"He could," agreed Makora to Basara's unfinished remark. "However, Kyo and his friends have arrived. Kyo himself confronts the Master."

"So what?" asked Basara.

"If the Master triumphs, then we can proceed as planned," said Makora. "However, in the event that Kyo wins, we must be prepared to withdraw."

"I had thought the Master's victory was inevitable," growled Basara.

"It is," said Makora. "However, it does not guarantee his victory here. If he falls to Kyo's blade, then our duty is to retrieve his remains. The rest shall fall to Shatora and Shindara."

Blake's eyes narrowed, content to listen to her two enemies talk. She had a feeling that most of the context of this conversation was well out of her purview. However, she gathered that they did not necessarily need to win in Atlas. Furthermore, it seemed that their plans could factor in Nobunaga winning or losing. That was bad. Makora's words about the other two Junishinsho had wormed their way under her skin. Shindara was the name that Yang's mother had taken. But she found herself wondering just who this Shatora person was, and what he was up to.

Apparently, Makora had noticed her attentiveness. "We have spoken enough," he said. "Though time is short, I should probably dispose of you, Young Lady."

Blake tensed, her hands clenching tighter around the handles of her weapons.

"NO!" snapped Basara. "She is _mine!_ I won't let anyone else have the pleasure of killing her."

 _How wonderful,_ thought Blake sourly.

Makora looked at Basara. Though his expression was completely invisible, thanks to his static-obscured face, Blake got the distinct impression that Makora's face was irritated or annoyed. However, after a long moment, Blake heard a faint, hissing sigh. "Very well, Basara. This fight is yours to finish. However, we cannot afford to take the time for it to reach its conclusion, so you will have to fight her on another occasion. I am sure that the future will afford you plenty of opportunities to settle your grudge."

"No!" shouted Basara, moving to step past Makora. "I will finish this now!" His hand reached for the hilt of his sword.

Makora calmly raised his left hand, and pressed his fingers up to Basara's temple. His fingers became even more staticky, and seemed to sink into Basara's skull. In an instant, Basara's entire body went limp, and he slumped forward, threatening to land face-down on the alley's pavement. However, Makora turned and efficiently halted Basara's fall with his opposite arm. Basara's weapon clattered as it fell to the ground.

"Nobunaga-sama favors you, because he sees a great deal of himself in you," said Makora softly to his unconscious burden. "However I fear that that is exactly the problem."

Stooping, he picked up Basara's weapon, before casting one last curious look at Blake. "You didn't attack," he noted.

"I somehow doubt that would have ended well for me," said Blake.

Makora chuckled faintly. "You are wise beyond your years. It irks me to leave you alive, so that you might threaten us in the future, but Basara has claimed your life as his and, if I were to take it, I doubt he would ever let me hear the end of it. And, unfortunately, Nobunaga-sama won't let me shut him up."

"My heart bleeds for you, it does," deadpanned Blake.

Makora chuckled again. "Farewell, for now. I suspect our paths will cross again in the future. I might even start to look forward to it."

The static haze that made up his body grew more and more indistinct, spreading down to engulf Basara as well. The two of them dissolved away, vanishing from sight. When their presence vanished, Blake let out a low sigh and slumped to her knees.

 _Adam aside, the Junishinsho are all monsters,_ she thought. _If his servants are like this, what could Nobunaga be like?_

The ring of metal on metal echoed through the air, the sound striking with a visceral force that actually stung Blake's cat-ears. She grimaced and rushed out the end of the alley, and into the street. As she did, she looked up into the air, and saw two massive Auras, one bright and fiery, the other dark and dreadful, colliding against one another. The sight was enough to make her heart lurch nervously. She had an idea what was happening, and it filled her with fear.

* * *

Jaune yelled as he slashed at Santera's body. His sword flared white, its blade cleaving effortlessly through her cloak of iron-sand. However, even if she couldn't rely on it to deflect her enemy's strikes, Santera could still use her unique weapon to disguise her body's position, ensuring that Jaune's attacks missed their mark.

In return, she attacked with swarming, razor-edged tendrils that wove through the air to come at Jaune from all directions. Some stabbed, others whipped. They were each sharp enough to pierce or slash through his Aura alone, as though it were little more than paper.

Fortunately, Jaune's shield proved to be a far better defense than it first seemed. Light flashed in the air, intercepting attacks, even the ones that came at Jaune from the sides or behind him. They scattered the tendrils back into sand, scattering it into the air around him, though Santera's polarity quickly drew the sand back in, reforming her weapon endlessly, even as Jaune continued to try and break it apart.

In other words, it was a perfect stalemate. Neither of them could manage to get a decisive advantage over the other. Jaune's sword couldn't find Santera's body, and Santera's tendrils couldn't pierce his defenses.

Still, a stalemate worked fine for Jaune. At this point, he didn't really need to beat Santera, just keep her occupied, while Ruby dealt with Cinder. Of course, if he could win, so much the better. Even as he thought this, Jaune tried his hardest to keep from thinking about what winning would mean. Every so often, his mind would flash back to that jarring sight of Pyrrha's body, paradoxically both alive and lifeless as she stared at him.

As they skidded to a stop after another fierce exchange, Jaune frowned, seeing something unusual happening. Santera's lips were moving, as though she were speaking, though he didn't hear a single sound. It seemed like she was muttering something to herself. For some reason, the sight of that unnerved Jaune more than the memory of Pyrrha's expressionless face did. If Santera could talk, then perhaps that meant she could think. If she could think, then she had a mind, which meant a personality, an identity, a sign that Pyrrha really had come back from the other side, and that defeating her really would be just killing her all over again.

She seemed to glide away from Jaune, her cloak hiding the movements of her legs. Her cloak of iron-sand began to condense around her, forming swirling clouds. They separated, revealing portions of Pyrrha's toned, supple body, the sand forming her hood retracting back, and letting Jaune see her face again.

Swallowing nervously, Jaune stepped back again. Now he understood what was happening. Santera lacked a will of her own, but she wasn't exactly mindless either. She was clearly following orders, Nobunaga's or Cinder's or both, but she also had the ability to analyze and adapt to situations. She must be refining her fighting style to better fight against him.

Sure enough, the sand surrounding her body condensed further, solidifying, forming into armor, a chestpiece, arm-guards, and other pieces, creating an almost perfect gray and black simulacrum of the outfit Pyrrha had worn when she was alive, even binding her red hair back up into its familiar ponytail, and forming her characteristic circlet. More sand swarmed together in front of her hands, condensing and solidifying into her xiphos and shield.

"That's not even fair," groaned Jaune, horrified. This was far worse than fighting a cloaked, anonymous girl, even if he knew that Pyrrha's face was under that hood. Now he felt like he was fighting Pyrrha herself, which was arguably the point of this. Santera had apparently noticed that her face unnerved him, and had chosen to fight this way specifically to take the edge off his skills.

Fortunately, Santera's face displayed no reaction to his words, nor to his obvious distress, which was something of a relief. As long as her face remained doll-like and expressionless, Jaune thought he could still fight her, while holding onto his sanity. If she actually was capable of some form of expression, Jaune was sure that something would break inside of him.

 _What am I thinking?_. Jabbing his sword into the pavement, Jaune raised his right hand and harshly slapped his own face, the crack of his hand against his cheek echoing in his ears, even as the sting of impact lingered. _Get over it,_ he thought harshly at himself. _It doesn't matter if she looks like Pyrrha, or even if she is an incomplete resurrection of Pyrrha, like Cinder said. I know that Pyrrha's will is in Crocea Mors. I also know that, above all else, Pyrrha wants me to protect Ruby._

Pulling his sword out again, Jaune lifted it and leveled it at Santera. "I don't care that you have Pyrrha's body, her mind, or her memories. I know what really matters to her, and I won't let you tarnish her memory."

He blinked, surprised. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but Jaune thought he saw the barest flicker of something pass over Santera's face, the tiniest twitch at the corners of her mouth, like an expression that had struggled, and failed, to form. That worried him. Maybe there really was something of Pyrrha's will left in Santera-

 _Stop that,_ he admonished himself. _You just got finished firming up your resolve. Don't make yourself start all over again._

He blinked his eyes, and shook his head to clear it, focusing all his attention on Santera, forcing himself to see her as an enemy, or at least an opponent. It was a good thing that he got his head back in the game, because, for someone who wasn't supposed to have a will, Santera sure went at him with one.

She leapt forward, her speed making her body blur to Jaune's vision. She was a good bit faster than her remembered Pyrrha being...and Pyrrha had been pretty quick, maybe not Ruby-level fast, but fast enough to leave him in her dust on his best day. Santera was even quicker, edging up towards Ruby's speed.

Jaune lifted his shield, his Aura flushing through it, making the white of its surface shine all the brighter as Santera brought her iron xiphos down on it. To Jaune's shock, the force of her blow was staggering, to such an extent that he felt the jolt run down his arm, making him grunt as his feet skidded across the ground. He hadn't felt like this since the last time he had traded blows with Chika, back in Onmyo. That wasn't a good sign.

 _It can't be,_ he thought. Frowning, he shifted his shield to the side. Even though Santera's attack had jolted his arm, the impact had still bounced her weapon back. Now Jaune retaliated with an attack of his own, sweeping his sword around in a sideways strike, aimed at her waist. Santera countered with her own circular shield, blocking Jaune's sword with its rim. There was a flare of black, edged with red, from the rim of the shield, and Jaune's sword nearly flew from his hand as it rebounded back. _It is,_ he realized. _She's imitating my Manifestation._

Santera might have been devoid of a will of her own, but it seemed that that also had its own advantages. She had become something of a blank slate, patterning her Aura to match her opponents. After so many exchanges with Jaune, she had absorbed the basics of his technique, and was now turning it against him.

Fortunately, it seemed that her imitation was a long ways from perfect. Santera's shield had bounced his sword away, but her own body was sent skidding much farther than Jaune's had. She came to a stop a few meters away, her green, glassy eyes locking with Jaune's, before she went back on the attack.

 _This just got a lot harder,_ thought Jaune nervously as he moved forward to meet her. _I hope Ruby's doing better than me._

* * *

Cinder unleashed another blast of fire at Ruby. However, Ruby dodged in a blur of red, circling around to dart at Cinder's unguarded flank. The blade of her scythe sparked against the shield generated by Cinder's Maiden power, before skidding off. Ruby shot away as Cinder summoned a column of flame where Ruby had been a second before. Coming to another stop, Ruby looked up to see Cinder already rushing at her, hands aflame. It seemed that Cinder had lost interest in using blades, and was simply aiming for an immolation.

For a few seconds, the two of them were blurs as they traded blows with one another, parting to come back together again, circling about and trying to strike from new angles. Cinder skidded away, her hand plunging into the ground, turning it a bright, molten red. Ashes and embers rose up to congeal into another swarm of her explosive glass shards, which she then launched at Ruby in a harrowing barrage.

Ruby's body became a ribbon-like streak of red as she wove between them, her movements smoother and more flowing than they had been in the past. Besides the new technique she'd been working to perfect, she had also been working on refining her Semblance. As it had been, Ruby was accustomed to using it in straight lines, sharp, darting bursts of speed. But now she could maintain it, and move much more smoothly, which made it easier to control, and waisted less energy.

Passing through Cinder's barrage, Ruby's foot touched down just long enough to launch her into a flip over Cinder's head as Cinder gestured with a wide sweep of her arm, calling up a solid wall of flames, right in front of where Ruby had landed, before jumping off. Had Ruby been even a fraction of a second slower, she would have barreled right into those flames. As it was, her flip allowed her to swing Crescent Rose into a sweeping strike that brought it down and around below her, the tip of the blade threatening to punch right through Cinder's skull.

Cinder was already spinning around, having apparently already noticed that her wall of fire hadn't stopped Ruby, and anticipating an attack from behind. Her eyes widened as she saw the tip of Crescent Rose, now threatening to stab her right between the eyes.

Cinder jumped up and back, bringing her hands together in front of her, catching Ruby's attack with a fiery barrier. The impact caused the two of them to fly in opposite directions. As they did, Ruby continued her swing, until it brought her weapon's rifle-barrel in line with Cinder, and pulled the trigger several times. Cinder's eyes narrowed as the shots glanced off her shield. Touching down, she swept her right arm down, then up in front of her, sending another line of flames shooting upwards in a torrent, the line crawling across the ground to where Ruby landed. Ruby was immediately forced to throw herself to the side to avoid the attack. Doing so also caused her to angle Crescent Rose behind her. Pulling the trigger, Ruby allowed the recoil of her shot to send her rocketing at Cinder once again.

As they continued to clash, Ruby could feel the intensity of Cinder's gaze. She could still feel Cinder's anger and hatred. But, as the battle had progressed, Ruby could also feel the intensity of Cinder's concentration. No doubt Cinder was frustrated that her accumulated power couldn't bring Ruby down with ease. That had to irk her. Every encounter Ruby had ever had with Cinder, after the latter had stopped pretending to be a student of Haven, had left Ruby with the feeling that Cinder enjoyed feeling superior to others. She relished in that sense of superiority. She liked reminding her enemies that they were weak, compared to her, that she had power that they didn't. She got frustrated when the power she'd acquired didn't immediately grant her the overwhelming advantage she thought it should. That had been one of the reasons Keikoku had been able to thrash her so badly, back in Onmyo.

However, Cinder's arrogance was apparently tempered by a healthy respect for Ruby's power, particularly the power of the Silver Eyes. Ruby's power had maimed and scarred her, leaving her weak, almost helpless, for several months. It was a power that the power of the Maidens was apparently vulnerable to. Cinder had not succeeded to the extent she had without developing a healthy sense of caution.

And she had to have noticed that, for quite a while now, Ruby had foregone the use of her Silver Eyes in her attacks. Ruby had good reason for that. Using the Silver Eyes was draining. She had learned to focus and shape her power, but it was a taxing process. Combining that with her other technique, Ruby knew that her staying power in this fight was limited. She needed to ration her strength, and use it only when she had a decisive opportunity, otherwise she'd be left weak and helpless for Cinder to do whatever she pleased with her.

So, for now, the two of them danced, scythe against flames, constantly moving, striking, defending, evading, and striking again. They were both on the lookout for that decisive moment, that instant where the battle could shift in the favor of one or the other.

Ruby was practically a pinball now, bouncing rapidly between buildings, moving so fast that the red streak of her body seemed to be in multiple places at once, the red petals of her Semblance dancing in the air around Cinder, mingling with the embers and ashes of her flames, all dancing together in a twisted parody of the battle between the two of them. Their fight carried them along streets, down alleys, and even through the middle of buildings. In their wake, they left a trail of burning rubble.

Sweat poured down Ruby's face. Her earlier exertions had taken their toll. Perhaps she should have played her cards closer to the chest before. Now Cinder had seen enough of her abilities to be wary. It was going to be difficult to find the proper time and place to strike.

"What's the matter, Little Rose?" taunted Cinder. "You seemed so confident before. I thought you were going to avenge your friend, needless as that gesture is now."

Ruby forced down the rage that threaten to roar out at Cinder's words, forcing herself to smirk instead. "I could ask you the same thing," she said with all the false cheer she could muster. "I thought you would have crushed me by now. Isn't that what all that power you stole is for? I guess being the Fall Maiden doesn't amount to much."

Fire blazed out from the corner of Cinder's eye as she narrowed it in an angry glare, which made Ruby's smirk widen fractionally. "It's gotta suck," she continued, "going through all that work to get the Fall Maiden's power, only to wind up getting beaten over and over again. It's like resorting to pathetic cheats to get stronger, without making a _real_ effort, was going to come back and bite you in the ass, someday."

The flames burning out from the corner of Cinder's eye intensified, and her lips pulled back, baring her teeth.

"I heard you wanted to be strong," said Ruby. "You wanted to be feared. You just weren't willing to go through the effort to get strong for real. The power you have right now is hollow and empty, just like you."

"I'll show you how hollow this power is!" declared Cinder wrathfully, rising up into the air on jets of flame that emerged from her feet, and stretching her arms out to either side. An orb of fire blossomed the air above each of her palms. The two fireballs flared, then swelled to enormous size, each one reaching at least three meters across, then four, growing larger with each passing second.

"I should have done this from the beginning!" crowed Cinder. "I'll burn this entire area to ash, and you with it. Try and avoid this with all the speed at your disposal." Her yes narrowed. "Or use the power of those Silver Eyes you're so proud of. Show me that they are for more than just show."

"Gladly," replied Ruby. Her eyes flickered, silvery light spilling out of them.

Cinder hissed and hurled the fireballs at Ruby, who appeared to make no attempt to avoid them. The fireballs merged and then collided with the ground, right where Ruby was standing. A massive blast erupted outwards, washing over Cinder, who was protected by her shield. Buildings shattered into rubble that was then scorched into black ash by the flames. As the flames faded and scattered, Cinder stood in the midst of a massive circle of scorched earth, her fires having burned away even the asphalt and pavement. A low embankment of blackened rubble marked the outer boundary of her attack.

Smiling smugly, Cinder lowered herself down, landing in the exact epicenter of the explosion she'd just unleashed. There was no trace of Ruby Rose to be found. "That proved to be anticlimactic," she observed.

"I'll say," said Ruby from behind Cinder, prompting her to whirl around in surprise.

"H-how?" gasped Cinder.

"I'll show you," promised Ruby, now wearing a smirk of her own as she charged straight in at Cinder.

Cinder raised her hands up reflexively. However, to her shock, she saw Ruby suddenly split into three. _Duplication? Shadows? No! That's not how her Semblance is supposed to work._ All three versions of Ruby attacked simultaneously, the scythe blades biting into Cinder's shield, making her wince as she tried to track them. Leaping back, Cinder called forth her bow and drew it back, conjuring an arrow. Of the three Rubys that had attacked, only one remained now, and she was already closing in on Cinder.

"Die!" spat Cinder, releasing the string, and sending the arrow right through Ruby's head.

Even as Ruby reeled back, four more of her seemed to split off, all of them coming at Cinder from a different vector. Once again, Cinder was forced to brace herself as Ruby's scythe cut at her from multiple directions. Her shield held, but Cinder was once again confronted with the fact that something utterly incomprehensible to her was taking place. "What are you doing?"

"Finishing this!" declared Ruby, coming at Cinder again. Silver light spilled out from her eyes in a manner similar to the flames that emerged from Cinder's eye, when she unleashed her Maiden powers to their fullest extent. The light from Ruby's eyes flared out like broad wings, more silvery light climbing the shaft of Crescent Rose, and lining the edge of its blade. Within those silver blazes, pools of black emerged, where Ruby's irises were, a strange white rune appearing in the center.

Cinder gasped and flinched back, ready to try and avoid Ruby's attack. However, Ruby suddenly seemed to divide again, going at least a dozen ways simultaneously, before completely vanishing from sight.

Throwing her arms up was all she could do. It wasn't nearly enough. Cinder was slashed from countless directions simultaneously, the blade of Crescent Rose, augmented by the power of Ruby's Silver Eyes, cut through her shield like butter. Cinder screamed as burning lines of pain were etched all over her body. Her strength fled, the power of the Fall Maiden being snuffed out like a candle, leaving her feeling weak and powerless once more.

Then it was suddenly over. Cinder slumped to her knees. Her ears caught the sound of Ruby's body hitting the ground hard. Looking over her shoulder, Cinder saw Ruby sprawled out on the ground, Crescent Rose lying just inches away from her limp fingers. It seemed that the strain of that last attack had been too much for her, and Ruby had fainted.

Grimacing, Cinder forced herself to her feet. It was no easy task. The wounds that Ruby inflicted burned like fire, which seemed all the more fitting, as her power caused actual flames to leak out of them. Her entire body felt as though it were coming apart at the seams. Any attempt to use the power of the Fall Maiden, and Cinder knew that she would rip herself to pieces. That was fine by her. She was weakened and almost helpless, but her enemy, the person she despised most in the world, was _completely_ helpless, not even so much as twitching as Cinder staggered a step closer. Cinder might not have had the strength to immolate her with a fireball, or summon a sword of black glass to impale her, but, given enough time, Cinder could hobble over, and strangle Ruby with her bare hands, if that was what it took.

Each step made her body scream with agony, but Cinder's hatred knew no bounds. Another step closer...then another...Ruby Rose's unresponsive body was just two steps away. _Just two more steps and...I...can...finish this._

Growling with effort made blood bubble out from between her lips, running down her chin, Cinder forced herself to take another step. Now Ruby was only one step away, close enough that Cinder could reach her, just by falling forward. But that wasn't enough. Cinder wanted to cross that remaining distance, to kneel at Ruby's side, then throttle the remaining life from the infuriating girl's body.

That proved to be her biggest mistake. Lifting her leg to take that final step, Cinder's balance wavered. Unfortunately, at that moment, the act of lifting her leg had caused her to shift her weight slightly backwards. Losing her balance caused her to pitch all the way over, falling onto her back, striking her head painfully against the ground. A thin spray of blood fountained out from Cinder's mouth in accompaniment to her painful exhalation. Her body started to go numb and cold, the wounds Ruby had cut in her flesh standing out by burning, like red-hot brands against her skin.

 _No!_ wailed Cinder mentally. _So close...I..._

She tried to shift her weight, aiming to roll over and crawl to Ruby, if she had to. However, her body refused to respond. She closed her eye, trying to gather her strength. She realized it was a mistake when she opened it again. She'd actually lost consciousness briefly. Looking up, she realized that more time had passed than she'd realized, though she wasn't sure how much. The problem was the shadow presently looming over her.

Ruby was gasping and panting with effort, her skin pale and shining with sweat that also soaked her clothes, and matted her hair into ragged strips. She leaned on the shaft of Crescent Rose, bracing its spike against the ground to remain upright as she glared at Cinder. Her Silver Eyes were clearly drained of power, but they still flashed with an anger and hatred that rivaled Cinder's own.

"I'm sick of you," spat Ruby. "I'm tired of seeing your face, of knowing that you're still in this world, despite what you've done."

Despite her pain, despite her own hatred, Cinder couldn't stop her lips from curling back in a wry grin, a wet, coughing laugh exploding from her lips, accompanied by a fresh spurt of blood. "The feeling...is mutual...you insufferable brat," she croaked. The realization of the parallel hatred they held for each other drained Cinder. Now she just felt tired. "End it."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "Fine," she said coldly, struggling against her weapon's shaft to stand fully upright, trying to find the wherewithal to lift it, or at least orient it, so that it would fall and pierce Cinder's chest. Unable to do anything but watch and wait, Cinder did exactly that.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cinder caught sight of a flash of red and black. A red blur shot forth from a swirling vortex, and Raven Branwen, Shindara, arrived. Though her sword was drawn, she didn't use it. Instead she contemptuously kicked Ruby in the stomach, before the girl could react, sending her flying back, while Crescent Rose clattered against the ground, not far away from Cinder.

"Shindara," coughed Cinder, trying, and failing, to sit upright.

"Silence," replied the white-masked woman coldly. "Just be grateful that I bothered to retrieve you at all. Shatora insisted that we come to Atlas, before returning to base."

"Wha-what does...Shatora...want here?" stammered Cinder, having to struggle to force words out her mouth.

"He said he needed to pick up our new Antera," replied Shindara cryptically. "We've secured Nobunaga's final vessel."

"Oh...good..." said Cinder, her voice trailing off as the last vestiges of her consciousness faded away.

* * *

 **So yeah, Cinder and Adam forgot to level-grind.**


	83. Chapter 83

**Chapter 83:**

Kyo and Nobunaga's first clash ended abruptly as they rebounded from the impact of their respective attacks. They touched down simultaneously, then surged forward, coming back together to clash again, their swords silvery blurs, flickering through the air around them, sparks flying where the blades met and their Auras clashed against one another. Speaking of Auras, the manifested energy of their souls swirled about them like a maelstrom, streams of Aura crushing the sides of nearby buildings or slicing through lampposts like butter. Yang and Indara were forced to hunker down and keep low, lest they be swept up in the fight and torn apart. In their current condition, Kyo and Nobunaga could do that to them without even realizing it.

Yang winced as the shockwave from the connection of the two fighters' swords buffeted her again, flinging her hair wildly off to one side of her head as she strained to remain upright, having to brace herself with her left arm. At the moment, she lacked the Aura to produce her right arm, not that she would have been able to do anything with it if she could

Indara wasn't much better off. One hand was still clamped over the side of his torso, where Yang's finishing move had inflicted its damage. The other braced him up. Like Yang, he too struggled to keep from being blown over by Kyo and Nobunaga's clash.

The fight itself was hardly some stationary thing. Kyo and Nobunaga danced about the battlefield as they fought, their battle taking them between Yang and Indara, before circling around behind one or the other, their forms blurring and darting as they moved to avoid an incoming attack or tried to set up their own. Quite often, Yang would see Kyo or Nobunaga vanish in a blur, only to appear behind the other's back, only for the other to repeat the maneuver as they traded attempts to flank their opponent, before apparently giving up and clashing head-on once again.

The very nature of their duel was fantastical. A step shattered solid asphalt or concrete. A missed swing of the blade led to a whipping edge of wind slicing through the side of a building. Every impact created a shockwave that shattered glass windows and crushed stone and brick. Kyo and Nobunaga strived with every fiber of their being to end the other's life, yet they grinned maniacally, as though they were having the time of their lives.

Back and forth they went as they traded blows. Neither seemed to get the upper hand. Occasionally, small lacerations would appear, as though by magic, glancing blows dealt by slashes too fast for the eye to see. Small arcs of blood fountained from the cuts on Kyo's body, drifting red particles spilled from Nobunaga. Yet these were just tiny scratches, dealt by glancing blows that would have been lethal, had they connected the way they were meant to.

Finally, their blades slammed together once again, producing one of the most powerful shockwaves yet. Yang doubled over, lowering her profile as much as possible to keep from getting blown away. Across from her, Indara did the same. Kyo and Nobunaga skidded away from each other, their feet plowing furrows through the earth. They both stopped, a brief moment of quiet settling over the battlefield as the two mortal enemies sized each other up.

Finally, Nobunaga broke the silence, throwing his head back. "Ahhh!" he exhaled ecstatically. "How I've missed this sensation. To clash with a Kyo once again, how my heart dances."

"So glad to entertain you," said Kyo, panting from his exertions. "Perhaps this will make your heart dance even more!"

Kyo's Aura surged as he raised his sword, which blazed like a miniature star, white light washing out from it in waves. The Crimson Eyes shined brighter than ever. Kyo brought his sword down, his Aura seeming to collapse around him. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu...Suzaku!_ " With a flash, wings of red flame snapped out and the Vermillion Bird took flight, rushing over the ground, heading straight for Nobunaga, the wind of its passage actually splitting the earth beneath it.

"Ha!" barked Nobunaga. His own blade began to shine and Nobunaga's Aura also surged upwards. Yang swallowed back the urge to vomit as it took the form of a massive, skeletal figure as Nobunaga swung his sword in a backhanded slash, the skeletal figure riding the wave of bone-white energy that erupted forth from the blade's edge. " _Tenma Mukurode!_ "

The two attacks collided and Yang was blown over by the shockwave of their passage. She hit the ground hard, grunting in pain as she was sent skidding. Her Tempered Aura barely held together. Underneath the roar of the two colliding attacks, she could hear the rumble of buildings collapsing. Curling up as tight as she could, Yang shielded her head with her left arm, desperately trying to protect herself from the debris that was peppering her and the area around.

Finally, the noise and pressure faded. Hesitantly, Yang sat up and looked back at where the two attacks had hit. A wide crater dominated the space, quartered by a set of cuts that were so deep that their bottoms were lost in darkness. Kyo and Nobunaga stood on either side of the crater, staring each other down. Yang noticed that Kyo seemed even more tired after using the _Suzaku_.

"What's the matter, boy?" asked Nobunaga. "Don't tell me you've hit your limit already. Crush one pathetic excuse of an army underfoot, and you're already on the verge of collapse."

Despite the fact that he appeared to be running out of breath, Kyo raised his sword and grinned. "Hardly," he said. "This fun's only starting, Nobunaga."

The demonic abomination laughed, raising his sword as well. "Yes! I like your spirit, boy! It reminds me of your ancestor. Even at his lowest, he never lost his defiant spirit. Now! Show me just how much of his strength you possess."

"My ancestor's strength was his own," replied Kyo calmly. "This strength is mine."

They charged each other again, their blades clashing, producing a shockwave that almost rivaled the collision between powerful techniques they had used earlier.

Yang watched intently, fighting down the troubling sensation in the pit of her stomach. Kyo was struggling. He was doing his best not to let it show, but he'd spent a substantial portion of his strength in the fight against Ironwood's army, having not anticipated the possibility of fighting such a powerful opponent right after that. Having seen him fight so many times now, and having faced his sword herself, Yang could tell that his movements weren't as sharp as they should be. _This is bad._

"Ah, it appears that Kyo and Nobunaga-sama have begun their battle."

Yang jumped and whirled towards the source of the smooth voice, nearly falling over in the process. Looking over, she saw a tall, slender man, armed with a pair of swords, standing next to Indara, who had also apparently been knocked sprawling by the previous set of attacks.

"Ajira..." said Indara, looking up at his ally, noting the tears of blood that had dried on his cheeks. His body was battered, his clothes torn and burnt in several places. Blood leaked from several other small wounds on his torso and legs. "What happened to you?"

"I faced a particularly difficult opponent," said Ajira, carefully raising his fingers to his cut eyes. "To defeat her, I was forced to make a sacrifice to advance my mastery. I gave up my eyes to the betterment of my Art."

"I see," said Indara. "And your enemy?"

"I wounded her grievously," said Ajira. "Yet, even after advancing my mastery to such a degree, she was still able to escape me, though I suspect she may yet die of her wounds. I won't count her death as a certainty though."

"Hmm..." said Indara, clearly realizing that he was in no condition to scold.

Yang suddenly felt cold. After they had all split up, she wasn't sure who had ended up fighting whom. But looking at the singed marks on Ajira's clothes, probably dealt with some form of fire-Dust, along with the wounds, which looked like they had been dealt by a narrow, pointed blade, used for stabbing, Yang thought she had a good idea of who Ajira's opponent had been. _Neo..._

* * *

With a pained cough that splattered blood on the ground, Neo braced herself against the wall of a building. However, it wasn't much help to her. Bracing her back against it, she slid sideways, before falling to the ground, leaving a wide streak of blood on the wall behind her. Her white eyes blinked, then drifted closed as more blood began to pool on the ground around her.

* * *

 _Please be okay,_ thought Yang frantically. She considered pulling out her scroll, and calling someone to look for Neo, but thought better of it. Everyone had their own battles, and Yang had no idea who was free, or what condition they might be in. Her efforts to contact someone might end up being the fatal distraction that did them in. In the end, she just had to have faith in her friends and their strength, and hope that they would all make it through this.

She was roused from her thoughts by the impact of another pair of attacks colliding. Looking up, she saw Nobunaga knock Kyo back with a triumphant cry.

"Are you going to die without accomplishing anything, boy!?" shouted Nobunaga as he raised his sword, going in for the kill.

Yang's jaw dropped as she tried to shout Kyo's name. However, her voice died when she saw a flash of golden light dance off the flat of Kyo's sword. It flared, causing Nobunaga to pause his attack. Then she saw a swift flash of blue and the figure of a swift-flying bird behind Nobunaga.

" _Aohi!_ " Kyo's sword was an azure streak that came right at Nobunaga's neck from behind.

Rather than try to block with his own sword or dodge, Nobunaga roared, his Aura exploding out all around him. Kyo's sword split through the surge of power, still homing right in on the back of Nobunaga's neck. At the last second, the Demon King threw himself forward, going into a roll that carried him out of the line of Kyo's attack. However, a spray of red particles sprayed out from the wound Kyo's blade had left. Had Nobunaga's body been human, that wound would have probably injured, or even severed, his spinal cord. But he stood up with no issue, his left hand rubbing the cut on the back of his neck.

"Yes, that was a fine blow," he conceded. "To have honed a technique of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ 's lesser arts to such a degree, you show impressive dedication. Still, it can be foolish to not pull back, when you can't be sure of the kill."

Yang realized what Nobunaga was getting at. Kyo's sword had cut through the Aura protecting Nobunaga, but the remainder of the explosion had hit his body, even as his blade had cut its way through. Kyo had been focused on the offense, so he only had his regular Tempering to withstand the force of Nobunaga's attack. Kyo had been thrown back and had barely managed to force himself up to his feet by stabbing his sword into the ground.

 _Wait! He stabbed his sword into the ground._ Yang's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen.

" _Yato!_ " Streams of wind rose up from the ground, binding themselves around Nobunaga, binding his arms to the side, his muscles straining to force apart the bonds of wind that now bound him.

"KYOOOOOOOO!" roared Nobunaga.

The bonds suddenly intensified into a powerful whirlwind that swallowed the Demon King up with a roar that drowned out his rage.

"Do you feel the embrace of the night serpents?" asked Kyo, struggling to his feet.

The dust raised by the winds cleared, revealing a grinning Nobunaga, who popped his neck. "Indeed I did," he said. "Such a warm and gentle embrace. It's hard to believe that this soft boy could be the descendant of the Kyo who started this cycle."

Yang could see that Nobunaga's body appeared to be unharmed. His clothes were a bit more tattered now. But there was no sign that Kyo's attack had done any damage at all.

"What's the matter?" taunted Nobunaga. "You seem tired, Kyo. Don't tell me that this was the best you could manage. Your _Suzaku_ earlier was lacking as well."

 _It was smaller than I remembered it being during his fight with his mom,_ noted Yang silently, _or when he used it against Ironwood's warship._

"Even if it was, it was clearly more than enough to handle you," said Kyo, wiping away the sweat accumulating on his chin with his forearm.

"You must be worn down, if you can't recognize a deliberately weak strike used to test you," replied Nobunaga. "Would you like to see what it's full strength is like?"

Raising his sword, the blade let out a bell-like ring and blazed with light, a phenomenon like the one that Kyo's sword could produce. Its Aura blended with Nobunaga's own, reinforcing the deathly, void-like nature of the Demon King's Aura with the chill of tempered steel. Yang could see the skeletal apparition that manifested all the more clearly, including the tattered robe and hood that shrouded its body, making it look like a manifestation of death itself. The apparition merged with the wave of Aura that Nobunaga unleashed with the swing of his sword. " _Tenma Mukurode!_ "

Straightening up, Kyo seemed to relax his body. Yang saw him take a deep breath, seeming not to react as Nobunaga's attack rushed closer and closer. Then his Aura surged around him as he leveled his blade in Nobunaga's direction. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Genbu!_ "

A dome of hexagonal panels shimmered into being, forming a barrier between Kyo and Nobunaga's attack. The shockwave of Nobunaga's blow struck the dome, exploding in a cold fury that chilled Yang to the bone, even considering how far away she was. Once again, she had to struggle simply to keep from having the life ripped forcefully from her body. A cloud of dust erupted, screening Kyo from view. A few seconds later though, a swarm of writhing, undulating serpents exploded out from the cloud, rushing at Nobunaga.

"HA!" shouted Nobunaga as Kyo's attack rushed closer. "Not bad! You managed to block that at least. Then try this!"

His Aura flared even more intensely, this time _three_ separate apparitions manifesting around him, as he swung his sword through several powerful strokes to send blades of pure death flying Kyo's way. " _Tenma Ryoga Koran!_ "

The blades of Nobunaga's attack sliced through the serpents, cutting them down as they rushed straight for Kyo's barrier, which had just become visible through the dust that had been forced aside by the serpents. The blades struck _Genbu_ 's barrier, cracking it, then shattering it. Behind it, Yang saw Kyo cross his arms and brace his body and Aura, but Nobunaga's blades still struck home, biting through Kyo's Aura and sending arcs of his blood flying through the air.

Shuddering, Yang's fingers clenched into a fist, which she braced against the ground. She had seen Kyo's _Genbu_ protect her from Nigel's most powerful attack. She'd seen it withstand the combined, concentrated assault of no fewer than _three_ of Ironwood's most powerful warships. But Nobunaga's attack had shattered it like cheap glass. The remaining force of the blow sent Kyo sprawling.

"KYO!" screamed Yang, leaning forward, though her limbs refused to completely obey her mind's commands. Desperation surged through her. This was different from the last time she'd seen Kyo at a disadvantage. This was nothing like Kyo's fight with Nigel. She was struck with the sensation of things being the closest to the edge that she had ever seen. The way he currently was, there was no way that Kyo could win this fight.

"I had expected a little bit more than that," commented Nobunaga, lowering his sword. "You possess a mere fraction of the original Kyo's strength. How sad it is that his line has dwindled to such an extent."

"I have no notion of what you are talking about," said Kyo, staggering to his feet, blood dripping off his arms and down his legs. His body shook with the effort just to keep standing, yet his smile seemed just as wide as it had been before. "I have no notion of the first Kyo's strength, nor do I care to know. My strength is my own, so it does not matter how it compares to his." His eyes fixed intently on Nobunaga. "All that matters is that I have the strength to cut you down."

"Pitiful," grunted Nobunaga dismissively.

Kyo's body blurred and vanished, only to reappear behind and above Nobunaga, his blade descending straight towards Nobunaga's head. Nobunaga raised his own sword without even looking, blocking the strike with ease. A flick of his wrist disengaged their blades, and he spun about, swinging his sword to catch Kyo as he landed. Kyo braced the back of his own sword against his left arm, stopping Nobunaga's strike from reaching his body. But his leverage was bad, his feet having not yet reached the ground. The force of the blow sent him flying back.

Using his momentum, Kyo turned his tumble into a flip that allowed him to land on his feet, kicking off and charging Nobunaga again almost immediately, leading with a powerful swing from Tenro. Despite that, Nobunaga knocked Kyo's blade aside with almost careless ease. "I appreciate your tenacity," he admitted, sounding almost reluctant. "Despite knowing the gulf between us, you continue to press the attack. It reminds me of your father."

"I can appreciate that," said Kyo before Nobunaga returned the favor. Kyo raised his sword to block Nobunaga's attack. The force behind it drove his feet into the ground, but Kyo managed to remain in place. With an almost wicked grin, he reached up with his left hand and grasped the blade of Nobunaga's sword, not having a care for the fact that the edge was biting into his palm, spilling still more blood.

Yanking Nobunaga's sword out to the side, Kyo attacked with a powerful swing from his own weapon. Nobunaga threw himself back, pulling his sword free of Kyo's hand, nearly slicing a portion of it clean off in the process. Kyo's blade bit into Nobunaga's shoulder, and opened up a cut running down the length of his chest.

"Got him!" gasped Yang, her heart speeding up. She didn't like the idea of what Kyo had just done to his hand, but he'd at least managed to score a serious hit against the Demon King.

To her surprise, Nobunaga threw his head back and laughed. "Yes! That's more like it! Even pressed to the edge of death, keep attacking and never relent. That's more like the first Kyo, I knew."

"I thought I told you to stop..." said Kyo as he advanced, swinging Tenro in an overhead strike, "...comparing me to him!"

"Then prove yourself his better!" Nobunaga shouted back as he blocked Kyo's attack with his sword, before throwing it off and advancing. Kyo slipped to the side of Nobunaga's next slash and attacked. Their blows collided, and the two found themselves nearly body to body, bracing their blades against one another as they fought a contest of pure strength.

Their Auras flared up once again, rising and surging into twin, towering infernos of power as their souls strained against one another in a mimicry of what their swords were doing below. Finally, they pushed away from one another. Kyo quickly raised his sword, which blazed white, and swung it down. " _Mizuchi!_ " A wave of atmosphere broke over Nobunaga, completely swamping him.

From within the cloud raised by Kyo's attack, Yang saw Nobunaga raise his sword and swing it straight downwards in a single, powerful slash. " _Tenma Shiryo Gama!_ " Nobunaga's Aura manifested in the form of a robed specter, who hefted a massive scythe, slashing straight downwards with it. A single wave of bone-white energy split the atmosphere of Kyo's attack, dividing it around Nobunaga, before rushing straight at Kyo. Kyo braced his own sword against the incoming blade, but was driven back, his body and Nobunaga's strike plowing a trench that sent him into the side of a building. The building itself split in two before collapsing.

"No!" shouted Yang, a desperate impulse allowing her to get up on her feet once again, as she stared in horror at the cloud of dust and pile of rubble that obscured Kyo from sight.

"As always, Nobunaga-sama's savagery is a thing to behold," commented Ajira lazily.

"You can't even see it," noted Indara.

"I don't have to," said Ajira. "It's so pervasive that you don't even need eyes to see it. Even if that young man is of the Line of Kyo, there is little he could do to survive such an onslaught."

"Indeed," agreed Indara. "It's remarkable that he lasted as long as he did, especially considering his condition."

Yang growled and took a stumbling step, wanting to head where Kyo was and help him. That single step made her vision twist and wobble, and she found herself on the verge of falling over. _Dammit! I'm too worn out, myself._

However, she quickly realized that her efforts had attracted Nobunaga's attention. He turned, and his gaze settled on her, bombarding Yang with the cold sensation of impending death. "I see," he said. "This Kyo is important to you, Daughter of Shindara. Does that mean you are important to him?"

"It's no business of yours," growled Yang, her body shaking. Unbeknownst to her, her eyes flared red once again.

"Ah yes, there it is again," noted Nobunaga, "just like Shindara. I was unsure of your descent before, but that look on your face leaves no question in my mind. Your are descended from _him_ , the one I despise most of all."

"Who?" asked Yang, blinking in surprise.

Nobunaga snorted. "I suppose it matters little, but it makes my blood boil to see reminders of _him_. After all, _he_ was the one who denied me the chance to seize everything back then."

"What the Hell are you talking about?" demanded Yang.

"There is no need for you to know," replied Nobunaga coldly, stalking her way, his approach making Yang shiver. "It hardly matters in any case. Your lineage is not significant, unlike Kyo's, though it does appear to be potent. Still, I should probably kill you, if only to ensure that you do not become a threat in the future."

Desperately, Yang reached within herself, looking for something, anything she could use to fight with. However, she came up empty, her Aura almost completely spent. What little was left she was using in her Tempering, as it appeared to be the only way she could ensure that her life wasn't simply snuffed out by Nobunaga's mere presence. Instead, she found herself simply staring up at him as he loomed over her, his sword raised to strike her down.

* * *

"...by!...Ruby! Wake up!"

A low groan escaped her lips. Ruby blinked slowly, her eyelids feeling sticky and unresponsive. Slowly, she managed to peel them open. She regretted it almost immediately. The light was harsh and nearly blinded her. She could only barely make out the shadow of someone leaning over her. A few more blinks and her sight managed to recover enough for her to make out the figure of Blake, watching her with concern.

"Are you all right?" asked Blake, carefully helping Ruby sit up.

"Ugh...My stomach hurts, groaned Ruby. "Yang's mom showed up and kicked me. God, I hate that woman."

"I can understand," said Blake with a wry smile, relieved to see that Ruby wasn't really injured.

"I'm tapped, though," said Ruby. "I should've been more careful."

"It's all right," said Blake. "The Grimm are gone. Saisei killed their creator."

"Saisei..." Ruby took a second to process that before her eyes widened. "So Kyo's group is here?"

Blake nodded. "It's a good thing too. Neo nearly died."

"What?" shouted Ruby, lurching out of Blake's arms, and regretting it immediately, as her bruised abdomen protested strenuously. "Ugh..." Wrapping her arms around herself, she fought to keep from doubling over.

"It's all right," said Blake. "I found her, and I got her to Saisei in time, but she'd lost a lot of blood. It's a good thing you aren't too badly injured, Saisei's at her limit, with all the people she's already treated."

"What about Jaune?" asked Ruby as she laid back in Blake's arms. "He was fighting Santera...Oh God!" The memory of what lay beneath that black hood raced back and made Ruby feel sick all over again.

"What about Santera?" asked Blake.

"Santera...she's..." Ruby wasn't sure she could say it. The thought was still too horrifying, and she wanted to think it was all a bad dream.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" asked Blake.

"Never mind," said Ruby. "Help me get up. We need to find Jaune."

"It's okay," said Jaune, walking in from around a corner, looking tired and battered, but sporting no serious injuries, just a few scratches here and there. "I'm right here."

"Jaune!" shouted Ruby, once again trying to struggle to her feet, only for Blake to keep her down as Jaune walked over and knelt beside her. "You're okay," she said, her voice heavy with relief.

"More or less," said Jaune, taking Ruby in his arms, which Blake was grateful for.

"Where's Py-Santera?" asked Ruby.

"She retreated," said Jaune. "It looks like the bad guys are withdrawing for now."

"I hope that's the case," said Blake. "But I don't think Kyo's fight is over...or going well."

They all looked over at where the twin infernos of Aura that they presumed to be Kyo and Nobunaga had been. Kyo's Aura had vanished from sight, but the dark, writhing Aura swirled as violently and intimidating as ever.

"We have to hurry," said Ruby, once again to fighting to get up, but not having any luck.

"You're not going anywhere," said Jaune softly.

"But-!" protested Ruby anxiously.

"Stay and rest," said Blake. "I'll go and check out things. Depending on how things are, you might need all the strength you can call up. If Kyo lost to that..." she cast an uneasy glance at the dark Aura, "...then I don't like our chances against it, especially in our current states. I think Jaune and I may be the only people here in fighting shape."

"All right," said Ruby sadly. "Be careful, Blake."

"I will," said Blake, giving Ruby a warm smile. She traded a knowing look with Jaune, a silent reminder, that he didn't really need, to take care of Ruby. Then she dropped down into her own shadow to make her way to Kyo's battleground.

"Okay, that's a pretty cool trick," said Jaune, as he and Ruby looked at the spot where Blake had been.

* * *

Yang raised her left arm, preparing to take the hit with Ember Celica. She got the impression that her weapon probably wouldn't survive the impact, but it might hopefully keep her from being cut in two.

There was a flicker of motion from within the cloud of dust raised by Nobunaga's previous attack, and Kyo appeared behind the Demon King, swinging his sword sideways with all his might. Nobunaga barely noticed at the last minute, pivoting around to block Kyo's sword, which impacted with far more strength than any of his previous strikes. Nobunaga grunted and was driven backwards, his feet plowing trenches through the ground as he slid. When he came to a stop, Nobunaga looked up, betraying surprise at the sudden unexpected surge of power that Kyo had displayed.

Yang's body almost automatically relaxed as Kyo's Aura washed over her. It was boiling with a fury she had never seen before, roiling with intensity, dyed crimson with his malice and killing intent. Yet she felt no fear, because none of that was directed at her. It was all for the monster in Grimm-flesh standing before them. He had definitely seen better days. He bled from several small lacerations, along with a much larger and deeper wound that started from his left shoulder, and ran straight down his torso to his waist. His kimono was tattered, and the sections of his skin that weren't cut or covered with blood were frequently bruised. However, he seemed not to notice the damage, standing tall and strong, his limbs not shaking in the slightest.

"Do. Not. Touch. _Her!_ " said Kyo, his eyes shining with fury as he glared at Nobunaga.

"Ah...There is the missing element," said Nobunaga excitedly. "So that is the stimulus that brings out your true strength. I used to think that such a protective instinct was nothing more than a foolish weakness. But I can see differently now." His grin became wide an maniacal. "Come then! Protect your woman, if you can!"

They charged each other once again, their blades clashing with renewed ferocity. Their motions were so swift that Yang had difficulty separating block from strike, parry from riposte. They danced about each other, their mere motions stirring the air around them with such intensity that it was like sitting on the fringes of a small hurricane. Yang had to struggle to remain standing as the winds tugged at her body. Kyo and Nobunaga danced around each other in the center of that maelstrom, their distinct Auras mixing together into a single, roiling mass of red and darkness.

Blood and red particles, of whatever passed for that substance within a Grimm, flew through the air, both fighters occasionally abandoning defense to take a chance on a decisive strike.

Then their blades came together again with a thunderous ring of steel against steel. The battle seemed to pause for a brief moment, the two of them stalemated, straining against each other. Then they broke apart once again, the distance of about a meter opening up between them. In that instant, both their swords blazed with light, and they struck.

" _Suzaku!_ " roared Kyo, unleashing one of his most powerful attacks at Nobunaga from almost point-blank range.

" _Tenma Mukurode!_ " thundered Nobunaga.

The bird of red flames and the spectral, demonic skeleton clashed, unleashing a massive of explosion that blew Yang off her feet and sent her skidding across the ground with a cry of surprise and pain. A massive cloud of smoke and dust erupted skywards. The earth shook and jolted, nearby buildings collapsing, throwing more dust skywards.

 _It's like being in the middle of a natural disaster,_ thought Yang grimly as she struggled to get up once again. A pair of hands gently grabbed her shoulders, as a familiar presence appeared behind her, the only thing that kept Yang from decking the person for unexpectedly touching her.

"Blake?"

"Hey," said Blake, helping Yang up to a sitting position. "Are you all right."

"I'm okay," said Yang, "just tapped out."

"I wasn't expecting to find you here," said Blake. "Is Kyo really fighting Nobunaga?"

"Yeah," said Yang. "It's not going too well. That guy's a monster."

"So is Kyo," Blake pointed out wryly.

"Yeah...but...Kyo's not at his best," said Yang.

As if to prove her point, the swirling dust began to clear, revealing Kyo, laying on his back. A short distance away, Nobunaga stood tall, his stance relaxed. Red particles drifted away from numerous new wounds on the Demon King's body, but Kyo was bleeding much more heavily, struggling to get back up. Nobunaga had not gotten through the clash unscathed, but it was clear that Kyo had suffered the brunt of the damage from their exchange.

Throwing back his head, Nobunaga laughed long and loud, the sound of his mirth filling the air like a pronouncement of doom that made Yang and Blake tremble with fear. His swirling Aura seemed darker and more all-consuming than ever. Once again, Yang was beset with the feeling that her life was on the verge of being forcefully ripped from her body. From the sudden paling of Blake's skin, Yang realized that Blake was feeling it too. Blake leaned away from Nobunaga, a look of horror on her face that Yang hadn't seen since that time, during the Fall of Beacon, when Blake had been facing Adam for the first time since leaving the White Fang.

"What is he?" gasped Blake.

"The bad guy," said Yang flatly. In truth, that was about the only descriptor she could think of for him, at the moment.

"So, you gain strength when you have someone to protect," crowed Nobunaga as Kyo struggled to try and get to his feet. "But sentiment will only carry you so far, boy. It will win you no victory here."

Kyo made no reply, managing to rise up to a crouch, straining to find the strength to straighten his legs and stand up all the way. Yang couldn't see his face from her angle, but she could read the weariness in every line of his body. Kyo had dug deep in that last exchange, tapping into reserves that he probably hadn't even known he had. But it hadn't been enough. And now that those reserves were burned out, he really _was_ on his last legs.

"It's sad to see the Line of Kyo come to such an unsightly end," said Nobunaga. "Still, you did furnish me with _some_ entertainment, so I will do you the favor of ending your life, so that you will not have to see the consequences of your failure."

Kyo coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood, before raising his head to glare at Nobunaga.

"Still defiant?" rumbled Nobunaga. "Then know this. After you are dead, I will kill your woman and her friends. Then, starting with this Kingdom, I will drown this world in blood. I will unleash havoc across the world, and bring down everything. Then, from the ashes, I will rebuild this world in _my_ image."

"N-not while I have anything to say about it," Kyo spat back.

"You have nothing to say," retorted Nobunaga darkly, raising his sword. "So be a good boy and _die!_ "

Nobunaga's sword descended. Kyo barely managed to raise his own blade to block the attack, bracing the back of the sword against his left hand as Nobunaga's own weapon collided with it, the force of the stroke driving Kyo's feet and knees into the ground, the impact unleashing a small shockwave of its own. Nobunaga bore down with all his strength, while Kyo strained with everything he had left to keep from being cut in two. Their swords began to shine and ring like bells, tension filling the air around them.

Yang felt a pressure building within her ears. She was beset with the feeling that something had to give. It was only a matter of time. "Kyo!" she shouted, struggling to stand up, though her legs weren't helping her at the moment. "Kyo! Get away! Please...!"

Strangely, she saw Kyo's lips curl up in a small smile. His body seemed to find new strength and he began to strain upwards against Nobunaga's blade, driving it up as he once again tried to rise.

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" roared Nobunaga, redoubling the pressure he was exerting downwards. "You can't protect her! I will make her scream in agony, before I send her to join you!"

"No...you... _won't!_ " Kyo shouted back.

Something seemed to give, and the two powers straining against each other caused another explosion to erupt. This time, Yang and Blake had braced themselves, and were able to withstand it. As they did, Yang cautiously looked around for Indara and Ajira. If Nobunaga was so dead set on killing her, then his servants might aim to do the favor for him. However, both of them were still standing where they were, when she'd last seen them, watching Nobunaga and Kyo's fight with intense interest.

An eerie silence fell, almost as though the entire world were holding its breath, waiting in expectation. Yang wondered if there were any cameras nearby that were hooked into the CCT. It was likely they'd all been destroyed by the clash between Kyo and Nobunaga. Perhaps it was for the best. She'd never want people to be exposed to Nobunaga's malice, even if it was through the filter of a camera.

Yang's hand found Blake's, and she squeezed it tightly. She didn't want to think the worst, but she couldn't sense Kyo's Aura at all. Nobunaga's remained, even though something about it seemed off now. Yang couldn't be sure if that was because something had happened to the Demon King, or if his Aura was so unsettling that there was always something "off" about it that she'd only begun to notice specifically, right now.

"We may need to run," said Blake softly.

Yang swallowed hard. Blake had a point. If Kyo had died there, then Nobunaga would move onto them next. They would have to get away while they had the chance. But that was hardly on the forefront of Yang's mind. Instead, nearly the entirety of her thoughts were on Kyo, his warm gaze, his cheerful smile, the feeling of his hand in hers, the memory of the kisses they'd shared, the times they'd made love to each other...So many things ran through Yang's mind that her rationality was almost completely wiped out.

The thought that Kyo might be dead was a foreign, almost incomprehensible thing. She had grown used to seeing him as night invincible, with an Aura that was seemingly limitless. She'd fought against him herself, seen him raise his sword against Atlesian Specialists; against Nigel, whose blade almost seemed as fast as light itself; against his friends, three of the Goyosei, who'd attacked him all at once; even against Ironwood's entire army. Throughout all those battles and matches, the only time Yang had seen Kyo truly lose was when he had gone up against his own mother.

 _Please..._ she silently prayed, ... _please...he can't be dead. I can't lose him like this._

In front of them, the dust was beginning to clear once again. It didn't take long for Yang to make out the silhouette of Nobunaga, standing where he had been before. His eyes still gleamed with manic, demonic energy. His arms hung down by his side, his right hand closed around the handle of his sword, which rested with its point angled down. He seemed completely at-ease, which did not bode well for the state of his opponent. His face was decorated with a relaxed, almost ecstatic smile.

The sight of the Demon King made Yang feel as though her heart had shuddered to a stop inside her chest. "No..." she whispered. She felt Blake's fingers tighten their hold on her shoulder, no doubt preparing to drag her away, if Nobunaga turned on them next. However, Yang didn't want to go. She wanted to throw herself at that monster and beat him down, even if it meant using up every last ounce of her life to wipe that smug smile off his face.

Then Nobunaga twitched. Suddenly, dozens of cuts opened up all over his body, portions of his kimono ripped away as red particles sprayed out from fresh wounds. Nobunaga's expression morphed into something between a grimace of pain and a grin of sheer ecstasy, his posture hunching over as he struggled to remain standing, in spite of the pain he must have been experiencing.

Yang might have wondered why Nobunaga found being injured so severely such a rush, but her thought processes were stopped cold...because the space in front of Nobunaga suddenly exploded.

At first, Yang thought it was fire, but then she realized it was the crimson blaze of Kyo's Aura. It burst outwards in a torrent, washing over everything in its vicinity with a tangible force. The earth shook and cracked, a wave of red climbed upwards towards the sky, as though it were aiming to snuff out the sun. Both Yang and Blake had to hunker down as Kyo's Aura pulled fiercely on them. The tide of crimson energy encompassed them so completely that neither of them had any idea how far it reached. Kyo's presence was overwhelming, overpowering, and all-consuming.

In all the time that she had known Kyo, all the times she had experienced his unleashed power, and thought she had truly grasped how fathomless that bottomless well of power within him seemed to be, she had never imagined that he would have been capable of something like this. This was not the power of a human, of a mortal being. This was almighty, absolute strength...the power of a _god_. The last time Yang had felt a power like this, it had been in the caverns beneath the Onmyo Palace, when Kyo's father had...

 _Oh..._ the realization struck Yang and her arms hung slack. Her jaw dropped in stunned awe as she realized what had just happened.

In the center of that swirling red maelstrom, she saw the figure of Kyo rise to his feet. His body appeared darker, almost black even. However, that was because it had been thrown almost completely into shadow by the light that emanated from his eyes. Kyo's Crimson Eyes had transformed into the same form that his father's had, during that time in the cavern. The pupils had shrunk down to pinpricks, barely visible against the red of his irises, which had expanded outwards to fill his entire eyes. They blazed like suns, their light carrying a visceral, physical intensity, that Yang and Blake could feel at this distance.

" **If I am not strong enough, then I will get _stronger_ ,**" declared Kyo, his voice deepening, sounding like thunder, carrying so much power that Yang and Blake felt it in their bones. " **I will break through every limit and overcome every obstacle. I will not let you touch the ones I love, Nobunaga.** "

To their surprise, Nobunaga hardly seemed troubled by the sudden change Kyo had undergone. Instead, he was grinning wider than ever. "Yes!" he shouted, his voice still carrying over the roar of Kyo's Aura. "This is what I have been waiting for! This is what it means to fight one of the Line of Kyo, the sole remaining True Mibu! I had hoped that I could awaken this power within you, Kyo. And now, here it is...the power of the True Crimson Eyes."

Sweeping his sword out to the side, Nobunaga sent a shockwave out from his blade that carved a line through the ground, extending off to split another building before bringing it down with an echoing crash. His own Aura surged out to meet Kyo's, the writhing, devouring force straining against the crimson inferno.

"Come Kyo!" he shouted eagerly. "Let me feel it again! Allow me to experience that instant of purity in the struggle for the pinnacle! Let me feel my reason for living once more!"

With that, they both raised their blades and surged towards one another once more, the clash of their swords ringing loud enough to carry across the entire Kingdom.

* * *

 **Phew...that was intense. To be continued...**


	84. Chapter 84

**Chapter 84:**

"This is just like..." Blake whispered.

"Yeah," agreed Yang.

Kyo stood tall once more. There was no trace of his previous fatigue. It was as though someone had hit the reset button to bring him back to full strength...and then given him a bunch of power-ups on top of that. His Aura was enormous and bursting with power, swallowing up everything around him.

Despite that, this was very different from the time Kyo's father had unleashed his true power in the catacombs beneath the Palace. For all that it completely surrounded them, neither Blake nor Yang felt like they were being crushed. Instead, they felt embraced and protected. The air was filled with a warmth that made Yang want to smile. More importantly, despite how much his Aura swelled, Nobunaga's power still paled in comparison to Kyo's as he was now.

 _This is the power of the True Mibu,_ thought Yang.

Kyo and Nobunaga faced each other once again. Their Auras compacted down around them, though they still billowed like flames, apparently unable to be completely contained within their bodies. Once again, silence fell over the battlefield.

Then, almost through some unspoken agreement, they burst into motion simultaneously, their swords blurring as they flew at one another. The blades clashed with an echoing chime. Blake yelped and covered her cat-ears, the sound driving into them like a thrust from a knife. Yang felt the jolt of impact through her entire body. The ground around the two combatants shattered like glass. There was the barest of a fraction of a second when they were still, striving against each other. Then Nobunaga was flung backwards.

The Demon King's body plowed through the ground with a yell of pain.

"Kyo _leveled_ him," said Blake breathlessly.

 _His power's leagues above where it was before,_ thought Yang.

Coming to a stop, Nobunaga shot up to his feet almost immediately. However, instead of seeming angry or pained, he looked enthused, grinning as widely as ever, his too-white teeth gleaming. "Yes!" he shouted before charging at Kyo again.

Kyo moved to meet him. There was another sound of clashing steel, accompanied by the grating noise of metal grinding up against metal. Then they shot past each other, coming to a stop. Nobunaga paused for the briefest of moments, then a cut opened on his shoulder, red particles fountaining out from his black skin. Once again, there seemed to be no sign that Kyo's hit had actually done any lasting harm, as Nobunaga immediately turned about. "More!" he shouted.

It was a demand that Kyo was apparently happy to oblige as they clashed once again. This time, they exchanged several attacks. Kyo's sword accelerated to the point that it was almost impossible to see at times. Yang was fairly certain that his speed might even be matching Nigel's. Nobunaga clearly couldn't block all of Kyo's attacks, as new wounds opened up across his body. Yet, he continued to fight with undiminished vigor.

"Yes!" he shouted exultantly. "Let me experience true fulfillment!"

Throwing caution to the winds, Nobunaga left himself completely open to Kyo's next swing, which opened up a massive, diagonal wound across his chest. Instead, he raised his blade high. Samonji rang out and blazed white. A familiar apparition emerged from Nobunaga's Aura, swinging a massive scythe down at Kyo in conjunction with Nobunaga's slash, a crescent wave of bone-white flying at Kyo. " _Tenma Shiryo Gama!_ "

Nobunaga's strike carved another line across the landscape, encountering no resistance. At first, Yang feared that it was because Kyo hadn't bothered with defense and had been cut in two. But then she saw his figure fade, and realized that it was merely his afterimage. Kyo now stood directly behind Nobunaga, taking a new stance, his back to his opponent, sword held at a downwards angle across his body, the fingers of his left hand curled around the blade as though he were holding an invisible sheath, and was about to draw his sword forth from it.

"My turn," said Kyo firmly. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Byakko!_ "

Kyo drew his sword forth, turning his body to put his full strength behind the slash. As he did, his Aura congealed into the form of a massive white tiger, its body forged from pure wind. Its fanged jaws opened wide as it lunged forth at Nobunaga, who turned around just in time to see the tiger lash out at him with one of its paws. He leapt back rapidly, just barely managing to avoid the slash, though a series of new cuts were opened up on the front of his kimono.

"Not this time!" yelled Nobunaga. "You can't kill me with that, Kyo!" Then his body lurched, locked in place. Even though he had dodged the tiger's first attack, its other paw had somehow wrapped itself around Nobunaga's body, anchoring him into place with tornado-force winds, before beginning to drag him back in. From within the tiger, the figure of Kyo appeared, riding the winds of his own attack, and closing in to deliver the finishing blow. As he did, three skeletal apparitions appeared around Nobunaga, whose sword blurred into motion.

Kyo's sword appeared to merge with the tiger's fangs as it bit down on Nobunaga, delivering three rapid, vertical slashes, two from the front and one from behind, as he passed, the attacks unleashing shockwaves that tore through the earth. Nobunaga roared in pain.

Then Kyo grunted, blood spewing out from new wounds that suddenly appeared on his body. He staggered, but did not fall, before turning around to face Nobunaga.

The Demon King chuckled in a low tone. "Foolish boy," he said, turning to face Kyo. "Are you forgetting who you face? I am the Sixth Demon King, whose will has endured for millennia. How many times have I clashed with your ancestors? How many times have I seen that attack, been subjected to it again and again? I have seen, experienced, and fallen to all Four Secrets of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_. Even empowered as you are by the True Crimson Eyes, I won't fall so easily."

Kyo didn't answer Nobunaga with words, instead charging in with his sword once again. Nobunaga laughed in exultation and met him head-on. Their swords crashed against each other, their sounds loud enough to send stabbing pain through Yang's ears, making her wince painfully with each impact. Every time their weapons connected, Nobunaga was sent skidding back. Kyo's power was overwhelming. And yet, Nobunaga's spirit showed no signs of flagging. Wound after wound appeared on his body, but the pain only seemed to invigorate him.

"MORE!" he roared. "GIVE ME MORE!" His sword shined, and three new apparitions appeared around him. " _Tenma Ryoga Koran!_ " The skeletal figures merged with the shockwaves issuing forth from Nobunaga's sword, tearing across the earth at Kyo, who stood firm.

" _Genbu!_ " Countless serpents of wind raced at the incoming apparitions, which tore through them with ease, crashing up against the barrier of _Genbu_ 's shell, which resisted for a few seconds, before shattering, the lattice of winds unravelling as Nobunaga's attack raced through to devastate the area behind Kyo's defense. Kyo had already been lost from sight amid the destruction.

Yang bit the inside of her lip, feeling a trickle of blood run down to her chin.

There was a flash of motion behind Nobunaga, a shadow sweeping over the earth. Nobunaga looked up, his right eye widening as he saw the figure of Kyo's _Suzaku_ soaring overhead, its wings spread wide.

"Using two of your tricks in a row won't help you!" shouted Nobunaga, raising his sword. However, he lurched to a stop, his body locked in place by the swirling whirlwinds of _Genbu_ 's serpents, which wound around him, locking him in place.

 _I get it!_ thought Yang, amazed. _Kyo never intended to block Nobunaga's attack with Genbu. It was a feint, but he also used it to lock Nobunaga in place. Now he's wide open!_

Suzaku stooped into a dive as Nobunaga roared in fury, his Aura straining against the serpents of wind that bound him. In a few seconds, he would break free, but it was too little too late.

" _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu...Kita Kara Minami!_ " As the vermillion bird struck, the serpents transformed, their coils becoming powerful whirlwinds that tore at Nobunaga's body, even as Kyo's blade descended. Countless cuts were etched into Nobunaga's body, which the whirlwinds tore at, Kyo's _Suzaku_ splitting the winds in two, so that Nobunga's body was nearly ripped in half. His howl of anger and pain was swallowed up by the roar of the wind.

"The Black Tortoise, _Genbu_ , is the protector of the north," said Kyo calmly as he turned to face Nobunaga. "The Vermillion Bird, _Suzaku,_ is the guardian of the south. Where the two meet, at the intersection of north and south, there is the place of your death, Nobunaga."

Nobunaga's body slammed down to the ground and lay still. Kyo turned and moved to approach, but staggered, his body lurching drunkenly, causing him to fight to stay upright. In the end, he had to stab his sword into the ground, leaning on it like a cane, to hold himself up. He was gasping for breath, sweat and blood dripping from his body.

The realization struck Yang like a freight train. Unlocking this mysterious power of his, the power of the "True Crimson Eyes," hadn't magically erased the damage and fatigue that Kyo had been suffering from. It was true that his Aura was bursting with more power than ever, but his wounds hadn't disappeared. He was still worn down from fighting against Ironwood's army. Right now, he was dangerously close to his limit, if not already well beyond it. He was ready to collapse at any second.

 _At least Nobunaga shouldn't be able to get up after taking a hit like that,_ thought Yang warily, her eyes drifting to the prone Demon King. _Come on! Stay down!_

Blake had also noticed the truth about Kyo's condition. However, her concern drifted in another direction, as her eyes homed in on the two members of the Junishinsho who were also observing the battle. Indara was clearly still down for the count. The flow of blood from between the fingers of the hand he was using to cover the wound that Yang had dealt him was being stemmed. Indara's Aura had apparently been successful in closing his wound, at least. However, Ajira was still apparently in fighting shape, though he showed no interest in coming to his master's aid. Her expression tightened as she remembered that there were still other members of the Junishinsho out there, some with more than enough strength left to them to wreak plenty of havoc. If they decided to intervene now...

Then Nobunaga's prone body twitched, the sudden, spasmodic motion making Kyo flinch backwards. Groaning, Nobunaga planted the palm of his left hand against the earth and began to lever himself upwards. Planting the tip of his sword, he used that to rise up to a crouch, and then to his feet.

"Splendid," he said, spitting out a cloud of red particles. "Throughout the ages...across all the generations that I have battled your kin...I've never seen such a magnificent combination technique. It has been a long time since I was last surprised like that."

"So glad to amuse you," said Kyo.

Nobunaga wrenched his sword free of the ground. He began to laugh. "Yes, this is what I thirst for, the drive that was awakened within me when I was first bested by your progenitor."

Kyo said nothing, watching as Nobunaga spoke.

"I was nothing more than a tool of the Mibu Clan," said Nobunaga wistfully. "I stormed across the land, laying low all who stood before me. Even when one of my own generals turned on me, it was little more than an inconvenience. I would have crushed him and his forces with ease, and proceeded along my way. There, amidst that burning temple, I awakened to how pointless and meaningless my existence was. My every triumph was scripted, my every effort meaningless, nothing more than a tool fulfilling its purpose. My existence was void. Then… _he_ appeared before me."

"The original Kyo," said Kyo softly.

"Yes," agreed Nobunaga. "He was nothing more than a child at the time, his sword, that very same sword you hold in your hand, was longer than he was tall. He knew nothing of the _Mumyo Jinpu_ then, yet he faced me with a ferocity that was nothing less than demonic. And when we clashed, he awakened within me true joy, the joy of battle, the joy of striving, of conquering, of reaching beyond my limit. It was there, bleeding out on the floor of that temple that I vowed not to die, not until I had defeated Kyo, seized the pinnacle, and truly become the strongest in this world."

"You certainly are persistent," said Kyo. "You should have relinquished your grip upon this living world when the first Kyo died."

"I could never do that," proclaimed Nobunaga. "So long as Heaven and Earth have need, I shall return again and again, and your line shall answer my challenge." His hand went up to cover his left eye. "Even now, it aches, it burns, to look upon you. When I see those eyes of yours, this scar of mine throbs so wondrously. This wound was dealt to me by the first Kyo all those millennia ago, but persists to this day, no matter what vessel I take. It drives me to fight you!"

Nobunaga's Aura flared around him once again, seeming filled with skeletal figures writhing in torment. Yang had to fight the urge to avert her eyes, forcing herself to watch as Kyo stood before that Aura.

"Then come," said Kyo. "You and I are both at our limit. Let us pursue this to the very end."

"Yes," agreed Nobunaga. "And then we shall discover what lies beyond."

Kyo pulled his sword out of the ground and the two of them rushed at each other once more, their blades striking together with renewed fury. A shudder ran down Yang's spine as she watched. They danced with one another, shifting position, striking, blocking, and dodging, their bodies becoming blurs, their swords seeming to dissolve into lines of silvery light. Blood splashed across the earth, red particles scattered in the air, yet the two of them continued to fight. They appeared to be evenly matched. But that was not what had shaken Yang.

What made her shiver was the look on Kyo and Nobunaga's faces as they fought. Their faces bore identical, wild grins as they faced one another, as though they were joyously reveling in their battle to the death. With each step of their feet, each breath of their lungs, every stroke of their swords, they pushed closer and closer to their limits. With the wounds they had taken, every movement should have been agony, yet they seemed caught up in some kind of delirious ecstasy that overshadowed even the pain of their deepest wounds.

"How can they smile like that?" wondered Blake, clearly having the same thoughts as Yang. "Why are they so happy?"

"That is what it means to dance beyond the limit."

Yang and Blake both snapped their heads around at the sound of Saisei's voice. They were surprised to see her there at all. As it was, she was leaning heavily against Ren, who was apparently the only reason she'd made it this far.

"What are you talking about?" asked Yang.

"For fighters like us, there is nothing more incredible than the feeling of standing upon the precipice between life and death," said Saisei. "It's a natural high, far more intense than anything any kind of drug could ever produce. As you strive against your foe, force yourself to reach beyond your limits, you move beyond the confines of the body, into the far beyond, where there exists a peak of endless pleasure."

"So that's it," said Yang, turning her eyes back to the battle. She remembered the rush, that feeling, when she had been dueling against Indara. Given the nature of his battle with Nobunaga, the sensation Kyo was experiencing must have been exponentially more intense. No wonder he was grinning like a lunatic.

"Sadly, all good things must come to an end," said Saisei with a sigh as she settled down next to Yang. "This is the final phase of this fight."

"Will Kyo win?" asked Yang nervously.

"All things considered, Kyo and Nobunaga appear to be even, for all that Kyo's Aura is more powerful than I've ever seen," said Saisei. "However, Kyo's body is not coping with the damage being dealt as well as Nobunaga's has been. I suppose that's the different between human flesh and Grimm flesh. With all those factors in play, it's impossible to say who has the advantage."

"So...you don't know," said Yang glumly.

"Of course I do," said Saisei with surprising surety, making Yang glance at her in confusion.

"But you just said-" protested Yang.

"It's Kyo," said Saisei simply. "No matter what, I know Kyo will win this fight."

Saisei's words, her absolute faith in Kyo, made Yang smile, a warm feeling spreading through her. "You're right," Yang said. They both turned back to watch the fight's conclusion.

"Each of them is still holding a trump card in reserve," noted Saisei softly. "Even though they're fighting with such intensity, they're gathering their strength for one last major technique."

Kyo and Nobunaga continued to clash, straining their bodies to the absolute limit. Then one of Kyo's swings slammed Nobunaga back. Rather than being angered at being overpowered, Nobunaga grinned exultantly. "It's time!" he yelled. His Aura surged outwards, manifesting into new skeletal apparitions, accompanied by the robed form of an aspect of death, hefting its scythe to strike. Nobunaga's blade carved arcs of white through the air, homing in on Kyo, a barrage of strikes laden with all his merciless killing intent. " _Tenma Shiryo Ranma!_ "

Despite the onslaught of manifested death flying at him, Kyo didn't seem troubled in the slightest. Instead, his grin widened to an exceptional degree. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Seiryu!_ "

Yang didn't even see Kyo's sword move. She suddenly saw numerous _Mizuchi_ s burst out from him in all directions. The incoming waves and apparitions of Nobunaga's attack were swallowed and ripped apart, the winds Kyo had summoned swirled around in a spiral, their circle centering on Nobunaga, whose undamaged eye widened.

"Not this..." he shouted. "I will not fall to...this..." He stabbed his sword into the ground, trying to anchor himself in place as Kyo's winds tightened their circle, forming into a powerful tornado, grabbing everything in its vicinity. The earth cracked and broke, freeing Nobunaga's sword. The body of the demon King was flung upwards into the sky.

Her eyes tracing Nobunaga's ascent, Yang gasped as she watched the tornado shift, its form changing and resolving. Amidst the spinning funnel cloud, she saw patterns emerge, as though woven together from countless streams of wind, forming scales. The tornado had transformed into the sinuous body of a massive dragon, the winds tinted blue as the titanic beast reared upwards, its head curling down to glare upon the captive within it.

"That is _Seiryu_ ," said Saisei softly. "The protector of the east, the great Azure Dragon. His wrath, when roused, is unstoppable. Bound in his coils, there is no escape. You can only wait for death."

Within the form of the dragon's head, Yang saw a shadow. It took her a second to realize that it was Kyo, having ridden the tornado he'd created to its peak. He now hovered above Nobunaga, his sword cocked back, ready to strike as he rode the the winds that formed the dragon's head downwards, their force driving him, accelerating him, and wrapping around his sword to heighten their intensity as he closed in for the final blow.

"You can feel it now, can't you?" asked Kyo as he closed in on Nobunaga. "The towering rage of _Seiryu_."

Kyo struck as he rushed past Nobunaga, the force of his blow driving the Demon King back down to the ground, completely dispersing the tornado in the process. The shockwave of Kyo's attack left a formation of spiral grooves cut deeply into the ground, in the center of which, Nobunaga rested, his body erupting in a spray of red particles, his left arm and leg flying off and dissolving away. Kyo landed nearby and stood once more. Silence descended on the battlefield. The horrific Aura of Nobunaga had been completely scattered by Kyo's attack, no trace of it remaining.

Yang gasped, feeling almost as though she were breathing for the first time, after holding her breath for an indeterminable period. The air felt lighter and clearer, as though Nobunaga's presence had been some kind of pollution. She no longer felt as though the life was about to be torn out of her body and, for the first time since they had arrived in Atlas, she allowed herself to relax slightly.

Slowly, Kyo's Aura began to shrink, like the flame of a match reaching its end, before drawing all the way back within him. Kyo closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the red blaze of his True Crimson Eyes had vanished, replaced with his normal eyes. He turned to face Nobunaga and smiled...

Then a spurt of blood erupted from where his shoulder met his neck, arcing through the air. Kyo lurched and grimaced, grabbing at the cut and covering it with his hand. He staggered and, once again, had to plant his sword to keep from falling over.

"I told you...I've seen those techniques too many times," wheezed Nobunaga. "That combination you used earlier was inspired. But attempting to use _Seiryu_ alone against me was foolhardy. Still, I credit you for managing to avoid a fatal blow."

"Even so..." gasped Kyo, "...it would seem that victory...is mine."

"Yes," agreed Nobunaga, his voice sounding weary. "You've won...this time. But this is not the end, Kyo. I cannot die, not until I have tasted true victory."

Kyo's body shook and he almost toppled over. However, he managed to raise his head and flash Nobunaga a defiant grin. "I wonder...about that..." he said between breaths.

"What?" growled Nobunaga.

"That body...of yours...is remarkable," said Kyo before pausing a few more seconds to catch his breath some more. "It is probably the best...material...for hosting that soul...of yours. But...I wonder if you remember one critical thing...about the Grimm."

"Hmm?" growled Nobunaga.

"Your previous bodies...for better...or for worse..." said Kyo, "...were all human. Flesh and blood remain...even when dead. But the Grimm...when they are slain...they return to nothingness. There will be...no piece...for your Junishinsho...to take with them...to find a new vessel for your soul." Kyo's grin widened. "Once you die...you die for good."

"No..." gasped Nobunaga, his body twitching and spasming as he fought to get up.

"This is the end..." said Kyo, staggering and stumbling towards Nobunaga's body.

"No!" shouted Nobunaga, his voice having lost none of its power, at least. "Stop him!"

Yang immediately realized who that was directed at and whipped her head around towards Ajira and Indara. Indara grimaced and lurched forward slightly, but only succeeded in shifting from one knee to the other. Not that his help was actually needed. Ajira bounded forward without hesitation to rescue his master.

"We've got to-" growled Yang, trying to find enough strength to get up and chase after Ajira. But, like Indara, she only managed to shuffle her position slightly. Beside her, Saisei grimaced, but wasn't having much luck in getting up either.

Luckily, they weren't the only people there. Yang yelped and nearly pitched forward onto her face as Blake's steadying hands vanished, along with Blake herself. Looking over, she realized that Ren had disappeared as well.

Ajira was already halfway across the broken ground to where Kyo was still trying to struggle into the right position to land the finishing blow, his swords already poised to strike as soon as he got into range. As weary and battered as Kyo was, he wasn't going to be able to make his move before Ajira reached him.

Then Blake emerged, rising right up out of Ajira's own shadow, Gambol Shroud poised to strike. She slashed at him from behind. But Ajira's head didn't even turn in her direction as his sword moved to parry. Before Blake could even think about launching another attack, pulling back, or trying to attack, Ajira's other sword was rushing at her neck, the movement so fluid that it almost seemed to be taking place in slow-motion, despite how blindingly fast it actually was.

Then Ajira's attacking sword suddenly changed direction, arcing around to intercept the blades of Ren's weapons, as he struck from another direction. Yang had briefly wondered where Ren had come from, until she remembered his Semblance. Fortunately, Ajira's other sword was still occupied by parrying Blake's strike, so he couldn't counterattack. Blake and Ren both jumped back, Ren bringing StormFlower's barrels to bear and firing a barrage of shots, while the black katana of Gambol Shroud folded over into a sickle that Blake hurled at Ajira from the other side.

Ajira bent over backwards, allowing Blake's sickle to fly just past his face. At the same time, a twist of his wrist sent his left sword blade angling up. Most of Ren's shots were missing anyway, but Ajira's sword caught one of the shots at just the right angle to send it flying at Blake, who only managed to block it with her weapon's broad sheath at the last second.

Blake and Ren closed again, both of them sweating profusely. It was clear that Blake was shaken by just how close to death she had come, before Ren had saved her. Ajira moved with a dancer's perfect grace, seeming to have absolute control of his body, even though his swords, at times, moved as though they had minds of their own. His recently-acquired blindness didn't seem to hinder him in the slightest as he fended off the attacks of two strong and desperate opponents.

Fortunately, neither Blake nor Ren really needed to defeat him. The same thought was in both their minds. If they could stall Ajira for a little bit longer, then Kyo could finish off Nobunaga, and end this fight once and for all. Sure enough, Kyo had finally regained enough of his strength and his balance to stand without the assistance of his sword, which he was now struggling to raise over his head for the final stroke.

"Nobunaga-sama!" yelled Indara, finally managing to find the strength to rise, albeit shakily to his feet, though he was still in no position to cover the distance between him and Kyo before the latter brought his sword down.

"No!" shouted Ajira, struggling to try and extricate himself from between his two opponents, which actually made things easier for them, as his distraction enabled them to press him even harder.

Yang leaned forward, her breath caught in her lungs. Beside her, Saisei looked on just as expectantly, if not more so. This would be the end, the culmination of untold millennia of conflict. With one more stroke, Kyo would end the greatest threat to the world, once and for all...

Then a warm wave of atmosphere swept over the battlefield, engulfing everyone. Tired as she was, Yang recognized it immediately, having been on the fringes of the technique several times, since she had met Kyo. There was no mistaking the _Mizuchi_...except...Kyo wasn't the one who had used it.

He still stood over Nobunaga, Tenro upraised in both his hands, poised to strike. But Kyo had frozen, his eyes going wide with surprise. Across from him, Ajira, Blake, and Ren had frozen in place as well. For the briefest of seconds, it was as though some unseen god had recorded the entire sequence of events and then just hit the "Pause" button.

Then time started again...in the worst possible way. Cuts erupted across the bodies of Kyo, Blake, and Ren, sending splashes of red flying through the air around them as they collapsed simultaneously, their bodies slamming into the ground, leaving behind a befuddled, but untouched Ajira.

"Well...that was timely," noted Ajira calmly, gently prodding Ren with his toe. Ren grunted and struggled to force himself up. On Ajira's other side, Blake also struggled to rise. Ajira blandly raised his swords.

"Leave them," said a calm voice that made an abyss yawn open from within Yang as she struggled to comprehend what had just happened. "There is no time. With the wounds he suffered, Nobunaga-sama's current vessel will expire on its own soon. We need to begin the transfer as soon as possible."

Beside Yang, Saisei had gone ghostly white, her tail splitting into nine, which writhed behind her like a nest of serpents. "It can't be," she whispered, her voice thick with horror.

Kyo grunted and slowly sat up, blood spilling from his wounds, both new and old. "You..." he said, his eyes fixing on the new arrival on the battlefield, confusion and anger warring across his face. "Why...?"

"It was before your time," replied the newcomer calmly as he strode forward.

"How could you?" asked Saisei, tears streaming down her cheeks, her expression looking as though she was about to throw up. "You...you were respected...loved...everyone cherished you. How could you...?"

"I have neither the time, nor the inclination to explain my reasoning to you," said the newcomer cooly. "I have a duty to uphold."

Yang looked on, wishing with all her heart to deny what she was seeing, wanting to pretend the person in front of them, who had just stopped them from finishing off Nobunaga once and for all, was not who he appeared. She wanted it to be another of Haira's illusions. But there was no room for error. She could feel his Aura, powerful, yet tranquil, rolling across the battlefield like a spring breeze. She couldn't comprehend why he, of all people was here; why Murasame, one of the Taishiro and Blademaster of the Mibu Clan, the man who'd forged her new weapon, who'd adopted Penny, had saved Nobunaga from destruction and was, even now, stooping to pick him up.

Murasame's expression was calm and composed, no trace of malice or anything evil. That only made it harder to accept. Yang would have had an easier time if Murasame had showed up, cackling with newly-revealed villainy and exclaiming how he'd fooled them all. But he looked the same as he always did, just more composed and serious, rather than sporting his usual warm smile.

"You have known me as Murasame," said the Elder, looking at Kyo. "However, for many years now, I have had another name."

"It can't...be..." grunted Kyo, struggling to rise.

"I am Shatora of the Junishinsho," said Murasame.

"If you are here...Shatora," said Nobunaga weakly, "then that means..."

"Yes," replied Murasame, looking down upon the Demon King. "My task is complete. We have acquired the Flesh. Your final vessel awaits."

"Then delay no longer," growled Nobunaga. "My body is losing its integrity, and I want it..."

"You have waited for millennia," replied Murasame calmly. "A few hours more won't cause you any further grief. Your body should last that long, at least, as soon as the transfer is begun promptly."

"Then do not dither," snarled Nobunaga.

"Of course, My Lord," said Murasame, bowing his head to his master.

"The Flesh..." said Kyo, his eyes widening. "It can't be! You didn't...!"

"Yes," said Murasame, already turning to walk away.

"What are they talking about?" asked Yang.

Saisei was on the verge of being catatonic with shock, but she managed to find her voice. "After we learned the truth about the Mibu, Sora told me something. Besides conquering the world...Nobunaga has had one other aspiration, one thing that he has sought above all else across the ages. He has always wished for the ultimate vessel, a receptacle for his evil soul, that would not only be able to host his entire power, but grant him the power of a god."

"A god..." said Yang, her voice trailing off as she began to put the pieces together in her head. "You mean he wants Kyo."

"He wants the body of a True Mibu," said Saisei. "He wants their power, the power of a god. And, unlike Kyo or his father, Nobunaga will have no qualms about using it."

"But Kyo is here," said Yang. "Does that mean...?"

Saisei nodded shakily. "There is only one other True Mibu in the world, and Murasame-No!-Shatora was in the perfect position to stab him in the back."

Yang choked back a sob. Her mind flashed back to Kyo's father, the first time she had seen him, wearing those goofy glasses that he used to hide his eyes so that he could teach children without unsettling them. She remembered his kind demeanor, the sadness in his voice as he explained why he wouldn't resurrect Pyrrha. She remembered the pride and fondness on his face as he watched Kyo's match against Sora. The idea that he had been betrayed, that Murasame, of all people, had been the one to betray him, hurt Yang almost as much as the thought that his body would be hosting the soul, the Aura, of the monster that Kyo had, only just barely, managed to defeat.

"We have to stop them!" said Yang, trying to lurch to her feet, only to collapse again.

"We can't," whimpered Saisei. "Murasame taught both Kyo and his father the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_. He remains one of its greatest masters. Even if we were at our full strength, we wouldn't stand a chance."

"We can't just let him go," said Yang, tears of her own falling now.

"I'm afraid you have to," said Murasame over his shoulder as he strode away, Nobunaga's body hanging limply in his arms. Nearby, Ajira had turned to assisting Indara up, and was helping him stagger over to where Shindara waited, Yang having only noticed her presence just now.

Raven looked on coldly, her Crimson Eyes glittering through the holes in her white mask. However, Yang was even more horrified to see the figure hanging limply over Raven's shoulder. "Penny!"

That sent a fresh surge of strength rushing through her and Yang was finally able to summon the will to stand up. She wasn't the only one. Ren and Blake lurched up with previously unseen strength, while Kyo managed to struggle back to his feet.

"Give her back," growled Kyo, his eyes flashing murderously.

"I think not," said Murasame over his shoulder. "I hope you do not meet again. But if you do, Penny will have a new name. She shall be Antera of the Junishinsho."

"How could you do that to her?" demanded Yang, her eyes flashing red once more. "She's your daughter now, isn't she?"

That actually made Murasame pause. Slowly, he turned to look over his shoulder at Yang, the determined look in his eyes making the strength drain out of her all over again. "How could I not?" he asked. "Nobunaga-sama's wrath will be unquenchable, when he is revived in his ultimate form. What father would wish for his daughter to stand against that? What better way to protect her than to bring her into his fold?" He began to walk away again. "If you have any love for her in your hearts, you will not allow your paths to cross with hers again. I can't even begin to imagine how she would suffer, if she had to face you as enemies."

Shindara turned and slashed the red blade of her sword behind her, creating the swirling, red and black vortex of one of her portals. Murasame went through first, followed by Ajira and Indara. Finally, Raven met Yang's eyes one last time.

"I warned you that you would come to grief by associating with the Mibu," she said coldly.

Yang sniffled hard, then viciously wiped her tears off her face, though more quickly replaced them. "And I told you that I thought being your daughter would cause me more."

She saw Raven's eyes close behind the cover of her mask. "You might be right," Raven conceded. With that, she turned and walked into the portal, which then shrank in on itself and vanished.

An eerie quiet settled on the battlefield, a quiet that was only broken as Yang sank back down onto her knees. "Dammit..." she said, more tears flooding out of her eyes. "GOD DAMMIT!" She slammed her left fist into the ground, not caring that the impact split her knuckles.

Ren and Blake sagged, the fight going out of them. They collapsed, only barely managing to keep from falling all the way over by leaning against each other tiredly. Their Auras were already beginning to work to close their wounds, so it seemed they might be all right. That was certainly good, as Saisei was presently hugging her knees to her chest, her tails wrapping around her as she rocked back and forth, seeming almost dead to the world.

Then Kyo's sword clattered to the ground. The sudden sound prompted Yang to look up. Her eyes widened as she saw Kyo sway, his eyes rolling upwards, before pitching forwards and planting face-first into the ground.

"No!" whispered Yang, struggling up once again. "No no nonononononono! KYO!"

She staggered and stumbled towards him, nearly falling over at least three times before she reached his prone form, which she practically collapsed down onto. Struggling, she managed to roll him over onto his back, her eyes taking in all the wounds he'd received as a consequence of his fight. His breaths were shallow, and his skin was covered with blood and sweat. Now that the fight was over, he'd completely lost all his strength.

"Come on, Kyo!" said Yang frantically, shaking him, not having any other idea what to do. "Don't do this to me! I can't lose you now! Not like this...! Please!"

"Give me room," came Saisei's voice from beside her head.

Yang automatically scooted over to make room for Saisei as she knelt shakily by Kyo's side. She was still pale and her cheeks were still wet with tears. But it seemed that the sight of Kyo's condition had roused her healer's instincts, and Saisei, whatever trauma she'd just experienced, could not be stopped from doing what came naturally to her.

All nine of Saisei's tails extended outwards ,before folding over to cover Kyo's body as she held both her hands over his chest. Her Aura flickered weakly as its light washed over Kyo. His cuts began to close, but slowly, hesitantly.

"I...I don't..." Saisei scrunched up her face, grimacing with effort as she tried to squeeze out every last drop of strength she had left. "I can't do it...I don't have enough Aura. Neither does he."

"Please!" gasped Yang, holding her left hand out to Saisei.

"I can't heal with what I don't have," protested Saisei, new tears, of frustration this time, spilling out of her eyes.

"Can you use my Aura?" asked Yang. "I don't have much, but take what you can!"

Saisei's eyes widened and she whipped her head around to stare at Yang, who looked back with a plaintive expression.

"I-I could, but..." Saisei's eyes drifted to the stump of Yang's right arm, a visible indicator of how drained Yang was if she couldn't even bring out her right arm.

"I don't care," said Yang. "Take whatever I have."

"If it's not enough, then take mine too," said Ren, struggling over, a pained grimace on his face.

"Mine as well," added Blake, also staggering over to reach them.

"But your wounds..." said Saisei, taking in their conditions. "You won't have enough to help Kyo and stabilize yourselves and I can't heal all of you, not like this."

"Then have some of mine," said Jaune, his voice surprising them as they hadn't even realized he'd arrived on the scene. "I've still got a good bit left." Behind him, Ruby looked on, clearly desperate to contribute, but looking just as drained as Yang was.

Saisei looked to Jaune and nodded. "Hold this," she said, one of her tails drifting away from Kyo and moving to where Jaune stood.

He nodded and took Saisei's tail in his hands. His body began to glow with a white outline that flowed down Saisei's tail, washing pink as it reached her body, before flowing up to her shoulders, down her arms, and out through her hands. The light washing over Kyo began to strengthen, and his wounds began to close faster.

Jaune grimaced and swayed in place. He might not have been completely tapped out the way most of the others were, but it was clear that he was a long ways from full strength. Sweat beaded his brow. "Just how much does Kyo need?" he wanted to know.

"A lot," said Saisei. "I can't believe how many injuries he has. I'm not even sure how he was able to keep fighting at the end. He was far past his limit." She ground her teeth together worriedly. "It's still not enough. I need more Aura to at least stabilize him."

"Then take mine."

Everyone's eyes went to the new voice and they all gasped to see Winter standing there, flanked by a squad of soldiers, and at least two more squads of Knights behind that. The soldiers she was leading looked battered and weary, but Winter herself looked fresh and pristine. Beside her stood Glynda, looking tired and sweaty, but still a long ways from spent.

After they had arrived in Atlas, Glynda had gone to help ensure that the civilian evacuation was going smoothly, helping soldiers and androids keep marauding Grimm off of the fleeing civilians, until Saisei had killed Kubira.

"Are you sure?" asked Saisei.

Winter nodded. "I wish I could have stood on the front lines, like the rest of you. At least let me do this much for the one who saved us all."

"Well, I don't have time to be confused," said Saisei, stretching out another tail to Winter, who imitated Jaune and grasped it, gasping slightly as her Aura began to be pulled out of her. Then, to their surprise, Glynda also reached over and took hold of Saisei's tail, wincing as she began to experience the same.

Saisei sighed in relief and turned her attention back to Kyo, the light of her Aura washing over him. Her fingers phased into his body as Saisei moved up and down, closing internal and external injuries, repairing inner organs and rejoining muscles, tendons and nerves. Finally, with a relieved sigh, she pulled her fingers out of Kyo again. "He'll make it," she said.

"Thank God," breathed Yang, finally relaxing. Then she saw Saisei pitch forward and fall across Kyo, finally spent.

Behind them, Jaune collapsed as well, sagging down with a low groan. Ruby hobbled over to join him, grunting and wincing as she tried to sit down, without just plain falling over, sounding like someone several times her actual age. Ren and Blake both let out tired sighs and leaned against each other. Now that the fight was over, Yang felt plenty tired herself.

"I'll call a bullhead over," said Winter, already pulling out her scroll. "You'll all be quartered at Atlas Academy. I can't thank you enough for what you've done. This war is over."

Tiredly, Yang looked over at the spot of ground where Nobunaga had left with his Junishinsho, including her mother and Murasame of the Taishiro. "No..." she said. "It's a long ways from over."

* * *

 **Once again, I hope this little twist went over well. It's hard to properly foreshadow events like this, without blowing the whole thing wide open way early. Just like I did with Pyrrha, I opted with the absolute minimal approach to suggesting Murasame's betrayal. If you look back over some earlier chapters...particularly in the aftermath of the fight against Cinder, Raven, and Santera/Pyrrha, you might pick up a small hint that showed that Murasame was being less than honest. But I'll leave that to you readers.**


	85. Chapter 85

**Chapter 85:**

Whitley had been about to escort Weiss back to her room with the guards, when the alarms began blaring throughout the mansion, making both of them stand up abruptly.

"What's going on?" asked Weiss.

Whitley frowned and used his scroll to turn the screen back on. An emergency alert was broadcasting all networks, warning of an imminent Grimm attack on Atlas, advising all citizens to retreat to the shelters.

"A Grimm attack, now?" asked Weiss, horrified. "There can't be _that_ much negativity, can there?"

"You never know how people will react sometimes," grumbled Whitley, tapping on his scroll. "Hold on...Father has access to military channels as part of his deals with Ironwood."

A few taps on his scroll later, Whitley had brought up a live feed from the military surveillance cameras on the northeastern border. Weiss gasped when she saw the enormous mass of Grimm that had gathered. Her feeling of horror multiplied when she saw the people standing out amongst the Grimm, including one mounted man, who looked like a Grimm himself.

"Where did they all come from?" asked Whitley, falling back onto the couch in shock.

Weiss' eyes centered on one man who stood with the group, an elderly man with an artificial red eye. "Merlot," she growled. "This must be his doing. I guess he didn't die on that island after all. If anything, I bet he has something to do with all those Grimm."

"Probably," said Whitley weakly. "We need to do something. We have a personal shelter, but..."

Weiss swallowed hard. It was hard to imagine that even their shelter could last against an onslaught of so many Grimm, to say nothing of the people there, who included Cinder Fall and Adam Taurus.

Suddenly, the entire house seemed to vibrate as a low, rumbling sound streamed in from outside, growing more intense with each passing second. The vibrations were so powerful that small objects began to dance across tables and shelves within the room. Somewhere in the distance, from another room in the mansion, the sound of something crashing to the floor and breaking echoed. Whitley and Weiss shared a confused look, before rushing to a window. They saw a large personnel transport fly just overhead to land in the mansion's courtyard. More shadows passed overhead, and they looked up to see several more identical transports hovering or circling overhead, awaiting their chance to land.

"So many..." Whitley gasped.

"Those are Father's private security forces, right?" asked Weiss.

"That's right," said Whitley. "But why are they here now? The alert isn't even five minutes old. And why are there so many? Father must have stripped most of our facilities and mines of their security to do this."

They both shared a confused look. When it came to the SDC facilities and their mines, Jacques Schnee could be nearly as paranoid and security obsessed as Ironwood. He would never have his security forces abandon their posts, unless he had an extremely compelling reason.

Weiss' vision drifted back to the screen, which was still showing the assembled Grimm army and the people leading it, including the person who was most likely the enemy the Mibu had told them about, Oda Nobunaga, which meant that the people with him were the Twelve Heavenly Generals they had been warned about, the Junishinsho. If that was the case, then Weiss suddenly had a very bad feeling about why Jacques had gathered the majority, if not the entirety, of his security personnel, here at the mansion.

"This is bad," she said. "And I have a feeling that I know who's responsible for this."

* * *

"My, what an impressive force you've assembled," observed Haira, as the troops Jacques had called for disembarked their transports, and assembled in the mansion's courtyard.

"Of course," said Jacques. "It irks me to leave our facilities unguarded, but we must strike while the iron is hot. When the Grimm attack, Atlas' defenses will be overrun. That is when my forces will step in to save it. They will drive back the attackers and, as the hero who saved Atlas from certain destruction at the hands of James' incompetence, I will step in and assume control."

"And you can turn back all those Grimm?" asked Haira skeptically. "This is an impressive host you've assembled, but it's not _that_ massive."

"Ha!" barked Jacques. "It's true, our numbers might not match up to one of Ironwood's divisions, but my soldiers are armed with the latest, state of the art, technology that the SDC has produced. Their armaments and armor are beyond anything that Ironwood has at his disposal."

Below, the troops assembled into squads and platoons, lining up with military precision, the kind of precision Ironwood had liked in his own soldiers. They were clad in black body armor with red highlights that resembled, in shape at least, the armor worn by regular Atlas soldiers. In their hands, they carried long, angular rifles that were also black and red. The soldiers were not alone. Pitch-black paladins stomped into place to make room for the next transports to land, while others hovered in wait, their payloads of advanced Jaegers ready to deploy at a second's notice.

"A question," posed Haira. "Suppose the remaining forces manage to drive back the Grimm onslaught? What then?"

Jacques snorted. "Then we move in and subjugate them by force. At this point, James' foolishness has become painfully clear. The people will not accept him, or anyone who comes from his camp, to lead Atlas anymore. The Council has been made entirely impotent. They will have no choice but to accept me as their ruler."

"So, either way, you come out ahead, interesting..." mused Haira, stroking her chin.

"Of course," said Jacques. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to continue to follow the developments at the front."

"Of course," said Haira, her body dissolving into motes of varicolored light. "I'll be in touch, Mr. Schnee."

"You won't be calling me that much longer," said Jacques as he turned around in his seat to watch the scene playing out on the monitor installed in his desk, the holographic image of the attack playing out over its surface.

* * *

Weiss closed her eyes as she sat on her bed and allowed her mind to empty. After they'd seen the attack begin, Whitley had taken her to her room, noting that their father would probably issue the order himself soon, if it hadn't already been carried out. Weiss' first instinct was to stew in frustration at how powerless she felt. She was stuck in her family mansion, unable to help out, when countless lives were in danger. As a Huntress, she should have been out there herself, fighting the Grimm alongside the Atlesian soldiers. Instead, she was stuck in the servants' quarters of her family mansion.

But she wasn't ready to escape just yet. She hadn't perfected her three-dimensional glyph yet, at least, she hadn't yet managed to invoke it. She'd been able to use her Aura to create it though. It currently hovered in the air in front of her, its white lines and curves shimmering with pearlescent light, pulsing. She could feel her connection to Myrtenaster, but she couldn't yet induce it to respond to her summons. _It might be impossible after all,_ she thought disappointedly.

Despite that, she continued. She thrust doubts from her mind and allowed it to empty, thinking of nothing but the glyph before her, and its meaning. Her sense of her own body began to fall away as Weiss allowed her mind to be swept up in the slowly rotating glyph before her.

* * *

Across the mansion, in Whitley's room, Myrtenaster itself rested in a padded box, sitting on Whitley's desk, where it had been ever since he'd taken custody of it. Jacques had ordered Whitley to dispose of the blade. However, even if Whitley hadn't secretly sympathized with his sister, he would have been loathe to destroy it, considering what a work of art it had become, lines of crystal blending seamlessly with the steel of the sword, the shimmering, rippling end of the crystal itself emerging from within the cylinder around the ricasso, four perfect Dust crystals set into it.

Whitley wasn't in the room at the moment, so he had no way of knowing that Myrtenaster had suddenly begun to glow, a white outline shining out from the edge of its blade, shimmering with the same colors as its Etheric Core Crystal. Along with the light came a single clear note, like someone striking the highest-pitched key of a perfectly-tuned piano.

* * *

 _Weiss' eyes snapped open, and she looked around in confusion. "Where am I?'_

 _The world around her was white and empty. However, it wasn't the barren, intimidating emptiness of the Schnee manor. Instead, it was the tranquil, peaceful emptiness of that zen garden, up on the slope of the volcano that the Onmyo Palace had been built into. Just taking it all in filled Weiss with a sense of ease. The ground was made of white sand, parallel lines raked through it in swirling patterns, which didn't seem to be disturbed by her feet as she walked over them._

 _"You're here!"_

 _Weiss zeroed in on the source of the childish voice, and was shocked to see what almost seemed to be a miniature version of herself. The child wore a white, lacy dress, with a long skirt that ran down to her ankles. The top was sleeveless, the fabric puffing over her shoulders in a manner similar to Weiss' nightgown. In place of sleeves, the girl wore long, white gloves that ran up over her elbows, leaving only a small section of skin on her upper-arms exposed. Her face was a near-perfect match to the face that Weiss had had, when she had been a child. She even had Weiss' hair, though she allowed it to simply cascade down her back, rather than tie it in a tail. Her eyes, however, revealed her true nature, a pale, almost-white that shimmered faintly with various colors, as though her irises had been sculpted from nacre._

 _"Myrtenaster?" asked Weiss, fairly certain that this was her sword._

 _The little girl squealed excitedly, the sound penetrating into the very core of Weiss' being, stirring up a giddy feeling from within her that made her grin and laugh. The girl rushed at her, and Weiss instinctively held out her arms as the girl jumped and tackled her in a hug._

 _"I knew you'd come!" shouted Myrtenaster, clinging to Weiss tightly as Weiss hugged her back. "I've been waiting for so long..."_

 _"I know," whispered Weiss, resting her chin against the child's shoulder. "I'm so sorry I didn't hear your voice for so long."_

 _"It's okay," said Myrtenaster. "Before...I wasn't all there. But then you remade me. I feel so awake now. It's amazing! I can't wait to show you all the amazing things I can do."_

 _Weiss pulled back, so that she could look the soul her sword in the eyes. "It doesn't matter what you show me, I'm proud of you no matter what." She kissed Myrtenaster on the forehead._

 _"But I want to help you," said Myrtenaster plaintively._

 _"Of course," said Weiss, smiling fondly. "And I need your help. Without you, I'm incomplete."_

 _The girl beamed happily and nodded._

 _Weiss' smile faded and her expression became serious. "But, first..." she said, "...I need to know if you can come to my hand."_

 _Myrtensaster's expression didn't even twitch as she nodded. "Yeah! That glyph you made is so cool. When you use it, remember how it feels right now, and I'll come to your hand, no matter where you are. I know I can't be always, but I want to be by your side as much as possible. So, if you call, I'll answer."_

 _"Thank you," said Weiss, pulling Myrtenaster into another tight hug._

 _The world around them began to fade, the girl in Weiss' arms fading as well, becoming transparent. "Remember," said Myrtenaster cheerfully, "I'm the most amazing weapon in the world. Don't forget to call me, when you need me."_

 _Myrtenaster, and her world, faded completely._

* * *

Weiss' eyes snapped open, and she was conscious of someone's hand on her shoulder. "Whitley?"

"About time," said her brother curtly, finally pulling away from her. "You were in some kind of trance, staring at that weird glyph of yours. What were you doing?"

"It would take a bit to explain," said Weiss, getting up and stretching.

"Is that all you've been doing for the past three hours?" Whitley wanted to know.

"Three hours...?" Weiss turned to look at the clock and blinked in surprise. She hadn't realized that so much time had passed.

"Once again, I would ask if you've gone mad, but I think I already know the answer to that," said Whitley wryly.

"What's going on?" asked Weiss. "What about the attack?"

To her relief, Whitley smiled. "Well, there's good news. It was repulsed. Not to mention it appears your friends arrived in Atlas to help, along with Kyo and his friends, of all people."

Weiss' fingers clenched tightly, excitement racing through her. Her friends were _here_...in Atlas! They had to have come for her. Then her excitement faded as she remembered Whitley's wording. "You made it sound like there's bad news too," said glumly.

"I'm afraid so," said Whitley, his face grim. "Father's called for you again. I have a bad feeling about what he wants this time."

"That's nothing unusual," muttered Weiss, getting up.

Whitley frowned as he fell into step with her, his guards following behind them. "There's a lot of movement from the forces Father assembled in the courtyard. Unless I'm mistaken, I think he's planning on marching them into Atlas."

"Why? The attack's over, isn't it?" asked Weiss.

Whitley nodded. "But the remaining forces were badly depleted. And I don't think Father plans for the soldiers he's sending in to serve as reinforcements."

"A coup?" said Weiss incredulously. "Is he insane?"

"At this point...I'm fairly certain that the answer is yes," said Whitley.

Weiss' body tensed, her hands clenching into fists. After what had just happened, everything that the Atlesian people had been through, her father had decided to just march in and seize power. Of course, he had. That was the way he always was, letting other people fight the battles, while sitting back and pretending that they were beneath him, then marching in to exploit as much as he could out of the aftermath. She'd once thought that Whitley was the same way, but she understood her brother better now.

After several minutes of wandering through the hallways of the mansion, Weiss and Whitley emerged out into the courtyard. Evening had fallen, but the yard was well lit by lamps and searchlights from the transports hovering above. Jacques stood with several men, who seemed to be the leaders of his forces, though their uniforms were mostly identical to the rest. As Whitley and Weiss approached, Jacques looked up.

"Ah, wonderful," said Jacques, clapping his hands together once. The soldiers he'd been speaking with stepped back and lined up with the rest. "I'm glad that you could be here to witness my ascension."

"Your what?" asked Weiss, raising an eyebrow.

"After what has happened these past few days, the people have had their fill of an incompetent general and an impotent Council," said Jacques. "They are hungering for new, decisive leadership, someone who will not dither, nor shy away from doing what needs to be done."

"And I suppose you think that's you," growled Weiss.

"Precisely," said Jacques imperiously. "We no longer have any need of the Schnee Dust Company, nor even the Schnee name. I once foolishly dispensed with my name to take on the Schnee name and what did it bring me...? After all my work, all I've received is scorn and disrespect."

 _You rightfully earned those things,_ Weiss thought sourly.

"From now on, there is no longer any need for us to carry the Schnee name," declared Jacques. "I go forth as Jacques Gele to claim my rightful place, as the sole ruler of Atlas."

"Father...this is..." said Whitley hesitantly.

"You are still my heir, Whitley," said Jacques. "Before, you would have been nothing more than a CEO. But, starting today, you will be a prince, the son of a king."

"You're delusional," said Weiss. "The remainder of the Atlesian forces won't accept your rule. Neither will the other Kingdoms. Your forces are impressive, but they aren't _that_ great."

"Silence!" snapped Jacques. "That is what I have you for."

"Excuse me?" replied Weiss, raising an eyebrow.

Jacques smiled smugly. "I finally have a use for you, Weiss. And, if you actually have a lick of sense in that foolish head of yours, you'll fulfill your purpose to the best of your abilities. Thanks to your antics, and those of your friends, it's clear that the leaders of the Kingdoms and the Academies hold you in fairly high regard, as laughable as that seems. You will use that regard to convince them that it is in their best interests to accept the change in leadership, here in Atlas."

"And why should I do that, Father?" asked Weiss tartly.

Jacques' smirk widened. "Your friends played a decisive role in repelling the attack on our-on my-Kingdom. But the effort has left them weakened and injured, and it is likely to be a few days before they recover. Likewise, that monster, Kyo, and his friends, have also suffered greatly in their efforts to fight the attackers, though I don't know why they did it. Their lives are forfeit, of course. The destruction of such a substantial portion of our Kingdom's forces, and the murder of so many of our troops demands justice. But the lives of your friends...their fate lies in _your_ hands."

Weiss fought to keep her emotions in check, but from the look of satisfaction on her father's face, she got the impression she wasn't doing as good a job as she would have liked. She didn't think her father was lying about her friends' condition. If they had been forced to fight all those Grimm, and the Junishinsho, there was no way they could have escaped such an intense battle untouched (Though it was an unintended relief to learn that they had survived at all. Her father was nothing if not a master of mixed blessings.). It worried her to learn that Kyo and his friends had been there, and were now also disabled. That meant that Hayate might...

That brought up the question of what to do. From a pragmatic perspective, she could play along with her father's plans, and let him think things were going his way. As Whitley had told her before, that was when Jacques let down his guard the most. She could play along, and wait for her opportunity to pull the rug out from under her father's feet. Except...that would give him the opportunity to fulfill his promised threat. He hadn't taken control of Atlas yet. His forces were still assembled here, in the Schnee manor courtyard. That meant that he was not yet in a position to harm her friends. If she played along, she would be actually allowing him to get into position to carry out those threats. She'd be letting him put a metaphorical and literal gun to their heads, one he was unlikely to withdraw anytime soon, so long as he thought he had a use for her. And once her usefulness was at an end...

Weiss now saw that Jacques hadn't made any promises, with regard to his endgame. He had promised not to harm her friends as long as she served her purpose and got everyone to acknowledge his rule. What he _hadn't_ promised was that they would _remain_ unharmed, after he had finished using her. She could see that look of wrath in his eye, even now. She had defied him too often, turned the tables on him one-too-many times, and fought him too determinedly. She saw that he had no intention of allowing her or her friends out of this unharmed, not that Weiss had any intention of allowing her father's objectives to be realized. He would wring Weiss for everything that she was worth to him and, once he was done, dispose of her as cruelly as he could...which meant he would dispose of her friends along with her.

That meant that she had to stop this here. Weiss pressed her lips together, eying the forces around her. This was far from an ideal situation. Could she handle so many all at once...? _I don't really have a choice,_ she thought darkly.

"Weiss..." growled Jacques, "...your answer?"

"Go to Hell," said Weiss coldly. "How's that for an answer?"

"Fine," snarled Jacques, his face reddening. "Just know that you've signed your friends' death warrants. I'll make sure you live long enough to watch them die." He turned his glare on Whitley. "Take her back to her quarters, and make sure she is secured. After that, we march."

"Yes, Father," said Whitley dutifully, still clearly unhappy with the situation, for multiple reasons. The confused look he flashed her indicated that he'd expected her to play along, at least temporarily. It was what _he_ would have done, had he been in her situation. However, Weiss was _not_ her brother. She wasn't so deft at subtly manipulating the situation to her advantage. At the end of the day, she was a Huntress, and her profession was battle. She might not have had an eye for politics, but she knew when she had to draw her blade and fight. That time was now.

As they began to walk away from Jacques, Weiss inclined her head as much towards Whitley as she dared. "As soon as I start, take your people, and get out of here."

She saw Whitley's throat tighten as he swallowed nervously. "You're going to turn this place into a battleground?" he whispered back incredulously.

"Yes," replied Weiss simply. At the moment, she was playing along so that their walk could take them out of the body of Jacques forces. If she had started fighting right then and there, they would have already had her surrounded. By allowing herself to be walked back towards the mansion, she was now no longer currently encircled.

"We'll have to go to my quarters," said Whitley. "Your weapon is still there."

Weiss gave him a brittle smile. "That won't be necessary," she said.

Pivoting around, Weiss turned to face her father. He'd already turned away to begin issuing orders to his soldiers. However, he quickly noticed her behavior, and turned to glare at her. Weiss gave him a vicious smirk, then reached within herself, and channeled her Aura out.

The three-dimensional glyph came into being in three parts. First, the angled swords at the top formed, followed by the interlocking snowflakes at its base. Then the numeral-marked helix spiraled down from the top, connecting the two components. With a flash, the glyph's disparate parts became one. Opening herself up, Weiss drew on her connection to Myrtenaster, on the meaning written into the word of her glyph, a meaning that came down to one simple word. _Come._

White light blazed out from the sphere of interlocking snowflakes at the bottom of her glyph, before beginning to climb upwards. As it did, Weiss' eyes found the unmistakable handle of her weapon, which she gripped as the rest of it was revealed, inch by inch.

For a moment, her father had clearly forgotten he was supposed to be enraged by her defiance. His soldiers had forgotten that she was supposed to be an unarmed prisoner. And even Whitley had apparently forgotten that he and his people were supposed to be getting clear. The phenomenon occurring before their very eyes seemed to defy all reason. Jacques thought Myrtenaster destroyed ,and Whitley thought it securely stored within his own room. They watched in silence as the light of Weiss' glyph climbed all the way up to the top, revealing the new assembly, centered around the Core Crystal, and the blade with its new crystal inlays, which were gleaming with shimmering luminance.

Once the tip of the rapier was revealed, the glyph broke apart. Weiss flicked the sword down at an angle, to her left, then used deft movements of her wrist to work it through a series of circular passes, letting her memory of her blade's balance and feel in her hand come back to her. Finally, she held it up in front of her, so that the blade extended straight up before her face. She rested the first two fingers of her right hand against the flat of the blade, vaguely remembering Kyo and other members of the Mibu performing similar actions with their own weapons. She closed her eyes and opened herself up, freely feeling the presence, life, and soul within her marvelous weapon.

Myrtenaster responded with a gusto, a loud, perfectly-tuned chime echoing through the courtyard, silencing even the engines of the hovering transports. Weiss allowed Myrtenaster's Aura to mix with her own, the two blending together, becoming one. Their combined Aura exploded outwards around them, throwing shimmering motes of light, which scattered through the air like countless wind-tossed snowflakes.

Behind her, Whitley looked on in awe, his mouth hanging open by the slightest of margins, clearly shocked by what his sister had just done. He'd obviously had certain expectations for what she could and would do, but not this.

Unfortunately, Jacques' time of hesitation had finally passed. "OPEN FIRE!" he roared. "KILL HER, NOW!"

His shout snapped the troops out of their shocked stupor. They immediately turned and trained their guns on Weiss. Around the courtyard, the Paladins were doing the same, training their arm-mounted cannons and missile pods on her. However, they were hampered by their formations. They had been brought here to assemble, and were standing for inspection and orders from Jacques, before they embarked on their mission. Their positions weren't laid out to deal with an enemy, particularly not one in Weiss' position. From where they stood, fewer than half of them were able to bring their weapons to bear on her without finding their fire-lanes blocked.

"Whitley! Get away!" shouted Weiss urgently, her command knocking Whitley out of his shock, and sending him scrambling back towards the mansion doors. Behind him, he heard the rippling crack of dozens of rifles firing in near unison, accompanied by the deeper sounds of the Paladins firing their arm cannons, though it seemed they were holding off on their missiles for the time being.

Weiss smiled, and swept her blade straight down in an almost contemptuous gesture. The blade trailed a line of pearlescent light, that then unfolded out into her familiar Time Dilation glyph. A flick of her fingers turned the glyph from white to black, a trick Weiss had conceived of, thanks to her discussions with Hayate. Its positioning was perfect, right at the point where all of the incoming fire converged on her. Every bullet and cannon round fired would have to pass through the area of space now obstructed by the glyph.

The shots from the barrage passed through the glyph...and slowed almost to a complete stop, their distorted time now causing several seconds to pass around them for each second of their own time. The sudden slowing allowed later shots or shots from a longer distance away to catch up, forming an almost solid wall of incoming ammunition, a little over a meter away from Weiss' face. The effect was impressive enough for the soldiers and Paladins to cease fire, trying to understand what was happening. Weiss only had a few more seconds to act, herself, before the effect wore off, and the shots returned to their previous velocity, only now all massed together, so that they would strike her nearly all at once.

But that was plenty for Weiss as she skipped back a step, and swept Myrtenaster horizontally in front of her, drawing another line in the air, which unfolded into another, rotating glyph. It resembled the snowflake of her normal propulsion glyph, except the tips of the snowflake were adorned with arrows, pointing outwards. The incoming shots touched the glyph and stopped completely. It was imperceptible to everyone, except Weiss, who was the only one close enough to see the change, but the bullets and cannon shots had their momentum completely reversed, and were now moving away from her.

Then the time dilation wore off, and they accelerated once again, returning along their original trajectories, some even managing to find their way straight back down the barrels of the very weapons that had fired them. Soldiers screamed and shouted, blasted off their feet, or having rifles blown out of their hands and into pieces (often mangling their hands in the process). The Paladins that had fired had their arms blown clean off, staggering backwards, smoke streaming from their damaged joints.

Weiss wasted no time, sliding into her attack stance, raising Myrtenaster up and leveling it at her first target, in preparation for her lunge. She shot forward like an arrow, her feet gliding across her ground, her Aura reducing her friction, so that she could cover the distance between her and her first enemy in less than a second, allowing her to thrust forward and plunge Myrtenaster straight through the chest of one of the soldiers that had opened fire on her.

Had she more time, Weiss would have winced in sympathy for the man, whose life she'd just taken. But she had neither the time nor energy to reflect on the situation these men were in. They were simply on her father's payroll as his security forces, originally hired to guard SDC facilities. They'd probably never expected to be mustered up, and used as an army to attack their own Kingdom. They could not protest against the one who commanded them, not when he held the authority to order the end of their own lives. More to the point, Weiss knew they had been trained to ruthlessly execute any orders that Jacques gave to them. They had tried to kill her without hesitation, once her father had given the order. Either way, she couldn't afford to hesitate. Her home was now a battlefield, and it was kill or be killed. And Weiss had no intention of being killed.

Her target had no time to respond to what had just happened to him. Weiss had already channeled her Aura along the blade, the inlays lighting up brighter, all the way up to the tip, which now extended out of the man's back, pointing at the ranks of troops behind him. A series of small glyphs, marked with a sun-emblem, spun into being, glowing bright orange and yellow, before launching bolts of fiery wrath through the ranks of troops behind the one Weiss had just stabbed. Men screamed, flaming bodies thrown through the air, shockwaves knocking over the ones in the zone of impact, all while the troops on either side of Weiss' target tried to turn and bring their weapons to bear.

Pulling her blade clear of her victim's torso, Weiss jumped back a short distance, whipping her blade around through rapid passes. The rapier had originally been designed for thrusting, but its edges were still razor-sharp, especially so, now that it had been reforged by Murasame. It cut through the weapons and armor of the troops around her like a hot knife through butter, allowing her to rapidly drop all of the ones that were within her reach.

Given that she was right in their midst, that limited the number of soldiers that were able to bring their weapons to bear on her. But Weiss had dived right into the center of their formation, which now meant she had enemies on all sides. What was more, she heard her father's outraged orders, and the roaring hiss of rocket engines igniting. Her father was having the Paladins hit her with their biggest guns, regardless of who else might be in the line of fire. Her father required far less impetus than Ironwood did to throw the lives of his soldiers away.

A glyph spun out from Weiss's shoulders, its patterns of spiraling feathers shining, before bursting into a quartet of wings that anchored themselves to her back and beat hard, sending her rocketing into the sky, before the wave of missiles struck, explosions ripping their way through the ranks of soldiers that had been around her. But Weiss was already clear, now dancing through the skies above the battlefield. As she flew, she caught a brief glance of the aghast look on her father's face, which sent a shiver of satisfaction through her.

Of course, that satisfaction was short-lived, as Weiss realized that, by flying upwards, she was now in the line of fire of _everyone_ within the courtyard. The soldiers and Paladins were all free to aim upwards at her, without fear of hitting their comrades. Guns cracked, cannons boomed, and rockets roared up at her from all angles. Weiss spun and then went into a rapidly-arcing turn to escape the barrage, flying directly between her enemies and one of the hovering transports, which rocked as it was riddled by shots. An explosion blossomed out from its side, causing it to list, then begin to fall.

Weiss flicked the fingers of her right hand at the transport, conjuring one of her regular propulsion glyphs at its side. It wasn't an especially powerful glyph, exerting only a little force. However, it did nudge the transport around, so that it was now falling towards the edges of the courtyard. The troops in the crash zone tried to scattered, but their formations were still too packed for them to respond efficiently. Four Paladins were also within the point. Two of them managed to fall back, but the other two ended up almost right beneath the falling transport when it crashed. The resulting explosion threw debris everywhere, like shrapnel, dispersing more destruction throughout the ranks of troops, while the shockwave of impact caused one of the two Paladins that had escaped initial destruction to collapse.

Though most of the troops were still trying to fire up at her, the fire had slackened, thanks to the fact that a significant portion of them were trying to escape the aftermath of the crashed transport. In the air around her, the other transports were scattering, trying to get clear before Weiss tried to pull the same trick with them. It gave Weiss time to renew her attack. She leveled her blade at a Paladin on the edge of the courtyard, a fair distance away from where its brethren had been crushed. Before her appeared the familiar sword-wheel glyph that she used to summon. It shimmered with pearlescent light, before flashing red and orange. Weiss recalled her memory of the enemy she'd had to overcome to reach Beacon, whose defeat had made her strong enough to finally defy her father's expectations. Within that, she tapped into her weapon's power, and channeled the energy of fire-Dust into its form.

Weiss fired her knight like a projectile. It shot straight for the Paladin, flames streaming off its form, making it resemble a humanoid cannonball. The knight slammed bodily into the Paladin, blasting it apart with a fiery explosion that blew away the ranks of troops in its vicinity, smashing through one of the walls that encircled the courtyard in the process. The knight rose up amid the flames it had set, almost looking like some kind of demonic monstrosity. Its armor was dyed orange and red, as though it had spent an extended period of time in a blacksmith's furnace. Sparks and tongues of fire scattered out from the gaps between plates, and small streamers of fire extended out of its visor. Turning to face the next Paladin in line, the knight hefted its sword, which looked like a molded tongue of flame.

The Paladin turned to counter the knight, lashing out with a powerful, mechanical fist. The knight met it head-on with the sword, the superheated edge of the blade cleaving effortlessly through the Paladin's arm, slicing it clean off. A line of flames erupted along the path of the knight's slash, tearing a swath through another formation of soldiers. The Paladin tried to backpedal to escape further attacks, but the knight merely stepped forward and slammed a fist into the Paladin's chassis, triggering another fiery explosion, which sent pieces of flaming shrapnel shotgunning outwards and inflicting even more devastation on Jacques' troops.

In the meantime, Weiss dove straight down, aiming for the heaviest concentration of troops remaining. She accelerated to the full extent her wings were capable of, turning her into a pale-blue streak as she arrowed toward the earth. The soldiers noticed her approach and tried to scatter, opening up a small space for her, which was exactly what Weiss was aiming for.

She extended Myrtenaster at her landing point. Another glowing glyph appeared, spinning in place, just above the ground. It was the same glyph Weiss had used earlier to deflect all those shots. Above it appeared another glyph, this one pale-green, decorated with a quartet of leaves spinning out from the center.

Weiss' sword pierced the green glyph, before penetrating the white glyph, just before piercing the ground. All of Weiss' downward momentum was sent exploding outward in the form of a powerful, spinning whirlwind, tossing the soldiers into the air with screams of surprise and terror. Rising up in their midst, Weiss saw them falling back to earth, the impact probably injuring or killing quite a few of them.

She raised her sword up again, actually calling the wind back to her. It circled the blade of Myrtenaster, surrounding it in a small, but intense, cyclone. Weiss then reversed her sword so that it was pointing downwards once more. Another glyph appeared before her, the sword-wheel of a summoning glyph. The winds bled away from the blade of Weiss' sword, and into the glyph, turning it pale-green. The winds swirled through the air, weaving into a new form, as a young woman rose up out of the center of the glyph.

When she'd been alive, her skin had been a dark, tan color, contrasting with her mint-green hair and dark-red eyes. Now, her body was all shades of white and blue, which washed dark and light green as the winds from Weiss' Dust wove into her form, her eyes a whitish-blue color as she glared at the remaining troops.

Weiss didn't really like summoning Emerald Sustrai. The fight against her had been one of the more difficult ones Weiss had faced during the conflict with Salem, and Weiss had taken no satisfaction in killing Emerald, particularly because, on some level, she felt that Emerald might have regretted all the death and destruction that had come from Salem's plans, and her role in them. Still, Weiss had done what she had to do and, in defeating and killing Emerald, she had learned that ruthlessness was sometimes necessary, even when you might sympathize with an enemy. Because of that, she could summon Emerald. Because of that, she did so now, because she needed every edge she could afford in this fight, whether she liked it or not.

Emerald whipped out a pair of revolvers, and opened fire on the soldiers she was facing. Her guns' bullets were thin, miniature tornados that tore their way through multiple bodies, punching through armor with ease. After several shots, Emerald surged forward, the blades of sickles folding out from under the revolver barrels, which she slashed at her foes with as she entered melee range, the blades unleashing crescent-shaped waves of air that continued to cleave through opponents, even when they were outside the range of her sickles. The closest ranks of soldiers around her falling, Emerald swung her weapons in wider arcs, the sickle blades now extending out from chains that were built into the handles. Emerald whirled them around, unleashing a whirlwind of slashes at every enemy in her vicinity, cutting through them like a miniature storm.

In the meantime, the fiery knight continued to work its way around the edges of the courtyard, targeting the Paladins and taking them out with slashes that sometimes cut through two, or even three, at once. The explosive force behind those fire-Dust enhanced attacks ripped additional holes in the ranks of troops. Their shots bounced harmlessly off the knight's armor. The summon continued on, not even noticing the countless attacks aimed at it.

Weiss raised Myrtenaster, leveled the blade, and dove headlong into another group of soldiers, her blade flickering and dancing as she thrust and slashed, trying her best to conserve what remained of her Aura, and Myrtenaster's power, for her summons. She was making a great deal of progress, having downed more than half, if not three-quarters of her father's force.

Through the crowd of soldiers still trying doggedly to get at her, Weiss could see her father, on his scroll, barking loudly into it. The din of battle kept her from hearing what he was raging about, probably demanding something from one of the transports still hovering overhead. At the moment, she didn't have the attention to spare on Jacques' ranting, trying to keep from being punched full of holes, courtesy of the high-power Dust rifles her father's troops were wielding, their shots carrying enough concentrated force to penetrate even her Tempered Aura.

However, she wound up regretting her dismissal of her father's actions a minute later. A pair of transports swooped down and their rear ramps opened up as they continued to hover several-dozen meters above the courtyard. At that height, they were beyond the reach of any of Weiss' summons' attacks. Weiss herself could go after them, but her ranged attacks would take too much effort for her to launch them while she was in the middle of melee combat, so her best bet was to take to the air again. Unfortunately, she didn't have time for that either. The reasoning behind the transports' actions soon became readily apparent.

Black figures marched to the edge of each ramp, their footsteps in eerie unison. Their black forms, lined with glowing red, made them look like a host of demons as they descended through the evening twilight, their cyclopean eyes shining brightly. Her father's Jaegers landed amidst the bodies of the fallen, their legs bending to absorb the shock of impact. From there, they immediately burst into furious motion.

A third of the Jaegers rushed for Emerald, who whipped around to counter them, alternating between shots from her revolvers, and razor-sharp blades of wind from her sickles. The attacks felled several Jaegers, and sliced off the limbs of others. However, they scattered around her to keep too many from getting targeted at once, moving with that sinister coordination of theirs as they dispersed to cause Emerald to open her back to a pair of them, while a trio distracted her from the front. The two that came at her from behind slipped in with swift precision. Emerald noticed their approach, and turned to confront them, but was too late as their blades sliced through her torso. Emerald's head then jerked sharply to the side as gunshots from another Jaeger pierced it. The summon exploded into a whirlwind that tore apart the two Jaegers that had cut into her, but did no damage otherwise.

Another third of the Jaegers rushed towards the fiery knight, who immediately turned to swing its sword at them. The knight was remarkably swift for something its size and bulk, but nowhere swift enough to match the nigh-instantaneous response of the Jaegers, who split around the fiery shockwave of the knight's sword-stroke. The Jaegers didn't try to enter melee with the knight, instead leaping about it, taking shots with their guns, aiming for gaps in the knight's armor, particularly targeting the openings in its visor. It was the work of several minutes of continuous attack. But, eventually, the summon lost its integrity and exploded outwards in a fiery blaze that consumed the Jaegers close to it, the shockwave of the explosion shattering the others that had attacked it, annihilating them all.

Weiss didn't have time to notice this, as the remaining third of the Jaegers had come for her. They moved with incredible speed and precision, surrounding her rapidly. Weiss did her best to hold them off as much as possible with her sword-work alone. Jabbing into the ground, she used a glyph to summon a wall of icy spikes to cover one flank. The ice exploded outwards, the spikes impaling a pair of the Jaegers, while the rest fell back. Weiss ducked and weaved between the shots of the Jaegers, parrying slashes and thrusts of their blades, and riposting when she could, trying to take out their critical components to keep the redundancies built into them from allowing the androids to continue the attack, even after they were damaged. She was only partially successful, as the Jaegers proved adept at shifting their positions to keep their most critical components from being damaged.

Beyond them, Weiss could see the remaining soldiers trying to assemble, using the intervention of the Jaegers to reconsolidate after their losses. Weiss knew she couldn't give them the opportunity. Right now, they were massed together, but not yet fully organized. She had to strike before they could re-enter the fray.

She called forth a pair of her basic propulsion glyphs to either side of her, using their power to repel the Jaegers pressing her for several critical seconds as Weiss prepared another pair of glyphs. The sword-wheel of her summoning glyph combined with the jagged snowflake of her ice glyph. A shining, blue and white Boarbatusk exploded out of the glyph, snorting and growling. Following Weiss' direction, it immediately charged straight for the mass of troops, going into the rolling spin the boar-like Grimm were famous for, though regular Boarbatusks _didn't_ send waves of icy spines shooting out to either side of them as they rolled. The summon carved a swath through the troops, the ice impaling and freezing those that weren't in its immediate path. Coming out of its roll, the summon turned to repeat the tactic, but was quickly brought down by concentrated fire from the surviving troops, and the Jaegers that had survived the attack against Emerald.

Weiss cautiously lowered her blade, using a second to take stock of her situation. The Jaegers that had initially attacked her were surrounding her once again, some of them using the ice wall she'd created to guard her flank as a platform to gain elevation on her. She'd taken out a few of them, but not nearly enough. They were reinforced by the third that had gone after Emerald, assembling together to attack her in earnest. Beyond them, the troops were trying to reconsolidate again, now that their numbers had been drastically reduced even further by Weiss' last summon. Only a single Paladin remained, one of its arms smoking and sparking as it limped over to join the troops.

As for herself, Weiss was feeling a long ways from the top of her game. She had felt incredible, merging with the Aura of her sword, the two of them fighting as one. But she could tell that Myrtenaster was approaching her limit, her Core Crystal unable to keep up with the scorching demand of so many glyphs and Dust attacks in rapid succession, though Weiss realized it would have run down much sooner, had the two of them not been fighting together as they had been. Myrtenaster was magnificent and brilliant, but she was still young, and her Core Crystal had yet to fully mature. Weiss herself was tired and worn, much of her Aura spent on launching so many attacks. Her physical and mental stamina were reaching their limits as well.

Despite that, she found herself smiling in triumph. Win or lose, she had already crushed her father's ambitions. His forces reduced to this extent, Jacques had no hope of seizing control of Atlas now, no matter how advanced their weapons were. By the time he managed to build up enough forces to make another attempt, Weiss' friends would have hopefully recovered, and Atlas itself would be reinforced by the Outer Defense Divisions, ensuring that his forces were outmatched.

Of course...Weiss realized she might not live to see that, given that she would probably die here and now. After everything that she'd done, not even a man as vindictive as her father would permit her to live, no matter how much he might want to make her suffer for what she had cost him.

And there he was, stepping around behind the Jaegers, foolishly putting himself in the line of his own troops' fire, so that he could engage in one last effort to taunt or berate her before he ordered her death.

"Do you have any idea what you've done, you little bitch?" he snarled, his voice barely carrying over the crackling flames and crumbling masonry, all underscored by the constant thrum of the hovering transports.

"I'd like to think so," said Weiss. "Luckily, this isn't Mother's favorite courtyard, so I doubt she'll object too strenuously, assuming she's ever sober enough to notice."

The angry flush of Jacques face made her smile a little more widely, it was a nice contrast to the look of smug condescension he'd been wearing earlier, when he'd declared his intention to become the king of Atlas. "You've ruined everything!" he shouted. "Years of work...billions of lien...all waisted."

"I doubt you've been planning to take over the Kingdom for _that_ long," said Weiss, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm finished with you," snarled Jacques. "You are no longer my daughter in any capacity. Now you're nothing more than a common criminal to be put down."

"How appropriate," taunted Weiss. "You never really were my father, so it balances out."

Jacques' eyes narrowed. "Just know that, after you die, your friends will follow you. I may have lost my Kingdom, but I will use every last scrap of power and money I have to make sure that they join you in death, preferably as painfully as possible, so that they can die, screaming your name as a curse."

"You can try," countered Weiss, forcing down the cold fear that rose up within her. "But you won't succeed, not with what little you have left."

Which she knew would soon be even less than she thought, given that her wonderfully clever little brother had seen and, knowing him, recorded the whole thing. He would have proof to bring before the Board of the SDC that Jacques was, not only incompetent, but insane. Whitley would probably have no trouble ousting him now, ensuring that Jacques could be stashed somewhere quiet and isolated, where he couldn't threaten anybody ever again.

"We'll see about that, you little brat," Jacques hissed out. "But now you die."

Weiss swallowed and raised Myrtenaster, readying herself for the final phase of this battle. Jacques moved, with rather undignified haste she noted, to get clear of his soldiers, while the Jaegers began to move in.

And then the entire world was erased by a thunderous cacophony.

Jagged bolts of lightning ripped through the remaining troops. Streamers of electricity jumped from one Jaeger to another, igniting explosions that shattered them to pieces. Powerful strikes of lightning descended from the sky, blasting the hovering transports apart. The sole remaining Paladin was split in two, down the middle, by a slash so rapid, Weiss hadn't even seen it.

Then she saw him, a single shadowy figure amidst the lightning streaming off the two blades he wielded, dancing amongst the remaining soldiers, carving them to pieces, or turning them to ash with the pure elemental fury he had harnessed. The sight of him made Weiss' heart lift within her chest, as though it had gained wings of its own.

In just a few seconds, it was all over. Once again, a silence fell over the battlefield, punctuated by crackling flames, the occasional sound of something sparking, and a few explosions as the crashing transports came to earth. However, Weiss hardly noticed any of that. Her gaze was completely riveted on the boy who had appeared before her, the sight of him brushing away all of her tension.

"Hayate!"

* * *

 **And Weiss gets her one-woman-army scene. Of all the fight scenes I've written for this story, this was one of the most fun, a chance to really explore the directions Weiss' Manifestation can take her, as well as show that she is also catching up to Kyo and his friends.**


	86. Chapter 86

**Chapter 86:**

"I said that I was coming," said Hayate, favoring Weiss with a wry smile. "I guess I needn't have really bothered. It looked to me like you had things in hand here."

Despite what she had just been through, Weiss couldn't stop from giggling at his remark. "Well, I'm grateful that you showed up anyway," she said. "What took you so long?"

"I got off Penny's cloud too soon," said Hayate as he walked towards her, rejoining his swords, then sheathing the merged blade. "It took longer than I thought to get here on foot."

At that point, Weiss couldn't restrain herself anymore. She lunged for Hayate, almost accidentally stabbing him with Myrtenaster in the process. He managed to avoid the rapier's tip though, allowing Weiss to wrap her arms around his shoulders, even as he wrapped his around her waist, the two of them hugging tightly as Weiss sighed into his shoulder.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Hayate said nothing, only tightening his hold on her. Weiss sensed that he had probably been just as worried as she had. Being able to finally hold each other again was reassuring for both of them.

"Y-you...!" Jacques' sputtering, stammering exclamation snapped both of them out of it, and they turned to face the man, who was looking appropriately outraged.

"You're the faunus rat who destroyed my encampments!" accused Jacques, glaring at Hayate.

Hayate smirked and shrugged nonchalantly. "Guilty as charged," he said.

"And you..." Jacques turned to look incredulously at Weiss, as though, even after all that she'd already done, he couldn't believe that she would be with someone like this.

"Father, I'd like to introduce my boyfriend, Hayate," said Weiss, her voice loaded with vindictive cheer. "Hayate, this is my father, though I'm sure you're indirectly acquainted with him already."

"Well, I'm more than acquainted with his handiwork, that's for sure," said Hayate.

"Y-you were conspiring with him from the very beginning!" accused Jacques.

"Actually, we didn't meet for the first time until _after_ he'd finished liberating all your camps," said Weiss. "Not that it matters anyway."

"I'll kill both of you for this," snarled Jacques. "You may have destroyed my troops, but I have powerful allies."

"Yeah...sure you do," said Hayate, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not lying, you fool," growled Jacques. "Their power is beyond your imagination."

"Oh, I'm not denying that they're powerful," said Hayate with a chuckle. "But I think you're seriously deluded if you actually _believe_ that they're your allies." He cast his gaze around the ruined courtyard. "Isn't that right?"

A lilting giggle echoed through the evening air. An undulating melody began to play, sparks of light dancing about. Weiss gasped and covered her ears, closing her eyes tight.

"Oh...you'll have to do better than that, my dear," teased the woman's voice as she came into view, a wave of colored motes sweeping through the air to reveal the woman, as though she'd been hiding behind a curtain composed of the fabric of reality, which she had only, just now, moved aside. In her right hand, she twirled her strange, musical weapon, the air moving over the holes, piping out various notes as she manipulated the keys along the handle with each spin. "You can't block out Haira's melody so easily."

Hayate stepped forward to stand between Haira and Weiss, his hand going to the handle of his sword.

Haira's weapon slowed, before coming to the stop. She whipped the blade out to the side, a single trilling note trailing off into the darkness. She met Hayate's eyes and smiled.

"About time you showed up," snarled Jacques. "Where were you, when my forces were being ripped apart?"

"Oh, just over there," said Haira, pointing to the roof of the mansion. "I have to admit, it was a spectacular display. Your growth is truly remarkable, Ms. Schnee."

Weiss, swallowed, not at all reassured by Haira's praise.

"What?" gasped Jacques. "You were here the whole time. Why didn't you do anything?"

"Like I said, it was a pleasure just to watch," said Haira with a giggle. "That was the most wonderful thing I've seen in ages."

"I can understand," commented Hayate. "I almost thought I wouldn't have to intervene. Even now, I'm not sure that she couldn't have finished it by herself."

"I know, right?" said Haira gleefully.

Jacques sputtered incoherently for several seconds. "You were supposed to help me!" he shouted. "You promised me that I could rule Atlas!"

"Oh, I know I did," said Haira with another laugh, not even taking her gaze away from Hayate and Weiss. "Honestly, for someone who's supposed to be so savvy, you'd think he'd realize already."

"Well, he's savvy in some areas, and remarkably dense in others," said Hayate with a sigh.

"Wha-what? What are you talking about?" sputtered Jacques. "I demand that you honor our agreement."

"Not interested," said Haira blandly. "I doubt I'll get much more enjoyment out of you, Jacques." Her expression was positively malicious as she turned her eyes on him. "You actually thought that my master would enable the rule of a lowly worm...like you? The fact that you actually believe that is one of the most entertaining notions I've had today."

"What are you talking about?" growled Jacques.

"Oh, wake up," said Hayate impatiently. "Don't you get it yet, old man? The Junishinsho and Nobunaga had no interest in actually making you a king. Nobunaga aspires to rule the world himself, and he isn't going to share that position with anyone. You've been lied to and used."

"Used? Impossible! No one uses me!" Jacques' eyes were practically bulging with rage as he glared at Hayate and Haira, both of them looking back at him, Hayate with undisguised contempt, and Haira with subdued glee.

"Yep, you were used," said Hayate. "The _really_ sad thing is that there was no real purpose behind it. You had no particular use, no contribution to make to their larger plans. You were just an idle amusement to her. You betrayed your Kingdom for empty promises, and didn't even warrant the dubious distinction of being her tool. At the end of the day...you were nothing more than a toy."

Haira burst out laughing as all the fight went out of Jacques' face. He stared in plain shock at Haira, who cackled gayly at his expression. "Oh...that's the loveliest look of despair I've seen in such a long time!" she crowed. "The would-be king, nothing more than a befuddled jester. You make such a marvelous clown, Jacques. It was worth every moment of stoking and encouraging your delusions, just for that look on your face."

Jacques sank down to his knees, staring at the ground, his expression slack, almost catatonic. Of course, that only made Haira laugh all the louder. Weiss shivered. As much as she appreciated her father being taken down a peg or three, and suffering for his willingness to betray Atlas to a monster like Nobunaga (who was _truly_ monstrous, if this woman, who served him so enthusiastically, was any indicator), she was a little too busy being disturbed by the naked cruelty she saw on Haira's face. Haira had no real justification behind her actions. They hadn't been to punish Jacques for his all-consuming greed and grasping ambition. She wasn't acting to seek justice for all those he had wronged. She was doing it because she derived pleasure from his suffering, for its own sake. It could have been any person. Jacques had just been the most convenient.

Finally, Haira's laughter subsided. Still sporting an amused smile, she turned her attention fully to Weiss and Hayate, who both tensed as her mesmerizing eyes focused on them.

"Well...now that the fun is out of the way, it's time to conduct business," said Haira.

"We have no business with you," said Hayate, his fingers curling around the handle of his sword.

"That is disingenuous to be sure," said Haira. "You have set yourself opposed to my master, which means you are my enemies. While I adored Ms. Schnee's spectacular display against this insect..." She gestured dismissively at the still unresponsive Jacques. "...it also served to make me painfully aware of her strength, which, when further honed, could be a threat to My Lord, himself. Thus, though it saddens me to deprive myself of the future entertainment that the two of you might offer, I shall have to end your lives, here and now."

Once again, Weiss shivered, taking a nervous step back. The shift in Haira's manner, from childish cruelty to cool ruthlessness, was jarring, to say the least. Then Haira's expression changed again and, just like that, her cruelty was back at the forefront.

"Of course," said Haira. "There's no reason I can't mix business with pleasure. I do hope that the two of you will use your final moments to entertain me."

An uncomfortable lump formed in Weiss' throat. She still remembered her first encounter with this woman. Haira had lured her in, then stripped her will away with her music and lights. Then, the next thing she had known, Weiss was back in the Schnee Family Mansion, in Atlas. She had been left completely vulnerable, completely in the power of this maniacally cruel woman, who could have done anything to her in that time. The retroactive sense of helplessness would have driven Weiss to shaking and quivering, curled up in a ball in the corner of her quarters, had she not been able to use her efforts to develop her Manifestation, and prepare for her escape, as a focus. But now, she was faced with that woman once again, along with the prospect of being under her spell.

Haira could clearly see Weiss' discomfort and giggled eagerly. "Ah yes...I love that look and smell of fear. People always say that fear is born of ignorance. But I find that fear born of knowledge is even more powerful at times."

Weiss took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "But I won't let that fear control me," she said.

"For now," said Haira. "For me, it shall be a challenge, an effort to strip you of that resolve, so that your fear can assume control. I relish that challenge."

"We'll see," said Hayate cooly, his sword slipping out from its sheath. "You'll have to go through me first."

"Ah yes," said Haira eagerly. "The valiant defender seeks to protect his love. But...you should realize that you can't stop me so easily."

"Be careful," said Weiss. "Her powers use that weapon as an instrument. If she starts spinning and manipulating it, she's trying to catch us in her illusions."

Despite knowing that her opponents were onto her, Haira's smile only widened. She hefted her weapon in preparation to spin it.

Hayate was on her in a flash, the Hokuto Shichisei slicing clean through Haira's torso in a horizontal slash. Her body split apart, the top and bottom half going in separate directions. Then, both halves of her body burst into a cloud of colored motes of light that scattered in all directions.

"What?" gasped Weiss, looking around frantically. "When?"

 _"From the very beginning, Ms. Schnee,"_ taunted Haira's voice from all around them. _"Even back then, when you were still tearing your way through your father's forces, I was already laying the groundwork, ensnaring you with my melody."_ A lively, whistling, piping melody began to play through the air. Varicolored starbursts flickered into and out of existence, sending lines of dazzling light streaming through the air. _"I'm sure you didn't notice, amidst the din of battle. Of course, even without all that commotion, you wouldn't have noticed the first movements of my symphony. There are sounds that your ears react to that you cannot consciously hear. There are frequencies of light that affect your eyes, but that you cannot effectively see. Since before the time I appeared before you, you were already in my thrall."_

Weiss' throat undulated as she tried to suppress a nervous whimper. She turned to look to Hayate for reassurance, but found that he had vanished completely. _No! When?_

 _"Troubled, dear?"_ taunted Haira's voice. _"No sign of your beloved...nowhere to be seen...? Oh dear...What if he was never there at all?"_

Weiss' eyes widened in shock.

 _"Yes,"_ continued Haira. _"I know what you might be thinking. He was right before you. You felt his arms around you. But my illusions are more powerful than you realize. Light and sound are merely a medium to connect with. Through them, I play my victims' senses like the keys of my instrument, not just your sight and hearing._

 _"There is so much more than you realize. Most people only think about five, six occasionally, senses. There are sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and Aura, yes. But there are plenty of other senses for me to play with. There is your sense of position, your body's sense of itself, the movement and location of your limbs. There is your sense of time, and its progression. There is your sense of space and orientation, through which you perceive things as simple as right and left, forwards and backwards. Each and every one is an instrument for me to play. I can make you think you are looking up, when your are looking down. A single minute can seem to be hours, or even years. I can produce a reality of such perfect fidelity that you would never recognize it as false. You could spend an entire lifetime, from your perspective, in my thrall, my perfect plaything, stewing in fear and doubt, until your will crumbles, and the chill of my blade across your throat becomes a blessing."_

Weiss couldn't even begin helping herself. She whimpered, tears gathering in her eyes. The sky above her washed with rippling colors. The ground lurched and began to break apart. Now she was falling, feeling as though her body was being torn every which-way. Direction and distance ceased to have meaning. Desperately, she tried to close her eyes, but that didn't stop her from seeing. In fact, she wasn't sure that she'd closed them at all. She couldn't even begin to wonder how much time had passed. All around her, more terrible and horrifying sights wove into being, twisted and distorted, before morphing into something else. Her world had been turned into an all-encompassing canvas of madness.

 _"That's right,"_ taunted Haira's voice. _"How long have you been under my spell? How much of the time you spent, since you woke up in Atlas, has been your own? Did you ever even wake up at all? For all you know, you could still be asleep, your previous accomplishments nothing more than the work of your imagination, supplemented by my lovely illusions. Everything around you is a lie. Nothing is true."_

"No..." whispered Weiss, her fingers clenching around the handle of Myrtenaster. "You're lying..." Then it struck her.

She was holding Myrtenaster. That _wasn't_ a lie. _How do I know that?_

As if in response, she felt the spark of her connection with her blade, that loving, prideful child who'd promised that she would come to Weiss' side, no matter what. A sharp, chiming note cut through the piping cacophony of Haira's song. Swallowing, Weiss looked down at the blade in her hand.

Her fingers were curled around the tail of an angry Deathstalker, which was trying to turn around and lunge at her with its pincers. Weiss' first impulse was to let go and jump back. But that same note and familiar connection cut her impulse off, and her fingers only tightened their hold. She was holding her sword again.

Now Weiss knew what to do. She had her sword. Even if Hayate wasn't here, she wasn't alone. Shifting her grip on Myrtenaster, Weiss reversed it, so that it was pointing straight down, even as she opened herself up, and merged her Aura with her blade's once more, the two Auras coming together and then surging with new power. Weiss stabbed downwards, invoking a glyph she hadn't had the chance to use before now.

The glyph spun outwards from where her sword pierced the earth. Enclosed within its circle was the outline of a heater shield, decorated by a double-crescent emblem near its top, and a wavy line across the bottom, just above its tip, an image inspired by one of her dear friends, an image that represented the unparalleled power to protect.

The glyph expanded, a rippling wave rising off of it, sweeping Weiss' mind clear of Haira's melody, washing the light out of her vision. The world returned to normal, and Weiss knew exactly where she was. She was in the rear courtyard of the Schnee family mansion, surrounded by the bodies and wreckage of her father's forces. A short distance away, she saw Hayate on the attack, having split his swords again, clashing them against the crystalline blade of Haira's weapon.

Hayate attacked ferociously. Weiss noticed, somewhat nervously, that he wasn't using his lightning at the moment. Instead, he chose to engage in pure melee, slashing and thrusting, trying to get past Haira's guard with a combination of speed and technique. Haira was on the defensive, but did not seemed particularly pressed. In between Hayate's attacks, she would dart backwards to open up more distance, which would give her time to twirl and whirl her weapon, her fingers dancing across its keys with every motion, before bringing it around to counter Hayate's next attack.

Weiss could hear the music of Haira's weapon. Now it was punctuated by the ring of her blade against Hayate's. The light from the lingering flames of the battle, the moon, and what few lamps left standing refracted through the blade, producing varicolored bursts of light. Even the light of Haira's Aura clashing against Hayate's was bent and refracted, Haira working the very elements of their own battle into her performance. However, Weiss felt distanced from it. She could see the light and hear the music, but it no longer felt as thought the lights were dazzling her or the sound penetrating into the core of her being. She was protected...safe.

"Welcome back to the waking world, Ms. Schnee," commented Haira cheerfully, not even glancing Weiss' way. Somehow, her voice carried over her music, and the battle itself, a clever piece of basic ventriloquism. "I see you've broken out of my thrall...or have you?"

"I have," said Weiss with certainty, narrowing her eyes.

"Are you sure?" asked Haira in a taunting tone. "My illusions can be layered. After all, I'm sure it seems strange that I'm able to converse with you so easily, given how I'm fighting this boy at the same time."

Weiss swallowed, a shiver of uncertainty running through her. Then she felt the familiar thrum of Myrtenaster in her hands and smiled. "I'm sure," she said.

"Well now, that's most impressive," said Haira.

"Your power is based on doubt," said Hayate as they clashed again. "In the face of that, faith is the strongest weapon."

To Weiss' surprise, Haira threw her head back and laughed loudly. "Faith...a weapon against _me?_ Oh, you poor, naive boy. Faith is one of the most potent assets in my arsenal! There is no one as easily deluded as one who believes. Just look at that poor girl's father. All I have to do is make you hear what you want, see what you want, and you will latch onto it with all your strength, and will and chase that illusion to the bitter end."

"Blind faith, maybe," countered Hayate. "But our faith is a bit stronger than that."

"Oh...and what does your faith do for you?" Haira wanted to know.

Hayate lunged forward, locking his blades against Haira's and straining against her, pressuring her constantly to keep her from falling back right away. "I have faith in your abilities," for example," said Hayate. "I know that your words are just another layer of illusion. You can use them to deftly manipulate perception, just as well as your light and music."

Haira grinned, but now Weiss could see a hint of tension in her smile. "Clever," she countered, exerting a surprising amount of strength, and driving Hayate back, allowing her to disengage. "Clever as you are though, you can't pierce my illusions through faith alone. For all you know, you could be carving up your precious Weiss with your swords, not fighting me."

"I'm not," replied Hayate, charging Haira and bringing their blades together once again. "You can deceive my senses, but you can't deceive my swords. They understand my will, which means they would never allow me to cut Weiss."

Weiss gasped softly, a thrill of excitement running through her.

"My swords have neither eyes nor ears," said Hayate. "They do not have a brain, a means through which you can interface with them, and establish contact and control, so they cannot be deluded by your melody."

"Very true," conceded, Haira, dancing away from Hayate's attack. "However, I doubt you can even find me. Your senses are under my sway. Not even your sword can do your fighting for you."

"True enough," said Hayate.

Haira circled around to come at Hayate from behind. Weiss opened her mouth to shout a warning, not even considering that Hayate probably wouldn't hear it, seeing as his senses were ensnared by Haira's illusion. She lurched forward, but her legs gave out. Her glyph began to flicker. Weiss gasped and put her focus into maintaining it. The power of Myrtenaster's crystal was nearly tapped out, and Weiss was using her own Aura to help sustain the glyph...what little Aura she had left, anyway. That left her no strength to move or fight. Even if she had the strength, attacking would mean leaving the glyph's protection, which would open her up to Haira's illusions again.

To her surprise, Hayate's right arm seemed to react on its own, swinging up and around behind him, crossing the blade over his back to intercept Haira's slash. For a second, everything came to a stop, Haira frozen in shock that Hayate had somehow intercepted her attack. Grinning, Hayate jerked his arm, knocking Haira's blade back. Before she could do anything else, he spun around, slashing with the sword in his left hand. Haira, caught off-guard, blocked it with the long handle of her own weapon, but was knocked back by the force behind the strike.

"Stay put," said Hayate, looking in Weiss' direction. "I'll put an end to this. Just focus on staying safe for now."

Weiss swallowed. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded. "Okay."

"How?" asked Haira, standing back up. "How did you know where I was?"

Hayate smirked at her. "You're not the only one who'd been laying the groundwork since before the fight began."

Haira's previous haughtiness was nowhere to be seen. Her weapon was a blur as she spun it like a parade baton between her hands, her fingers another blur as they manipulated the keys with incredible speed and precision. The pace and intensity of Haira's melody increased dramatically, the dancing lights refracted off the blade surrounding her with a virtual halo of dancing light.

Weiss didn't know what Hayate saw and heard. Perhaps Haira had split into multiple directions, while the earth lurched beneath his feet. Maybe she made it seem as though the earth and sky had switched places. Perhaps he was seeing Weiss attack him, not Haira. All Weiss saw was Haira dash to Hayate's left and then rush him, angling her blade to cut him in two at the waist. However, Hayate brought his right sword across his body, angling it straight down to intercept Haira's sideways slash before striking out with his left blade. Haira danced back, but blood splashed through the air from a shallow cut opened up across her stomach.

"Impossible!" she shouted. "You can't have broken my illusions."

"I've had a little experience with illusionists before," said Hayate.

Weiss blinked and realized she was feeling a slight tingle on her skin, a sensation of energy in the air around her that was literally making her hair stand on end. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed a faint, blue-white haze trailing from the blades of Hayate's swords. The haze seemed to pervade the air itself. Furthermore, Weiss could see, second by second, the haze seeming to gather around Haira, outlining her body with an aura of faint blue-white. Weiss wasn't sure that Haira was noticing it.

Haira desperately leapt back from Hayate, trying to gain distance. She spun her weapon about furiously, light dancing around her, the music taking on an even higher pitch and pace. However, Hayate kept pace with her, pressing his attack. Haira's efforts became more frantic. But, no matter where she moved or what sights or sensations she showered with Hayate with, his blades always seemed to find her.

"How are you doing this?" she demanded urgently.

"My speciality is drawing power from the world around me," said Hayate. "I command lightning as the embodiment of nature's fury. Such command wouldn't be possible without opening myself up to the world. That actually has more advantages than you realize.

"When I first attacked, I saturated the air in the general area with the electrical energy I released, charging it. Through the world, I can feel the shift of the resulting magnetic field as we move through it. Your body has been accumulating a charge this entire time. With your every motion, you become more and more visible to me, no matter what efforts you make to obscure your location, and befuddle my senses. I'm not even really using my own senses right now."

Haira finally noticed the haze clinging to her body. Her eyes widened, and she dashed back. Now she wasn't trying to shift her position, but actually attempting to escape. She leapt into the air, clearly intending to make for the mansion's roof and flee from there. Just then, the haze around her body solidified into a crackling field of electricity that jolted her body, before locking it into place, streamers of lightning reaching down to meet the blades of Hayate's swords.

Hayate jumped upwards to meet her. "You can fool my senses, but you can't fool the senses of the world and, when I am one with the world, you can't fool me."

"No!" gasped Haira.

Hayate reached her. "My swords are named the Hokuto Shichisei, after the constellation. There are seven stars in the Hokuto constellation, seven sages who are supposed to govern fate itself. Now you'll submit yourself to them."

Hayate's swords blurred, lines of light stretching out behind them as they intersected with Haira's body. "The first star: _Tonro!_ "

Haira gasped, and blood erupted from her chest, energy crawling up her body and seeming to climb inside through the wounds Hayate's swords inflicted. "The second: _Komon!_ " Hayate swept his swords in wide arcs around him, cutting into Haira's body from behind. "Third: _Rokuson!_ " Hayate charged back in, weaving his blades through complex patterns. "Fourth: _Mongoku!_ " Haira's body danced helplessly amid a storm of slashes so swift that they seemed like streaks of light. "Fifth: _Rencho!_ " Now Hayate led with a rapid series of thrusts that pierced Haira's body in multiple places. "Sixth: _Mugoku!_ " He flashed past her from above, slashing her body with his blades held in a reverse grip. "And, finally...the seventh: _Hagun!_ " Touching down on the ground, Hayate unleashed a storm of slashes in a dome-like formation above him that tore mercilessly through Haira's body.

Weiss was amazed that Haira hadn't been completely cut to ribbons. The music and light from her weapon had vanished, the light leftover from Hayate's attack replacing it. Her body seemed to drift in the air, lightning and glowing particles climbing around her and running through her wounds. Then her limbs began to turn to ash, disintegrating into dust that drifted away on the winds.

Amazingly, Haira was still conscious, her back arched, allowing her to look down on the boy who had defeated her. Surprisingly, she seemed quite sanguine about her circumstances. "Beautiful," she gasped, her once musical voice dry and hoarse. "I never imagined that my illusions could be overcome in such a manner. You made my final performance end on a...spectacular...note."

Haira's body erupted in crackling lightning, consuming her, and leaving nothing behind. Her weapon, its crystalline blade cracked and chipped, the handle's keys broken, bent, or otherwise warped, fell to the ground, piercing the courtyard with its tip, and standing upright, like a grave marker for the fallen warrior.

Hayate let out a long breath and relaxed his body. Weiss slowly stood up and looked around, pulling Myrtenaster free from the earth, and dismissing her protective glyph. "Is it over?" she asked.

"For now," said Hayate. "Haira's dead. We don't have to worry about her illusions anymore." He rejoined his swords into one again.

"Are...are you sure?" asked Weiss, a shivering sensation of fear running through her, one last time. "What if she's just making us think we beat her? What if we're still in her illusion? How can we tell for sure?"

Hayate didn't answer her with words. Instead, he suddenly rushed at her, swinging his blade down at her in a wide arc from overhead. The Hokuto Shichisei's blade gleamed white, leaving a trail as it rushed for her skull. On reflex, Weiss raised Myrtenaster, bracing the flat of the rapier's blade against her right hand. Myrtenaster blazed white as well. The two swords met with a flash that momentarily blinded Weiss, even as the impact rocked her entire body. She could feel the power of Hayate's Aura, bolstered by his sword's, straining against her own and Myrtenaster's.

"Hayate! What are you doing?" gasped Weiss. What if he was being induced to attack by Haira's illusion.

Hayate merely sheathed his sword. "That felt real enough to me," said Hayate. "We already established that our swords can't be affected by Haira's illusions. We broke through them and defeated her. There's nothing to be worried about anymore."

Weiss looked down at Myrtenaster, which thrummed comfortingly in her hand. Her mind went back to what Hayate had said about faith. At the end of the day, Haira's strength was based on sowing doubt in her opponents' hearts and minds. If that was the case, then the strength to believe in their victory was necessary to say that Haira had been truly defeated.

"You're right," she said, relaxing and giving Hayate a smile. "Thank you."

"No problem," said Hayate with a chuckle. "Now that it's over, we should be safe for the time being."

They weren't safe. Weiss' ears heard the click of a simple mechanism. Hayate heard it too, because, in the next instant, he threw himself at her, grabbing her shoulders. Weiss heard the sound of a gunshot, and saw Hayate lurch. Something warm and wet splattered across her face. "Hayate!"

"Dammit!" growled Hayate with a grimace of pain as his left hand went to the gunshot wound that had been opened just below his right shoulder. "I can't believe I was so sloppy that I let my guard down this much."

Looking past Hayate, Weiss saw her father. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, his entire body trembling from pure rage, which expressed itself in a wild look on his face. Blood dribbled down his chin, making Weiss think that he had bitten through his tongue, or the inside of his lip. Either way, her father now looked like a man possessed as he leveled a Dust-pistol at them.

"You mock me..." snarled Jacques. "You oppose me... I'll punish you. I'll punish everyone. Those faunus mutts are mine! Atlas is mine!"

Weiss raised Myrtenaster, trying to summon her strength for another glyph, wanting to interpose it between her and her father, before he could fire another shot. However, her response was sluggish. Relief, at the end of the fight with Haira, had allowed the adrenaline to drain out of her system. Now she was trying to go back into action, feeling tired and drained. She felt like she was immersed in water, while still trying to move at full speed. All her father had to do was twitch his finger to pull the trigger. She wouldn't manage it in time.

The sound of another gunshot echoed through the courtyard. Weiss winced, which delayed her from realizing that the sound hadn't come from her father's gun. Instead, Jacques screamed in pain, as the pistol was blasted out of his hand, the shot damaging his fingers and thumb. The pistol burst into pieces, while Jacques fell back to his knees, cradling his injured hand.

"That's quite enough, Father," said Whitley, the very picture of calm and composure as he stepped out of the mansion's doorway, flanked by two of his guards, one of whom had just lowered his rifle after firing it.

"Whitley! What are you doing?" yelled Jacques, staring in shock at his favored son.

Whitley closed his eyes, lowering his head slightly. "It's over, Father, you've lost. Weiss has seen to that."

"Never!" shouted Jacques. "How could you betray me? You could be a king!"

"No, I couldn't," replied Whitley calmly and simply. "You've gone too far, Father. I had figured it would take a little longer. However, thanks to your eagerness to jump at false promises, it appears I have all the evidence I will need to convince the SDC Board that you are no longer fit to run the company. With Weiss' agreement, I shall take the helm as CEO." His lips curled up in the mocking smile he had once used to torment Weiss, but now directed at his father. "Don't worry, Father. The company is in good hands."

"Whitley...You were my favorite child," said Jacques, his voice sounding almost plaintive. "You were a proper Gele."

"No," said Whitley, "I am a _Schnee_. In this, I chose to side with my sisters."

"Why?" asked Jacques.

Whitley gave Weiss a warmer smile than she had ever seen him wear in years. "Well, we definitely don't see eye-to-eye on many things. I don't necessarily _like_ either of them. But I do _love_ them. I suppose that's what it means to be family."

Weiss smiled back.

Whitley held up his scroll. "And speaking of my sisters, I just got off the scroll with Winter, who is acting commander of the Atlesian forces, with the General's passing. I informed her of your treasonous ambitions. Though she was busy securing Atlas from further attack, she decided to take the time to come here personally with a squad to take you into custody. I'm afraid that you won't see the light of day for a very long time, Father."

"I won't forgive you for this," snarled Jacques. "This isn't over!"

"Yes it is," said Whitley calmly. He nodded to his guards, who moved to secure Jacques, before heading towards Weiss, who was now holding up Hayate. Hayate was leaning heavily against her, using one hand to staunch the bleeding.

"Hayate?" whispered Weiss.

Hayate gave her a pained smile. "Well...I'd normally say I could go to Sasame and get this patched up. But, given everything she's been involved with today, I'm guessing that even she's played out."

"Bring him inside," said Whitley calmly. "We _do_ have our own medical staff after all. It's time they earned their keep." Jacques had outfitted the mansion with its own infirmary, staffed by a highly-trained doctor, and several assistants. It was another means of demonstrating the Schnee Family's wealth. They could get top-of-the-line healthcare, without leaving the comfort of their own home. As hostilities with the White Fang had escalated, it had become even more important, as Jacques felt that any member of the family being treated at a regular hospital would be an easy target.

Weiss nodded and supported Hayate as they walked back towards the mansion, Whitley falling into step next to them. As they left the courtyard, she did not even spare a glance for her father, who now slumped wordlessly, staring into space, not even reacting as Whitley's guards secured him.

* * *

"I wonder how long it's been, since the last time all three of us were together," commented Winter, looking from Weiss to Whitley as the three of them stood together in the courtyard.

"A few years, at least," said Weiss.

"Not since you left for the military," added Whitley.

Winter nodded, her expression tense as she looked at her youngest sibling. Finally, she let out a breath. "I honestly don't know what to say," she said. "After all this time, and after everything, an apology isn't an appropriate response for what I've said and done."

"Then let's forget about it," said Whitley. "Instead, we'll start anew."

"I'd like that," said Winter, smiling. "I don't have any right to say it, but you've made me proud."

"Thank you," said Whitley, smiling back.

Winter looked around them, taking in the remnants of Weiss' battle against Jacques' forces. Unfortunately, it would be a long time before the courtyard could be restored to its former glory. Due to personnel shortages, Winter didn't have the people to spare to clean up the bodies, much less the debris left behind by Weiss' battle. Whitley had instead said that SDC personnel would take care of the cleanup, but would secure evidence in accordance with Atlesian security procedures, which Winter had agreed to.

Winter turned her gaze back to Weiss, smiling approvingly. "Whitley's report included a recording of your battle," she said. "You've made me _very_ proud, Weiss."

"Thank you," said Weiss, flushing at her sister's praise.

"I daresay you are much stronger than me now," said Winter. "I'm amazed by your performance."

"I can show you how to do it too," said Weiss.

"I know you can," said Winter. "But let's not worry about that for now. I'm going to be very busy for a while."

"As will I," said Whitley. "The SDC will have to undergo a major reorganization, so that we can restore productivity to our mines and quarries, without resorting to Father's methods. Our profits won't be as high as they used to be, but we should be on more stable footing in the future." He looked to Winter. "I'm not sure what this will mean for our military contracts yet."

"Unfortunately, I'm not sure either," said Winter. "I'm acting commander of the military, but that is merely a temporary arrangement, until the Council and I can decide on a replacement."

"The Council?" asked Weiss, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Yes," said Winter. "I didn't take over just to repeat the General's mistakes. The Council has been sidelined for too long. I won't allow Atlas to remain a military dictatorship. Once we have things under control, and have dealt with the aftermath of the invasion, I fully intend to help the Council select a new leader for the military."

"What about you?" asked Whitley.

Winter smiled wryly and shook her head. "No," she said simply. "It will probably never be officially announced, but I ended up in this position by essentially stabbing the General in the back. I cut him off from support, and left him and his task force to die at the hands of Kyo and his friends. Even if I never personally killed any of them, their blood is on my hands all the same. Someone like that couldn't, and _shouldn't_ , be completely trusted with the highest station in the military. In all likelihood, though it will probably be a few months, or even a year or more, before it comes to pass, doing that has spelled the end of my career."

"Winter..." said Weiss, feeling tears gather in her eyes. Her sister had sacrificed so much, and worked so hard, to reach her position and earn the respect of her subordinates and the people of Atlas. To have it all wrenched away from her like this...

"Don't," said Winter, raising a hand to gently cup Weiss' cheek. "I made my choice, and I have _no_ regrets. It saddens me, but to try and escape the consequences of my betrayal would _itself_ be a betrayal of why I did it in the first place. If the people of Atlas are safer and happier, because of what I have done, then that is a reward far beyond what I have lost in the process."

"Well, at the very least, I suppose I could offer you a position with the company, once you leave the military," said Whitley. "Part of reorganizing will involve dealing with Father's supporters. I have the feeling there will be quite a few vacancies, by the time you are done with your own work."

"I may take you up on that," said Winter. "I hope you don't expect me to bow and scrape to you, like Father's cronies already did."

"I'd fire you if you did," said Whitley with a chuckle. "I've had enough of that foolishness to last me a lifetime. If I'm going to do something foolish or ill-advised, I would like to be informed of it. I won't be a CEO who insists on hearing only what he wants to."

Winter nodded and turned back to Weiss. "Now...on the subject of your...interesting...boyfriend..."

Weiss blushed and glanced in the direction of Hayate, who was sitting on one of the few mostly-intact benches remaining in the courtyard. His shirt had been cut off to allow the doctor to operate on his injury and Hayate hadn't bothered to put on a new one. His right arm currently rested in a sling, bandages wrapped over his shoulder and around his upper chest to cover the wound left by Jacques' pistol. Despite that, he didn't even seem to notice the pervasive chill of the Solitas evening settling in around them. The doctor had declared that it would be several days, before Hayate's Aura finished mending the wound, and that the damage might limit the usage of his right arm for the rest of his life. However, Hayate had casually brushed the prognosis off, informing them that, once Sasame had seen to him, he would be as good as new.

"However well-intentioned his actions might be," Winter was saying, "it still remains that he has an extensive criminal history in Atlas."

Weiss nodded gravely. She had known that this would be an obstacle, even after she had dealt with her father. However, she had chosen to overlook it for the sake of convenience. But the knowledge that her new boyfriend was considered a criminal and a terrorist by Atlas at large remained a niggling concern at the back of her mind.

Winter sighed. "However, given the service that he, Kyo, and Kyo's other friends have rendered during the invasion, I have decided to have their criminal history expunged and their bounties removed. At the moment, I've chosen to keep that from the public's knowledge. But it should clear up any issues you might have, should you continue to pursue a relationship with him."

"Thank you," said Weiss.

Winter glanced over at Hayate. "Officially, I'd still say that a relationship with someone like him isn't the wisest course."

Weiss stiffened.

But then Winter smiled again. "But, as your sister, I can't really bring myself to disapprove of a boy who'd willingly take a bullet for you."

Weiss giggled at that. "I'm glad," she said.

"Now then," said Winter, "Father has been secured, and we are ready to depart. You and your boy should get aboard, Weiss."

"Pardon?" said Weiss, momentarily confused.

"Did you forget?" asked Winter teasingly. "Your friends are being quartered at Atlas Academy. I was sure that you'd be eager to see them, after they came all this way to rescue you, even if you didn't really need it. But I suppose I could leave you here with Whitley, if you don't feel like going."

"No! I'm coming!" said Weiss, a little bit more frantically than she meant to. She knew Winter was just teasing her, but there was no way she'd miss out on the opportunity to be with her friends again.

"Then let's be off," said Winter.

Weiss turned to Whitley and hugged him once more, surprising him. "Thank you...for everything," said Weiss.

After a moment's pause, Whitley hugged her back. "Well, I suppose I can't dislike you anymore," he said. "You are a very different person from how you were before you went to Beacon. I like the new you."

"So do I," said Weiss.

"I hope you'll be more willing to visit in the future," said Whitley as they pulled out of the embrace.

"I'll make time for it," promised Weiss.

"Good," said Whitley. "In the meantime, aside from my work with the company, I'm going to make it my special project to break mother of her bad habits, and see if I can't get her back into a better frame of mind. Hopefully, we can all come together again."

Weiss nodded. In truth, she held out little hope for their mother. But she supposed that, if she and Whitley could re-establish their bonds as siblings, then maybe their mother was not beyond all help.

Whitley traded one last nod with Winter, then Winter led Weiss and Hayate aboard her airship, which lifted off and took flight towards the distant tower that marked Atlas Academy.

* * *

 **And thus ends the non-reign of Jacques Schnee. Seriously, kicking him while he's down is so satisfying. Also, farewell to Haira, probably the quirkiest of the Twelve, overall, and one of the few I designed without really drawing directly off of characters from other series. The battle is over...and here comes the aftermath.**


	87. Chapter 87

**Good news, everyone! I have officially finished the final proofreading and prep for all the remaining chapters of this story. From a reader's perspective, that might not mean all that much, because I have no intention of altering the pace of my posting, but it feels good to be done. As of right now, there are a solid twenty chapters remaining, plus an epilogue. Stay tuned...**

* * *

 **Chapter 87:**

During the flight to Atlas Academy, Winter filled in Weiss and Hayate about much of what had happened during the battle for Atlas itself, as well as the situation they were now faced with.

"I'm not entirely clear on what happened at the end," admitted Winter. "However, it seems that this Nobunaga monster ultimately managed to escape with the help of his servants. Your friends were too worn down for a proper debriefing."

"I can understand," said Weiss. With the vigor of battle long gone from her system, she was feeling exceptionally sluggish herself. She'd had some time to rest, while they'd waited for Winter to come from Atlas, but most of that time had been spent worrying over Hayate's condition. Now, finally, her eyelids were beginning to droop. If her friends had been run as ragged as she was feeling, they were all probably asleep right now. Weiss figured she'd probably join them. "Was anyone hurt?"

Winter nodded. "Several of them sustained severe injuries. Ms. Valkyrie and Ms. Capello's were particularly life-threatening. Fortunately, they have all been treated, and should be recovering. Kyo almost died though."

Weiss nodded, a sickening feeling passing through her stomach at the thought of what could possibly bring someone as powerful as Kyo to the edge of death.

"I didn't witness his battle with the enemy personally," said Winter. "The cameras in the area were mostly destroyed, so there's no recording of it either. What I managed to see from a distance was disturbing enough though. However, your friends all seem to have seen some very disturbing things."

Weiss frowned, wondering what they had seen. She could only hope that her friends would be willing to share those things with her. However, she supposed that could wait until everyone, her included, got some much-needed rest.

The airship settled onto one of the Academy's landing pads with a gentle bump. Weiss helped Hayate to his feet, and the two of them followed Winter through the halls of Atlas Academy as she led them to the guest dorm.

Altogether, their group had taken up several rooms. Given that the guest dormitory usually only saw extensive use during the Vytal Festival, when Atlas was hosting it, there were plenty to go around, enough that everyone could have their own if they wanted. Yang and Kyo shared a room, Yang clinging tightly to Kyo as they both slept. In another room, Saisei and Neo cuddled together, wrapped up in a fluffy cocoon of Saisei's tails. Ruby and Jaune had taken a room to themselves, holding each other tightly, as though they were afraid to let go of each other. Ren and Nora had yet another room, holding one another in a manner reminiscent of the other couples'. Finally, Blake had her own room.

Checking in on the others filled Weiss with a sense of relief. She trusted Winter, when she said that they were all alive and recovering. But it was still reassuring to see the evidence with her own eyes.

"I'll leave your sleeping arrangements to you," said Winter, looking between Weiss and Hayate. Noticing her look, Weiss and Hayate exchanged their own glance, and both of them blushed and quickly looked away from each other, making Winter giggle at their bashfulness. "I have to get back to work, so I hope we'll have more time to talk once you've rested."

"How are things?" asked Weiss.

Winter's face fell. "A far cry from ideal," she admitted. "We have a large breach in our northeastern wall, and its defensive emplacements have been completely destroyed. Given the close call we just had, the anxiety of the populace is very high, which is drawing more Grimm from all around."

Weiss blinked. "Shouldn't Kyo's Aura be repulsing them?" she asked.

Winter glanced at the door to Kyo and Yang's room. "I can only assume that, because of how severely he overextended himself in the fight against Nobunaga, Kyo's current condition means that he is no longer repelling the Grimm, at least, not from as wide an area as he usually does." She turned back to Weiss. "Unfortunately, that means we have to hold the line with what few troops we have left. Fortunately, the airships of the Outer Defense Division have arrived, which will help, though most of their troops are still garrisoned out in the settlements."

"Are the other Kingdoms sending help?" asked Weiss.

Winter nodded. "They responded to our distress call almost immediately. Relief forces are en-route from Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo." She smiled wryly. "I can only guess that it is because the call came from me, rather than the General, that they resisted the urge to rub salt in the wound."

"What about the Mibu?" asked Weiss.

"I've sent a request to them too," said Winter. "However, it will be some time before we get a response, given that it is being sent by courier. Hopefully, they will be willing to help us as well."

Thinking about Sora and the other Elders, Weiss figured that the Mibu would be more than willing to help, even though Atlas had been the Kingdom most openly antagonistic towards them. That had been mostly Ironwood's doing anyway, and he was no longer part of the picture.

"But that's enough for now," said Winter. "Go get some rest, then reassure your friends. I have the feeling you will have plenty of issues of your own, once you've recovered."

"All right," said Weiss.

Weiss and Winter exchanged one last hug. Winter then headed off down the hall to return to her duties, leaving Weiss and Hayate alone in the hall.

"So...uh...I guess I'll just use this room here," said Hayate, going to the door of the nearest unoccupied room.

Weiss felt the impulse to join him, but decided to rein it in. Though they'd been through a lot lately, she felt that she and Hayate should probably work on their relationship a little more, before they shared a bed, even briefly. Besides, with his injuries, Weiss figured that Hayate wasn't in any shape to hold or be held at the moment. However... "Wait!"

Hayate froze, his hand still resting on the handle for the dorm. Turning, he looked over at Weiss in confusion. "Yes?"

Weiss went over to Hayate, carefully resting her hands atop his shoulders, making sure not to jostle his wound. Leaning in, she planted a long, lingering kiss on his lips, holding it there for the better part of a minute. At first, Hayate's body had tensed at her touch. But now he relaxed and leaned into the kiss, though not so far that he pressed his immobilized arm against her. Pulling away, Weiss smiled at him. "Thank you for coming for me," she said.

"As if I'd ever leave you in that situation," said Hayate, giving her a wry smile of his own.

Weiss leaned in, resting her forehead against Hayate's. "I missed you," she said, "not just at the mansion, but after I left."

"I felt the same way," said Hayate. Taking the initiative for a change, he tilted his head so that he could kiss her again. "I'll see you in the morning," he said, finally pulling away.

Weiss nodded and watched as Hayate stepped into his room before sighing and raising her fingers to her lips. Finally, she turned and entered the room that was Blake was using, changing into the nightgown she'd brought, along with a few other personal effects, from the mansion. Climbing into bed, Weiss laid down and fell asleep before her bed even hit the pillow.

* * *

"WEISS!"

Blake's shout jolted Weiss awake, and her eyes snapped open to meet Blake's as the black-haired faunus leaned over Weiss' bed, staring down at her in amazement, as though she thought Weiss a mirage.

Blinking and groaning a little, Weiss fought off the irritation that came from being so suddenly and noisily awakened, before favoring Blake with a sleepy smile. "Geez, what's with you, Blake?" she asked teasingly. "You don't usually shout like that in the morning."

Blake's eyes overflowed with tears and the next instant she was hugging Weiss tightly. Weiss squeaked in surprise, but soon returned the hug, a few tears of her own gathering in the corners of her eyes.

"We were so worried," said Blake, sobbing slightly between her words.

"I know. I'm sorry," said Weiss. "Thank you for coming after me."

Blake nodded, still pressing her face hard against Weiss' shoulder.

The door to their room slammed open. Blake's shout had apparently roused the sleepers in the adjoining rooms, if they hadn't already been awake. Weiss barely had time to push Blake off before she was tackled by Ruby. A few seconds later, Ruby was pried off so that she could be subjected to bone-creaking hugs from Yang and Nora, followed by a much lighter one from Neo. Ren and Jaune both smiled as they watched the proceedings. Jaune got a hug of his own, and Ren traded nods with Weiss.

 _"Oh for heaven's sake!"_ Saisei's irritated shout from across the hall suggested that she'd found out about Hayate and his condition. The good-natured frustration in Saisei's voice made Weiss smile all the wider. At the very least, it sounded as though Hayate's wound was going to get prompt treatment.

Her eyes drifted between those of her friends, taking them all in. Weiss could see that, while they were overjoyed to hav her back with them after worrying so much about her, they were also burdened with some heavy sadness of their own. "So..." she said somewhat lamely, "...what did I miss?"

That knocked the smiles right off everyone's faces. Yang and Ruby looked like they were about to start crying again, not from happiness this time.

"A lot happened," said Blake softly, as though that explained anything.

"I guess we'd better fill you in," said Ruby. "It's bad news... _really_ bad..."

* * *

Bad seemed to be selling it quite short, in Weiss' mind. Nobunaga had escaped, which was bad news to be sure. But to learn that the one who had enabled him to, who had helped him; while betraying everything she, and everyone else, thought he had stood for; was Murasame...that rocked her to her core. She looked down at her sword, unable to fathom how the man who had reforged her weapon into a work of art, of such beauty and strength, could possibly do something so heinous. Worse still was the news that Murasame had taken Penny with him, apparently intent on making her one of the Junishinsho.

"What do we do now?" asked Weiss, looking up at her friends.

"We're not sure yet," said Yang. "Kyo hasn't woken up yet. Saisei says that it could be another day, before his Aura recovers. He pushed himself _way_ past his limits in the fight with Nobunaga."

At the mention of the Demon King's name, Weiss saw Yang's eyes quiver. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I will be," said Yang hesitantly. "It's just...seeing his Aura, meeting him in person...if you can call him a person anymore...it's not the kind of thing you forget."

"There's more bad news," said Jaune, sharing a grave look with Ruby.

The others all turned to them with confusion. Apparently they hadn't shared this news, before they had all gone to bed last night.

Jaune and Ruby nervously related their fight with Santera, ultimately dropping the bombshell about her true identity. No one wanted to believe it. Even after learning about what the Mibu had been capable of, back in their heyday, the knowledge that they could resurrect the dead had been something that had been impossible to accept, except as an abstract point, particularly since the Mibu of today made a point of _not_ utilizing that power. To learn that their worst enemy had that power, and had used it to revive their lost friend as one of his minions, was a piece of news even more disturbing than that of Murasame's betrayal.

"How could he do something so awful?" wondered Blake, staring at the floor as she sat on the edge of her bed.

"That is Oda Nobunaga," said Saisei, slowly entering the room. "His hunger for power is all-consuming. To that end, there is no blasphemy he will not speak, no heresy he will not commit; if it will grant him power and victory, he will embrace any and all evils for the sake of his ambition."

Weiss swallowed, glad she had not met the Demon King. In some senses, he sounded a lot like her father, only a thousand times worse.

Deciding that she'd like to change the tone with some, hopefully, good news, she turned her eyes to Saisei, figuring that her arrival meant she had finished Hayate's treatment. "How's Hayate?" she asked.

"Resting," said Saisei, an irritated pout on her face. "Given that his injury had already started to heal, I had to go in with my Spiritual Surgery, and do a lot of work reconstructing his muscles and tendons." She huffed and looked away. "That's what he gets for allowing an amateur to treat him, instead of coming straight to me."

Neo gently poked Saisei in the side and gave her a look that was somehow both wry and deadpan.

"Yes, I know I wasn't in any shape to treat anyone else last night," retorted Saisei. "That doesn't change the fact that Hayate should have come right to me."

Weiss couldn't help but giggle at Saisei's effort to use her irritation to mask how worried she'd been about the boy she saw as another little brother.

"Well, he'll probably be up and about as early as this afternoon," continued Saisei, folding her arms and snorting with a quiet "hmph." Then she fixed Weiss with a teasing look. "But he should be in fine shape, if a certain someone wants to cuddle with him tonight."

"What?" gasped Weiss, her face going bright red as her friends laughed around her.

"However, though I enjoy a moment of levity as much as the next person, we need to get back to the more serious issue," said Saisei, her expression falling.

"What do we do?" asked Yang. "Do we even have any idea where Nobunaga and his people are now?"

"Unfortunately, no," said Saisei in a tone that was almost despairing. Her hands clenched so tightly that her arms began to shake. "Thanks to Shindara's portals, we have no notion as to where they might have gone. I'd like nothing better than to go after them, and personally rip them all limb from limb, but I have no idea where they are."

Neo quickly hopped up to wrap her arms around Saisei's shoulders in a comforting hug. Saisei sighed and leaned into the embrace, resting her head in the crook of Neo's neck.

"So we've got no clue of where to go and what to do," grumbled Ren quietly.

"What about Kyo's dad?" asked Nora.

Tears began to leak from between Saisei's eyelids. "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't want to believe that he's actually in their clutches. I hadn't even thought that anyone could defeat him. But..."

"But what?" pressed Ren.

Saisei sighed. "Murasame has been the Mibu Blademaster for over a hundred years. He not only taught the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ to Kyo, but to his father as well. If there was anyone who could exceed Kyo and his father in the mastery of that style, it would be Murasame."

"Then it's likely he wasn't lying," said Jaune glumly.

"I'm afraid not," said Saisei, now nibbling on her thumbnail. "It's so frustrating. Normally, I don't mind being out of touch with home. But I've never regretted our lack of a CCT tower as much as I do now. I have no idea what's happened there, and there's no way to find out, short of going back ourselves...which will take quite a while, because Murasame took Penny-chan with him, when he left. She's the only reason we managed to reach Atlas so quickly in the first place."

"About that," said Weiss, "Winter sent a courier to the Mibu requesting assistance. Hopefully we can get some information when the response comes back."

"How long is that going to take?" asked Blake.

Weiss shrugged. "My best guess is four to five days for the courier to reach Onmyo, with just as long for a return trip; so a week, maybe a little longer."

"This transfer ability of Nobunaga's," said Ren, turning his attention back to Saisei, "how long do you think it will take for them to carry out?"

"I don't know," said Saisei. "The time between Nobunaga's fall and his revival to a new vessel appears to be dependent on a number of variables. Usually, it takes him a few years at least, sometimes even a generation or more, to return with a new vessel. However, there are a number of variables that appear to be separate from how long the transfer process itself takes."

"Such as..." pressed Blake.

"In previous conflicts, Nobunaga's Junishinsho were nearly always decimated," said Saisei. "He has to rebuild their numbers in order to have effective agents to carry out his will, while recovering from his previous defeat. They also have generally find a suitable vessel first, a process which, as far as we know, can take years, before they can settle on one that Nobunaga will be able to use.

"The problem is that Nobunaga's losses this time were considerably less than in past conflicts. Of his Junishinsho, the only ones we can confirm the death of are Bikara, Kubira, and Haira. On top of that, assuming Murasame manages to convince Penny-chan to join them, then they will have also gained Antera."

"That's impossible!" shouted Nora. "There's no way our Penny would join those scum, right Ruby?" She turned to Ruby for support, only to see Ruby looking down glumly. "Ruby...?"

"Normally I'd say no," said Ruby. "But Murasame is Penny's father. She already lost her first father. I can't imagine how hard it would be to lose another, or reject him, even if he does something terrible. I know that they really love each other. It would be hard to say no, under circumstances like that."

"I guess that's true," said Nora glumly.

"Returning to the main topic," said Saisei, "there's also the matter that Nobunaga's next vessel has already been chosen and acquired. With that in mind, there's no telling how much or how little time we have before he returns."

"And, this time, he'll be returning with the power of the True Mibu," said Weiss coldly.

Saisei nodded. "And, unlike Kyo's father, I doubt that Nobunaga will have any qualms about unleashing the True Mibu's divine power to its fullest. In that case, the only one who could ever hope to oppose him is another True Mibu."

"So it would be up to Kyo," said Yang, swallowing. "But...that would mean that Kyo would have to fight Nobunaga...in his father's body."

"And, in order to win, Kyo would have to essentially kill his own father," added Saisei with a sniff. "This is our worst nightmare come true."

"If the transfer is completed, is there any chance that it could be reversed?" asked Ren. "Could Nobunaga's soul be separated from Kyoichiro's, and possibly removed from his body."

"We don't know," admitted Saisei. "In past conflicts, there have been occasions where Nobunaga's fighting power was hampered because of residual consciousness from the previous owner of his vessel. However, there have never been any reports of successfully separating Nobunaga's soul from his vessel, without killing the vessel in question."

Yang bit her lip, not wanting to think about what Kyo would have to face when he woke up. This whole situation had gone from dark to pitch-black in just a few minutes. On the cusp of victory, they'd not only had it snatched away from them, but snatched away with the promise of something infinitely worse in the future. Her mind went back to that day in the catacombs beneath the Palace, where she had borne witness to Kyoichiro's unleashed power. Imagining Nobunaga's chilling, deathly, grasping Aura with that kind of power behind it made her want to curl into a ball and quiver. After seeing his unleashed Aura up close, Yang was still amazed she had been able to cling to her sanity. She could only attribute that to having been protected by Kyo's Aura.

"So the big question is...what do we do now?" said Weiss softly.

Silence fell over the room, everyone looking down. At this point, they had no leads, no trail to follow, not even a timeframe they could use to anticipate the impending disaster. There was nowhere to go, nothing to do...

"Well, I know what _I'm_ going to be doing," said Ruby, standing up.

"What?" asked her friends in nearly complete unison.

"I'm going to help the Atlesian Military," said Ruby. "This last attack did a lot of damage, and they're still shorthanded. They need Huntsmen and Huntresses to help keep back the Grimm, while the defenses are rebuilt. If we don't have any other ideas about what to do, then I'm going to at least do something productive."

"She's right," said Jaune, immediately standing up next to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "If we can't come up with any plan of action for now, we might as well do what we do best, help the people who are in need, right in front of us."

Weiss sighed. "Well, I certainly can't argue with that logic," she said. "At the very least, it will certainly give us something to keep us occupied, until we hear the Mibu Clan's response." She looked to Saisei. "I doubt we'll have the chance until the courier returns, but I'll talk to Winter and see if we can't make arrangements to get you and Kyo back to Onmyo. We might want to go with you."

"Thank you," said Saisei, extracting herself from Neo's embrace and stretching. "Ruby is right, though. I can't afford to waste time moping, when there are people who need my help."

"Well, I guess that's that," said Yang, standing up with a fierce grin. Her Aura flowed out of the stump of her right arm, accompanied by the clicking and grating of metal as her gauntlet slid out to cover it. "Let's get to work."

* * *

"How are you doing, Indara?" asked Murasame as he came to stand next to the Junishinsho's leader. "Are your wounds recovering?"

"Slowly," grunted Indara. "Shindara's daughter is stronger than I had ever imagined possible. Unfortunately, I cannot use my healing arts on myself, so I must simply allow my Aura to run its course."

The two of them were in the cavern where Nobunaga had originally resided. Even now, he rested in the pool of black, tar-like substance, his body slumped weakly against the back of the pool, fiery eyes closed. Indara sat on one of the low, flat stalagmites that lined the room like seats, his hand still clenched over the flesh where Yang's attack had punched through his torso.

"How long until we can begin the transfer?" asked Murasame. "I had assumed we could start immediately."

"We would have, had you acquired the new vessel in better condition," grumbled Indara. "We must first heal the wounds that you inflicted, then prepare it to receive Nobunaga-sama's soul. We will have to be careful, given that this is the Crimson King himself. We cannot, under any circumstances, allow him to regain consciousness, or allow him any freedom. In the meantime, we must do what we can to ensure that Nobunaga-sama survives long enough for us to make the transfer." Indara's eyes narrowed in a glare at the pool that was sustaining his master's life. "The limitations of the Grimm body was a grievous oversight on our part. Had he not perished already, I would have killed Kubira myself for putting our master at risk like this."

"In a sense, he probably believed it was fitting," said Murasame. "Kubira's goal was to use the Grimm to create the perfect vessel for Nobunaga-sama's soul. He considered the idea that Nobunaga-sama would ever need or want another body to be something of an insult, so he likely didn't mind that this vessel would dissolve if it were killed."

"Of course not," growled Indara. "Selfish and self-obsessed to the very end..."

"That can be said of many of the Junishinsho," noted Murasame. "When all is said and done, Ajira only cares for the refinement of his Art. Haira's only concern was her amusement. Bikara only wished to indulge his appetite. Mekira had her lust for both Nobunaga-sama and the promise of power. Amongst the Junishinsho, there are very few who are possessed of _actual_ loyalty to Nobunaga-sama."

"And are you included amongst that number?" rumbled Indara, his tone darkening as he glared sidelong at Murasame. "I will not dispute Nobunaga-sama's choice to accept you as Shatora...but can you truly be counted as amongst the loyal?"

"Are you questioning my devotion?" asked Murasame rhetorically, resting an offended hand over his chest. "After all that I've done, including making it possible for Nobunaga-sama to achieve the ambition he has held for millennia, you're questioning _my_ loyalty?"

"Perhaps," said Indara, seeing no reason to mince words. "Yes, you have brought us to within reach of our ultimate, final victory, after hundreds of millennia of setbacks. However...it also occurs to me that, were you of the mind to, you could have executed a fine infiltration operation. You have brought our greatest adversary into our very midst. The willingness to embrace that kind of risk, in order to achieve ultimate victory is the very hallmark of the Crimson King we faced before. Perhaps you and he are merely awaiting your chance to turn the tables on us, and finish off Nobunaga-sama while he is weak and helpless."

Rising to his feet, Indara loomed over Murasame, his eyes gleaming dangerously in the low light.

"Sit down," said Murasame simply, not even rattled by Indara's accusations. "You are in no condition to threaten anyone like that. Had I planned to betray you, I would have done so already. There is nothing to be gained by wasting more time. The King and I would have struck already, before you had any chance to recover. And I would certainly not have brought my daughter here, if I planned on turning this place into the final battleground."

Indara's eyes narrowed and, for a moment, it seemed uncertain as to whether or not he would attack. Finally, he let out a pained breath and, slowly and hesitantly, lowered himself back down onto his seat.

"Very well," he said. "I shall take you at your word. But we are watching you, Shatora. Should I believe that you are preparing to betray us, I shall end you without hesitation."

"Do as you see fit," said Murasame, turning and walking away from Indara. "You have nothing to fear from me. Thanks to the previous Shatora, I already know my fate."

Murasame left the chamber, leaving Indara to his own thoughts. Indara returned to watching over Nobunaga's body, a pensive frown on his face. "You, who were once so ardent in your loyalty to the Mibu, that you would have slit your own belly, before even _thinking_ of betraying your king...just what did the previous Shatora show you that changed you so?"

* * *

"Huh..." Blinking tiredly, Penny's eyes finally slid open, and she sat up, trying to take in her surroundings.

She was apparently underground. The walls, ceiling, and floor of her own room were clearly roughly hewn from solid rock. She was resting on a soft, comfortable bed, with a downy cover to keep away the chill that pervaded the coolness of being underground. A small crystal lamp hung from the ceiling, only just barely illuminating the room enough for Penny to see.

The room itself was relatively bare. Except for some furniture, there was no carpeting or panels to cover the rock. She saw another bed on the other side of the room. There was a a chest of drawers at its foot. Wooden doors were set at either end of the room so that an aisle connected them between the two beds. Hanging from a peg by that door, Penny saw her cloak and hat, but no sign of her sword.

She cringed nervously, then realized that something soft and reassuring was nestled into the crook of her elbow. Looking down, Penny gasped to see her teddy bear. It was her favorite stuffed animal, because it had been the first thing Murasame had given her, back doing those uncomfortable days, when she was first acclimating to life in an organic form. She hugged the bear tightly to her chest, trying to recall just how she'd ended up here.

Plumbing her memory of the battle in Atlas, she remembered moving to destroy the Grimm horde at the breach. After several minutes of fierce fighting, she remembered the Grimm onslaught suddenly stopping, before they had all vanished into dust. Then she had seen the swirling, red and black vortex of the portal that Yang's mother used. Then she remembered seeing her reflection in a sword, so finely polished that it might as well have been a mirror. After that...nothing.

She flinched when the door at one end of the chamber creaked and then swung open. However, she quickly relaxed when she saw that it was none other than her father who walked through, carrying a tray in his hands.

"You're awake," observed Murasame with a warm, loving smile. "I figured you would be, about now. How do you feel?"

"All right," said Penny, now testing her body for any sign of injury, but finding none. "Hungry though."

Murasame chuckled and set the tray across Penny's legs, held up by folding legs of its own. "I thought you might be," he said pleasantly. "Breakfast then. Eat first and then we'll talk. I'm sure you have plenty of questions."

Despite her burning curiosity, Penny did as she was bid. She hadn't realized how hungry she was. The meal was fairly simple, a bowl of miso soup, accompanied by rice and a grilled fish. But it was delicious, given how hungry she was. She practically inhaled the food in the course of just a few minutes.

After that, Murasame took the tray away and set it on the dresser.

"Where are we?" asked Penny. "This doesn't look like home."

"We are a long ways from there, I'm afraid," said Murasame. His eyes drifted down to the bear that Penny had set aside, so that she could eat, but had now picked up again. "I'm glad I remembered to bring that. I didn't have the luxury of having much time to pack, I'm afraid."

"Where are we?" Penny repeated her question, a feeling of quiet dread rising within her, not liking her father's previous evasion.

Murasame's expression fell. "We are in the lair of the Junishinsho and their master, Oda Nobunaga."

Penny gasped, her face paling and her vision swimming for a second as blood rapidly drained out of her head. "Wh-wha-what?" she stammered. "How did we get here? Why? Are we prisoners? Did they capture us?" Then a realization hit her. "No...!" Murasame had entered the room with a tray of food, looking completely at ease with the situation. His movement didn't seem restricted in the slightest, which would have been completely illogical, if they had been here as prisoners. But that could only mean...

Murasame sighed and looked down. "I am sorry to have kept this from you," he said. "For many years, long before you and I ever met, I have been Murasame of the Taishiro. But I have also held another name, that of Shatora of the Junishinsho."

"Why? How could you...?" Penny's eyes overflowed with tears. Her mind went to Sora and Kyoichiro, who had been so kind and supportive, often treating her like a favored niece.

"It was not something I wished to do," said Murasame sadly. "Ultimately, the decision was forced upon me, long ago. It was the day I helped the King fight Nobunaga, the last time he tried to rise, when I struck down the previous Shatora."

"What do you mean?" asked Penny, wondering how her father could even pretend that this hadn't been voluntary.

Murasame leaned forward, resting his face in his hands. "The previous Shatora...He was a powerful Shaman, with an ability that countless leaders and lords through the ages have sought. He had the ability to see into the future."

"A seer?" asked Penny.

Murasame nodded. "Nobunaga valued him above all others. The power of the Maidens doesn't even begin to compare to the ability to know the future. In battle, it made him almost unstoppable. He could see ahead, and knew his adversary's next move before they did. I only won thanks to luck."

"What happened?" asked Penny.

"He was a powerful Shaman with the gift of foresight," said Murasame. "But, apparently, that ability came with unique drawbacks. He could easily tell the immediate future. However, visions of the farther future apparently struck him at random. During our battle, he was struck with his final vision, which gave me the opening I needed to cut him down. But..."

Penny leaned forward.

Murasame met her eyes. "But he used the last of his strength to share his final vision with me. That vision revealed my fate. I would become the new Shatora, and I would carry out Nobunaga's ultimate revival, and bring an end to the conflict between him and the Mibu, once and for all."

"How?" asked Penny.

"I don't know," said Murasame. "I assumed that I was meant to play a role that would leave Nobunaga vulnerable. However, it didn't take me long to realize that my vision showed me presenting him with the body of the Crimson King to use as his final vessel. With that power, Nobunaga will be unstoppable. The unrelenting wrath of the Demon King will be merged with the limitless power of the True Mibu body. With that power, Nobunaga will sweep away all that oppose him. Not even Kyo could possibly hope to defeat him."

"That can't be true!" exclaimed Penny. "How could you go along with that? You didn't just decide to betray your friends because of someone else's vision."

"That's true," said Murasame, once again looking down. "At first, I was resolved to do everything i could to avert the future that the previous Shatora showed me. However, over time, my views...changed."

"Why?" asked Penny.

"Much has happened the past few years," said Murasame. "This was in the closing days of the Faunus Rights Revolution. Kyoichiro, Sora, and their friends returned to the Mibu with stories of how chaotic the world outside Leng had become. Humans were trying to imprison the faunus on a separate continent for the sake of differences that we had long come to value and embrace. This was after they had already fought a terrible war between all four of their Kingdoms...and over what? Hearing Sora and Kyo talk about the events of the outside world, I came to realize what a barbaric, backwards people they were."

"That's not true..." said Penny, her eyes wide with horror.

"And then Kyo, _your_ Kyo, brought you to us," said Murasame. "That was the final piece needed to cement my resolve."

"Why?" gasped Penny. "How could you?"

"How could I _not?_ " asked Murasame. "Even knowing you for just a few days, I had already grown to love and cherish you as a daughter. From the moment we met, you've brought so much joy into my life. When I learned about your plight, what that monster had done to you and your original father...there was no way I could allow a world that would give rise to such a leader to continue. Nobunaga's power will allow us to purge the world of such fools, and create a world where you can truly be safe and happy."

Penny's lower lip trembled. Her eyes overflowed with tears that spilled down her cheeks. A second later, she threw herself a Murasame, who caught her in his arms, hugging her tightly as Penny sobbed and wailed.

"It's not fair!" she cried. "I _was_ happy! I had my friends! I had you! I was going to go to Beacon with Ruby, and come home to you on breaks! I was _so_ happy! _Why?_ "

"Oh Penny..." whispered Murasame, tears of his own falling as he held her. "I'm so sorry. Above all else, I want you to be safe and happy. That is why I must do this...even if you don't understand, even if you never do, even if you never forgive me...I must do this for your sake."

His words only made her cry harder and clutch him all the more tightly. Murasame did his best to comfort her, gently rocking her, until she cried herself to sleep in his arms. Carefully, he put her back to bed, tucking the sheets and blankets around her to ward off the cavern's chill.

Reaching down, he gently brushed his fingers through her hair. "I know it will be hard," he said. "But I must do this for you."

* * *

As it turned out, the students from Beacon found themselves quite busy for the next few days. Thanks to the anxiety of the populace, the pressure from the Grimm was relentless. They were busy pushing back all manner of the monsters, primarily to keep them from using the breach in the northeastern defenses to overrun the Kingdom. Though he woke up the day after they began, it took three days for Kyo's strength to start recovering. Only then did the pressure of the Grimm begin to lessen, as Kyo's presence began to induce them to keep their distance.

Even after the Grimm were driven off by Kyo's Aura, RWBY and JNNR still found plenty to keep themselves busy. They patrolled the Kingdoms streets, keeping an eye out for looters and rioters. With the military busy helping to rebuild the defenses, the police had their hands full keeping the frightened populace calm.

On the sixth day after Nobunaga's invasion, reinforcements from Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo arrived, their numbers bolstering the Atlesian troops, and speeding up the reconstruction work. Huntsmen and Huntresses were also arriving in high numbers, Qrow pulling every string and calling in every favor he could to get the help they needed to ensure that the Kingdom would have the breathing room to recover.

Winter was hard at work. Aside from coordinating the recovery and reconstruction efforts, she was also hard at work with the Council, working to undo much of the legislation Ironwood had used to accrue so much power, while imploring the council to introduce new legislation, such as laws that made discriminating against faunus illegal. In that respect, it helped that she was receiving support from Whitley, who had just been made CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, after the Board of Directors voted unanimously to strip Jacques of his position. Jacques now languished in one of Atlas' prisons. Ironically, this would have had him most likely working in one of what had been his own quarries, had Whitley not been working to change policies to reduce reliance on prisoner labor.

Eight days after Nobunaga's invasion, Winter's courier to the Mibu Clan returned with their response, along with a detachment of the Mibu themselves.

"That's the same one we came in on," observed Ruby as they dagger-shaped airship from the Mibu Clan descended to land on the pad, its winglike sails folding closed.

"We had two more built, since your departure from Onmyo," said Saisei. "However, they were built for cargo and commerce. We've only just begun on other types of vessels."

"Makes sense, I guess," said Jaune. "Do you think anybody important will be aboard?"

"It depends on their response," said Saisei. "Normally, I would expect Sora-sama to dispatch at least one of the Goyosei, along with a few warriors to assist. But, depending on what the circumstances are like in Onmyo, she might not have the option of sending anyone that important."

"Why not?" asked Nora.

Saisei frowned. "The Taishiro help contribute to the range of the effect. But it was mainly the Crimson King's presence that drove away the Grimm in the vicinity of our capital. With him and Murasame gone, the effect will still be in place, but its range will be significantly reduced. Sora-sama may need our Clan's chief defenders to help maintain the capital's defenses."

The door on the ship slid open and a ramp descended down. A figure appeared within the doorway, an outline that made Saisei gasp in surprise. "Sensei!"

Makoto gave Saisei a warm smile as he descended the ramp. Reaching the bottom, he approached and, without hesitation, swept her up in a tight hug.

"I'm grateful that you're safe," he said, before setting Sasei down. After that, he traded a nod with Kyo.

"Sensei...Murasame..." began Saisei.

Makoto's expression darkened and he closed his eyes, lowering his head. "So you know," he said softly.

"Sensei...?" asked Saisei.

Makoto opened his eyes again, a look of pure wrath dancing in them, a look that set everyone's nerves on edge. "Murasame was my closest friend," he said in a low tone. "We grew up together. We trained with one another. We joined the Taishiro together. For him to betray us like this is a wound that will take a long time to heal, and a stain on our honor that will linger in our memories for generations. _Never_ had I imagined that he would be capable of such a betrayal."

"What happened in Onmyo?" asked Kyo.

Makoto sighed. "It happened so suddenly that most of us did not know what to do. Murasame confronted the King in the throne room. Their battle rocked the mountain, and nearly caused an eruption, which Haruka had to vent. Both Sora and I were too late to intervene. By then, he had used Shindara's power to escape with the King."

"How is O-Kaa-san?" asked Kyo.

"Managing...barely," said Makoto. "The sudden loss of the King and Murasame's escape drastically reduced the space protected from the Grimm. When they began to attack, the resulting anxiety drew in more of them. Sora has been forced to focus her attention on coordinating our defenses, so she hasn't had much time for herself."

He looked up, his eyes focusing on all of them. "Thus, I was sent with a directive. Saisei of the Goyosei, you are needed back in Onmyo, so you must return."

"I understand," said Saisei.

Makoto nodded and turned to Kyo. "Kyo, it is requested that you return as well. This request is extended to your friends. Of course, because of your position, I cannot order you to do anything. But Sora wants to see you, urgently."

"I understand," said Kyo.

Makoto turned and gestured to the airship he'd disembarked from. "Go ahead and use this. The crew already have orders to return as quickly as possible."

"So we can come too, right?" asked Yang. It had been a busy past few days, so she hadn't much time to enjoy the fact that she and Kyo were together again. It didn't help that he had spent much of that time recovering from his wounds and exertions fighting Nobunaga.

"Of course," said Makoto. "As I said, the request is extended to _all_ of you. Sora was very worried about all of you, considering that your opponents were the Junishinsho."

"Okay, we should go pack our things quickly," said Weiss.

Makoto nodded. "That should give us the time we need to unload our relief supplies."

Everyone quickly dispersed, heading back to their rooms to pack their things. Weiss also made a swift detour to the Headmaster's office to say a hurried goodbye to Winter. About an hour later, they filed aboard the ships with the little luggage that they needed and were off, heading back to Onmyo.

* * *

 **A bad situation all around. At least the band is back together, eh...except for Penny.**


	88. Chapter 88

**Chapter 88:**

The Beolwolf snarled and growled, punctuating those noises with sharp barks as it advanced. Rising up onto its hind legs, it lashed out with its foreclaws, threatening to eviscerate its target.

Miyu's red hair trailed behind her as she gracefully sidestepped the Grimm's lunge, following through with a swift, upward sweep of her blade that split the monster open from belly to neck. Whining in pain, the Beowolf fell forward and its form began to dissolve into black particles.

A short distance away, Takeshi was dealing with another one, beheading the Grimm with a swift swipe of his own blade, dodging back as another Beowolf vaulted over its comrade's corpse to try and take him by surprise, which it did. Takeshi yelped, nearly tripping over his own feet, barely managing to avoid falling on his butt. However, he did stumble, which left him open to attack. If Miyu hadn't jumped in, bringing her crescent-shaped blade down on the Beowolf's skull and cleaving through it, Takeshi might have been hit.

"Be more careful," admonished Miyu, who was almost immediately forced to swallow the bitter pill of needing to heed her own advice as another Beowolf lunged in at her from a blind angle, its jaws snapping.

A blur swept past, the Beowolf neatly decapitated in a flash. Miyu's savior swept through like the breeze, Grimm falling in her wake. The sight made Miyu and Takeshi gape with amazement.

Ciel's skills in the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ had improved by leaps and bounds to be sure. She had excellent command of even the most advanced blade techniques, using them all with great ease against the Grimm. However, both Takeshi and Miyu were taken by her graceful, ruthless efficiency, able to always be on the move, tracking all the Grimm in her vicinity, and never letting her guard down or giving them a single opening.

"Yumiko-senpai, please take down that Alpha," shouted Ciel, barely even glancing in Yumiko's direction. "Chou-senpai, watch out for that Boarbatusk, you need to go for their underbelly."

Her instructions were met with shouts of acknowledgement from the people she was addressing. Out here, everyone, regardless of their rank in Makoto's school, deferred to Ciel's judgment. Though they were all her seniors when it came to learning the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , they were forced to admit that, when it came to fighting the Grimm, Ciel was _their_ senior by a wide margin.

It had been a rough few days. First, something bad had happened back in the Palace. The Crimson King had vanished, though reports were vague on what had happened to him. Along with him had disappeared Murasame of the Taishiro. With the two of them gone, the collective Aura of the King and the Taishiro, which induced the Grimm to stay away from the capital, was significantly reduced in radius. Outlying sections of the capital had abruptly come under attack by the Grimm for the first time in decades, if not centuries. Naturally, the strangeness of the situation only increased the anxiety of the people, which served to draw in even more Grimm.

The response had been immediate, the Goyosei and the available warriors stationed in the capital had been fielded to counter the threat, driving back the Grimm with little difficulty overall. However, the damage had been done. The inhabitants of Onmyo had gotten their first taste of the fear that plagued the Kingdoms and settlements of the outside world.

Of course, the warriors were largely a stopgap measure. While they could probably hold back even the increased number of Grimm with relative ease, probably indefinitely, neither they, nor the Goyosei, could afford to spend forever keeping the Grimm back, not when the fields needed to be worked and the crops needed to be harvested. Even if their focus was ever on the people, the Grimm could do plenty of damage just trampling crops and plowing through orchards in their efforts to get at their favored targets.

Fortunately, Haruka and her Imperial Guards were hard at work. Even as the defenders had pushed the Grimm back out of the capital, she and her Guards were setting up the Etheric shields that protected their newest settlements. However, it wasn't easy work, and it wasn't always quick. Protected as it had been by the Crimson King and the Taishiro's presence, the capital had been lowest on the priority list for the installation of such devices, until the settlements were properly accommodated. Now Haruka's people were scrambling to get them set up. But the supporting infrastructure hadn't even been begun to be set up yet, so their arrangements were largely ad-hoc at best, as they worked to connect the generators to Onmyo's power grid.

Ultimately, what it came down to was that they needed time to get the new defenses up and running, time that the Mibu's warriors had to fight to give them. Thus, for the sake of extra insurance, though it hadn't been deemed strictly necessary, the Taishiro and the Goyosei had ordered the students of their schools into battle to assist in holding the line. The main reason they had done so was to give the students of the various Mibu schools a taste of practical combat, against a real enemy, to experience risk and hardship on the battlefield for themselves.

That was how the students of Makoto's school, save for the youngest ones, found themselves out on the front line, fighting back packs of Beowolves and clusters of Ursai that continued to press inwards, trying to reach the workers setting up the shields.

Aside from Ciel, it had taken some adjustment for all of them. Though they had come to accept and embrace her as one of their own, the students found themselves appreciating Ciel in a new light, as they came to depend on her wisdom and experience. Ciel might have been new to her style, but the years spent training in Combat School and Atlas Academy had left her with an appreciation for the threat the Grimm represented, and experience in how to deal with them, even continuous massed attacks, like this one.

Thus, they had been following her lead and listening to her advice, which she shared gladly. She had showed them that the most effective strategy for tackling the Grimm was, "When in doubt, kill the biggest one." Sure enough, targeting an Alpha Beowolf or an Ursa Major seemed to have the effect of disrupting the overall cohesion of their packs. They also learned that the Grimm's greatest threat was their unrelenting drive. The older ones might have known when they were outmatched, and to retreat. But the younger ones generally threw themselves at the students with wild abandon, which was often an effective weapon in its own right.

An angry shriek echoed through the battlefield. A large Deathstalker scuttled forward, clacking its pincers menacingly. Its body, too large to fit in the spaces between them, shattered the forest trees into matchsticks as it plowed right through them, without showing the slightest signs of effort. If that beast were allowed to reach the orchards, it would do the same to the fruit trees, destroying enormous quantities of the Mibu's crops.

Miyu and Takeshi tensed. This wasn't the first Deathstalker they'd faced. But it was the largest. Even the smaller ones had hard, dense carapaces that were difficult to cut through. They had quickly learned it was best to aim for their joints. However, the short reach of the _Mumyo Saigyo_ 's Bokuyukusui blades meant that they had to get in close, coming within easy reach of its pincers and the bulbous stinger on its tail. They were fortunate that, despite their resemblance to actual scorpions, the Deathstalker's stinger carried no poison.

Fortunately, the taller figure of Yumiko cut them off from the Deathstalker's view as she positioned herself between the Grimm and her kouhai. Yumiko raised a crystalline blade and swept it downwards. " _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu: Suiha Nanahoryu!_ " Seven azure dragons exploded out from the edge of her blade, twisting around one another as they lunged towards the incoming Deathstalker, which paid them no mind, instead focusing on the human that had foolishly appeared in front of it.

The dragons struck. However, they disappeared with loud splashes against the Deathstalker's armor. The Grimm continued on undaunted. Yumiko lowered her blades. Despite the apparent lack of success of her attack, she remained calm, not even flinching at the Deathstalker's tail lashed out, the stinger threatening to punch straight through the center of her chest.

The Deathstalker lurched, the tip of its stinger stopping mere inches away from Yumiko. It twitched, then screeched with agony. The seven dragons of Yumiko's attack exploded outwards from the joints in its shell, black ooze and red particles trailing away from their fangs. Then the Deathstalker collapsed and lay still, its body beginning to dissolve.

"Ha!" said Yumiko with evident satisfaction.

"Look out, Yumiko-senpai!" shouted Miyu, her eyes going up.

Yumiko looked up, noticing a shadow falling over her. Her eyes picked out a dark figure descending towards her, screeching and squawking, its foreclaws extended for the kill.

Ciel jumped onto the Deathstalker's dissolving form, using the arch of its tail as a platform to leap higher, carrying herself up and over Yumiko's head, slashing into the stomach of the diving Griffon, her blow knocking it off course and opening up its belly. It crashed with a caw of anger and pain before laying still. Ciel landed next to a stunned Yumiko, who was unbalanced by her brush with death.

"Are you all right?" asked Ciel, looking at Yumiko with concern.

Yumiko took a few breaths to relax herself. "I'm fine," she said, appreciating the irony of the situation. Had their positions been reversed, Yumiko wasn't sure that she'd be able to hold back a snide remark at her senpai's apparent lack of awareness. However, all she saw in Ciel's gaze was concern for her former-tormentor. "Thank you, Ciel-kun."

Ciel smiled and nodded, then turned back to the front as more Grimm burst, snarling and roaring from the trees. The students steeled themselves for battle as the Grimm closed once more.

* * *

The airship dipped down, flying low over the sloped roofs of the capital. Looking around, Yang spotted a faint haze of smoke coming from the edges of Onmyo in multiple directions.

"It looks like it's been a bit of a struggle," said Kyo, looking out the window, which allowed them to see down into the streets.

Yang nodded. Down below, she could see people doing their best to go about their business as normal. However, she also noticed that the people were moving a bit quicker than they had the last time she'd watched them from the airship. Though it was hard to make out from above like this, she figured that they seemed more nervous and twitchy than before. The sudden threat of the Grimm had apparently been a serious wakeup call for them.

The ship glided over and settled onto the landing pad near the Palace gates. The Beacon students noted that the pad looked much more completed, a clean circle of concrete now resting in a nearly perfect circle of trees. The path leading up to the gates of the Palace had been paved.

No one challenged them as they headed through the gates and into the Palace. Amazingly, the place seemed even more deserted than usual. It had never seemed particularly crowded, with only occasional functionaries to bump into as they went to and from various tasks. But the group encountered no one as Saisei and Kyo led them through the halls towards the throne room.

Reaching the throne room, they gasped in unison. The magnificent chamber was in shambles. The floor leading up to the dais was cracked and gouged, dotted with craters. Columns had been crushed, and deep cuts scored the walls at random. A single, massive cut stretched diagonally across the dais, from bottom to top and one side to the other, splitting the decorative slab, and the tajitu symbol that rested in its center. The throne that Kyo's father had once rested upon had been all but completely obliterated, only a small pile of rubble marking where it once rested.

A familiar figure sat on the bottom of the dais steps, her head bowed in thought. Sora looked tired and worn. Worry lines crowded her forehead, and dark shadows underlined her eyes. She was reading through a sheaf of papers, apparently reports of some sort, almost not even noticing the new arrivals. As they approached, she finally looked up.

Her eyes immediately widened. "Kyo!"

The papers scattered as Sora launched herself at her son, sweeping him up into a tight hug, which Kyo gladly returned. "Thank goodness," said Sora in a sobbing voice. "Thank God you're all right."

Having no notion of what to say in reply, Kyo merely hugged his mother back as tightly as he could. Finally, Sora let him go and turned to Saisei, whom she hugged just as fiercely. Then she went to Yang, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Neo, and Hayate, hugging them all in turn, as though trying to reassure herself that they weren't hallucinations.

"You're all all right," said Sora, her voice tight with relief. "I was so worried about all of you, when I heard that Nobunaga attacked Atlas.

"Well, it wasn't a walk in the park," said Yang glumly. "We're all lucky to be alive."

Sora nodded and wiped tears away from her eyes, looking as though a metric ton of weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Well, I'm glad to have more good news. Come, let's adjourn to someplace more suitable. I'll also call for food. You're probably hungry."

They moved to the conference room where Sora and the other Taishiro had met with the leaders of the other Kingdoms to negotiate a new treaty. It seemed Dougal had been hanging around, as, shortly after they arrived, servants filed in with trays of drinks and snacks.

"What is the state of affairs here?" asked Saisei.

Sora smiled wryly. "Well, it seems our people are finally getting a taste of the fear the Grimm inflict. Our warriors have been keeping the Grimm back, while Haruka and her people install shields to ward them off."

"Will that work?" asked Weiss. "The shields don't offer physical protection and, if there's enough negativity from the people, the Grimm can be drawn through them."

"It's about our only recourse for now," said Sora. "We haven't publicly stated the full truth of what happened here, only that my husband and Murasame are missing. I can't imagine what will happen when people learn of Murasame's betrayal. There will be a great deal of shock and anger to be sure. To top it off, learning that the Crimson Throne now sits empty will be another difficult thing for them to come to terms with. However, our warriors and the Goyosei are capable of holding the line, until the people are in a better state of mind. We'll tell the people after Haruka has the shields up though."

"Are you doing all right?" asked Yang, looking worriedly at Sora.

Sora smiled at her. "I've been keeping busy, which has helped me keep my mind off...things... Now that you're here and I know you're safe, I'll probably break down soon." She surveyed the group. "I'm glad that you've all survived your confrontations with Nobunaga and the Junishinsho. I want to hear the details of your battles so that we can learn as much as we can about the enemy."

One by one, each of them related the events that had taken place in Atlas. Kyo, Saisei, and Hayate also talked about how they had destroyed Ironwood's army and killed Ironwood, leaving Winter in charge of Atlas. Weiss talked about her father's treachery and the fight with Haira. Finally, it was Kyo and Yang who talked about the final battle with Nobunaga and Murasame's intervention, which included taking Penny with him.

"I see..." said Sora, lowering her head. "Things are just as bad as I feared."

"We don't know anything yet," said Saisei softly. "We might still be able to rescue the King."

Sora's smile turned sad. "You might...but I won't hold out hope. If Nobunaga's ultimate ambition is within reach, he won't want to waste any time."

"But surely we would know if he had gone through the transfer," said Kyo. "Nobunaga wouldn't waste any time declaring himself to the world and unleashing his power if the transfer was complete."

"There is very little we know about the transfer process," said Sora. "I have sometimes heard that the transfer is a stressful process, and that Nobunaga must spend some time recovering, before he's ready to use his new body. In any case, with all the unknowns in play, and no idea where to even begin looking for his lair, I intend to proceed as though my husband is already lost." Tears spilled out of her eyes and she jerked, hiding her face behind her hands, sobbing for a brief moment before managing to recover her composure. "I don't want to...but...it's what Kyoichiro and I decided on."

"Decided on...?" said Kyo, tilting his head. "I don't understand."

"You might call it a failsafe, of sorts," said Sora. "Without any leads, we must make our way forward as best we can, and prepare for the worst."

"Are you sure?" asked Yang, reaching over and covering Sora's hand with her own.

Sora nodded and rested her opposite hand over Yang's, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I shouldn't dare to hold out hope for what is probably inevitable, but I can't bring myself to snuff it out entirely. But I cannot allow it to cloud my judgment either. We must brace ourselves."

"What should we do?" asked Ruby.

"We have an unknown timeframe to work with," said Sora. "We can't know when the transfer will be complete and Nobunaga will be ready to act. So...until then, you must prepare yourselves, body and mind, for what will undoubtedly be the final battle."

"Us...?" asked Yang nervously.

Sora gave her an apologetic look. "As head of the Taishiro, I must look after my people. Of course, I _will_ fight, if Nobunaga attacks here. But Kyo is the one who must ultimately confront him."

"Me?" asked Kyo, not incredulously, but a bit confused.

Sora nodded. "Nobunaga now has the True Mibu body he has sought for millennia. When he emerges again, his power will be beyond imagination. As the only other living True Mibu, you are the only one with the potential to stop him."

"I see..." said Kyo.

Sora looked to the others. "As one of the Goyosei, Saisei is, of course, beholden to helping to protect the Mibu. As for the rest of you...it's up to you. You are not my subjects. You are not under my command in any fashion. This battle will be harder and more terrible than even your most recent struggles. If you do not wish to hazard yourselves then...I understand. I cannot fault you for it. Ultimately, this is the Mibu Clan's sin, something we must rectify."

A brief silence fell over the group as they all thought over Sora's words. Then Yang grinned and grabbed Kyo's arm. "Well, I'm not about to leave my boyfriend hanging," she said cheerfully. "I'm certainly not about to allow him to fight some kind of evil demon god by himself."

A second later, Ruby giggled. "Well, if Yang's fighting, I'm in." Her face hardened. "And I can't abandon Penny either."

"And I'm not about leave Ruby," added Jaune.

"We can't abandon our fearless leader," said Nora with a cheerful grin as Ren nodded his agreement.

Saisei felt Neo gently tap her arm and turned to look at her. Neo kissed Saisei's cheek and then flashed Sora a thumbs up.

"I'll fight," said Blake softly. "I still have to deal with Adam."

Weiss looked down at her legs before feeling Hayate's hand on her shoulder. "Are you going to fight?" she asked.

"Of course," said Hayate.

"Well, I guess I'm in too," said Weiss with an amused sigh.

"So what do we need to do?" asked Yang, turning everyone's attention back to Sora.

"Well, at this point, what we need is time for you all to train in order to refine your skills," said Sora. "The main issue is that time is the one thing we are lacking. However long it takes Nobunaga to finish the transfer and realize his full strength, I think that it's not long enough, unless..."

"Unless what?" asked Kyo.

Sora sighed. "To be honest, there is a way to extend the time that we have. However, it puts us in a difficult position, because we'll need Haruka's help."

"Haruka-sama?" asked Saisei.

Sora nodded. "As the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Daion Ryu_ , she has access to its inner secrets, which are exactly what we need. The issue is that Haruka's attention is occupied right now."

"Setting up the shields, right?" asked Weiss.

Sora nodded. "At this point, we're a little over twenty-percent complete when it comes to setting up the shields for the capital. It's been difficult, given that we hadn't even started developing the infrastructure to support the conversion crystals. Everything that we have done so far is spur-of-the moment, which is making establishing the shield time-consuming, to say the least."

"I see," said Weiss.

"Haruka will be back this evening, when she and her guards finish their work for the day," said Sora. "We'll consult her then." Then she turned Kyo. "I need you to come with me. Your father left something for you."

Kyo blinked in surprise and confusion. "Left something...? For me...?" That sounded odd. If his father had thought to leave something for him, it almost sounded as though he had seen this coming.

Sora nodded. "It's a letter, one that even I am not allowed to read."

"A letter...?" Kyo frowned. Things just sounded odder and odder.

* * *

" _So...the situation is much more dire than we ever thought,_ " said Ozpin gravely, his hologram flickering over Winter's (God, if felt so odd to think of it as hers.) desk.

"It sounds like it," said Winter. "I couldn't even begin to imagine that the Mibu concealed such a secret."

" _It certainly is disturbing,_ " agreed Pastoria, his holographic image hovering next to Ozpin's. " _It says something that the secret is so deep that nearly the entirety of the Mibu themselves had no idea about it._ "

" _It raises a great deal of concern,_ " added Ozma. " _You never deigned to tell us about it until now. This makes the threat of Salem look like a joke._ "

"All of this I'm aware of," said Makoto. "Truth be told, I was not aware of this, until a little over a week ago, after Murasame had committed his betrayal and spirited away the King. It is the single greatest secret of the Mibu Clan, one which the members of the Line of Kyo had fought to keep in silence throughout the ages."

" _It raises a great many questions, that much is for sure,_ " said Ozpin gravely. " _However, it would seem that such questions can wait for the time being._ "

" _Indeed,_ " agreed Ozma. " _We have much graver concerns right now._ "

" _The question is what can we do?_ " noted Pastoria. " _We have no idea where the enemy is, and there is simply too much space out there for them to hide. At this point, the only option we really have is doing what we can to bolster our defenses against possible attack. There's no guarantee that Nobunaga won't strike at Mistral, Vale, or Vacuo...or even Atlas again._ "

"I find it odd that he chose Atlas in the first place," said Winter.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," said Makoto. "There are several possibilities, some of which are daunting, others interesting in their potential."

" _Oh?_ " asked Ozpin, raising an eyebrow.

"The daunting possibility is that Nobunaga attacked Atlas first, because he wished to make an example of it," said Makoto. "As the Kingdom officially recognized as having the most powerful military of them all, attacking and destroying it would have served as an excellent demonstration of Nobunaga's power."

"Except that he waited until after Kyo had destroyed the bulk of our forces," noted Winter. "If he was _that_ confident in his power, he wouldn't have waited until we were so weakened."

"My thoughts exactly," said Makoto, "which is where the more promising line of inquiry comes from. Nobunaga instead attacked Atlas because it was the Kingdom closest to his lair."

"From my point of view, that falls under daunting," muttered Winter.

Makoto smiled and inclined his head slightly towards her. "Our confusion regarding the location of Nobunaga and the Junishinsho was based upon our understanding of Shindara's ability."

"Yeah," said Qrow, who'd been leaning against the wall for most of the conversation. "It makes her damn hard to track."

"Yes," agreed Makoto. "However, I and others who have encounter her have noted that her portals are relatively small." He looked towards Qrow. "Am I correct?"

"That's right," agreed Qrow. "Back when we were on a team together at Beacon, she could use that to help us move around."

"But she could never use it for a large number of people," said Makoto.

Qrow nodded. "It's why she was always breaking off from the tribe to go do her own thing during the fight with Salem. I think, if it were up to her, she'd bring all the people she could with her as backup on some of the shenanigans she got involved with. But she tended to go off by herself." He frowned. "But how exactly does that help us figure out where the bad guys are hiding?"

Makoto smirked. "Because, if she could not transport large numbers of people via this method, then it stands to reason that large numbers of Grimm could not be transported that way either."

"Oh!" said Winter, her eyes widening. "Of course she couldn't have teleported in all those Grimm that attacked us. That means the horde's origin must be somewhere in the vicinity of Atlas, on Solitas for certain."

"And that means that the most likely direction of their lair is northeast," added Qrow, his eyebrows rising.

Makoto nodded. "Based on that deduction, I have sent my warriors out scouting to the northeast, beyond the passes that the Grimm passed through. Hopefully, that will lead us to their place of origin, which will also be the location of Nobunaga's lair."

"Makes sense," said Qrow.

" _Which isn't to say that the plan is foolproof,_ " noted Pastoria. " _Nobunaga's people may well have manufactured their Grimm army in a location separate from where they themselves reside. Raven's portals would then be used to travel between the two locations._ "

" _Be that as it may, it is the only lead we currently have,_ " said Ozpin. " _It would be imprudent not to follow it._ "

"I have a greater concern though," said Winter. "If that is truly the case, then it likely means that, when this monster appears again, Atlas will be his target again."

"Yes," said Makoto, his tone dark. "Worse still, the next time he rises, his power will be immeasurable. Even though I will be present, my strength will be paltry compared to the unleashed strength of the True Mibu."

"What hope do we have then?" asked Winter, trying to keep the despair from her voice.

"It is the same hope that saved your people last time," said Makoto. "Kyo has returned home in order to further refine his strength, in hopes that it will raise his level enough that he will be able to match Nobunaga's strength. From what I understand, his friends will be training as well, in order to fight alongside him. If Kyo fights Nobunaga, their strength shall be needed to resist the Junishinsho. Fortunately, with Kubira destroyed, we don't have to worry about Nobunaga sending hordes of Grimm ahead of him this time."

"Thank God for small blessings, I suppose," said Qrow.

Winter frowned. "I'm still not liking the situation. As things stand now, communications are too sluggish. Once Nobunaga rises, by the time our messenger reaches Onmyo and then Kyo and his friends get back, we will have long been overrun."

" _Not much we can do about that,_ " said Ozma pensively. " _Unless..._ "

"Unless what?" asked Winter.

Ozma smiled. " _If speeding communication is what we need, then what we need is to implement the means to make that possible._ "

"You mean build the Mibu's CCT tower?" asked Winter, her eyes widening. "Impossible! It would take months to requisition the materials. We'd have to bring in the equipment and the personnel to construct the tower. It wouldn't be possible to do it in less than six months."

" _Or it wouldn't...if Atlas had to do it by themselves,_ " said Ozma. " _But suppose all four Kingdoms pitched in._ "

Winter blinked, thinking it over.

" _I see,_ " said Ozpin thoughtfully. " _If we coordinate our efforts, I believe that the procurement of materials could be streamlined considerably. Once that is done, the actual construction of the tower shouldn't take that long, assuming we can get all the materials and equipment to Onmyo quickly._ "

"What do you think?" asked Makoto, glancing at Winter.

Winter frowned, but this time a thoughtful frown. "I think it might work," she said. "The time required to manufacture the critical components in the quantity that we need is normally the longest factor of building the tower. But, if we can spread the process out... We might be able to raise the tower in a month, maybe even less."

" _I will speak to our Council at once,_ " announced Pastoria.

" _I shall do the same,_ " said Ozpin. " _After what has taken place, I don't believe it will be necessary to add any additional information. Our Kingdoms already know that the reappearance of Nobunaga will require a prompt response and everyone should be notified quickly, including the Mibu._ "

" _No doubt,_ " agreed Ozma. " _I don't foresee much difficulty on my end._ "

"Then I suppose we should get started," said Winter. "Fortunately, the new CEO of the SDC has been more willing to listen than his predecessor, so I think we should be able to get plenty of Dust to meet our needs."

Makoto smiled and bowed his head to those assembled. "On behalf of my people, I am grateful for your assistance in this."

" _And I am sure that we shall be grateful for yours,_ " Ozpin replied with a wry smile.

* * *

"So...this is the one you would nominate as the new Antera," observed Nobunaga as Murasame and Penny knelt before him.

Despite her desire to be brave, Penny couldn't keep her body from trembling. Just being near Nobunaga made her feel a deathly chill. It was a horrifying, unsettling sensation, one that made her want to scramble for the exit as quickly as possible. Nobunaga's Aura wasn't nearly as oppressively powerful as it had been when she and the others had been in Atlas, but its nature was still inherently dark and twisted.

"I would indeed," said Murasame, his voice perfectly calm and composed as he spoke, showing no hint of fear. "Despite her age, her strength is great, and I believe it could truly be an asset to us."

Penny cringed, her eyes scrunching shut as she heard Nobunaga shift. "You speak in half-truths, Shatora. Truly your intent is to protect her from my wrath, is it not?"

"That is true," replied Murasame, without missing a beat. "Please forgive a father's desire to protect his daughter from hardship."

"And yet, from her manner, I suspect your protection is very much unwelcome," noted Nobunaga, seeming to find some amusement in the concept.

"Shall I dispatch the ungrateful wretch?" asked Indara from the far side of the chamber.

"Be still, Indara," said Nobunaga calmly. "It amuses me and...yes...intrigues me...Not because of Shatora's intent, but because the would-be Antera is a most interesting creature."

Penny couldn't completely suppress the whimper that forced its way up and out of her throat as powerful fingers curled under her chin, raising her face so that she could gaze upon the face, the new face, of Oda Nobunaga. The sight made tears spring, unbidden, from her eyes. There was no question she was gazing at the face of Mibu Kyoichiro, Kyo's father, a man who had shown her kindness and affection to rival her father's. But now that face was twisted in a hideous, maniacal grin, underlining the Crimson Eyes on his face, which now truly looked sinister and evil. It didn't help that the left one was considerably more visible, a near-perfect circle, the eyelid having apparently been burned away by the same flames that had scarred and blistered the flesh around that eye. His black hair was longer and more unkempt than Kyo's father would normally ever tolerate. It seemed that Nobunaga cared little for proper grooming.

Unsurprisingly, Nobunaga seemed to find her distress all the more entertaining, his grin widening as he looked down at Penny's terrified face. Then his smile faded and his expression became more contemplative as he stared at her. "Yes...You look like any other human," he noted. "However, I sense that you are an existence that is akin to my own. That is not the flesh you were born to, but rather where your soul has been placed. I am surprised that the Mibu of this era would deign to use such methods, considering their scruples."

"It was a special exception," said Murasame, his voice now sounding strained. "Her circumstances were unique."

"Is that so?" asked Nobunaga, his tone prompting Murasame to explain.

"She was actually created in Atlas," said Murasame, "as an android capable of generating Aura. However, it became apparent that her Aura was the unique thing about her creation, as it could be transferred from one android body to another. We decided to create an organic body for her soul to inhabit, so that she could have a proper life."

"I see," said Nobunaga, chuckling. His fingers finally relinquished their vice-like grip on Penny's chin, allowing her to drop her head again. "Her existence is the inverse of mine then. I was born a human, modified into a spiritual entity by the Mibu of my day, to be placed in the vessel of their choice and serve as their weapon. However, this girl was an artificially created soul, made to be a weapon, that the Mibu then placed into a human body to live a free life. A true irony indeed."

Penny slumped down, fighting the urge to weep openly, not certain what such a display of weakness would do here.

"You are bold indeed to bring this child before me and offer her to be one of the Junishinsho, Shatora," said Nobunaga. "I favor such boldness. It reminds me of a certain monkey I once took into my service."

"You honor me, Nobunaga-sama," said Murasame.

"I shall accept her then," said Nobunaga. "Girl, I hereby bestow upon you the name of Antera of the Junishinsho. You serve _me_ now. I hope you will do well."

Penny couldn't bring herself to answer, her tears dampening the stone beneath her.

"Impertinent child," grumbled Indara.

"Hush," said Nobunaga dismissively, already settling back onto his throne of carved stone, which had been raised from the pool where his previous Grimm body had been recuperating. Now that the transfer had been completed, there was no longer any need to feed the pool nor utilize the substance of the Grimm. The channels that led into it were dry now. The pool itself had been filled in to create a space to accommodate Nobunaga's throne.

Nobunaga took a deep breath, before letting it out slowly. "That fool," he muttered. "I had expected to spend a great deal of effort wrestling his spirit into submission. However, he relinquished control over this body unexpectedly easily, though he stole much of its strength when he did so."

"That would explain why you do not yet have the full measure of your new vessel's power," noted Indara.

"It is not permanent," said Nobunaga, raising his hand and clenching it into a fist. "I can feel my strength returning. I suspect the fool intended to buy time. Truly pitiful. There is no use in merely delaying the inevitable."

"How long do you believe it will be until you are ready to go to battle, My Lord?" asked Murasame.

"Hmm..." Nobunaga turned his hand upwards and then opened it. "It's difficult to say. Right now, I have less power than I did in my previous vessel. For my strength to return completely, I'd say...a month at least. It will take me another few weeks afterwards to fully grasp the nature of the True Mibu's power. Once I do, we will strike, and the world will be mine in a matter of days."

His gaze drifted upwards and he began to chuckle once more. "So it shall be as a passing of the seasons. The season of the Mibu...of the current world...is passing. Soon, the season of my rule shall begin."

* * *

Yang yawned and rubbed her eyes. She tried to focus her gaze back down on the book in front of her. She normally wasn't one for reading, certainly not at an hour like this, when she should be asleep already. But Kyo wasn't back yet. After Sora had taken him to read the letter his father had left for him, the day had gone by. They'd eaten dinner, then retired to the guest quarters, where they'd been accommodated the last time they visited the Palace. Yang had even settled back into the room she'd shared with Kyo. She decided to wait up for him as long as she could, selecting one of the books from his shelf to peruse as she did so, reading in the bed by the light of a lamp. Kyo's collection carried works in both Common and Old Tongue, so Yang selected one of the former to tide her over.

Her ears picked up the sound of the door sliding open and she looked up. Kyo entered, sliding the door back closed behind him. He had a pensive look on his face, his eyes staring blankly ahead, as though he wasn't really seeing what was in front of him.

"Kyo?" she asked, worried. "Are you okay?"

Kyo blinked and jolted, as though he'd just touched a live wire. Finally, his eyes landed on Yang. "Oh! Sorry. I was thinking..."

"I noticed," said Yang. "You were clearly thinking pretty hard. I'm guessing whatever was in that letter your mom made you read knocked you for a loop."

"You could say that," said Kyo with a sigh. "Excuse me for a moment."

He entered the bathroom. Yang could hear him washing up and brushing his teeth for several minutes, before he finally stepped out in his white sleeping robe. He climbed into bed next to her. Yang set her book aside and leaned into his shoulder.

"What was it?" she asked. "What did your dad say?"

Kyo frowned and, from her angle of view, Yang could see a lump in his throat moving up and down. "I had been hoping for something more helpful," he said. "Maybe it is, but it doesn't make me look forward to what's to come."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang. "What was that letter?"

Kyo sighed softly and leaned his head against hers. "I suppose you might call it my father's last will and testament."

* * *

 **Fun fact: In Onmyodo, and other Asian systems pertaining to direction, the northeast of any location is known as the Kimon, or Demon's Gate, which is where demons and other supernatural entities enter from to bring bad luck and disaster.**


	89. Chapter 89

**Chapter 89:**

 _Kyo,_

 _If you are reading this, then what I feared has come to pass and my body has fallen into the hands of the enemy. I imagine that it will be a difficult time for you. Nobunaga is powerful in any form. But he has always sought out the power of the True Mibu and, this time, he shall have it. When he next rises, he will wield the power that we of the Line of Kyo had always balked at, never daring to touch for ourselves. Nobunaga will unleash it without reservation. Needless to say, the armies of the Kingdoms, even the power of the Mibu Clan, will be useless against him. When he next rises, you are the only one who can truly hope to destroy him, once and for all._

 _For that is why I have written this letter, otherwise I would have never allowed such a thing to come to pass, unless I had not planned for this possibility. For, although allowing Nobunaga to inhabit my body would be granting him divine power that will make him all but unstoppable, it is also our opportunity to render him his most vulnerable, a chance to kill him in such a way that he shall never rise again._

 _I have long known of Murasame's allegiance to Nobunaga. I am aware of the vision that the previous Shatora shared with him, and I am aware that Murasame took Shatora's position. It saddens me to know that one of my oldest and dearest friends, the man who initiated me into the Way of the Sword, has been turned against me. However, I chose to do nothing, because I also saw an opportunity._

 _Nobunaga and the Junishinsho would expect treachery of a more conventional sort. They would anticipate it if Shatora merely pretended to defeat me so that he could deliver me right into the midst of their stronghold to do battle. No, for this work, my deception had to go deeper. In order to gain this opportunity, I had to give our enemy everything that he has ever desired. I had to allow Shatora to fully commit himself to his task. I would give my body over to Nobunaga and allow him free rein over it. The most I can do is take much of my strength with it, when my soul departs. But all that shall do is buy you time with which to prepare._

 _My true strike will be to use the last vestiges of my will to bind the fate of Nobunaga's soul to that of my body. Having studied the old records on Nobunaga's creation, I believe it to be possible. If you can defeat and kill Nobunaga in his current body, in my body, then he will not be able to migrate to another host. He will be trapped within my body, and follow it into death, never to be revived again._

 _Of course, that shall be the hardest aspect of all of this. For it will fall to you, my son, to deliver the killing stroke. You will have to defeat Nobunaga in battle, and then strike him down. That will be difficult for two reasons. The first reason is obvious. Nobunaga will have never been stronger. The second reason is more insidious. I know it will be difficult for you to strike down Nobunaga in my body. Were this a match, you would have no issue pointing your sword at me to kill. But, if you believed there was any hope that you could save me, that you could bring me back and restore my control over my body, you would seek it out._

 _So I shall kill that hope, here and now. As cruel as it is to do so, I will deny you that hope outright. I shall allow my soul to fall into oblivion when Nobunaga takes my body so that, when the time comes, you shall not hold back nor hold out, but see me for what I have become, a husk of flesh, inhabited by an evil spirit. With that knowledge, there shall be nothing left but to strike, and send Nobunaga into oblivion after me._

 _Of course, that brings us back to the first reason that this will be difficult. Nobunaga's unleashed power will be all but impossible to stand against, even for you. If you embraced your True Mibu power and unleashed it in the same manner, you could do it, but the resulting clash could transform you into the very thing that we have always sought to avoid becoming. Fortunately, there is another way._

 _Kyo, you have yet to fully master the Mumyo Jinpu Ryu. Do not be discouraged, full mastery of that school has eluded me as well. Not even Murasame can claim to have mastered it to the fullest extent. In fact, with the exception of the First Kyo, no one has completely mastered the Mumyo Jinpu Ryu down through all the generations of our line. Truth be told, we have never experienced that need. As fearsome as Nobunaga's power is, it has never required that level of mastery to defeat him._

 _It is said that the Mumyo Jinpu Ryu was created by one of the Crimson Kings preceding the original Kyo. Foreseeing the need to overthrow the power of a True Mibu, that Crimson King created the Mumyo Jinpu Ryu to be a power that could slay even the True Mibu, a divine wind that can cut down God himself. You have mastered the lesser techniques of the Mumyo Jinpu, and even the Four Secrets. But there is another technique, a secret technique, a hidden technique. It is one that shall only appear when you can surpass every limit and overcome every boundary, calling upon a power that surpasses that of even the True Crimson Eyes. When you do, you shall be able to call upon the true divine wind, a power that not even Nobunaga shall be able to withstand._

 _This is the most difficult aspect of my plan. In my selfishness, without ever consulting or confiding in you, I have chosen to leave all within your hands. From this point, I cannot say what you will do, whether or not my belief will bear fruit. I go to my death, Kyo, carrying my faith for the outcome, not knowing if you can do it, but believing it. I am sorry to do this to you, but I entrust you with the future, my son. I can only hope you will accept it._

 _Goodbye, Kyo. I love you._

* * *

Yang sniffed and rubbed her eyes, setting the letter back on the desk.

"Not the most entertaining read, is it?" commented Kyo wryly.

"It's...unbelievable," said Yang. "He just dumps all this on you, just like that?"

"Well, I suppose he felt it was the only way he could do this reliably," said Kyo.

"But then this means..." said Yang turning her gaze back to the letter, her tears splattering on the desk next to it.

"Yes," said Kyo with a soft sigh, his eyes closing. "Father is dead. He died the moment Nobunaga's soul was transferred into his body, assuming that it was already done. I expect so, given that they seemed primed to do it, immediately after their escape."

"How can you be so calm about this?" asked Yang.

There was a twitch to Kyo's eye, the faintest flash of a look that made her blood turn to ice in her veins. "I'm not very calm at all," said Kyo, his tone icy cold. "I am furious. I'm angry with a lot of people: Murasame, Tou-san, Nobunaga...But I've decided to focus all of that on Nobunaga. When I see him again, I'm going to pour these feelings into every stroke of my sword."

"Kyo..." Yang went over and rested a hand on his shoulder.

Kyo raised his own hand up and covered hers. Then, in a sudden, abrupt motion, he yanked her down, wrapping his arms around her to hug her tightly. Yang squeaked in surprise, but hugged him back, feeling his body trembling. Then she hugged him back with all her might. She could feel it. Kyo was afraid. He had smiled and laughed when facing down an entire army. He'd grinned like a maniac when he'd clashed with Nobunaga in his Grimm body. But Kyo had just lost his father, and was faced with the prospect of fighting Nobunaga again, this time in an even more terrible form.

"You won't be alone," she said softly. "I'll be there with you."

"Thank you," said Kyo, pressing his face into Yang's shoulder.

"Let's get some sleep," said Yang, laying Kyo back and pulling the covers over both of them. "We're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

* * *

"So these are what the arrays for the conversion crystals look like," said Weiss, looking over the device that Haruka and two of the workers with her were setting up.

"That's right," said Haruka curtly, carefully setting the pale-blue, spherical shield crystal into a cradle of wires that kept it suspended within an array, made from interwoven strips of metal that looked like bronze. The array was set up so that it formed around the crystal, the openings between the woven strips corresponding with the facets of the crystal set within. Finally, the whole thing was covered in a dome of steel and glass.

Further away, two more of Haurka's subordinates were laying down wire, which they were going to use to connect the crystal into the capital's power grid. Weiss watched as they carefully laid down the cable, then connected it to a plug built near the base of the dome that covered the conversion crystal. Then, with a hum, the array came to life within. There were faint, crackling pops of errant discharges. Then, with a shimmer, the shield expanded out from the array, washing over everyone in the vicinity. Weiss looked around, seeing the shimmer expand outward, growing fainter as it spread over a wider and wider area.

In the near distance, she had heard the clash of weapons and the angry roars, howls, and bays of the Grimm. As the shimmer of the shield washed outwards, those sounds dwindled and vanished, the crash of heavy bodies moving through the vegetation signaling that the Grimm were fleeing, and that the shield was doing its work.

Weiss frowned, looking over the process. Already, Haruka and her people were packing up their tools and getting ready to move to the next site. Others were heading back to the next point where they could connect the next shield array to Onmyo's power grid. All told, the individual parts of this job weren't bad. However, the distances involved meant that even basic tasks could take a great deal of time.

What was more, the areas they closed off to the Grimm increased the pressure of the Grimm on the areas that weren't protected. Until all the shields were in place, they were forming what was essentially a narrowing bottleneck that funneled the Grimm through a smaller and smaller space every time they set up another shield. While every shield they set up meant less space that had to be actively defended, it also meant that the Grimm pressed the unprotected spaces all the harder.

"Wouldn't it be easier to use the Core Crystals?" asked Weiss, thinking it over. "You could position them to power several shields at once, without having to spend so much time laying down the wires."

Haruka frowned. Weiss got the impression that she had thought about this approach before. However, Weiss hoped that Haruka wasn't thinking that Weiss was insulting her by bringing it up.

"I had considered that," said Haruka predictably enough. "However, the arrays to convert Etheric Energy into electricity are much more complex than the shield arrays. It would take over a week to build just one, not to mention setting it up."

Weiss frowned, thinking back to the array she'd seen on the airship, back during the first time they'd flown on it. It hadn't looked that complex. But, then again, she had no idea what had gone into making it. The metal wires around it could require a special alloy that could only be made in limited quantities. Perhaps Haruka had to inscribe them with the Aura script she and the Mibu used for their wards...

 _Wait! The script!_ Weiss' eyes widened and a faint gasp escaped her mouth. Now that she thought about it, she realized that the Mibu Clan's Aura script, which they used for a variety of functions, must have worked in a manner similar to her glyphs. It was a language that was used to channel and shape the power of Aura and render it into a useable form that didn't require the direct input of the creator to utilize. However, said script apparently had to be inscribed onto a physical material, perhaps even utilizing some special form of ink. However, Weiss realized that she had a means to create such effects without needing to apply a physical medium.

"What is it?" asked Haruka, making Weiss realize she'd just spent over a minute standing there, gaping like a lunatic while she processed her own thoughts.

"I have an idea," said Weiss finally. "I think we can use the Core Crystals." She held up her hand and a glyph flashed into being over it. A second later, crackling electricity gathered into a shimmering, sparking ball over the outstretched palm of her hand.

Haruka's eyes widened underneath her hood. "How?"

"Well, I"m streamlining the process," admitted Weiss, partially drawing Myrtenaster with her free hand, so that its inset Dust crystals gleamed in the sunlight. "I learned to channel Etheric power through my Dust, which produces the resulting energy without depleting the Dust itself. Lightning is a synthesized element, combining the effects of different primary Dust types. I think I could devise a glyph that could perform the function of your array." She smiled triumphantly. "Furthermore, I've also confirmed that there doesn't even need to be physical contact to use this. I developed these glyphs while my sword and its crystal were hidden from me, but I was still able to use its power. Admittedly, that's because I was bonded to it, but..."

Haruka frowned, her eyes darting from Myrtenaster to Weiss. Weiss recognized that look. It was the same look Ruby had when she was devising some modification for Crescent Rose, mentally fitting pieces together in her mind and envisioning what the final product should look like. Weiss had always been struck by that look, as it was uncharacteristic to see it on the face of her normally flighty team leader. It definitely looked more at home on Haruka's face.

Finally, Haruka snapped her eyes over to one of her subordinates and raised a hand. The young man jogged over. "Yes, Haruka-sama?" he said nervously, as though he looked to be anticipating a smack.

Weiss blinked, wondering why he reacted so timidly. Haruka's manner was brusque, but never to such a degree that Weiss had felt threatened by her, save for those rare occasions where Haruka had decided to actually _be_ threatening. Granted, Weiss' own exposure to the most reclusive member of the Taishiro was extremely limited. Those who served her directly were probably privy to aspects of her that Weiss might never see for herself. Weiss certainly hoped that the fear on the young man's face wasn't legitimately warranted.

"Tell the others to prioritize setting up the arrays," said Haruka. Her tone was curt and flat, as though she were dispensing orders to a machine that responded to verbal commands, rather than a person. "Forgo the wires and connectors for now."

"Y-yes, Haruka-sama," said the young man before turning around and jogging away, considerably quicker than he had come.

Seeing him go, Haruka blinked and looked at Weiss, who was staring at her in confusion. Then, to Weiss' amazement, Haruka let out a small whimper and ducked her head, reaching up and pulling the hood lower, so that her eyes were completely veiled. It wasn't hard to recognize a gesture of shame.

Weiss blinked, then remembered what Murasame (how it stung to remember him like this), had once told her Haruka was shy and asocial, if not outright antisocial. She was completely uneasy with dealing with other people, unless they were particularly close to her, like Sora and the other Elders. However, Haruka had numerous people working for her, subordinates and Guards who helped her to prepare the crystals, who built the things that she designed ,and maybe added their own input to. Weiss realized that the way Haruka addressed that young man must have been her tactic for dealing with her discomfort. She treated people like objects to keep them at enough a distance that she could at least articulate her thoughts to them. However, such curt, careless treatment apparently created a sense of fear in those people, making them feel like disposable tools, and that Haruka had little care about doing the disposing.

Swallowing, Weiss decided to do something that she hoped wouldn't get her in trouble, or killed. Carefully, she reached up and gently pried the hood's fabric from Haruka's fingers and slid it back all the way. Once the hood was off, she had to stifle another gasp.

It wasn't the pair of fuzzy raccoon ears that sprouted from the top of Haruka's head that shocked her, though they were definitely part of it. It was the entirety of Haruka's features: the slight rounding of cheeks that made Haruka's face look full without crossing the line into outright babyishness, the way the violet color of her eyes seemed to soften when they were no longer in the hood's shadow, the soft and lustrous-looking brown hair that spilled down the back of her head, which the two strands that extended out from her hood on either side only hinted at. Taken altogether, those features combined to produce a face, which Weiss felt only slightly off at calling "beautiful." "Cute" or "Adorable" was a far more apt description. The bearing of Haruka's posture, usually, along with her powerful arms on full display, made her seem intimidating and powerful when her hood was up. However, that face, when fully revealed, combined with the nervous, uncertain expression on it, made Weiss forget all that and simply want to hug and comfort Haruka.

Feeling that that would have been a little bit too forward of her, Weiss instead settled for giving Haruka the warmest smile she could ever muster. "It's all right," she said. "Tell me what you're thinking."

Haruka ducked her head nervously, apparently trying to gather her thoughts. That made Weiss want to sigh and smile in slight amusement, though she crushed the urge down. Haruka was one of the Four (three now, she supposed) Elders of the Mibu Clan. She'd probably been alive longer than Weiss' own father had. She was more powerful than any of the Five Stars, possibly more powerful than Kyo (maybe). She was a figure to be respected for her immense wisdom, experience, and power. However, right now, she seemed nothing more than a shy child, reminding Weiss a lot of Ruby, before her teammate and best friend had come completely out of her shell.

"We have Dust," said Haruka softly.

"Weiss' eyes widened. "You do? But I thought you didn't use Dust!"

"We don't use it," said Haruka. "But we do study it, to know its properties, its hazards, how we can work around it."

Weiss nodded. She understood. Well...sort of... She realized that, even if they had no particular use for it, the Mibu would at least want to have a basic working understanding of Dust, if only how to effectively work around it to mine for minerals and materials that they valued much more. Dust could be dangerously volatile, so it made sense for them to be careful and want to understand what could set it off.

"Do you have lightning-Dust?" asked Weiss.

Haruka nodded. "We have a few specimens. I'm not sure how well they'd work, but if you can use them..."

Weiss nodded. Designing a new glyph to convert Etheric Energy directly into electricity the way the Mibu's physical arrays had would have been painstaking work. It was hard to say whether or not such a glyph would be more difficult to create than the glyph she could now use to summon Myrtenaster to her side, but Weiss imagined it would be at least as difficult. Unfortunately, she did not have a scroll, projector, and modeling program to work with and, even if she did, it would still probably take several days at least for her to formulate the glyph, commit it to memory, and then be able to produce it and activate it.

Sora had emphasized that they needed Haruka's help to prepare for the upcoming battle, which stressed that Haruka's current task needed to be finished up as quickly as possible. Weiss didn't quite understand why they needed Haruka's help for that, but she trusted Kyo's mother. With their enemy about to emerge as a mad god, they needed every advantage they could obtain, and they needed every second they could to prepare. So Weiss had decided to see if there was some way she could help to shorten the time Haruka needed to set up the remaining shields.

So, if Haruka had Dust for her to work with, Weiss would use it, gladly. "All right," she said. "Is it at your workshop in the Palace?"

Haruka nodded slowly.

"Well, I guess we should get back-or if you want to just send someone along with me-" said Weiss, cutting herself off as Haruka shook her head.

"No," she said. "We'll go straight back."

Haruka turned her back to Weiss, turning to face an unoccupied corner of the field. Raising her hands, Haruka extended the first two fingers of each, crossing them in front of her. Weiss saw Haruka's Aura surge outward before swirling around in front of the crossed fingers, compacting and darkening from its normal rich violet color to a pitch black orb, barely three inches across. A heavy sweat broke out on her forehead. " _Mumyo Daion Ryu: Kuro Tengoku no Mon._ " She parted her crossed fingers, sweeping her arms outwards, launching the black sphere away from her. Haruka then swiftly swung her left hand forward, pointing straight ahead. The sphere froze in place, hovering over the ground. Her right arm, she began to swing in wide, circular motions near her left. The orb began to twist and swirl, seeming as though it were being pulled apart, forming into a swirling abyss with an outer edge of pitch black, while the inside swam with spiraling swirls of grays and dark purples. It produced a pulling sensation that made Weiss feel as though she was slowly being yanked within it.

Just looking at it made Weiss' stomach twist into knots. Worse still, she had a good idea what kind of technique this was. After all, she had seen a similar effect those times she'd seen Yang's mother use her blade to cleave through space and open a swirling, black and red vortex. However, this technique didn't look nearly as easy, nor as refined. She figured that the margin of error was fairly small and the consequences, if Haruka misstepped in its execution, would be severe.

"We're taking that to the Palace?" asked Weiss, looking at Haruka, praying that her deductions were incorrect.

"Yes," replied Haruka.

"I was afraid of that," said Weiss weakly, turning her eyes to the vortex.

Haruka gripped her hand and met Weiss' eyes. Despite the fact that Haruka was no longer moving her arms, the vortex remained in place. This time, it was Haruka's turn to smile encouragingly. "It's all right," she said.

"Okay..." said Weiss, deciding to place her trust in the reclusive woman. Together, they stepped through the vortex. When they had passed through it, it contracted in on itself until it vanished altogether.

* * *

Back in the guest quarters, Ruby sat in the pavilion in the center of the courtyard. She stared listlessly out at the flowerbeds, her eyes taking in the color and beauty without really registering them. She felt detached from the scenery around her, unable to really connect with anything. It seemed weird. She'd felt so confident, when she'd pledged to fight alongside her friends, at that meeting with Sora yesterday. But now...she just couldn't muster up any enthusiasm.

Part of it was just not knowing where to go from here. She figured that it should be obvious. She had to refine her skills, improve her abilities, especially her endurance. If she faced Cinder again, she had to be strong enough to keep fighting until the fight was over. However, she wasn't certain she could work on all those things at once, in the limited time frame they had left. Her control over her Silver Eyes, especially, was marginal at best, and difficult to work on without draining her stamina, limiting her ability to work on other things.

The other part was shock. She had managed to cope by keeping herself busy in Atlas, fighting back the Grimm, helping to keep the Kingdom safe, until it could be secured. But now, here in the domain of the Mibu, she had the moment to sit back and take a breath, and truly allow what had happened, what she had seen and experienced, to sink in in all its horrifying glory.

Nobunaga had resurrected Pyrrha Nikos as one of his servants. She was still haunted by that sight of Pyrrha, standing there, staring at them with glassy eyes. Her movements had been almost like an Atlesian automaton's, efficient, mechanical, and completely devoid of the graceful expression that had been Pyrrha's hallmark, when she was alive. At the time, the sudden realization, combined with Cinder's taunts, had driven Ruby into a haze of indecision as she thought about the implications of Pyrrha being alive again, and what it meant for her and Jaune. Perhaps that had been foolishly selfish of her, but Ruby had been threatened on a level that she felt was far worse than Cinder's threats on her life.

However, now, Ruby was revolted by the sheer violation that it was. Pyrrha had been dead for years. They had all dealt with their grief, used it to set new goals for themselves, and forge a path forward. It had helped drive them to face down Salem, and put an end to her genocidal plans. They had learned to accept Pyrrha's absence from their lives ,and honor her memory by doing the best they could for the people that they fought for, just as they knew that Pyrrha would have wanted. And Pyrrha...well at least they had believed she could rest in peace.

But Nobunaga had reached out and pulled Pyrrha back from beyond the veil, and turned her into a weapon in his arsenal. He had used her as a killing tool to slaughter God knew how many people to help fulfill his ambitions. Their friend, the idealistic Huntress, someone they had all loved, had been turned into an implement of butchery, after being forcibly dragged back from the realms of the dead. It was a violation of what she had lived and died for, a violation of her very memory and existence. Thinking about it in that sense, Ruby could now understand why Kyo's father and those before him had been so determined not to rediscover the power to revive the dead. What Nobunaga had done was a perfect demonstration of the worse possible abuses of such a power. Just thinking about it made Ruby feel sick inside.

The sound of boards creaking under a heavy tread didn't do much to draw her from her reverie. However, a pair of strong, yet gentle hands coming to rest on her shoulders did gently pull her out of her sense of detachment.

"Hey," said Jaune softly.

"Hey," Ruby said back, tilting her head back so that she could look at him.

Slowly, Jaune drew her up out of her seat, helping her stand up so that he could wrap her in a hug and hold her close. Ruby pressed her face into Jaune's shoulder, the two of them gently rocking back and forth in their own little world. Leaning his head down, Jaune kissed the top of her head. "Still upset about Pyrrha?"

"Yeah," said Ruby. "I just can't get over how wrong it was to see her there, like that."

"I know," said Jaune. "I feel the same way."

"How are you able to handle it so well?" asked Ruby, pressing into him harder. "I feel so...lost. I just don't know what to do about it."

"Well," said Jaune softly, "I deal with it by remembering what Pyrrha wanted me to do. Santera's just a portion of Pyrrha's self. The important parts of her, the parts that are filled with her will, her dreams, her ambitions, her hopes, she entrusted to me. More importantly, she made it clear what my priority should be, no matter what."

Gently cupping her chin, Jaune lifted Ruby's face up so that he could meet her eyes. " _You_ are my priority," he said. "You are what Pyrrha wants me to protect and fight for. As long as I remember that, I don't have anything to worry about."

Ruby sniffed and tilted her face into Jaune's touch as he moved his hand to cup her cheek. "I love you," she said with all the conviction she could muster.

"I love you too," said Jaune, pulling her into a deep kiss. They held that for a while before pulling away again. After they finished, they rested their foreheads together.

"What do we do now?" asked Ruby.

"We get ready as best we can," said Jaune. "We'll do our best to protect each other. It's gonna be hard. It's gonna be difficult and dangerous. But I know we can do it."

"All right," said Ruby.

"There's one other thing," said Jaune.

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

Jaune let her go and stepped back, one hand going into the pocket of his jeans. "I've had this in mind for a while," he explained. "Originally, I was planning on waiting for our graduation, 'cause I figured that was for the best. But...with what we're up against, I don't want to risk waiting any longer."

"Jaune...?" Ruby's eyes widened as she got an inkling of what he was getting at.

Jaune pulled something out of his pocket and lowered himself down onto one knee in front of Ruby. Holding out his hands, Ruby saw a small, black, velvet covered box. Pulling back the lid revealed a ring of pure silver. At its top, the two ends of the band connected and wrapped around each other, opening up into a pair of silver leaves. Sitting between them was a tiny ruby that had been intricately cut into the shape of a blooming rose.

"Jaune!" gasped Ruby, her hands flying to her mouth, her cheeks turning a red to match the hue of the ruby on the ring.

"Ruby Rose," said Jaune gravely, "will you marry me?"

Tears spilled out of Ruby's eyes and she sniffled. Finally, she lowered her hands, revealing a radiant smile. She extended her left hand out to Jaune. "Yes," she said, allowing him to slip the band onto her ring finger. She brought it up to admire it more closely, turning it into the right. Given its color and intricate shape, she figured it was a synthetic ruby, not that she minded in the slightest. She couldn't imagine just how much Jaune had paid to get it cut to resemble a blooming rose, delicate work for such a small stone.

As she admired her new ring, Jaune stood up and put the box away, a relaxed smile on his face. Ruby's eyes met his over her ring and she threw herself at him, making Jaune catch her by the waist as he spun her around before pulling her in for another embrace and a deep kiss. They pulled apart, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes.

"Congratulations," said Ren in his usual, quiet voice as he and Nora entered the pavilion, arm in arm.

"Yeah, I'm so glad," said Ruby, sharing another hug with Jaune. Then she noticed a glint coming from Nora's left ring finger and gasped.

Nora was wearing a ring too, a gold band set with a jewel cut into the shape of a heart. Amazingly, the jewel itself was two colors. The left half of the heart was purple, while the right half was deep orange.

"You too!" gasped Ruby.

"Yep," said Nora eagerly.

"Wow! Congratulations!" shouted Ruby, she and Nora exchanging enthusiastic hugs and laughter while Ren and Jaune shared smiles and nods.

"Isn't this awesome?" asked Nora excitedly. "We should totally get married together. It'll be a Team Junior wedding."

"A Team Ranger wedding, don't you mean?" asked Ruby with a teasing grin and a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Nuh uh," said Nora, vigorously shaking her head and matching Ruby's expression. "Junior!"

"Ranger!" retorted Ruby.

The two girls leaned in, growling at each other before their respective betrothed pulled them back with bemused looks.

"Well, I like the sound of a Ranger wedding just fine," said Jaune, with a wink to his wife-to-be.

"In the interest of avoiding a brawl, I'll accept that," said Ren while Nora sagged in his arms.

"Yes! Three to one!" crowed Ruby, shooting a victorious fist in the air (nearly uppercutting Jaune in the process).

"Aww...Reeeeeeen..." she whined piteously. "You're supposed to be on my side."

Ren merely shook his head before kissing the top of Nora's. "There are much more important things to worry about," he said calmly.

"That's true," said Jaune, trading looks with Ren and Nora, then Ruby, all four of their expressions sobering at the jubilant atmosphere gradually dispersed and the enormity of the task before them settled in. "We have to make sure we live long enough to have the wedding."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby with a sigh.

"We'll make it work," promised Ren. "If we're all together, I don't think there's anything we can't do."

"Yeah! Totally!" shouted Nora triumphantly, shooting her hands into the air.

"We'll just have to figure out how to get ready," said Jaune.

* * *

Deep within the side of the mountain, in the heart of Haruka's domain, a black vortex expanded outwards from a point in the air. Haruka and Weiss emerged from it. Weiss staggered and nearly tripped into a table. Resting her hand on it, she took a second to get her bearings. Her stomach was rebelling, threatening to eject its contents back out the way they had come. Fortunately, after a few seconds of deep breathing, Weiss managed to wrestle the nausea down.

"Well, that was different," she said. "I don't think I want to make traveling like that a regular thing though."

"My...apologies..." said Haruka, gasping for breath and sinking to her knees. "I...try not to...use that too often...But we...needed...to get...back...quickly."

Weiss frowned and nodded before helping Haruka back to her feet. As she did, Weiss looked around, noticing that they seemed to be in some kind of storeroom. To her amazement, she realized that they were surrounded by Dust crystals of nearly every variety under the sun. They lined the shelves set around the room's walls and several were scattered across the surface of the very table that Weiss had been leaning against.

Weiss frowned speculatively. "Let's see what we have to work with," she said. She immediately zeroed in on the set of shelves that held the yellow lightning crystals that she would need in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Technically, there were only four basic varieties of Dust: earth, wind, water, and fire. However, these types could be combined to form other varieties. Such mergers happened in nature or could be performed by an artificer. When it came to secondary, compound Dust varieties, those that were artificially synthesized were generally preferred, given that the ratios of the different Dust types used could be perfected and, most importantly, the resulting Dust was almost certain to be a pure product. Those that occurred in nature often did so as a consequence of random chance, which meant their effectiveness could vary and, often, such natural Dust crystals carried impurities that might inhibit their output.

Given that the Mibu had no use for Dust, Weiss figured that all the compound varieties in the room were created through natural processes. She then figured that it was up to her to figure out which would be the best for use in this project. She wouldn't need all that much, just a few small crystals or a larger, high-quality, specimen that she could then cut into smaller pieces.

Inspecting the crystals on the shelves, Weiss examined them carefully, using the light from the lamp overhead to illuminate each crystal's interior to search for impurities. Unfortunately, most of the crystals were not very pure. The first one she inspected featured a yellow interior, through which veins of brown rock twisted. The next one had several pieces of stone embedded within it. Still another showed veins of the differing types of Dust that formed the lightning variety, but had not completely amalgamated within it. Weiss found a small crystal about an inch across that looked sufficiently pure to her. She set it onto the table and resumed her examination.

Finally, she found a larger crystal, an elongated shard nearly the length and width of her forearm. Looking at it, Weiss saw a small black and brown cloud of dirt and rock encrusting and embedded within one end. However, the rest of the crystal was perfectly clear. Weiss figured she could cut off the end with the impurities, and utilize the rest of the crystal. If she broke it down, she figured she could produce several shards that could be spread out to support the various barriers.

"This will do," she said, showing the crystal to Haruka, who nodded.

"Let's go," she said, leading Weiss out of the room, and into the hallway that Weiss remembered walking through during the time she had come here with Saisei and Hayate.

Haruka led her down a hallway into another small room. It was a fairly large room, dominated by a table in the center. The table itself was covered by a large map of the capital and the surrounding area. Further maps and charts covered the walls of the room. Given the nature of the setup, Weiss figured that the room had been configured for this particular purpose fairly recently.

Haruka led her to the map and pointed out the marked locations of the remaining shield arrays.

"How many Core Crystals will you need to support them?" asked Weiss.

Haruka frowned. "Given the maximum dispersal of the shields, a single, fully mature crystal could support three easily, five at a maximum," she said. "However, the positioning of the arrays means that it would be difficult to use a single Core Crystal for multiple units."

Weiss shook her head. "We can," she said. "I was able to use the power of my Etheric Crystal from over a distance without issues. That means the power can be transmitted without the aid of wires. If we can streamline that and apply it to the arrays, it won't matter how far apart they're dispersed, and we can minimize the number of Core Crystals used on this."

"But how?" asked Haruka.

"I have the glyph and the Dust," said Weiss, holding up her selected Dust crystal in her right hand and holding out the first two fingers of her left, the lightning glyph she'd created shimmering into being. "All we have to do is work out how many Core Crystals you need to support the remaining arrays, then combine them with a sample of the lightning Dust. The nice thing is that, so long as the demand doesn't exceed the amount of Etheric Energy the crystal can convert over a given time, the glyphs are completely self-sustaining."

"But you would have to bond all the Core Crystals to yourself," Haruka pointed out. "While that might not cause issues immediately, we know that spreading the bond amongst multiple crystals dilutes it. It would undermine your connection to your blade."

Fortunately, Weiss had already been thinking about that. Even as she had been working on selecting the Dust she needed, she'd been pondering that particular issue. She hadn't known about the issue with bonding to multiple crystals, but she had figured that it would lead to problems like that.

"I think I have a plan for that," said Weiss. Her smile faded and she sighed. "I actually got the idea from something Murasame said." Both she and Haruka winced at the traitor's name. "Your crystals, the ones you've made, they're like your children, right?"

Haruka nodded.

"You shape them with your Aura and impart your Aura into them, just as Murasame did with his swords," continued Weiss.

Again, Haruka nodded.

"So that means we can use the Aura within the crystals to bond them to each other," said Weiss. "We'll bond the shield Conversion Crystals with the Core Crystals. All I will be doing is shaping the glyph to produce the final effect. Then you won't need wires, or even arrays for that matter."

Haruka's eyes widened and she gasped. "That's amazing!"

"There is a downside to this," said Weiss. "I need to modify my glyph to take the place of the array for the Conversion Crystal, so that we can still control its output. It takes me time to memorize a new glyph and get it to produce an effect."

To her surprise, Haruka smiled warmly. "If it is time you require, then that is something that I can provide."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"Follow me," said Haruka, leading Weiss out of the room.

They headed down the hall and entered another room. Weiss was surprised to see a fully mature Core Crystal already there, resting on a pedestal.

"We use this room to test the crystals' tolerances," explained Haruka. "This one was deemed ready for use. It was slated to be used in one of our next airships. However, that can wait for now. Wait here a moment."

She stepped out, while Weiss pondered the large Core Crystal in front of her. She could feel its power through the air, making her hair stand on end as she felt the energy leaking out of the crystal as it continually converted Etheric Energy into a more useable kind of power.

After about three minutes of waiting, Haruka returned, a pale-blue shield Conversion Crystal in her hand.

"We'll use this," said Haruka. "Perfect your new glyph, and use it to connect these two crystals together."

"But..." said Weiss, looking uncertainly back and forth between the two crystals. "I need time. I'm not sure we have it."

Again, Haruka smiled confidently. "If it is time you need, then I can provide that."

Haruka pressed the palms of her hands together, fingers pointing upwards, bowing her head over them, as though she were praying. Pulling them apart, an effort that Weiss could see was forcing Haruka to strain her muscles to the limit. A black sphere had appeared in the space between her hands. As Haruka stretched her arms further apart, the sphere enlarged. Within it, Weiss thought she could see flickering streams of light, like stars shooting across the surface.

" _Mumyo Daion Ryu: Event Horizon!_ " Haruka suddenly swept her hands out, holding her arms straight out to either side of her. The sphere expanded explosively, swelling up to swallow both Haruka and Weiss. Weiss winced as the space swallowed her up, her body feeling as though it were being compacted into a new shape. However, when she opened her eyes after reflexively closing them, she felt and looked the same.

"What is this?" she asked, looking around. The room had vanished, save for a small swath of the floor, including the Core Crystal, resting on its pedestal. The shield Conversion Crystal was there as well. The space around them looked like a rapidly spinning starscape, stars streaking past on the sides and overhead so fast that they appeared to be nothing more than glowing lines.

"This is one of the deepest secrets of the _Mumyo Daion Ryu,_ " explained Haruka. "Only a Grandmaster like myself has the skill or strength to master it. Chinmei is not yet ready to learn this technique."

"What does it do?" asked Weiss.

"Gravity is a force of power beyond most comprehension," explained Haruka. "At its extremes, it does not merely pull upon things, but it affects the very fabric of space and time itself. A Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Daion Ryu_ can learn to invoke either or both such qualities, by manipulating gravity to its limit. In this case, I have used this ability to compress time within this space. For every moment that passes outside this space, five-times as much will pass inside this space."

"In other words, you're warping time to give us more to work with," said Weiss, the realization dawning upon her. _This_ was why Sora wanted Haruka's help to prepare them for the upcoming battle. If they could use this ability, they would have five-times as much time to train.

"I can only maintain this space for twenty hours...in outside time," said Haruka. "Normally, it takes much less energy. But that is only if I apply it to just myself. Expanding it enough to use with other people takes a much greater toll."

Weiss nodded. "So we have a hundred hours to work with."

"Will it be enough?" asked Haruka.

Weiss gave Haruka her most confident smile. "I'll make sure that it is."

* * *

 **By the way, the gem in Nora's ring is based on a real type, called Ametrine, a gemstone that is naturally two-toned, in orange and purple.**

 **And, yeah...Kyo's dad is dead.**


	90. Chapter 90

**Chapter 90:**

"Wow! You actually did it?" asked Yang, staring in amazement on the ring that Ruby was now holding up for all of them to see.

At the end of the day, everyone had met up in the courtyard pavilion of the guest quarters for dinner. They had all gone through various tasks to help prepare for the imminent battle and were in various states of tiredness. However, Weiss had yet to show up.

"Yep," said Jaune. "I know I told your dad I was gonna wait until graduation. But things being the way they are..."

Yang nodded and gave Jaune an approving smile. "I get it," she said. "I know Dad will understand, so long as it wasn't because you accidentally got Ruby pregnant."

"Nope, not yet," said Ruby cheerfully, while Jaune nodded. Back when Taiyang had first learned about their relationship, he had put Jaune through the wringer, in order to ensure that Jaune was a man he could trust with his baby girl. After Jaune had won Taiyang's approval, he had decided, initially, to propose to Ruby either slightly before or just after their graduation, something Taiyang had approved of. Of course, given that Jaune and Ruby had an active sex-life, there was an unspoken understanding that, should pregnancy occur before that time, Jaune would take responsibility...and would probably never hear the end of it from Taiyang for the rest of his life.

"I can't believe you proposed too," said Blake, her gaze going to Ren, who calmly worked his way through dinner, even with Nora practically resting all her weight on his side (and occasionally stealing bits of his food).

"I had the same reasoning as Jaune," explained Ren. He reached up and stroked a finger across Nora's cheek. "I nearly lost Nora in Atlas. If Saisei hadn't shown up in time, she would have..." He shuddered, prompting Nora to hug him tightly. Recovering his composure, Ren looked up, his expression determined. "I decided that this was too important to put off any longer."

"Does that mean you're going to have the wedding soon too?" asked Kyo.

The two betrothed couples exchanged looks.

"We haven't decided on that," admitted Jaune, turning back to them. "I think it's enough for now. For the most part, engagement is as good as being married."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "I'm glad they wanted to propose right now, but the wedding should wait, until we can get our friends and families together."

"Well, that's good," said Yang with a firm nod. "Dad would never forgive us if you had the wedding without him. Weiss would probably have a fit." She paused, looking around in confusion. "Where is Weiss anyway?"

"I thought she went out to check on the installation of the shield arrays, to see if there was anything she could do to help," said Hayate. "I'm not sure if she's still out there."

"I can vouch for Weiss-dono's location," said Sora, entering the pavilion, accompanied by Saisei.

"Where is she?" asked Ruby, leaning forward. Weiss was her partner and one of her closest friends, someone Ruby definitely wanted to tell about her engagement.

"She and Haruka are working on a solution that will streamline the installation of the remaining shield arrays significantly," said Sora. "As such, they are going to remain indisposed, until tomorrow at the earliest."

"Okay," said Hayate. "Is there anything we can do to help."

"At the moment, they are isolated and working on their own," said Sora. "I can't say what help they might or might not need when they emerge. However, it appears that they have things in hand for the time being."

"And what have you been up to today?" asked Yang, watching as Saisei took a seat next to Neo.

"I've been overseeing the healers," said Saisei. "In Makoto-sama's absence and, with my position as the Wood of the Goyosei, I supervise the treatment of those who have been wounded in the line of duty."

"Have there been a lot of wounded?" asked Yang.

Saisei shook her head. "As a matter of fact, the incidence of injuries has been quite low, particularly amongst the warriors we have stationed here at the capital. The Taishiro ordered the students of the different schools into battle as well in order for their students to accrue experience. They've made up the bulk of our patients so far."

"That means...what about Ciel's school?" asked Ruby, leaning forward.

"The students of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ have been fighting on the front lines," said Saisei. "Surprisingly, their incidence of injury is considerably lower than that of the other schools. I've been told that that is at least in part to the fact that even the older students have been deferring to Ciel-kun's expertise, when it comes to fighting the Grimm."

"That makes sense," said Yang. Then the bottom dropped out of her stomach. "Wait! Has anyone told her about Penny yet?"

"I'm afraid not," said Saisei, shaking her head forlornly. "I feel rather indecisive on the matter. On one hand, as Penny-chan's friend, it's Ciel-kun's right to know about her situation. However, at the same time, learning about what happened to Penny-chan now could distract her at a dangerous moment."

"Well, considering the situation at the front, the shields Haruka has set up have reduced the area that needs to be actively defended," said Sora. "We can start bringing the students out of combat rotation. We'll put Makoto's class at the front of the line, so that Ciel-kun can be informed, once she and her friends are out of danger."

"That works," said Saisei.

"What can we do in the meantime?" asked Kyo. "You mentioned that you required Haruka-sama's assistance for our preparations."

"That is the case," said Sora. "Haruka has a unique skill, which only a true Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Daion Ryu_ can fully utilize. It is a skill that will enable us to extend the time we have to prepare. However, until Haruka is finished setting up the arrays, she is presently indisposed. We shall press along as much as we can without her. To that end..." Her gaze rested on her son. "...I will be borrowing you tomorrow."

"What for?" asked Kyo.

A sly smile crossed Sora's face, one that made Kyo shiver. "To be blunt...I am going to thrash you thoroughly, and force you to fight to the very limit of your ability. According to what my husband has said on the matter, what you require most now is not formal instruction, but sheer experience. I shall pound as much experience into you as I can, in the time that we have left."

"And the rest of us?" asked Yang.

"I've arranged some special teachers for you," said Sora, turning her eyes to Yang. "You'll meet them tomorrow morning. Come with Kyo, when he comes to see me. We'll be conducting our training sessions in the same general area."

"All right," said Yang.

"And the rest of us?" asked Ren.

"Well, as for you-" said Sora.

"I'll be the one teaching you, Lie Ren," said Hayate surprisingly, making everyone, except for Kyo, Saisei, and Sora, look at him in confusion.

"Aren't you going to train with Weiss?" asked Ren.

"In a basic sense, Weiss' instruction is complete," said Hayate, "which is to say that her training no longer requires the input of an outside instructor. At the most, she requires a sparring partner to help her hone the skills she has already acquired. You, on the other hand..." His eyes narrowed. "I've been briefed about your Semblance, which makes me think that you might be the only one amongst your group of friends who could learn my skill."

"You want me to learn lightning?" asked Ren.

"Not lightning specifically," said Hayate. "There is another, much more important skill that needs to be acquired in order to use lightning, one that can be put to a variety of uses."

"You mean that thing where you can use power from nature?" asked Nora, her eyes widening.

"Yep," said Hayate. "Unless I miss my guess, Ren might actually be suited to learning that particular skill, and applying it to the things he can already do."

"I'm not quite sure that I understand what you believe I can learn," said Ren. "But I shall try my best."

To their surprise, Neo raised a hand and pointed to herself, a determined expression set into her face.

Hayate blinked. "Well...you...I'm not sure about. Technically, it's something anyone can learn, if they put their mind to it. However, depending on an individual's inclinations, it can take longer or shorter. If you want to give it a try, I won't begrudge you."

Neo nodded, her expression uncharacteristically serious. No one really protested. Neo was clearly stung by her inability to defeat Ajira, during the battle in Atlas. If she thought this might be the way to ensure that she could best him next time, then she deserved to try it.

"Ooh! What about me?" asked Nora, bouncing excitedly.

"We've arranged for a special teacher for you as well," said Sora, giving Nora a fondly amused look.

"Cool!" exclaimed Nora.

"And me?" asked Ruby.

Sora's expression turned contemplative as she regarded Ruby. "Given what you described happening during your fight with Mekira, I believe that you will be able to train on your own."

"Really?" asked Ruby.

"Yes," said Sora. "While the basic assessment is that you need to improve your stamina and Aura capacity to handle the strain of utilizing your secret technique and the Silver Eyes at the same time, I believe there is something else that will enable you to enhance your fighting strength."

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"I promise to explain it to you tomorrow," said Sora.

"Aww..." groaned Ruby, prompting a chuckle from Jaune as he patted her shoulder sympathetically.

"As for you," said Sora, her attention turning to Jaune, "I believe you already know what you need to do."

"Yeah," said Jaune, prompting a confused look from Ruby. "I'm good on my own."

"Good," said Sora.

"Will I be training with Dougal again?" asked Blake.

"That is the plan," said Sora, nodding to Blake.

"Well, I guess that means we're all squared away for now," said Ruby. "We'll adjourn until tomorrow."

"Cool! Go team!" cheered Yang, pumping her fists in the air as her friends laughed.

"Well, I suppose it's almost bedtime then," said Jaune with a sigh. "I hope Weiss is doing okay."

* * *

 _Weiss sat, cross-legged, her skirt spreading around her as she stared pensively at the glyph taking shape in front of her. It was composed of several rings that seemed to interlock with one another, rotating on different axes. The rings were inscribed with elaborate, looping designs, while, at the top, the flat circle of Weiss' lightning glyph bloomed, almost like a flower resting atop a gyroscope._

 _"It's pretty," commented the little girl seated in her lap,Weiss' arms around her, her tone making Weiss giggle and fondly ruffle her hair, though Weiss refused to take her eyes off her glyph, determined to fully commit it to memory so that she could produce it at will._

 _"Thank you," she said absently._

 _The glyph that Weiss had ultimately decided to conceive would not only supply the Conversion Crystal with power, but also act as the crystal's array, enabling Haruka's people to set up the remaining arrays in a fraction of the time their current work required._

 _Given the more complex needs of such a glyph, Weiss realized that she needed to make it three-dimensional. Unfortunately, the equipment she'd used to create the last three-dimensional glyph she'd developed had been left in Atlas. Bereft of a modeling program to render an image in three dimensions, Weiss had decided to call upon her bond with her weapon. With Myrtenaster's help, she was able to conceive of a glyph with a concrete form and motion, providing her with the image that Weiss needed to internalize. Weiss would create the image, Myrtenaster would project it within the confines of its internal world, so that Weiss could memorize it._

My blade really is amazing, _she thought proudly._

 _"Of course I am," agreed Myrtenaster in a haughty tone that would have done Weiss, during her most classic "Schnee Heiress" moments, proud. Giggling, Weiss tilted her head forward just enough to kiss the little girl's crown._

 _Having felt she had been staring at the glyph enough, Weiss closed her eyes. "I'm going back out now," she said. "I'll try to produce the glyph myself. If I can't, I'll be back."_

 _"I know you can do it," said Myrtenaster, her cheerful tone laden with a conviction far stronger than her current age might have suggested. "For my wielder, it's a simple task."_

 _"Thank you for believing in me," said Weiss, kissing the top of Myrtenaster's head one last time before willing herself back into the waking world._

* * *

Weiss opened her eyes again, blinking slowly. This time, she was surrounded by a dark, rapidly spinning starscape that enveloped both her and the woman sitting before her. Haruka almost looked asleep, her body reclining up against the pedestal that the Core Crystal they were using for their experiments rested on, the faint sheen of sweat across her brow betraying the effort she was making to keep up the powerful technique she was using to distort time to their advantage. Weiss had been sitting in the middle of the floor, Myrtenaster, unsheathed, resting across her crossed legs as she meditated.

Standing up, Weiss sheathed her sword, and stooped to pick up the pale-blue sphere of the conversion crystal that had been resting on the ground next to her. The movement drew Haruka's attention, her eyes opening as she looked up at Weiss.

"Are you ready to try?" she asked.

Weiss swallowed and nodded hesitantly. "I'm going to just try and produce the glyph now. I won't invoke it just yet."

"Understood," said Haruka. "Remember, we won't have much time to test."

Weiss nodded. Haruka's time distortion technique allowed time to flow faster within its space. However, the Etheric Core Crystals drew upon Etheric Energy, converting it into a usable form. The energy they drew upon came from outside their actual plane of existence, which meant that the crystal's rate of conversion was dependent on time passing in the world outside of the space created by Haruka's technique.

For the time being, Weiss left the large, fully mature crystal alone, instead drawing Etheric Power from the crystal merged with Myrtenaster. She held the Conversion Crystal between her hands, then slowly pulled them apart. As she did, her new glyph wove itself into being with a shimmer of pearlescent light, lines crisscrossing to form overlapping rings, rotating on different axises At the top, the flat, circular lightning glyph spun into being. The rings rotated around the Conversion Crystal, which hung, suspended within them.

"So far, so good," said Weiss, examining the glyph carefully. There were no errors in its form. She'd memorized its shape perfectly. It seemed that the practice of creating new glyphs during her imprisonment in Atlas had refined her ability to do so, reducing the time it took to create even complex glyphs like this one. She didn't have an exact measure, but Weiss figured that she'd used a little over half of the hundred hours that Haruka's technique provided.

"Now for the tricky part," said Weiss, holding up the portion of the lightning-Dust crystal she'd cut to use in this experiment.

Carefully, she created another lightning glyph beneath the Dust crystal, which was buoyed up by her glyph. Closing her eyes, Weiss felt the two separate glyphs. First she channeled the power of her blade's crystal into the lightning-Dust, then connected it to the glyph that held the Conversion Crystal. She both felt and heard a spark from the contact. The facets of the Conversion Crystal flashed and the shield extended out with a low hum, expanding to encompass her and Haruka.

"It works," said Weiss.

At that exact second, both the shield and the glyphs she created dissolved, the drain on her Core Crystal being too great for it to sustain for long, at least, not inside this space. Weiss quickly caught the Dust crystal and the shield crystal before they could fall to the floor.

"Excellent," said Haruka.

Weiss nodded. "The glyph is functional and it's been tested. So we're past the phase where we need the extra time."

Haruka nodded and relaxed her body. Weiss once again felt that strange sensation of her body being squeezed into a new shape, without anything actually changing. The space contracted in on itself, compressing down into a black sphere, before vanishing with a tiny "pop."

"All right," said Weiss, turning to the fully mature Core Crystal on its pedestal. "It's time to see if I can connect the two crystals."

Carefully, Weiss rested her hand on the ridged surface of the conversion crystal, immediately feeling the hum of power. Unlike her own, it felt distant and foreign to her, which was fine to her. She could still manipulate the power it produced. That was what was important. Reaching her awareness out into the crystal, she felt the root of that power, the Aura that had been infused within it throughout its creation. In her other hand, she held up the shield crystal. Sweating, Weiss divided her focus, finding the Aura that had been input into the Conversion Crystal as well. Carefully, she guided the two Auras out from their respective shells and urged them to connect.

The result was immediate, Weiss feeling almost as though she'd touched a live wire. She felt a hum from the Core Crystal and a sympathetic hum from the Conversion Crystal as well.

"It worked!" she said excitedly. She handed the Conversion Crystal to Haruka and took the Dust crystal again. Carefully, she touched it to the top of the Core Crystal. Working her Aura through the crystal's power, Weiss used it to form her glyph, the lightning glyph spreading out so that the lightning-Dust crystal came to hover just over the top of the Core Crystal.

"One last thing," said Weiss, stepping away from the Core Crystal and taking the Conversion Crystal from Haruka again. Just as before, she held it between her hands and reached for the power from the Core Crystal. Once again, the crystal hovered out of her hands as the glyph spun into being around it. Again came that spark and a faint hum. The shield expanded out from the crystal, spreading around them. Weiss carefully adjusted her glyph, slowing the spin and rotation of the rings that made it up, limiting the shield's size, keeping it within the confines of the room.

Finally, she stepped away, withdrawing her Aura from both crystals and leaving them alone. Both glyphs continued to persist, supported by the Etheric Power generated by the Core Crystal.

Haruka held up a hand to the Core Crystal, as though checking its temperature. "It's even more efficient than the physical arrays!" she marveled. "With this, the crystal's output could support up to seven shields easily."

That made Weiss smile. "And, by bonding them like this, you can power them without taking the Core Crystals out of the mountain. The power source can be left in an easily-guarded space, where you don't have to worry about intruders."

Haruka's smile widened and she stepped away from the Core Crystal. Weiss yelped as she was abruptly swept up in a tight hug, those powerful arms nearly threatening to crack her bones.

"Thank you so much!" exclaimed Haruka.

"You're...welcome," croaked Weiss, before being unceremoniously dropped back onto her feet, leaving her stumbling to keep from falling over. Recovering her balance, Weiss looked up to see Haruka facing away from her, curling up, the bright-red decorating her cheeks clearly visible, even from this angle.

Unable to suppress her sigh. Weiss rested a gentle hand on Haruka's shoulder, drawing the older woman's attention and gave her the same warm smile that Myrtenaster seemed to be able to draw forth from Weiss naturally. "I'm glad I could help."

Standing back up, Haruka fidgeted nervously, averting her eyes. However, this time, Weiss pulled her into a hug, which Haruka slowly reciprocated, relaxing as she grew more comfortable with the contact. For a long moment, they simply rested like that, holding each other and basking in the feeling of accomplishment brought on by their success.

Sadly, such a moment was not meant to last as Weiss' stomach let out a ravenous growl that made her squeak and jump out of the embrace, her cheeks practically glowing red with mortification. Haruka appeared to have a similar look and Weiss realized that their stomachs had protested near simultaneously. In the outside world, several hours had gone by, but five times that had passed for Weiss and Haruka, within the thrall of Haruka's technique. Now that their minds were no longer focused on the task at hand, their bodies were reminding them, very stringently no less, of how they had been neglected. Weiss felt her eyelids threatening to close and her limbs were beginning to shake. She was tired, hungry, and thirsty.

In her addled state, Weiss inadvertently swayed a little too far and threatened to topple over backwards. Haruka, who was older, stronger, and more experienced, was much more used to this kind of drain and quickly reached out to try and stop Weiss' fall. However, her actions proved unnecessary, as Weiss fell back into a pair of strong arms that supported her.

"It seems that the two of you have been working hard," observed Dougal Conrad in a wry tone as he supported Weiss.

"D-D-Dougal-san!" stammered Haruka in surprise shying back and pulling her hood back over her head.

"Sora-sama asked me to keep an eye on things here, so that she might know when you are finished," explained Dougal. "Sora-sama would like to be briefed at your earliest convenience. However, the hour is late and you both could clearly use nourishment and rest. Formalities can be taken care of later."

"Th-thank you," said Haruka nervously.

"I shall take Weiss-dono back to the guest quarters," said Dougal, stopping to lift Weiss's legs and carry her. "Shadow Travel may not be as fast as your wormholes, but I think it shall be fast enough."

"W-wait," said Weiss, fighting through the fog of tiredness that was threatening to sweep over her. "Haruka, you should be able to manipulate the glyph around the shield crystal with your Aura. It should feel almost like regular Etheric Power. Could you test that for me?"

Haruka nodded and went over to the Conversion Crystal, where it floated. Holding up her hands, she reached out with her Aura, feeling the glyph. Carefully, she began to test the spinning rings, making them spin faster, which extended the shield, or slower, which contracted the shield. It responded easily to her influence.

"Thank goodness," said Weiss.

Haruka found herself smiling. "You've done enough, Weiss-dono. I'll see you tomorrow...or today, as the case may be. We can finish our work then."

"All right," said Weiss with a tired sigh.

"Dougal-san, please take care of her," said Haruka.

Though his mouth was not visible, Haruka got the impression that Dougal was smiling. "Of course," he replied. "It would appear that she is a good influence on you."

With that, he sank into his shadow, taking Weiss with him, the pair disappearing from sight, leaving Haruka alone in the room.

Haruka turned her gaze to the shield crystal, floating in the gyroscopic glyph Weiss had created around it. Her eyes then went to the Core Crystal and the fragment of lightning-Dust that hovered above it. _That girl will go on to create a school that shall make its name echo throughout the ages. I've never seen such potential before._

* * *

Blake emerged from her room with a yawn, stretching her arms up as she looked around. It was early yet. She could only just barely see the faint streams of light creeping in through the windows, and down into the courtyard at the end of the hall. It was right about dawn. The air still held a faint chill that made her shiver slightly and pull her overcoat a little bit more tightly about herself.

From the rooms around her, she heard the sounds of motion and quiet voices as her friends got dressed and prepared for the day. Quietly, Blake wished that Sun and his team were still there. However, the visiting teams from the other Academies had returned home shortly, before the attack on Atlas. Making her way down the hall, Blake paused at the door to Weiss' room, hearing nothing. She wondered if her teammate had even come back last night.

Blake's training with the Shadow Arts enabled her to sense her own shadow to a certain extent. Her teacher had informed her that, with further training, she could learn to use her shadow and the shadows in her vicinity as a form of Extension, to better track her surroundings. Blake's training wasn't that far along yet. However, she was able to feel the presence of another Aura affecting her shadow as it resolved into the form of her teacher himself behind her. As a consequence of that, she wasn't startled when his voice suddenly reached her ears.

"She and Haruka-sama finished their work quite late last night," said Dougal softly. "Given the circumstances, it would be best to let her sleep."

"Of course," said Blake with a fond smile. "Any word on how it went?"

Dougal nodded, even though his position behind her made it impossible for her to see the gesture. "It appears that their efforts were an unqualified success. Weiss-dono's efforts have ensured that establishing the remainder of the perimeter will practically take no time at all."

"That's good to hear," said Blake with a sigh of relief.

"Come," said Dougal, stepping past her. "Your meal will be served momentarily. Then you and your friends shall begin your training.

Blake nodded and fell into step behind he teacher, her mind already considering the day ahead with no small degree of trepidation.

* * *

"I've never seen this space," said Kyo, looking around, marveling at the massive cavern they stood in.

"There are plenty of little places within the Palace that you don't know about," said Sora wryly. "I, on the other hand, have been required to memorize them all...along with all their glorious history." Her tone turned sardonic at that last part. "However, I suppose that knowledge has its merits at times like this."

"I suppose," agreed Kyo laconically.

"It's rather fitting," said Sora. "I heard that the First Kyo was trained in the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ in a cave, not unlike this one."

"Is that so?" asked Kyo, his eyebrows quirking up.

Sora nodded. "Surprisingly, the story seems to indicate that he never fully mastered all the techniques of the school."

"Really?" asked Kyo, surprised by the notion.

"Apparently, he initially only had proficiency in a couple of techniques from the _Seiryu_ discipline, including the _Mizuchi_." she said. "With those techniques alone, he was able to obtain the moniker of "The Thousand Slayer," and was already considered a swordsman of the highest caliber. However, from the perspective of the school itself, he was little more than a rank amateur. In the end, his teacher, Muramasa, lacked the time to teach him all the techniques of the school. Because of that, Muramasa focused himself upon teaching Kyo the Four Secrets, by beating them into his flesh."

"I would hope that I am a bit more than a rank amateur," noted Kyo with some amusement.

"I should say so," said Sora. "In all honesty, your technical mastery of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ no doubt outclasses his by leaps and bounds. But, at the same time, he obtained a critical quality that you yet lack."

"What is it?" asked Kyo.

"It is hard to say," said Sora. "The First Kyo was born into a turbulent era of history, from what we can determine, plying a land in a near-constant state of civil war. He and his followers clashed with entire armies on a regular basis. The battle that you and your friends experienced against Ironwood's forces would have been something that the First Kyo experienced repeatedly, though I'm told the technology of their era was far less-advanced."

"So...you're saying I lack...experience, essentially," said Kyo softly.

Sora nodded. "To a certain extent. You are not new to battle. You have been fighting for your life since you were but a boy. To an extent, that experience was meant to be as much a part of your upbringing as any formal training. That is why we have not made any official efforts to alleviate the animosity towards the bearers of the Crimson Eyes. To fully come into your own as a swordsman, and as a master of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ , you must have the experience of throwing your life away and taking it back over and over again, the experience of seizing strength and power with your own hands and through your own struggles. That was why you were turned loose upon the world. You were sent out, so that you might find new experiences, meet new people, make new friends and enemies, and test your strength over and over again.

"When you first set forth, you were faced with the Grimm, who tested your strength constantly. Before long, your strength reached the point that the Grimm would flee at the mere hint of your presence. Of course, you made plenty of enemies amongst the people you encountered, but you chose to leverage the relief your presence brought to the places you visited, in order to lift the spirits of those you met, which means you made fewer enemies than your father did in his day."

"Is that a bad thing?" asked Kyo.

Sora shook her head. "I'm always amazed by your compassion, my son. My husband never thought much about how he could use his strength to bring relief to the people the way you do. Of course, his wanderings were in the midst of the Revolution, so even without the Grimm, there was plenty for the people of the outside world to fear at the time. It was the same with your grandfather apparently, as he wandered about when the Great War was being fought."

"So you are saying that my experience pales to theirs," said Kyo, "that I need more experience in putting my life on the line to obtain victory."

Sora nodded gravely. "From what I have learned, the key to the hidden secrets of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ is belief, belief that is rooted in the state of nonbeing that can only be obtained through experience and endless struggle, to the point where your body moves without thought. Master this, and you will be able to surpass your limits. Muscles that are devoid of strength will wield your blade. A body short on vital blood will stand tall. Even though your Aura is expended, you will be able to unleash a bottomless well of strength."

"That sounds...familiar," said Kyo. His mind drifted back to his battle against Nobunaga. During the latter portion of that fight, his mind had been clouded and he had felt as though he had been in a haze, not fully comprehending what he was doing. Nonetheless, he had managed to equal, and even exceed, the power of the Demon King, despite being fatigued from his earlier battle against Ironwood's forces.

"Yes," agreed Sora. "Your fight against Nobunaga was likely a catalyst for growth. You have touched the surface of that power. But you have yet to master it fully. To be honest, I am not certain of my ability to bring it out of you with the limited time that we have. However, I shall endeavor to use our every waking minute to force you to strain the boundaries of your flesh to the very breaking point."

"So that means we're going to..." Kyo's eyes widened as Sora's fingers closed about the handle of her sword.

"Yes," said Sora. "Prepare yourself, my son. For I shall not show you any mercy from now on."

"As if you ever did before," muttered Kyo in wry amusement as he drew his own blade forth.

* * *

Yang frowned as she looked around the space. The cavern seemed to stretch on endlessly. She found herself wondering if some kind of Mibu trick was at work to make the space larger than it should be. In the distance, she could hear the clash of steel that signaled the beginning of Kyo's training with his mother. "Okay," she said dubiously, "I know I was supposed to come here. But is anybody actually going to come here to help me, or what?"

"Sorry about the wait," said a familiar voice.

Yang spun about to see the familiar figure of Shinrei emerge from the darkness behind her, a confident smirk on his face.

"We had to sort out the troops to make sure they could manage the line without us while we were away," said Keikoku, stepping out from the shadows on her other side.

"From what we've been told, you require special attention," said Chimei as he descended from the darkness above, as though suspended by strings.

"Wait! You guys are my teachers?" asked Yang, her eyes darting back and forth between the three members of the Goyosei that had come to greet her.

"Well, calling us teachers is a bit of an exaggeration, I think," said Shinrei wryly.

"Think of us as particularly rowdy sparring partners," added Keikoku.

"From the sound of things, there's few gains you could make through regular instruction," said Chinmei.

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

Shinrei closed the distance between them, coming to a stop just a couple of meters away. "From the sound of things, your Manifestation is something that has come into its own as you've continued to progress through battle. With every fight, you've been getting a better feel for its form, and how it should be."

"Because your Manifestation has nothing to do with any of the formal schools taught throughout the Mibu, there's little we could do to help you through regular instruction," said Keikoku, approaching Yang from the other direction. "You seem to be more a learn-by-doing type of person anyway."

"That's true enough," admitted Yang.

"Because of that, the actual advice we can give is limited," said Chinmei, landing on the ground next to Yang. "The best thing we can do to further your development is to press you through combat. Your job through all of this is to focus on how using your Manifestation feels, what you can do to make it more efficient and effective."

"Okay," said Yang. She now realized she was standing at the center of the trio and their bodies were now tensing. Chinmei drew his sword, while Keikoku began to level his spear at her. Shinrei's Aura manifested as swirling water, which formed into his oar-shaped halberd. Swallowing, Yang tensed, Ember Celica opening up over her left forearm, while Kiren Kaina extended down to cover her right.

"Just be warned," said Chinmei, his voice carrying an edge of what Yang imagined might be sadistic glee, "we aren't soft teachers. We're gonna work you to the bone."

"I wouldn't ask for anything less," said Yang, a nervous sweat breaking out across her forehead.

In perfect unison, all three of her opponents closed in.

* * *

Nora playfully spun her hammer about, looking for some sign of the person that was supposed to be her instructor for this session. She wondered just who Sora had asked to help her with her training. It was probably someone totally awesome.

"Well, I can see that you are eager to begin," commented a familiar voice as a girl emerged from the shadows.

"Chika!" squealed Nora, throwing herself at the other girl, who yelped in surprise as she found herself on the receiving end of one of Nora's bone-crushing hugs.

"Ugh! Why?" groaned Chika, forcing herself from Nora's grip. "I'm not your friend."

"Of course you are!" replied Nora excitedly. "I didn't expect you to be the one I'd be working with."

Grumbling and muttering to herself, Chika smoothed out her clothes, and recollected her composure. "I guess there's no arguing with you," she muttered. "Besides, you shouldn't be calling me Chika anymore."

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Nora, tilting her head curiously. "That's your name isn't it?"

"Not anymore," said Chika, drawing herself up proudly. "You're looking at Taihaku, leader of the Goyosei."

"No I'm not," said Nora without the slightest hesitation, making Chika grunt in surprise. "I know the real Taihaku. You don't look a thing like him. You should at least try growing out a beard before you pretend to be him."

"Why you..." hissed Chika, her hands clenching, her posture like an angry cat's. "Senzaemon-sama officially retired and granted me the name and title of Taihaku."

"I get that," said Nora cheerfully.

"Huh?" said Chika, her anger draining out of her, replaced by confusion. "But..."

"Aw, I was just joking," said Nora, waving a hand and laughing. "You may be a big shot of the Five Stars now, Chika, but you're still pretty green, if you get riled that easily."

A deep, heartfelt laugh echoed through the darkness as the towering, muscular figure of Senzaemon, the man who had previously carried the name of Taihaku, appeared out of the shadows. He walked over to Nora and fondly rubbed the top of her head, making the orange-haired girl giggle. "She's correct, Taihaku. You still have much to learn."

Chika let out a sigh. "I get no respect," she muttered.

"I respect you a lot," said Nora earnestly, springing out from under Senzaemon's hand. "It's really great to be working with you."

"Y-you hardly know me," sputtered Chika, looking away, a blush dusting her cheeks. "Why would you act so friendly towards me."

"Aww...I can tell," said Nora. "You're a great person. You just need to loosen up a little. You'd have more fun for one thing."

"I didn't seek my position to have fun," scoffed Chika.

"Of course not," agreed Nora. "But that doesn't mean that you can't. If you're so super-serious, you get wound up too tight and you can't do your job right. You need to relax and let loose, enjoy yourself. It has nothing to do with your title."

Senzaemon smiled fondly. "The girl speaks true," he said. "You would do well to heed her words, Taihaku. In some ways, she has even more experience in the world than you do. There is much that the two of you can learn from each other."

Chika sighed. "Fine," she said. "But let's worry about this 'loosening up' later, shall we. We're here to help you prepare for the battle ahead."

"Right," said Nora, saluting Chika sharply. "Show me the way, Chika-sensei."

"Call me Taihaku!" snapped Chika.

"Naw," said Nora. "When I think of Taihaku, I still think of him." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Senzaemon. "So I'm still gonna call you Chika."

"You..." growled Chika as Senzaemon guffawed loudly. Finally, she let out a breath and tried to calm herself down. "Fine! Whatever! Can we just get started already?"

"Sure thing," said Nora eagerly. "What's the plan?"

Chika took a few more breaths to settle herself before looking at Nora again. "From what I understand, the greatest issue you have right now is your tendency to waste your energy. I'm going to work with you how to streamline your fighting style, in order to fight more effectively and efficiently."

"Okay!" To Chika's shock, Nora's smile was no longer teasing or that strangely bubbly kind that seemed to worm its way under her skin with its over-the-top cheerfulness. Instead, she gave Chika a smile full of determined conviction.

"I expected more protest, to be honest," said Chika in confusion.

"I...I nearly died in Atlas," said Nora, her smile vanishing completely. "I mean...I didn't get to see any of the other Juni-twelve-whatever they're called. But I get the feeling that the guy Ren and I fought wasn't their best." She shuddered. "I won't be a burden to the others. I've got to try my best to get better too."

To her surprise, Chika found herself smiling in anticipation. "Well, it seems this won't be a waste of our time after all." She slowly slid her sword out of its sheath. "Let's not wait any longer then."

"Bring it on," said Nora, her fingers clenching tightly around the shaft of her warhammer.

* * *

"What is it that we should be doing?" asked Ren, as he and Neo sat, their legs crossed, in front of Hayate, who was also sitting.

"Believe it or not, the world has its own Aura," said Hayate softly.

"Huh?" Ren's eyebrows went up.

"There are a lot of theories about how that works," continued Hayate. "Some think that it's an aggregate, a soul born from the collective life force and Auras of every living thing upon it. Others have claimed that Remnant itself has a distinctive soul of its own, a sort of genius loci. I honestly don't know for certain either way, though I tend to believe the former theory more. However, the important thing is that the world _does_ have an Aura and, more importantly, you can learn to draw upon that Aura to supplement your strength."

"I don't...I don't understand," said Ren. "Even if that's true, you're still talking about using another Aura as your own. Is that even possible?"

"More than you think," said Hayate. He smirked. "And, if I'm right, you might already be doing that to a certain extent."

"What do you mean?" asked Ren as, alongside him, Neo blinked in equal confusion.

Hayate's smirk didn't change in the slightest. Then, right in front of them, he seemed to fade away, the colors of his skin and clothes seeming to wash out, bleeding into the space around him, almost appearing to blend with it. A few seconds later, he was gone from sight entirely, making his two students stare in confusion.

"Seem familiar?" asked Hayate from behind them, startling both Ren and Neo into combat-ready stances as they spun about to face the person they hadn't even noticed change positions, even though he'd been right in front of them earlier. There Hayate was, standing there as though he'd been there the whole time.

"That's..." Ren stared at him with wide eyes while Neo looked back and forth between the two of them, making the connection.

"Right," said Hayate, knowing what Ren had been getting at. "Your Semblance actually shows that you've been unconsciously using this ability from the very beginning."

"How does it work?" asked Ren.

"It may seem an odd comparison, given that you're standing on dry land when you're doing it," said Hayate, crouching down and pressing the palm of his hand up against the stone floor, "but the appropriate image is that of a submersible. When you use your Semblance, what you're actually doing is merging with the world's Aura, submerging yourself within it and allowing it to completely encompass you.

"You both already know how Suppression works. By shutting off the outward flow of your Aura, you can conceal your presence, which, of course makes it easier to hide. But you're still plainly visible, and the other, physical and tangible, aspects of your existence can give you away, not to mention that you render yourself just as vulnerable as a person without their Aura unlocked, while you're using it. However, this trick goes a step further, because you are immersing yourself within the world's Aura. By doing so, you almost literally become one with the world itself, a part of the scenery, no longer discernible to the awareness of others any more than individual rocks or leaves might be.

"It's this trick that let me move around Solitas undetected, and liberate the faunus internment camps, before the Atlesian forces even realized I was in the general vicinity. Even the advanced sensors of the military's machines couldn't detect me and, of course, neither can the Grimm."

Ren nodded, remembering how he'd first discovered his Semblance, back during his days as a child in the settlement of Kuroyuri. When the town had been overrun by a powerful Grimm, the emergence of Ren's Semblance had allowed him to escape detection from it and then, subsequently, help conceal Nora from it as well, enabling them to escape with their lives, where all the other townspeople...including Ren's parents...had failed.

"So I've been doing that the entire time," said Ren.

Hayate nodded. "However, that's just the beginning step. Right now, you're engaging with the world's Aura in a passive manner, immersing yourself within it. The next part is more difficult. From that position, you must learn to feel the world's Aura and draw it into you as an extension of yourself. Once you do that, the power you can utilize is far beyond what you will be capable of on your own."

"You make it sound so simple," said Ren dubiously.

"It is simple," replied Hayate. "However, simple and easy are not the same thing. Drawing in the world's Aura to use as your own requires diffusing your own awareness and opening yourself up, becoming a sort of empty vessel, into which the world's power can flow. The best way to master it is to simplify things further."

"How?" asked Ren.

Hayate drew his sword from its sheath and held it out to the side. Crackling arcs of electricity began to crawl up and down its length. "I use lightning. I simplified the process of drawing the world's Aura and wielding it by doing two things. First, I settled on a specific form of power that I wished to draw. The second is that I used another object, namely my sword, as an intermediary to hold the power, which allows me to wield it."

"Remarkable," said Ren, staring at Hayate's sword.

Hayate flicked his blade, dismissing the lightning running along its length in a shower of sparks, before sheathing it again. "This technique of wielding lightning was originally developed by the shinobi, Sarutobi Sasuke. I should warn you, lightning probably won't be your forte and, I think, you shouldn't be looking too much at invoking raw power by merging with the world's Aura. Sasuke and I were only able to use this technique, the _Raikoken_ , because of the weapons we wield."

Ren's eyes flicked to Hayate's sword. "You mean..."

Hayate nodded. "Sasuke and I have only ever been able to utilize this technique while wielding one of Muramasa's four Demon Blades. These swords, thus far, have been the only ones capable of holding the power of lightning, without shattering under the strain.

"That said, lightning is only one aspect of the kind of power you can wield, if you learn to wield the world's Aura as a weapon. It will probably take some experimentation for you two to come up with your own specialities. I had the advantage of building off an already established school, but you two will probably be best off developing your own styles from the ground up."

"Will we have the time?" asked Ren.

Hayate nodded with a firm smile, full of conviction. "Once Weiss and Haruka finish setting up the shields, we'll have time aplenty."

* * *

 **Cue the last big training montage of the story.**


	91. Chapter 91

**Chapter 91:**

Ruby collapsed onto her knees, gasping for breath. Her face and hair were slick with so much sweat, that one might have assumed that she'd been out in a rainstorm. In the distance, she could hear the clash of weapons as the others trained. Their work had only just started, but Ruby already felt like she was at her limit.

The problem, as always, was her damn Silver Eyes. Absent something to use them against, the power was hard to control and direct. Furthermore, using that power in moderation was proving difficult in the extreme. Her last effort left her feeling so drained that Ruby knew she had only been a moment away from unconsciousness, if she hadn't gotten enough of a hold over her ability to shut it off, before it sucked her strength away entirely.

It helped even less that her inborn ability was only one of the _two_ things she was supposed to be working on right now. There was the technique Sora had taught her, the mysterious ability that accelerated Ruby to the extent that it could bend time itself. Ironically, it was another ability rooted in her eyes. Called the _Seikireigan_ , the Aura she channeled through her eyes seemed to warp her movement in time, actually allowing Ruby to be in multiple places at the same time. It enabled her to evade attacks that would be otherwise unavoidable, or attack from multiple directions simultaneously. At its full power, the technique was overwhelming, as Cinder had discovered to her detriment during the battle in Atlas.

However, the issue was that the _Seikireigan_ was almost as draining as the Silver Eyes. Despite her continuous practice, Ruby still felt the effect the technique had on her inner ear, leaving her lurching, unbalanced, and nauseous to the point of having to choke back the urge to vomit. During her fight with Cinder, she had used the _Seikireigan_ and the Silver Eyes at the same time, and the resulting strain had been enough to completely wipe her out.

 _How do I do this?_ wondered Ruby, planting the spike of her weapon into the ground, and using the shaft to lever herself back up. As she did, she heard a familiar sound reach her ears.

"HAAA!" The sound was accompanied by the whistling noise of a sharp object cutting through the air. A faint breeze ruffled the end of Ruby's cape, the tiny motion transmitting itself up to her shoulders.

Turning around, Ruby found herself smiling as she saw Jaune. Like her, he was panting for breath and sweating hard, though he clearly hadn't yet pushed himself as far as she had. Of course, that was because his training wasn't nearly as drastic as hers. Instead, she watched as he stepped back, raising his shield ahead of him and his sword up behind. Letting out another cry, he stepped forward, past his shield, and swung the sword straight down. Ruby blinked, her eyes dazzled by the glittering flash that danced up the length of the blade's edge as Jaune swung it through a vertical slash, leaving a streak of light behind it. Withdrawing again, Jaune launched another slash, this one sideways. Again, the blade left a glittering line of light in its wake.

With each repetition of Jaune's attack, Ruby felt a familiar sense fill the air. It was warm, comforting, and encouraging. She could almost feel a presence hanging behind her fiancé, hand on his shoulders, guiding him through the movements. It was almost as though Pyrrha was there with them. _I guess she is,_ thought Ruby, her eyes once again focusing on the sword. With each practice strike, Jaune was drawing out his weapon's power, learning to utilize it as an extension of himself.

Ruby blinked furiously, a realization occurring to her. _Wait a minute!_ Her mind went back to the first time she had met Murasame. It was painful, the sting of his betrayal lingering in her heart, but she remembered something incredibly important. Murasame had shown them that her sweetheart, her precious Crescent Rose, had a soul, just like the blades Murasame had forged, like Kyo's weapon, like Crocea Mors.

 _That's it!_ thought Ruby excitedly. She had been drawing purely upon her own strength for both her techniques and the Silver Eyes. But if she learned to commune with the soul of her weapon, Ruby realized that, maybe, it would be able to alleviate the strain. Granted, Crescent Rose probably wasn't near as powerful as Kyo's Tenro or Crocea Mors. But even a little bit could go a long way, if she used it properly.

A new goal in mind, Ruby sat down, crossing her legs and resting the shaft of her scythe across them. Closing her eyes, she began taking deep breaths, trying to empty her mind the way she'd seen Jaune do, when he'd done the same with his own blade. She had to open herself completely to listen to the voice of her weapon.

* * *

Blake ducked a slash from an ebony blade that seemed to cut, not only through the air, but light itself, leaving a shadow in its wake that was barely visible in the faint illumination of the cavern. Turning, she sought to strike at Dougal. However, her blade simply passed through his body, as though it were nothing more than an illusion. The only evidence of her blow at all was the tiny distortion in the black mass of Dougal's body, before it closed back in on itself.

"Speed isn't enough," said Dougal calmly, his form seeming to simply blend into the darkness that pervaded the underground setting. "If you want to find my body and land your blows, you will have to merge with the darkness, as I have."

"But there aren't enough shadows," said Blake. "It's too dark here."

"What are you talking about?" asked Dougal. "Shadow is defined by the _absence_ of light. It is not that there are no shadows here, but rather, that _all_ this space is shadow. Considering that, it means that this entire space is our domain. In no other place, save for total darkness, can we move as freely as we can here. This is the ideal place to learn the final stages of the Shadow Arts."

Blake frowned. "But I can already move through shadow."

"Yes," agreed Dougal. "However, that is not the same as becoming one with the darkness. When you can draw it about yourself like a cloak, clothe yourself with it, only then will you have _truly_ mastered the Shadow Arts. This exercise is not about defeating me. It is about following me."

Blake's eyes narrowed. She realized what Dougal was talking about. It wasn't as though this was actually a sparring match. With his attacks, Dougal was giving her hints for how to locate him, how to pinpoint him with her senses, how to reach him with her own blade. In a sense, this was less of a fight, and more a case of Follow the Leader. With his attacks against her, Dougal was laying down a path for her to follow. Once she was able to stand in the same place that he did, she would be in that same condition, all but untouchable to anyone who wasn't a master of the Shadow Arts.

Calming herself, Blake relaxed her body, her senses extending out around her as she waited for her mentor's next move. She Extended her Aura through the darkness around her, amazed at how clearly she could perceive her surroundings. This was far more effective than the standard form of Extension she had been taught by Kyo, back at Beacon. Of course, she could only sense her surroundings in such totality because the darkness was so pervasive. In a regular, daytime setting, her Extension would allow her to sense the shadows around her. Of course, since most things standing in daylight, would cast a shadow, it was very comprehensive, but also confusing. When it wasn't being manipulated by Aura, a shadow's shape was determined by the angle of light against the object that cast it. So sensing an object or entity via its shadow created a skewed impression that took some doing to interpret.

But, for now, Extension was easy. Blake realized that Dougal was right. _Everything_ was shadow in this place. However, even with her senses and Aura honed to the limit, she still couldn't find her teacher. Lowering her weapons to her side, Blake closed her eyes and waited for his next attack.

In the stillness, Blake began to feel motion. It was as though the darkness in one space was being pulled in a particular direction, like how standing water could be made to move if an object was moved through it. It was as though the shadows were being stirred by an object that Blake's senses could not perceive. Her first impulse was to strike in the center of that disturbance. However, she realized that that wasn't the key to finding Dougal's body. What she needed to do was move past that disturbance in the same manner that he had and locate him within it.

Reaching out with her Aura, Blake tried to pull on the darkness around her the same way Dougal was doing. She didn't have much luck. It was basically like trying to pull on cobwebs without breaking them. Then she had to jump away as she felt Dougal's blade reach out from the shadows to slash at where her belly had been. Then she frowned again. _No! That's not it!_

Dougal's blade hadn't come out from the shadows, it had congealed from the shadows themselves. It wasn't an actual, physical object. It was a pure construct of shadow. The realization made Blake gasp. Coming to a stop, she relaxed and waited again for the signs of Dougal's next attack.

When that blade appeared from the darkness again, Blake made no effort to dodge or block, remaining in place as its edge bit into her Aura.

* * *

It was early in the afternoon when Weiss awakened from her sleep. Much to her surprise, Haruka was waiting in the pavilion of the guest quarters' courtyard, along with a meal. The two of them ate together, something Weiss found that she enjoyed remarkably. Despite a powerful build that put Yang's to shame, Haruka was a dainty eater, with a mild appetite. Of course, she might have had a more substantial meal not long before, and was merely eating alongside Weiss as an exercise in politeness. Either way, Weiss welcomed her company.

While they ate, Haruka explained her plan for establishing the remaining shields around the capital's border. She had set aside a room in her quarters in the Palace, where the Core Crystals would be held. Weiss would then bond the Core Crystals to their respective shield crystals, which would then be carried out to their respective arrays. Weiss' new glyphs had streamlined the process exponentially. Haruka believed that they could have all the shields up and running by tomorrow afternoon.

"You've saved us a great deal of trouble and hardship," said Haruka.

"I'm glad," said Weiss. "Although, I'm guessing that this uses up more of the completed Core Crystals than you were planning to."

Haruka nodded. "In all honesty, we weren't planning on using any of them, since all the shields would be linked to the capital's geothermal power grid. Fortunately, we have been growing the Core Crystals in yearly batches for over a hundred years now. Our plans for the outer settlements are not delayed by any significant margin. It's a minor setback, compared to the service you've rendered us."

That made Weiss smile. "I'm just glad that I was able to help."

"You've done significantly more than that," said Haruka with a smile. "I hope that, when the battle with Nobunaga has concluded, you will return here and take me as a student."

"What?" gasped Weiss, her cheeks flaring red. However socially awkward she might have been, Haruka was one of the Taishiro, the ruling party of the Mibu Clan. She was Weiss' senior by who knew how many decades, if not centuries. But she wanted Weiss to teach her. "Why?"

"Well...your glyphs are remarkable. However, it seems counterproductive to me, if you are the only one capable of using them," said Haruka. "I am not the only one who will need to learn them. You may well have revolutionized how we use the power source that we developed."

"Oh..." said Weiss. That much was true. If she was the only one who could create the glyphs used by these crystals, that would essentially make the Mibu completely dependent on her. Despite that knowledge, her first impulse was to protest. However, she quickly stifled that impulse, reminding herself that this was no longer a Semblance. She had created a Manifestation. Contrary to what she had been taught her entire life, her glyphs were not some kind of hereditary trait. Instead, they were a school that had been taught throughout generations of the Schnee family. The important fact was that Weiss now knew that they need not be unique to the Schnee family. Not only could she create and utilize new glyphs herself, but she could pass her skills on to others.

The possibilities that opened up before her made her heart thud alarmingly in her chest. Now that she had agreed to give up her inheritance to Whitely, she had been at something of a loss as to what to do with her newfound freedom. The act of relinquishing her claim to the SDC and setting herself free had left her with the need to find a new direction. Of course, recent events had stolen much of her attention, and Weiss still intended to follow the path of a Huntress. But now...she saw a new possibility. _I could be a teacher..._ She had to admit, the idea was intriguing.

Still, that was all in the future. Right now, Weiss had a daunting task ahead of her. She would help Haruka finish establishing the shields around the capital's perimeter, then she would have to join her friends in preparing for the oncoming battle. _And then I have to survive that,_ thought Weiss grimly. The fight with Haira had been daunting enough, and it was Hayate who had done most of the fighting, but what was ahead would be even more difficult.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Weiss hurried to finish her meal, so she and Haruka could get back to work.

* * *

Kyo slammed into the stone wall of the cavern with enough force to crack it, before collapsing to his knees. He let out a wet cough, his body convulsing. He paused for a second, then spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"Done already?" asked Sora from where she stood. Her bejeweled sword was speckled with dots and streaks of Kyo's blood, flowing down the edge and dripping off the tip.

Struggling, Kyo forced himself to his feet, planting the tip of his sword into the ground to help lever himself up.

"You need to stop holding back," said Sora. "I know you've unlocked the power of the True Crimson Eyes. You need to unleash it, if you are to realize your full potential."

"But..." Kyo hesitated.

Sora's expression softened. "I know," she said. "Like your father, you've forsworn the path of the True Mibu. Relying upon that power may seem like straying dangerously close to the line you've forbidden yourself to cross. However, fear is a barrier to understanding. To understand and control that power, you must learn to embrace it, to see the full limit of your capability. Just as you learned to overcome your fear of death, and learn to dance at the limit of your life, so too must you overcome your fear of your power. Only when you've learned to understand it and embrace it, can you truly control and restrain it."

She sighed. "As long as you restrain yourself like this, you won't come nearly close enough to surpassing the limits of the flesh. Besides, how can you hope to stand against Nobunaga in the flesh of the True Mibu body, if you cannot even stand against me?"

Kyo winced, conceding that his mother, who was revered as equal to her husband in power, had a point. Over the course of hundreds of bouts, throughout the course of his life, he had never bested her once. If victory eluded him here, then there was no hope against Nobunaga, when Kyo confronted him next.

"At this point, there is no time for hesitation or uncertainty," said Sora. "You must do as your father, and your ancestors before you have. No matter how difficult the path, no matter how mighty the adversary, you can only move forward. Strive, Kyo. Strain forward with all your might. Forgo all pretense of pride and dignity, and struggle with every ounce of your being to move past your limits."

Kyo grunted and, with some visible strain, lifted his sword once again. "Of course," he said.

Sora smiled fondly. "Good. Now...Come!"

* * *

The sun had already stooped beneath the horizon, when everyone emerged from the training grounds. They were panting, sweating, and limping. Fortunately, none of them were bleeding or bruised. Saisei had circulated amongst them throughout the day, healing their wounds and restoring their energy to enable them to continue pushing throughout the day. Despite that, the physical and mental fatigue built up, so they were barely able to walk as they made it back to their quarters.

"Ugh..." groaned Ruby, sagging into her seat at the table in the pavilion, "I think we're gonna need a lot more time than we have to get ready."

"No kidding," said Yang. "I feel like I got run over by a couple of trucks." She sighed as she leaned against Kyo, who seemed nearly as tired as her.

"If this is just the first day, I'm worried about how the rest of our time here is going to go," said Blake as she stared at the table, one hand resting against her stomach as she recalled the deathly chill of Dougal's blade against her flesh.

"Are we really gonna make it?" asked Nora softly, her worried tone unnerving all of them. "We barely survived the last fight. At this rate..."

"You can do it," said Hayate, looking much less tired as he settled into his own seat. "We've already dealt with some of the Junishinsho. Of the rest of them, we mostly know their abilities."

"I'm not too worried about Cinder," said Ruby. "I've got her number now."

Jaune rested a hand on Ruby's arm. "Just be careful," he said.

Ruby nodded.

"I can handle Adam," said Blake.

"Are you sure?" asked Yang.

Blake nodded. "The thing I'm worried about is the one called Makora. I don't understand the basis of his powers. They might be something similar to the Shadow Arts, but they aren't completely the same."

"You could ask Dougal-san," said Kyo. "From what I recall, Makora is one of the older generation of the Junishinsho, that clashed with my father and his friends the last time Nobunaga tried to rise. He might be able to give you some insight into Makora's abilities."

"It's worth a try," said Blake.

Ruby swallowed and looked warily at Jaune. "What about Santera."

Jaune closed his eyes and nodded. "I'll take her, if we have the option of choosing opponents."

"Are you sure can handle it?" asked Blake.

Jaune nodded. "I can handle the fact that it's Pyrrha," he said with surprising conviction. "What worries me is that her power is way stronger than Pyrrha's ever was."

"What do you mean?" asked Ren.

"The way she fights," said Jaune pensively. "I get the feeling it's the way Pyrrha would have fought, if she had been able to refine her Semblance into a proper Manifestation. What's more, she's able to learn from her opponents, and even mimic their abilities to a certain extent. When we were fighting in Atlas, she started imitating my Manifestation."

"That's bad news," said Nora, while, next to her, Neo nodded gravely.

"It wasn't perfect," said Jaune. "Without a will of her own, she's missing a critical component of what made Pyrrha so strong. As long as she doesn't have that, I can beat her."

"Well, I guess we're about as well squared away as we can get," said Ruby. "We'll just have to keep working as hard as we can until it's time to fight."

As they chatted over their meal, they began to notice that Weiss was absent once again.

"Is she still working on the shields?" wondered Blake.

Apparently in response to her question, Dougal rose up out of her shadow. "That is correct," he said, his sudden appearance startling several of them. "She and Haruka-sama finished the development of the necessary glyphs, and spent the afternoon bonding the Core Crystals to their corresponding shield crystals. Afterwards, she accompanied Haruka-sama and her people out into the field to complete the installation of the shields. They have been working their way around Onmyo's border since."

"Is it going to take a while?" asked Jaune, recovering from the shock of Dougal's sudden appearance.

"Actually, they should finish sometime tomorrow morning," said Dougal. "Haruka-sama initially estimated that it would take longer. However, your friend's innovations have streamlined the process, to the point that the installation of each shield array takes a few minutes at most."

"That's awesome!" exclaimed Ruby.

Dougal nodded. "Haruka-sama is most impressed by Weiss-dono's work."

"Where are they now?" asked Yang. "Why isn't Weiss back?"

"They have stopped work for the night," explained Dougal. "However, they deemed it more efficient to simply find quarters out near the border, so that they continue their work without delay tomorrow. Weiss-dono sends her apologies for not joining you."

"Well, it's not as though we can hold it against her," said Blake wryly. "She's clearly working hard to help, in her own way."

"That is true," agreed Dougal. "More importantly, by helping with Haruka-sama's work to establish the perimeter quickly, she will be freeing up Haruka-sama to assist with your training."

"We've heard that before," said Ruby. "Something about being able to stretch the time we have, right?"

Dougal nodded. "I believe that Weiss-dono has already reaped the benefits of Haruka-sama's skill. By tomorrow afternoon, you shall all have that opportunity as well."

"Well, I'm all for it," said Yang. "We're going to need all the time and help we can get."

"Both Sora-sama and I have faith in you," said Dougal, the smile perceptible in his tone, even though his mouth wasn't readily visible.

"Well, either way, we need sleep," said Ren as Nora yawned loudly next to him. "After dinner, I suppose it's bedtime for us."

"Sleep well," said Dougal softly. "Come tomorrow morning, your training shall continue."

"Great," groaned Yang, earning a chuckle from Kyo.

* * *

Weiss stared up at the stars from the porch of the wayhouse, where Haruka had found quarters for them. The inn typically served merchants traveling into the capital, offering them convenient quarters near the point of their arrival, at the edge of Onmyo, though such places were now serving as quarters for soldiers protecting the borders, while the shields were being setup. Either way, the innkeeper and his staff obviously hadn't been prepared for such illustrious company as a member of the Taishiro and her retinue. They had scrambled to prepare their finest rooms and offer their best provisions, despite Haruka's nervous protestations that they didn't need any such considerations. The sight of the hooded woman, desperately trying to forestall the efforts of the inn's staff to pamper them had been somewhat amusing, despite the fact that Weiss knew that Haruka was making what was, for her, a monumental effort to be more communicative than usual.

Still, Weiss was glad that they would be comfortable for the night. The rooms offered by the inn were more than adequate for their purposes. If anything, Weiss suspected that they were a good bit more lavish than what Haruka was used to, given the delicateness with which the Elder had treated every object and piece of furniture in her room. Or perhaps Haruka was just worried about damaging someone else's property.

In her own case, Weiss had grown surprisingly used to roughing it, for a girl of her upbringing. It was to be expected, of course. A Schnee Heiress might be accustomed to the lap of luxury, wherever she went, but an active Huntress would have to make do with whatever lodgings were available, assuming there _were_ any at all. Weiss was no stranger to the inside of a sleeping bag, beneath the open sky. During her time with her friends and teammates, during the fight with Salem, Weiss had slept in forests, caves, the homes of complete strangers, and even the occasional barn floor. They were the kind of conditions that would have given any other member of her family, save her sister, a conniption, but Weiss liked them well enough.

"I can't thank you enough for all that you have done for us," said Haruka as she joined Weiss out on the inn's porch, holding a steaming mug in each hand.

Weiss smiled and nodded her thanks as she took the mug from Haruka's hand, sipping it politely. She was surprised to find the familiar fragrance and taste of fine coffee, having expected tea. Weiss preferred coffee, of course. However, she'd noticed a lot of parallels the Mibu had with Mistrallian culture, which, apparently, included a preference of tea over coffee. She got the impression that coffee was a pricier commodity here.

Still, she accepted the drink, knowing that Haruka would probably arrange for the innkeeper and his staff to be compensated for their hospitality. "It's the least I could do," she said. "After all, you gave me this," she said, gently hefting Myrtenaster, with rested in its sheath by her seat.

"It wasn't much," said Haruka, averting her eyes shyly.

Weiss rested a hand on Haruka's unoccupied arm, so that the resulting flinch didn't jar her drink. "Yes it was," said Weiss. "I know well enough that your Core Crystals are priceless. You might have made excuses, but that doesn't change the fact that you gave me one. I honestly wouldn't have been able to face my father, if you hadn't. The Manifestation I created wouldn't exist without it. I owe all of that to you."

Haruka's blush was visible, even in the low light. She focused her eyes on her own drink, rather than try to meet Weiss'. Fortunately, Weiss knew better than to hold that against her.

Instead, she decided to change the topic slightly. "Did Neptune ever speak to you?" she asked. "I know he was curious about the crystals as well."

"Yes," said Haruka. "Your friend, Penny, brought him to me." Her blush intensified. "I gave him one too."

That surprised Weiss. "You did?" It was shocking, to say the least. Given the immeasurable value of a single Core Crystal, the fact that she'd parted with a second one was unbelievable.

"I also translated my notes for him," said Haruka. "He's going to try developing his own Conversion Crystals in Mistral."

"Really?" That made Weiss' eyebrows rise, though now she had an inkling of understanding. Whereas Haruka's gift to Weiss had been a gesture of, albeit hidden, kindness, it seemed that her doing the same for Neptune had been a pragmatic one. Her reasoning was the same as it had been, when the Mibu as a whole had gifted each Kingdom and Acadmey with a Core Crystal and accompanying Conversion Crystals of their own. It was a pragmatic gesture, intending to use those groups' research into the crystals' properties as a stepping stone to advance their own technological level. Now Haruka had put Neptune into a position to do the same thing. It explained why she might go so far as to translate her notes into Common, considering that it was something she was notorious for _not_ doing.

Haruka looked down at the mug cupped in her hands. "You've all done so much for us," she said softly. "I wanted to thank you in any way I could."

Weiss smiled. "Well, we'll consider it an even exchange, after all that you've done for us. It's what friends do for each other, right?"

"Friends?" Haruka stared at Weiss in surprise.

Weiss nodded. "I'd like to be your friend, if you'd allow it."

Haruka gasped and blushed even harder. "I...I've never..."

"Never?" asked Weiss.

"Well...not until I met Sora," said Haruka. "I...I've always been nervous around other people. Even when I was one of the Goyosei, I couldn't really interact with the others. My master was the only one I could really talk to." She sighed quietly.

"You have more than that now," said Weiss, once again resting her hand on Haruka's arm, noticing that her flinch was much less pronounced now. "If you want to talk, I'll listen. I'd be glad to listen to you."

"Thank you," said Haruka.

"For now, let's just relax," said Weiss. "We'll want to go to bed soon. We've got to make an early start tomorrow morning."

Haruka nodded and the two of them returned to sipping their drinks. Silence fell over them. But it was a companionable, comfortable silence. Weiss once again turned her eyes up to the stars. They seemed so much brighter in this Kingdom. Of course, she supposed that it was only natural. The Mibu had fewer lights than the other Kingdoms, which reduced light pollution, making the stars much more visible. Despite their recent developments, Weiss hoped that this one thing about the Mibu that never changed.

* * *

Blood dribbled across the stones of the cavern as Sora and Kyo faced each other, the two of them panting for breath. Their clothes were tattered, their skin marred with numerous small lacerations. Kyo was crouched down, struggling to stand upright, while Sora looked down at him. Despite the situation, they were both smiling.

"You've been getting better," said Sora. "But I still need you to bring out the True Crimson Eyes, Kyo. You have to stop holding back."

"I'm sorry," said Kyo, finally managing to stand upright. "Ever since the fight with Nobunaga...I haven't been able to. I'm not even sure I know how. Back then, it just...happened..."

"I understand," said Sora. "That's how it goes sometimes. Your strength doesn't come with a neat little instruction manual. Unfortunately, to awaken that power of yours, I may have to take you to the edge of death."

"Please do," said Kyo, bowing his head.

"Well, you're working hard," observed a familiar voice as two figures materialized out of the darkness.

Kyo and Sora turned to regard the new arrivals and their smiles widened. "Weiss-dono, Haruka, does this mean you've finished?" asked Sora.

Weiss and Haruka nodded in almost perfect unison. "I'm prepared to begin," said Haruka.

"Are you sure?" asked Sora. "Perhaps you should rest a little. I don't want you to strain yourself unduly."

Haruka shook her head. "I'll be fine," she said. "Please call the others over. We'll begin immediately."

"Very well then," said Sora, her tone eager.

A few minutes later, Sora had assembled all the Beacon students, and their respective trainers, together. Haruka looked at them and shifted nervously. Then Weiss gently took her hand and shared an encouraging smile with the hooded woman.

"I will use my technique to warp the space and time around us," explained Haruka, trying to keep her tone level. "I can support the technique for a total of twenty hours."

"That gives us a hundred hours to work with," noted Ruby.

Sora nodded. "However, the toll on Haruka is substantial. Once we reach the limit, she will need at least a full day to recover, before she can use it again. So we will set a simple schedule. You will train as constantly as possible, within the boundaries of her technique. You will then have a day to recover from your training outside ,before you begin again. We shall proceed this way for as long as we are able. Are you all prepared for this?"

"Yes," the others answered in unison.

Sora and Haruka traded nods. "Then let's begin," said Sora.

* * *

 _I knew I shouldn't have gone out,_ thought Penny, as she stared nervously at the crimson garbed woman in front of her.

"You!" growled Cinder, her voice sounding more guttural than ever. Her eye narrowed, and sparks of fire jumped from its corner. Raising her right hand, she called forth flames to dance in her palm. "Just what do you think you're doing here?"

Penny swallowed, unsure of what to do. Her hand strayed to the handle of her sword, wondering if she ought to draw it. However, she knew that, like her, Cinder was one of the Junishinsho. In her own mind, Penny still saw Cinder as the enemy, after Penny and her friends had spent so much time and effort fighting Cinder's previous master, Salem. Penny would have liked nothing more than to draw her blade and let the woman have it. However, she knew that starting a fight with Cinder was likely to bring the other members of the Junishinsho down on her and her father.

Though she had been recognized as Antera, and was even allowed to carry her weapon once more, Penny knew better than to think that the other members of the Junishinsho had truly accepted them. Normally, she would be fine with that. She didn't _want_ to be accepted by these people. She didn't want to be one of them. However, at the same time, she realized that she had to tread carefully. She was in the center of enemy territory. Starting a fight now would be far too dangerous.

At the same time, there was no way she could simply stand back and let Cinder attack her with impunity.

"So..." hissed Cinder, "the pathetic puppet that thinks itself a human wanders around here, like she has every right to."

Her barb didn't really have any effect on Penny. She had come to terms with her previous status as an android a long time ago. It stung even less, now that she had a flesh-and-blood body of her own. However, she also recognized that Cinder was looking for any excuse to attack.

 _It figures,_ she thought ruefully. _The first time I decide to leave the room on my own, and I run into her, of all people._

"Nothing to say for yourself?" asked Cinder, her orange pupil shining in the perpetual twilight of the poorly-lit tunnel. "I figured as much. Will you draw that sword and fight, or will you die where you stand?"

Penny's hand closed around the handle of her sword. The flames above Cinder's hand intensified, then curled in on themselves, solidifying into a miniature sun that hovered above her fingers.

Abruptly, Penny's view of Cinder was cut off as a black shape glided between them. The newcomer's sudden arrival was all the more jarring, because Penny had no idea where she had come from. There were no openings in the tunnel on either side between her and Cinder and, as far as Penny knew, no one had been behind her, and she hadn't seen Cinder either.

"Santera?" growled Cinder. "Get out of my way."

The black-cloaked figure of Santera turned to fully face Cinder. Her lips moved, but no sound emerged. Cinder had to lean in to figure out what Santera was saying.

"This brat?" she asked incredulously. "There's no way she could be one of us."

Santera spoke again.

"You're lying," growled Cinder.

"You know that's impossible, Mekira," rumbled Indara, emerging from the shadows behind her. "Santera does not have the capacity to lie."

"So it's true?" asked Cinder, turning to glare at him. "This girl is now Antera?"

"Correct," replied Indara. "Shatora brought her into our fold. She is his adopted daughter."

"Really?" mused Cinder. "I wonder if that was wise."

"I have my own doubts," said Indara. "However, Nobunaga-sama has confirmed her entry into the Junishinsho. Neither you nor I have any basis for argument. Accept it, Mekira."

Cinder's body tensed and, for a brief second, Penny thought that she really would attack, regardless. However, it appeared that she respected, or at least feared, Indara enough to heed his orders, and lowered her hand, dismissing the orb of flame hovering above it.

"Mark my words, you'll regret allowing her here," growled Cinder.

"A sentiment I share," said Indara. "But Nobunaga-sama has made his decision, and we shall abide by it."

Apparently having nothing else to say, Cinder turned about and strutted past Indara. Penny swallowed, and her eyes drifted to the powerfully-built man, her eyes meeting his. A shudder ran through her as she realized that he fully embraced Cinder's sentiment, and only his fanatical loyalty to Nobunaga kept him from moving to shatter her skull at that moment. Finally, he too turned around and walked away. Penny noted, with a hint of satisfaction, that he still had a slight limp, owing to the heavy damage Yang's attack had inflicted on him. She just wished she had a chance to express her admiration for what Yang had done in person, assuming she lived long enough.

Santera remained where she was, having frozen into place like a statue, or rather, more like an android that had gone into standby, a comparison that Penny found unsettling, given that Santera was, most certainly, not an android. Penny found herself wondering if that was what Santera did when she didn't have any particular purpose, merely stand in place like an unused machine, until there was something for her to do. Assuming she really was human, after a fashion, she had to have all the classic biological necessities that came with such a body. However, Penny couldn't picture Santera eating or using the bathroom, as it seemed so far out of the norm for her.

Curious, Penny carefully inched around Santera, wanting to get a look at the young woman's face. As she did, she noticed that the fabric of Santera's cloak wasn't fabric at all, but rather, a swirling cloud of particles that was maintained in the basic shape of a cloak. Finally managing to get into position, Penny gazed up into her savior's face, and gasped in shock and horror, the color completely draining from her own as she saw Pyrrha's familiar, yet unresponsive, visage staring back at her, with blank, glassy eyes.

Penny opened her mouth to scream, then clamped her hands over it, stifling the sound into a horrified squeak. Unable to restrain herself anymore, she bolted, shoving past Santera, who offered neither resistance nor response of any kind, rushing back towards the room she shared with her father. Slamming the door behind her, she bolted into the connected cavern that served as a bathroom, and the hole bored deep into the rock that served as their toilet (Penny hadn't bothered to try and work out just how the Junishinsho had managed to maintain working plumbing, of all things, within their underground complex), and doubled over it, upending the contents of her stomach, until all she had left were dry heaves.

After several minutes, Penny recovered enough to stand back upright. Clumsily, she lurched over to her bed, but couldn't find the wherewithal to climb into it, instead collapsing alongside it, crying heavily, her tears staining the fabric of her blanket and sheets. She stayed like that, even when she heard the sound of the door opening, accompanied by the familiar sound of her father's tread as he made his way over to her.

"Penny?" he asked softly, kneeling beside her.

"I want to go home," said Penny, turning to throw herself at him, Murasame catching her and holding her tightly, as she transferred her sobs into his shoulder. "I hate this place! These people are monsters!"

"Yes, they are," said Murasame. "And that is exactly why we cannot leave. Even if we were able to escape, we would only perish when they emerge to overrun the world. They are a force we cannot oppose, much less Nobunaga himself, now that he has the ultimate vessel."

"That was your fault," growled Penny, pulling back enough to glare at him through her tears. "He wouldn't have gotten it, if you hadn't betrayed the King."

"That is true," said Murasame, bowing his head. "But it was also necessary. Know this, Penny. Whatever else I do, it is my absolute determination to do everything to ensure that you can live through this. Above all else, I seek to protect you. That is why I have made decisions and done things that you have every right to hate me for." Despite her angry glare, he smiled and brushed the tears out from under her eyes. "Even if you choose to hate me, I love you with all my heart."

Penny once again pressed her face into his shoulder, clinging to him as he held her, her sobs and wails muffled by the fabric of his kimono. Murasame held her until Penny cried herself to sleep. He continued to hold her for several more minutes, before finally putting her to bed.

* * *

The secret labyrinth of tunnels that served as the base of operations for Nobunaga and the Junishinsho had few exits. Those few exits were carefully concealed behind cunningly-designed stone doors, or hidden by screens of scrub brush, one of the few kinds of vegetation that managed to thrive in the more northern reaches of Solitas. In fact, Nobunaga's base lay just beyond the mountain pass his horde of Grimm had marched through, its entrances emerging from the other side of the mountain range themselves. The leaders of Atlas would have been horrified to learn that their new greatest enemy had been practically camping out on their doorstep this entire time, although probably not surprised, as it was a strategically sound decision, the location making it a great position to strike from.

Shadows descended along the sides of the mountain pass, darting between rock formations, leaping in and out of cover with agility far beyond that of the troops of the average military force. Of course, that was to be expected, given that these were the soldiers of the Mibu Clan, their training on par with that of the average Huntsman, when it came to movement and skill. Furthermore, these were scouts, their skills focused on both speed and subtlety, allowing them to move quickly across the terrain, while leaving few indicators of their presence, not even the sound of a single pebble being jarred out of place to mark their passage.

They were dressed in loose clothes of dark-gray, bordering on black, with hoods to hide their heads, the design inherited from the shinobi of ages past. The steel of their weapons was darkened and grayed, in order to keep them from reflecting the light when they were drawn. They moved in silence, not exchanging a single word as they danced from position to position with the coordination and grace of expert dancers.

Reaching the bottom of the pass, the leader of the group knelt down to the ground, examining the dirt for signs of disturbance. There was plenty to sift through. The trail left by the horde of Ghouls that had poured over the pass was the furthest thing from subtle. However, the tread of the Grimm concealed other, more important clues, the movements of the scant handful of humans and faunus that had moved among them, serving as their masters and commanders. Such traces had been hard to find. But the scout squad, being the experienced trackers that they were, had uncovered the occasional trace, their goal to find the point of origin, not just of the horde itself, but of the ones who had commanded it and set upon the people of Atlas.

The leader's head shifted, her gaze following a trail of footprints so light that they were nearly invisible amongst the heavier tread of the Grimm. This trail originated from a different direction than that of the rest of the horde. Moving carefully, she and her squad traced the trail back towards what looked like a featureless rock face. They quickly moved to examine it, but avoided touching it, concerned about what alarms and defenses might lay behind the unassuming facade of stone. It took several minutes of careful examination, but they were eventually able to locate the seams that concealed what appeared to be a stone door. None of them dared to try and manipulate it.

Instead, the group fell back, exchanging hand signals as they retreated back towards the pass. and settled into a space of concealment, where they could keep the entrance in sight. There, the leader signaled for their force to split, three of the scouts remaining to keep an eye on the situation here, while the remaining three retreated back over the pass to report their findings back to Makoto.

The lair of Oda Nobunaga had been discovered.

* * *

 **That feeling where you can't really think of anything to say, yet feel obligated to say something, just because...**


	92. Chapter 92

**Chapter 92:**

"So...how's it going?" asked Yang, tracing her fingers across Kyo's bare chest as the two of them relaxed in his bed, after an evening of enthusiastic, if not exactly vigorous, lovemaking. They were both tired from their "hundred-hour" training period, though they'd gotten short rest periods throughout that time. Even though, outside the effect of Haruka's technique, only twenty hours had passed, for them it had been much longer since they had been able to spend meaningful time together, most of their time spent training, in order to not allow Haruka's efforts to go to waste.

"...Slowly," said Kyo, the frustration in his voice evident.

Yang stifled a giggle, mixed with a sigh. She supposed he had every right to be frustrated. He was training to become strong enough to engage Nobunaga. However, right now, he wasn't even equal to his own mother...not yet anyway. He had barely managed a victory over Nobunaga in their last fight by the skin of his teeth. But the next time they fought, the Demon King would be wielding the body of Kyo's father and the virtually unlimited power of the True Mibu. Despite all the time and effort he was putting in, and all the extra time they had gained, thanks to Haruka, it probably felt severely lacking, given the burden that currently rested on his shoulders.

But, at the same time, Yang could detect a hint of almost childish petulance in Kyo's voice. She remembered Saisei's tales of a young Kyo, who, even as a mere child, had been strong enough to lay even adults low. She'd heard relatively little about his training in the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_. But what little she _had_ heard had given her the impression that learning the techniques of the school, even the higher-tier ones, had been a fairly easy task for him. On top of that, the breadth of his experience was already impressive, having traveled across the width and breadth of Remnant on little more than his own two feet, besting every foe he came across, often with ease, even if said foe was an entire army. It appeared that it was only his frequent defeats at the hand of his mother that had instilled him with the patience and dedication to keep him from snapping and giving up entirely.

"Is it hard?" asked Yang.

Kyo grunted. "It's...not easy," he said. "Despite what O-Kaa-san says, I just can't grasp how I was able to awaken the True Crimson Eyes before. No matter how hard I try, I can't bring them out again. I just can't..."

Yang rested her head against his chest. "It's okay," she said.

"It's not," said Kyo softly. "At this rate..."

"Don't worry about it for now," said Yang, closing her eyes, letting the weight of her head press against Kyo's chest and push him down into the bed itself. "We have a free day before we have to go back to training. Just relax."

Kyo sighed and nodded, tightening the hold of the arm he had wrapped around Yang's torso, trailing his fingers lightly up and down her side, making her giggle at the slight tickling sensation.

"What about your own training?" asked Kyo.

"Your friends are all slave drivers," muttered Yang, a bit of petulance in her own tone.

"Are you starting to grasp what your Manifestation's form should be?" asked Kyo.

"I think so," said Yang. "It really helps, having Haruka stretch our time like that. I don't think we can even begin to thank her enough for that."

"Given how Weiss managed to revolutionize the application of the Etheric Crystals, I think that Haruka-sama shares the same sentiment," said Kyo with a quiet chuckle. "At least you seem to be making progress."

"Hey," admonished Yang, injecting a playful growl into her voice, "what did I just say?"

"Sorry," said Kyo with another chuckle.

Yang smiled and sighed against his chest. She thought back to all that she had seen and experienced since she had met Kyo, including the things she had seen him do. She thought back to the times where he had seemed his most powerful, all the way back to the time he'd fought Farran Smith, the Atlesian Specialist who'd threatened the settlement Kyo had been staying with at the time. She blinked, an inkling of an idea occurring to her as she allowed her thoughts to progress forwards to Kyo's battle with Nigel, where the balance had tipped when she had intervened, and put herself in danger. Thinking forward more, she arrived at the fight against Nobunaga himself, remembering those occasions where Kyo had suddenly found hidden reserves of strength, despite his fatigue and injuries.

"Kyo..." she said.

"Yes?"

"I think I know what you need," she said. "You once told me that you were able to fight at your best because you wanted to protect me."

"That's right," said Kyo, thinking back.

"And, during your fight with Nobunaga, that's when you were at your best," said Yang. "When he threatened me, when he was pointing his sword at me, or talking about killing me, that's when you were able to pull out all the stops. I think that's what can get you to advance."

"I hope you aren't suggesting that I need you to endanger yourself for the sake of my training," said Kyo wryly.

"Not a chance," said Yang flatly. "But...you once told me that a fight doesn't seem as interesting if there isn't something at stake. For you...that's having someone or something to protect. You traveled to all those towns and settlements to give them a break from Grimm attacks. When you fought Farran, back in Cherry Grove, you were fighting on behalf of the people Farran was threatening. When you fought Nigel, you turned things around when I was in danger. When you and your friends took on Ironwood's army, you were fighting for each other. When you fought Nobunaga, you were protecting me again. That's what gives you so much strength at the critical time."

Kyo was silent for a long moment. "You might be right," he admitted. "Do you think that's the key to me unlocking the True Crimson Eyes?"

"Maybe," said Yang. "It's worth a try. From everything that's been said, I think we all know the threat Nobunaga is gonna pose when he shows up again."

She felt Kyo nod against the top of her head.

"So you should think about all the people who will suffer if you don't stop him, if you don't get stronger..."

"I see," said Kyo. "It's certainly worth a try. When our training starts up again, I'll give it a whirl."

"Yeah, you do that," said Yang, nuzzling into his chest, happy to feel his arms around her. "In the meantime, why don't I try and give you a few more reasons to apply yourself." She began lightly kissing his chest.

Kyo chuckled and pulled her up so that he could meet her lips with his own. "You certainly are quite tireless, when it comes to this sort of thing," he noted.

"What can I say," said Yang with a giggle. "Being with you really lights my fire."

A silence fell over the room for a moment, before Kyo spoke again. "That...was terrible."

"But you know you love it," said Yang, leaning in to kiss him once more.

"That I do," said Kyo.

* * *

"It's beautiful," said Weiss as she and Hayate perched on a rock, watching as the sun crested the horizon, the riot of colors running across the sky slowly fading into the blue of another beautiful day as the orb of fire rose upwards.

The two of them had taken a perch on the side of the volcano, enjoying the view. They were both tired, having woken up extra early to watch the sunrise. Weiss was actually looking forward to going back to bed for some additional sleep after this. But she appreciated Hayate wanting to show her this.

It was a spectacular vista, to be sure, the rising sun illuminating Onmyo below. However, the view also took a turn for the strange, with the arrival of several outsider airships, vessels from all four Kingdoms, bringing with them to materials, labor, and knowhow to build the Mibu Clan's own CCT Tower. They had arrived while training had still been in progress. After emerging, Weiss and the others had learned that the Kingdoms were collaborating, pooling all their resources to erect the Mibu's tower as quickly as possible, to ensure that they had advance warning, should Nobunaga emerge again, before they were ready.

"Yeah," agreed Hayate, leaning back to stare at the lightening sky. "I hear that you and Haruka have really hit it off."

"She's just shy," said Weiss with a giggle. "I think it's amazing that someone as strong, accomplished, and experienced as her is so insecure."

"Geniuses like that have their own little eccentricities," said Hayate. "She was probably able to become so accomplished, partly _because_ her lack of social graces kept her from spending time interacting with others, so she had more time to throw into her work."

"She sounds like the way Ruby used to be," said Weiss with a giggle. "She just needs to have people who are willing to spend time with her and accept her."

"She does," said Hayate. "She always has. That's why she's one of the Elders after all. But she's the sort who'll probably never be truly comfortable around other people, at least, not in any substantial way. You were able to break the ice with her, and become someone she can be comfortable around, but that's not gonna be the case for everybody."

"I guess not," conceded Weiss. "I suppose there's nothing wrong with that."

"If nothing else, you can be sure that Sora won't let her become some kind of recluse," said Hayate. "But she'll engage with others on her own terms."

Weiss nodded. Another silence fell between them, watching as the sun continued to climb, albeit without staring directly at it.

Finally, Weiss broke it again. "So...what will you do...after all this?"

Hayate blinked and turned his head to look at her, his expression mildly perplexed. "I've never thought about it," he said. "I mean...I guess I'll wander some more. But it's not like there are going to be anymore internment camps that I'll need to liberate. I suppose I could just move around, and find communities in danger and protect them. But that's just kinda...luck of the draw."

"I see..." said Weiss.

"What about you?" asked Hayate.

"I don't know..." she admitted. "I mean, I'm going to be a Huntress, of course."

"If you ask me, you already are one," said Hayate. "I don't think even your Headmaster would disagree by this point. Another year of training and a diploma are practically a formality at this point."

"Maybe..." said Weiss, sounding hesitant, making Hayate snort quietly.

"The perfect student, eh?" he asked.

"That's what I always aimed to be," said Weiss. "I was supposed to be the best, to get perfect grades, to never let anyone get the better of me."

"That sounds like the heiress speaking," noted Hayate.

"I guess you're right," said Weiss. "I've just been the heir to the Schnee Dust Company for so long...I don't know what exactly to do with myself right now. When I agreed to give the company to Whitley, I felt liberated, like I don't have to worry about my life being mapped out for me and being controlled by the expectations of others from now on."

"But freedom comes at the cost of the direction you had," noted Hayate. "While it stifled you, you at least knew where the path you were following was leading, in broad strokes. Now, you can go anywhere, do anything...but the tradeoff is that you have no idea where you want to go or what to do."

"Exactly," said Weiss tiredly.

"Who says you have to choose anything?" asked Hayate.

"Huh?" Weiss looked at him in surprise.

"You talk about having goals, direction, an objective of some kind," he said. "But, believe it or not, having no direction isn't so bad...for a while, at least. You don't have to figure all this out right away. At this point, we still have a pretty obvious goal looming in the future."

"Defeat Nobunaga," said Weiss.

Hayate smirked. "But after that...what do you need to worry about? You've relinquished your inheritance, you've gained total freedom. There's no one whose expectations you'll need to worry about satisfying. Your friends will be happy, so long as _you're_ happy. So there's no need for you to run yourself down with worry about what you'll do with your life. You have a long life ahead of you to decide what you want to do with it. In the meantime...just be a Huntress."

"That sounds...good," Weiss admitted.

Hayate rested his hand over hers. "Why don't you come with me?" he asked.

"What?" gasped Weiss, looking at him in surprise.

"Right now, I just intend to go wandering," said Hayate. "There's no reason you couldn't join me. I mean, I suppose you could stay and finish your fourth year at Beacon first, if you _really_ think it's necessary. But, after that, you could travel with me for a while. At this point, I'm even more well-traveled than Kyo, at least when it comes to the sheer variety of places I've visited. I've shown you some neat things around here. But there are so many amazing places I'd like to show you, things that you couldn't even imagine."

Weiss felt her heartbeat quicken. She had to admit, there was a definite appeal behind the idea. She knew that Yang had gotten a similar offer from Kyo, and had heard about some of the things Kyo had intended to show her. She imagined what it would be like, to wander the land with the boy she liked, to see parts of Remnant she might never have seen otherwise. Hayate was right. She didn't need to settle on a new goal right away. Perhaps the best thing to do was to take some time for herself and grow in her own fashion.

Weiss turned her hand and interlaced her fingers with Hayate's own. "You know, I think I like the sound of that," she said.

She laid back and rested her head against Hayate's shoulder. She allowed herself to stare up into the sky, watching clouds drift in the wind. Finally, her tiredness caught up with her and she drifted off to sleep, not caring that she was on a rock on the side of a volcano. All that mattered was that someone who cared for her was there with her.

* * *

Yang roared, sweeping her fist around to strike at Chinmei. Falling back, Chinmei dropped into a somersault that allowed him to duck beneath the line of her attack, kicking upwards as he did so. Yang had to bring her right arm around, the metal soles of his geta sandals clanging against her weapon on contact. The force of his kick actually lifted her feet off the ground slightly.

She sensed Shinrei approaching from her from her left, his halberd whirling. Grinning, she punched out at him with Ember Celica, discharging a fiery blast at him. Shinrei's charge didn't falter, his weapon spinning to slice her attack in two with the its blade, splitting it around him. However, the recoil from her shot sent Yang into a spin that allowed her to bring her right leg around in a swift kick, aimed right at Shinrei's temple.

Shinrei's eyes widened in surprise. He brought the shaft of his weapon up to catch Yang's kick, the force behind it stopping his charge cold. With a crackling discharge of her Aura, Yang forced Shinrei back. Touching back down, she rushed him, leading with a powerful strike from her right. Her fist plunged right through Shinrei's chest, only for his body to explode in a shower of water, the clone taking the hit in his place. Shinrei riposted, thrusting forward with his halberd's blade, the scattered streams and droplets of water swirling back around it. Yang retreated from the blade, but the swirls of water congealed into azure dragons, roaring like river rapids as they charged towards her.

Yang punched out with her left, firing another shot from Ember Celica. The fiery projectile tore through about half of the lunging dragons, making them explode into impotent steam, Shinrei having to slip to the side to avoid the attack as well. The remaining dragons came on, but Yang swept her right arm in front of her body, Kiren Kaina' golden inlays trailing yellow flames that resolved into a dragon of her own, its head lunging out in an extension of the arc of her fist, tearing through the remaining water dragons and burning them out of existence.

Shinrei let out an impressed whistle and fell back.

Yang was about to pursue him, when she felt the presence of another opponent behind her, this one fiery hot. She used the momentum of her last swing to continue her spin, lashing out with a backfist at Keikoku as he lunged in with his trident-shaped spear. Ember Celica fired, accelerating her swing as it met Keikoku's blade with an echoing clang, the impact driving him back.

Keikoku willingly allowed his body to be knocked back by the force of her blow, continuing to level his spear at her, its blade now bursting into furious orange and red flames. " _Shakuran Entei!_ " The flames surged forward in a wave that threatened to engulf Yang.

Yang met his attack head on, continuing her turn so that she could bring her right arm around, sweeping it down and around in an exaggerated circular motion across her body. She felt the heat of Keikoku's flames against her right arm, and the steel of her gauntlet, but merely grinned, letting the flames become swept up in her Aura, which she used to direct the force of her opponent's attack off to the side, even as she harvested a wealth of energy in the process of sweeping her arm through it.

She wasn't sure when she had come to this realization. As she had continued to trade blows with her three sparring partners, Yang had learned that she didn't need to take damage to her body or Aura to use incoming attacks to empower her Manifestation. Even if she deflected or diverted the force of incoming attacks, she could still draw their power in, building her own up.

" _Gravity Crisis!_ " An ebony wave of condensed gravity washed out from the sweep of Chinmei's sword as he swept it horizontally in front of him, threatening to slam into Yang's side. However, Yang only grinned and reached out with her left hand, letting the wave of gravity strike her outstretched palm. Instead of trying to push back against it, she instead moved her left arm in a motion similar to the one she'd just used for her right, feeling the flow of Chinmei's Aura and sweeping it around her to keep from actually contacting it, again harvesting _more_ energy from it.

All three of her opponents closed in now. Flames danced and surged around the blade of Keikoku's spear. Azure dragons roared in a maelstrom around Shinrei. Chinmei's blade left a path of darkness in the air behind it as he swept it down at Yang from above.

Despite the massive power being brought to bear on her, Yang grinned widely, her right arm transforming as she channeled the accumulated power of her manifestation through it, elongating and curving into a golden dragon's sinuous body, her fist becoming a dragon's head, jaws wide and teeth bared, the plates of her gauntlet separating to make room for its length. The dragon lunged around her in a complete circle, tearing apart the incoming attacks, and blasting all three of her opponents away. They landed heavily, their bodies crashing down with enough force to break the stone of the cavern floor.

"Damn!" exclaimed Chinmei, the first to manage to climb to his feet. "You're something else, girl. I can't believe you've come this far in just a few sessions."

"Thanks," said Yang, beaming proudly. In all honesty, she was beginning to lose track of how long she'd been trading blows with these three. Time, having already been distorted by Haruka's power, was beginning to lose all meaning to her as she completely absorbed herself into the sensation of trading blows and shaping her Aura through her attacks.

"That was beautiful," observed Saisei, clapping her hands to draw their attention to her. "You've come such a long ways, Yang."

"It certainly feels like it," said Yang. "It's leagues better than how my Semblance used to work."

"Indeed," said Saisei. "You may not realize it, but you're already competing close to Kyo's level."

"Huh? Really?" Yang looked down at her hands.

"Really," grunted Shinrei as he planted the butt of his halberd to lever himself back up into a standing position. "We took off the kid gloves a while back. It's totally awesome; just like fighting Kyo again."

"Your eyes have even been turning red more," added Keikoku.

"Huh?" Yang brought the fingers of her right hand to rest them on the skin just below her right eye. Now that she thought about it, she was feeling incredibly invigorated.

"Yes, they are red now," said Saisei pleasantly. "If you relax, they should return to normal."

Closing her eyes, Yang took a deep breath and let it out, allowing all the energy and excitement of the fight to drain away. A heavy, but comforting tiredness replaced it, her fatigue wrapping around her like a warm down comforter. Opening them again, Yang saw Saisei smiling approvingly at her.

"Very good," said Saisei with evident satisfaction. "You're probably at the stage of being able to activate the Crimson Eyes at will. You just need to consciously embrace the feelings you experience when facing battle."

"Works for me," said Yang, following it up with a heavy yawn.

"Come, sit," said Saisei, gesturing to the ground in front of her. "Rest a little."

"Sure thing," said Yang, sitting down with her back facing Saisei. Saisei pressed the palms of her hands against Yang's shoulders. The points of contact grew warm and Yang felt that warmth flowing into her, chasing away her fatigue and renewing her energy. By this point, they had done this more times than Yang could count. "So I guess it's back to work after this," she said.

"Well, I'd say yes, but I think it's time you considered the next step," counseled Saisei.

"What's the next step?" Yang wanted to know.

"That should be obvious," noted Keikoku, taking a seat in front of her as the three Goyosei waited their turns for Saisei's treatment. "Your techniques have been taking on definite forms. The next step is to give them names."

"Names?" asked Yang.

Keikoku gave her a grin. "That's right. I told your friends about this once, you know. Giving a technique a name solidifies its image within your mind, makes it into something definite. Once you do that, I think you'll _really_ be on Kyo's level."

"Okay...but what should I call them?" wondered Yang. "I'm not even sure which of those moves counts as a technique. I've been doing them without even thinking about it."

"A sign of just how far you've already come," said Shinrei approvingly. "Since we're the ones who've been on the receiving end of your moves, we've seen some trends that are definitely distinct techniques."

"The most obvious one is the one that transforms your arm," noted Chinmei. "I'm guessing that even you have picked up on that one."

"Yeah," said Yang, nodding.

"There's one other that I noticed," said Keikoku. "You deflect an attack, while still drawing power from it, turning around and either releasing that power to counterattack, or storing that power to add additional punch to later strikes." He grinned. "It reminds me of the pinwheels people put up during festival time. Our attacks are like the wind that makes them spin."

Yang rolled her eyes upward thoughtfully. She rather liked that image.

"In our Old Tongue, those are called kazaguruma," noted Saisei. "In unarmed martial arts, it's also the name of a particular throw that involves using circular motions to turn the energy of your opponent's attack against them. It seems like a rather appropriate name in this case."

"So...how about _Kaze-Ryu-Guruma_ ," suggested Shinrei. "Wind-dragon-wheel."

"That sounds pretty cool," said Yang, thinking about it. "I like it."

Shinrei and the others grinned. "Good. Fighting like you are, you don't even have to speak the name aloud. But when you assign a name to something, that is what will come to the forefront of your mind, when you use that skill. It will solidify its form and effect for you, which will enable you to use it to its utmost."

"Right," said Yang nodding. "What about the other one."

"Well..." said Saisei. "Seeing you do that with your right arm makes me think of Koryu. In one of the ancient mythologies, it was the dragon-king who dwelt at the center of the universe, the yellow dragon that was the symbol of power for an ancient imperial dynasty."

"Now that you mention it, I think you're right," said Keikoku with a grin. "So, we call it _Koryu-ken_."

"Actually..." said Saisei, smiling as she finished treating Yang and stepped away, "...considering Yang's name, I thought it better to use the older name for Koryu. Its original name hails from a tongue even older than our Old Tongue, most of it being lost to antiquity."

"What's that?" asked Yang.

"Huang Long," said Saisei.

"That actually sounds a bit like my name," said Yang.

Saisei nodded. "Yang Xiao Long can be roughly translated as 'Little Sun Dragon.'"

"That's what Dad always used to call me," said Yang with a fond smile, her gaze growing distant. "I was his Little Sunny Dragon."

Saisei hugged Yang from behind, leaning against her back. "It suits you," she said. "You are the Little Sun Dragon, who brings warmth and joy into the world, who will unleash ferocious power, for the sake of the ones you love. Now your transcendent strength allows you to unleash the power of the ultimate dragon-king. So that shall be the name for your ultimate technique, _Huang Long no Ken_."

"So it's a blend of our Old Tongue, and the dragon's original name," mused Chinmei.

"It suits her," noted Shinrei with a grin. "She is of the Mibu, yet she is not. Just like the name itself, she blends together different cultures and traditions to bring forth something new."

"I love it," said Yang, switching her focus to her right arm.

"Good," said Saisei. "Now, your task is to continue to practice, until you've solidified those techniques with in your mind, body, and soul. Bring all three together, and the technique will be complete."

"Which, of course, means more rounds of pounding us," pointed out Chinmei rueful good-cheer.

"Quite right," agreed Saisei with good-natured sadism. "Please allow me to treat the three of you, so that you can continue serving as suitable punching bags."

"The things we do for our friends, eh," said Shinrei with a small laugh as Saisei moved on to him.

* * *

Ruby whipped her scythe around her, spinning her way through the practice drills her uncle had taught her years ago. Her weapon was a red and black blur around her body, its movements so graceful and fluid that it seemed to be alive, and dancing in her grip with a will of its own.

Regular meditation hadn't been doing it for Ruby. But she figured that might not be the case. She just wasn't the kind of person who could clear her mind and sit still for hours on end. Instead, she had settled on meditating through continuous practice, the act of going through familiar motions, not even needing to think about them, allowed her to void her mind of thought. Clear of all the extraneous noise, she was able to focus her spirit entirely upon listening.

It was uncertain how long she'd been doing this. At first, it had been nothing different from what she had always experienced, when exercising like this. However, as the hours wore on, Ruby began to feel something, almost like a reverberating resonance from within her scythe, that ran from its shaft, into the palms of her hands, and up her arms.

Her initial tendency was to resist the sensation, to stop practicing and examine her precious weapon for any signs of damage, or parts in need of replacement. However, she stopped herself. This wasn't the feeling of a loose part rattling around, or something in the assembly coming undone. Ruby faithfully maintained Crescent Rose after each and every mission or engagement. She knew every bolt, screw, lever, and gear within its design. She knew the feel of when something was off, when Crescent Rose needed maintenance. She had poured all her love and affection into its creation and upkeep. Crescent Rose was practically her child, her precious sweetheart...and she was Crescent Rose's mother. This sense of...something...passing from her weapon, and into her, filled her with a sense of anticipation. She wondered if this was what her own parents had felt, when they eagerly awaited her first words as a baby.

Eagerly, Ruby opened herself to the feeling, welcoming it, enticing her weapon to do more, to give her another sign of life, of will. Crescent Rose obliged, the sense becoming more definite. The scythe's shaft grew warm in her hands. It was a comforting, encouraging warmth, but also one that was increasing in intensity. A soft note reached her ears. Finally, Ruby opened her eyes and slowed her practice to a stop, amazed to see the bright-red glow of Aura issuing forth, forming an outline around her weapon.

 _I did it!_ she thought jubilantly. Taking a deep breath, she opened herself to the sense of Crescent Rose's Aura. She felt it join with her own, the two Auras alike, but also subtly different. Abruptly, new power surged through Ruby's body. She felt light as a feather. Every breath filled her lungs, and made her body surge with ceaseless energy. What was more, the quality of their combined Auras felt different.

Cautiously, Ruby drew upon the power of her Silver Eyes. Streams of silver light issued forth from her eyes, spreading almost like a set of wings. But now, the power of her weapon entwined with that strange energy, like veins along leaves. The energy didn't simply stream away uncontrollably. With her weapon's power, she was able to Temper it, just as she did with her own Aura. Now Ruby felt it responding fluidly to her will.

Because it wasn't simply being released, or even being channeled into an attack, the power no longer felt draining to call upon, though Ruby imagined that she would feel the strain once she unleashed it against a target. _But I can use it more efficiently, now,_ she thought. Now what she had to do was combine it with the _Seikireigan_. Using the two in conjunction, she would be able to create new techniques.

She remembered what Sora had told her about making techniques and naming them. Ruby figured that that would probably be the hardest part of this training. But now she was ready to begin it. Drawing her eyes' power back within herself, Ruby smiled determinedly. _Get ready, Cinder. I'm coming for you._

* * *

"Well now, the two of you are showing reasonable progress," noted Hayate pleasantly as he stood in front of Ren and Neo, both of whom were panting and sweating. All three of them sported scratches and small cuts, along with a few bruises.

"Will it be good enough?" asked Ren.

"Hard to say," said Hayate. "The strength of the Junishinsho tends to vary from one to the other. You'd probably know best about the ones you fought directly."

Ren and Neo nodded, Neo looking particularly pale.

"Of the ones who remain, the one who's obviously most dangerous is Shatora, Murasame," said Hayate grimly. "After all, he's the one who taught Kyo the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ , so it stands to reason that he would probably be one of its greatest masters. If I'm honest, Kyo may be the only one who stands a chance against him."

"But we can't necessarily allow them to fight," said Ren. "Kyo will need his strength for Nobunaga."

Hayate nodded. "However, we must account for the fact that, when the fight comes, nothing will go as we intend or predict it to. The overall matchups will likely be decided by our adversaries themselves, because, ideally, we'll be fighting them on their home ground."

Neo gave Hayate a questioning look.

"Because our objective is to put a stop for them _before_ they attack," said Hayate. "The moment they decide that they're ready to go on the offensive, you can bet they'll probably head straight for Atlas. We don't want them falling on that Kingdom again, so our best bet is to hit them in their home base, even if it means a tactical disadvantage for us."

Neo nodded gravely, not liking the idea, but also not disputing it.

"From what I can see, you're both more suited to a passive use of the world's energy," said Hayate. "There's nothing wrong for that. Of course, it doesn't translate into a huge amount of offensive power, but it can be handy if used properly. Our best strategy is to keep working, and hope that you can refine it into useable techniques by the time we have to go into battle."

"In other words..." said Ren dourly.

Hayate favored him with a wry smile. "...We keep at it."

"Understood," said Ren with a sigh, while Neo soundlessly sighed alongside him.

* * *

"Seriously..." grunted Chika, falling back from Nora's whirling hammer, "...this is not fair at all."

Nora grinned at Chika as she advanced, her hammer spinning continuously around her body, crackling arcs of pink lightning streaming behind it as she wielded it, the arcs building strength continuously with each successive pass.

Chika charged forward again, her blade gleaming with the light of her Aura as she swung it down, channeling all her intent into the strike. As she did, the blade accelerated to such a speed that she launched three strokes in rapid succession, so swift that they seemed nigh simultaneous. However, every single one glanced off the head and shaft of Nora's whirling hammer, sending painful vibrations running down the handle, through Chika's hands, and up her arms.

And then the hammer came at her in earnest and Chika was forced to back off. If she tried to parry, in her present state, she would probably lose her grasp on her sword. _How is she doing this?_ she wondered. _I am Taihaku, the Goyosei of Metal. I have spent my life honing this sword to cleave through all in its path. Yet I cannot cut through this girl's technique. How has she come so far so fast?_

"A fascinating skill," mused Senzaemon from where he watched. "I find it a most remarkable use of her ability."

"What is going on?" asked Chika.

"Ultimately, what you face is nothing more than static electricity," said Senzaemon.

"Static?" gasped Chika. "Static can't do this?"

Senzaemon strode forward confidently, walking right up to Nora. "On its own it would not do much. However, by maintaining the motion, continuing to cycle her weapon, the electricity builds and accumulates, circulating, amplifying, and intensifying. As such, through her continued use of the technique, she builds up more and more power, before releasing it upon impact with her target. Repeated impacts drain the accumulated power. But, by maintaining the motion, she replenishes it quickly.

"What is more, she has absorbed what we have taught her quickly. Her motion is flawlessly efficient. Using her weapon's own weight and heft, she conserves her strength by adjusting the spin with the smallest of touches to change the direction of the hammer's swing. The continuous spinning of the shaft serves to deflect incoming strikes. As a technique, it is both sword and shield."

Drawing his sword, Senzaemon took up one of the most basic stances in swordsmanship, raising the blade above his head in both hands, in preparation for a simple downward stroke. Nora faced him head-on, not flinching as he surged forward, the blade descending, trailing white light as it did. Nora spun her hammer around so that the shaft slammed into the side of the blade, aiming to knock the attack aside. However, Senzaemon's swing continued on, undaunted. Nora was forced to leap back, stopping the spin of her hammer. With a startled squeak, she tripped over her own feet and fell onto her butt.

"Oof!" she grunted. "Now I'm hungry."

"If you wish to break this skill, think not of the hammer," said Senzaemon, turning to look at Chika. "Look past it, and strike straight for her. It means opening up your own body to attack. However, only by striking _with_ life _for_ life can you hope to break this skill. Stand upon the precipice between life and death, and trust all to your sword. Do you understand?"

"I do," said Chika, bowing low to him. "I am not worthy of my title, if such a basic lesson has escaped me."

"It has not," said Senzaemon. "You simply believed that this was not the place to use it. There is no failure." He smiled fondly at his student and successor. _It seems that you've opened up to this girl and the others after all. You do not wish to strike for her life over a mere training session. Still, if we do not stake our lives on this training, then there will be no hope of us being ready to face Nobunaga and his warriors._

Now Senzaemon turned his attention to Nora. "As you can see, your technique has the potential to be a double-edged sword. As you utilize it, you continue to build power with every passing second. But once it is stopped, that power deserts youm and your exertions catch up to you all at once. Once begun, it cannot be stopped without a steep price."

"Okay," said Nora.

"Rest awhile," said Senzaemon to both of them. "In a few minutes, we shall resume."

* * *

"Well done," said Dougal proudly, observing Blake as the darkness twisted about her like a cloak. "I have nothing left to teach you. You have truly opened yourself to my training, and absorbed all that you could."

"Thank you," said Blake, bowing her head to him, the darkness around her dispersing, leaving her in her usual clothes.

"For now, all we can do is spar," said Dougal. "We must do all that we can to raise your level, until you are ready to face the Junishinsho."

"About that..." said Blake hesitantly, "...I have a question."

"Speak," said Dougal with a nod.

"Are you familiar with the one called Makora?" asked Blake.

Behind the cloth that hid his mouth, Dougal frowned. "I am," said Dougal. "The last time Nobunaga attempted to rise, I was amongst those who opposed them, alongside Kyo's father."

"What can you tell me about him?" asked Blake. "He seemed different...almost like a ghost."

"He was indeed strange," said Dougal. "His ability was akin to the Shadow Arts that we wield. However, I have tried to develop my own form of it, only to fail. I was led to the conclusion that Makora is a Shaman, like your friend, Ruby-dono."

"So his power is like Ruby's?" Blake wanted to know.

Dougal shook his head. "No. Different Shamans possess different abilities, each with their own idiosyncrasies. Makora's ability does not appear to function according to the rules of Aura or Dust, as we know them. His body itself seems fundamentally different."

"How so?" asked Blake.

"It appears to be..." Dougal lowered his eyes, apparently searching for the right word to describe it. "Rather than a mass of cells unified into a single organism, it would seem that his cells, indeed, perhaps even the very molecules and atoms that make up those cells, are a colony of independent organisms, capable of dispersing and reconsolidating as he sees fit. In a sense, I believe he has complete control of his molecular density."

"But...if that is the case, how in the world is he still alive?" Blake wanted to know, her eyes wide.

"It's a mystery," mused Dougal. "But such is the nature of a Shaman. Some wield abilities that can be deciphered, even learned, or, barring that, inherited through blood, like your friend's Silver Eyes. Others are in possession of abilities so unique and distinct, that they seem to defy all logic and reason, surpassing even the basic laws of life and physics as we know them. All that I was able to discern is that Makora's form is controlled entirely by his will...which leads me to conjecture that..."

"He needs his will to hold himself together," said Blake, picking up on Dougal's line of thought. "If he loses that for even a second, he could scatter and never reconsolidate himself."

Dougal nodded. "However, keep in mind, that this is merely my best guess, based on what I learned when we last fought. Our exchange was brief...before he retreated, mainly because Kyo's father had just slain Nobunaga. Makora was the one who recovered and fled with his head."

"I see," said Blake.

"Furthermore, even if that is true, it will not be an easy task," said Dougal. "If he requires a conscious act of will to maintain his form, then he has been maintaining that conscious act, until it has become an unconscious one. Every minute, every second, every microsecond of his life has been one continuous training session, solely for the sake of maintaining and polishing that skill. A will so strongly tempered will not be broken or disrupted easily. I am not sure how it could be done."

"I suppose I will just have to find a way," said Blake softly.

"I will pray for your success," said Dougal, bowing his head to her. "It irks me to leave this battle to you, while I remain behind to guard the Mibu homeland. This is our battle, and now we have laid its burden upon those who who are not of the Clan."

Blake smiled at him. "If there's one thing I learned in Atlas, it is that Nobunaga is a threat to the world. This isn't just the Mibu's fight. It's up to all of us." Her expression hardened. "Adam is one of the Junishinsho. He's put everything into trying to ruin my life, out of revenge for leaving the White Fang. He cut off Yang's arm. Now he's aiding that monster. So this is _my_ fight too."

"I wish you luck then," said Dougal, bowing his head. "From the sound of things, you no longer fear this man."

"I fear him," said Blake. "But...I can face that fear now, thanks to what you've taught me. Him, I'm ready for. It's the other members of the Twelve that I'm not sure about."

"I have faith in you," said Dougal. "Whatever happens, I am proud to call you my student."

"I can't thank you enough for being my teacher," said Blake, bowing her head again.

* * *

The underground space rocked, the earth bucking beneath the feet of everyone present. Haruka gasped and doubled over, her forehead breaking out into a heavy sweat, gasping for breath.

"Are you all right?" asked Weiss, immediately rushing to her side. She had little to do in this space, given that her Etheric Crystal ran out of power much faster in the warped time of Haruka's technique. So she'd spent the time keeping Haruka company as she maintained the technique to give them the time they needed. Weiss had also spent that time inventing new glyphs to try and further diversify her style.

"So much..." gasped Haruka. "I can't..."

"If you need to, release the technique!" pleaded Weiss. "Don't hurt yourself!"

"I can do it," said Haruka rallying, though her face looked pale. "I will do it...for Sora."

"Haruka..." said Weiss softly. She turned to look into the yawning abyss of the caverns that were drawn into Haruka's time warp. "What happened?"

"Kyo," said Haruka simply. "I've never felt such power."

"Kyo did that?" asked Weiss.

Haruka nodded hesitantly.

* * *

Saisei and Yang dashed through the darkness, Shinrei, Chinmei, and Keikoku following them as they rushed towards the source of the disturbance. When they arrived, they ground to a halt, their eyes widening, jaws dropping.

There stood Kyo, his Aura blazing about him like a raging inferno, so powerful that the ground itself cracked and groaned from the force of his mere presence. His body was covered with lacerations of various lengths and depths. Blood trickled down his arms to drip from his fingers. More still ran down his legs to pool slowly at his feet. However, that hardly seemed to inconvenience him.

His eyes blazed like crimson suns, their light throwing the rest of his body into shadow by contrast. The brilliant red of his irises had washed all the way out to the edge of his eyes, completely replacing the whites, while the pupils had contracted to tiny, almost invisible pinpricks of black. From this perspective, there was no better word to describe him than "demonic." He stood, tall and unbowed, seemingly untroubled by his wounds.

Before him knelt his mother. Sora was clearly the worse off of the two. She had fewer cuts. However, a deep gash had been opened from her shoulder, running downwards, diagonally across her chest, to her opposite waist. Blood streamed from the wound. Sora's sword lay on the ground, dropped from her hand.

"Well done," she said softly. "You've finally unlocked the power of the True Crimson Eyes again. You should be able to do it at will now."

Kyo closed his eyes and let out a long breath, his Aura calming and returning to normal, being drawn back within him. When he opened them again, his eyes were back to normal. Immediately, he rushed to his mother's side and knelt beside her. Saisei was at her side a second later, her hands glowing with the radiance of her Aura as she worked to close the wound.

"Kyo?" asked Yang as she cautiously approached.

Kyo looked up at her and smiled gently. "It would seem that you were right," was all that he said.

* * *

 **And so, our heroes' last big cram-session comes to an end, with everyone getting a hang on what they've come up with. Some characters are harder to work with in this respect than others. Nora and Ren are often the ones I have the most difficulty figuring out a path forwards for. But I think I managed it, even if it doesn't turn out as dramatic as what some of the others can do.**


	93. Chapter 93

**Chapter 93:**

"Rest well," said Sora, smiling at Yang from her bed. "For, two days from now, you head back to Atlas."

"Are you going to be all right?" asked Yang worriedly. "Saisei couldn't heal that wound."

Sora looked down at the bandages across her torso. "She treated the worst of it. With continued treatments, I will fully recover, though I might bear a scar. Even an apprentice healer can manage that much, so she will be free to rejoin you."

"But..." Yang wasn't sure if it was right to be so blithe about it. To see a wound that Saisei had been unable to completely heal was almost completely incomprehensible to any of them, especially after growing so accustomed to her incredible skill in the healing arts. She had saved hundreds of lives in Atlas, healing dozens of people almost simultaneously. Yet this _one_ wound thwarted her arts, and almost completely drained her strength.

"Such is the power of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ , with the full power of the True Crimson Eyes behind it," said Sora with a wistful smile. "It is a blade so deadly that, had Kyo truly sought my life, not even Saisei's arts would have saved me. I only live because he did not _want_ me dead."

"I'm so sorry," said Yang.

Sora chuckled softly and beamed at Yang. "Here now," she said, "why the apologies? You did nothing wrong. Neither did Kyo. He did exactly as I hoped. I did the same, pushing him to the edge of death over and over again, in order to force him to draw out his latent strength. How could I hold it against him for succeeding?"

"Has he seen you?" asked Yang. The rest of her friends were back in the guest quarters, most of them resting. However, Yang couldn't rest until she had spoken to Kyo's mother. Dougal had conducted her to Sora's room. Seeing Sora, lying on that large bed, by herself, made Yang's heart shudder. It seemed so lonely, a stark reminder of what Sora had already lost.

"Of course he has," answered Sora. "The very first thing he said on his visit was that he'd finally won a match against me."

"Pfffft!" Yang's cheeks puffed as fury vied with mirth for expression on her face, and in her mouth. She had no idea whether she should scream at Kyo for being so unconcerned about the state he'd put his mother in, after already losing his father...or break down laughing for Kyo saying something that was so...Kyo. Given the fact that Sora seemed amused, she figured that the latter was probably better.

Sora held out a hand, which Yang took. A gentle pull brought Yang into the woman's embrace. Yang inhaled, taking in Sora's scent, which smelled of sandalwood and cedar.

"Thank you for looking after my son," said Sora softly, kissing the crown of Yang's head. "He was truly blessed to meet you."

"I feel the same way," said Yang.

"I hope that the two of you will continue to watch over one another...for the rest of your lives," said Sora. "There is nothing that would bring me more happiness in this world, not even the return of my own beloved."

"Really?" gasped Yang.

Sora nodded. "I love Kyoichiro with all my heart. But Kyo is the ultimate product of that love, living proof of the bond that we share. Because we loved one another, he was born into this world. He is our legacy. So our greatest hope was that he could one day grow up to be happy, and find love of his own. That he did so with you made both of us happy beyond measure. Please hold onto him with all of your heart."

"I will," promised Yang.

"Thank you," said Sora. "I believe, because of that, he will win this battle."

"Because he's fighting to protect me?" asked Yang.

"That is part of it," said Sora. "However, there is more. Unlocking and harnessing the power of the True Crimson Eyes is merely another stepping stone in Kyo's development. There is one more obstacle remaining, a terrible one that could undo everything that we've done, and turn our moment of triumph into a disaster."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang, pulling back and watching Sora with worried eyes.

"Unleashing the True Crimson Eyes means that Kyo has awakened to his latent strength," said Sora gravely. "However, in doing so, Kyo has come closer than ever before to the power of the True Mibu. That power...is both the ultimate blessing, and the ultimate curse of his bloodline. If he falls to that curse, the world itself is doomed.

"What does he need to do?" asked Yang.

"It is not him that can prevent it," said Sora. "I shall tell you a secret. None of the Line of Kyo have ever conquered their True Mibu Blood...not alone."

"What do you mean?" Yang wanted to know.

Sora smiled softly. "The True Mibu fell, because they believed that absolute power was the answer to all the world's ills. However, once they obtained that power, they drowned in their power, were consumed by it, and so, fell into extinction. If Kyo continues the way he is going, then, someday, he too will fall to the curse of the True Mibu blood. None of the Line of Kyo can overcome the curse of their blood alone."

"How does he overcome it?" asked Yang, her heart beating faster at the thought.

"As I said, none of the True Mibu can overcome the curse of their blood on their own," said Sora. "What is required is the unconditional love of another, a soul who refuses to bow to any kind of power, and embrace the one at its center, irrespective of their strength."

"Oh..." said Yang.

"You love my son and he loves you," said Sora, gently combing her hand through Yang's hair. "That will be the key to passing the final hurdle, the ultimate test of whether or not he can escape the curse of the True Mibu."

"So...it's all on me," said Yang.

Sora nodded. "You could say that. But, at the same time, what is required is for you to do what you've already done. You hold my son's heart in your hands. So long as you continue to treasure it, then there is no fear that he will succumb to the curse." She smiled warmly at Yang. "It is the same test my husband faced, and his father before him…a test going back through the generations of our family, all the way back to the first Kyo. I know that you and Kyo will triumph. I look forward to the day that I can call you my daughter."

Yang blushed furiously at what Sora was implying, though she smiled as well. "Honestly, it would be good to have a mom again," she conceded. "I wish Summer could have been there to watch us grow up."

"What about your other mother?" asked Sora, raising an eyebrow.

"You know," said Yang sadly. "There's no hope for her. She's completely thrown in with the enemy. But I don't see her as my mother anyway, not since I was a little girl, and I nearly got Ruby and I killed looking for her. Even if she has her reasons for supporting Nobunaga, I can't forgive her for abandoning us. She may have carried and given birth to me, but she left us without a second thought, like we were garbage to her."

Sora nodded. "Though, perhaps, she had her reasons for doing so, reasons she could not discuss with you. It's immaterial, I suppose. I have the feeling that you are destined to face her, and strike her down."

"It's not destiny," said Yang. "It's choice. I have a real family now. I have Kyo. I'll fight her to protect them from her, and her master. That's all there is to it."

"Very true," said Sora. "I have one piece of advice for you."

"What is it?" asked Yang.

"When you do face her, and I do not doubt that you will, please do so without hatred in your heart. It is as you said. She has set herself opposed to you, and the ones you love. So face her as an enemy, an adversary on the field of battle, but not as one who abandoned you and your father." She fixed Yang with a stern look. " _Bury_ Raven Branwen, the woman who gave birth to you. _Fight_ Shindara of the Junishinsho. Only then do I believe that you will be able to overcome her and triumph."

Yang nodded. "I will," she promised.

"Now go back to your friends and rest," said Sora. "Don't worry about me."

Yang nodded and walked out.

Left alone in her room, Sora leaned back and sighed. Her eyes drifted to the ceiling, and a few tears leaked out. Despite that, she smiled. "And so…with this, the Crimson Throne will finally crumble…and Kyo will be free."

* * *

Their remaining two days in Onmyo were spent resting and relaxing as they readied themselves for the final battle. With the completion of the MIbu's new CCT Tower, a message arrived from Atlas, bearing the news they'd been waiting for. Nobunaga's lair had been found. There was no telling when Nobunaga and his forces would emerge to begin their attack. Given how close to Atlas the location had turned out to be, the situation was precarious.

There was no perfect solution. They could try to confront Nobunaga's forces as they emerged, and stop them from reaching Atlas. However, that meant waiting the final days or hours until Nobunaga's strength recovered, in which case, the danger of the Kingdom being overrun, despite their efforts was unacceptably high. However, the alternative was leading the attack, plunging headlong into a secret and, presumably, fortified location to attack the enemy in his own home base.

The latter prospect was incredibly dangerous, a serious risk for them to undertake. Makoto's scouts dared not try to infiltrate themselves, the very act of attempting entry likely to alert Nobunaga and the Junishinsho to their presence. So it was that they were simply detailed to keep an eye for any signs of Nobunaga's emergence, while Kyo's group returned to Atlas.

* * *

"You guys are coming with us?" asked Yang, as she and her friends faced Shinrei, Chinmei, Keikoku, and Chika at the landing field, where the airship waited to convey them to Atlas.

"Yep," said Chinmei with a grin. "We're gonna be the rearguard. If Nobunaga launches his attack while you're storming his base, we'll hold the line and protect Atlas. That's what Sora-sama has decreed, in any case."

"The other nations are sending reinforcements to Atlas as well," added Chika, or Taihaku rather (Yang couldn't help but still think of her as Chika). "Even the other Academies are sending their students to bolster the Huntsmen and Huntresses already in Atlas."

"It's shaping up to be the biggest conflict since the Great War," said Shinrei with a grin.

"But this time, all the Kingdoms will be unified against a single common enemy," said Keikoku. "So long as we succeed in protecting Atlas, this could be a good thing in the long run."

"I'm not sure what you're expecting," noted Weiss. "Without Merlot, they don't have the means to produce more Grimm."

"They've still got Cinder," said Ruby glumly. "And she knows how to command the Grimm."

"Even if that weren't the case," said Kyo as he joined them, "the power of the True Mibu is terrifying. It was said that the Crimson King that the first Kyo faced used his blood to almost instantly produce a vast army of undying soldiers to overrun the land. Had the first Kyo not slain him, those soldiers would have overcome all resistance."

"You think Nobunaga will do that?" asked Yang, taking Kyo's arm in hers.

"I think it's a very real possibility," said Kyo with a sigh. "It's one we have to be prepared for, the main reason O-Kaa-san made these arrangements. Regardless, we just have to be ready to do our part."

"Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst," quoted Ren wryly.

"Precisely," said Kyo.

"Well…it's time to say our final goodbyes," said Saisei, walking over to Shinrei and turning him around to face the small party of people who had come to see them off.

Haruka and Dougal were both there, along with a smattering of other people from the Palace. However, Shinrei's eyes immediately went to Ciel, who was accompanied by a small group that Yang recognized as her friends from Makoto's school. Shinrei walked up to her, and swept Ciel up in a tight hug, the two of them sharing a lingering kiss.

In the meantime, Weiss went over to Haruka, taking both of her hands before gently pulling the shy and reclusive Elder into a hug that Haruka hesitantly returned, a smile visible on the face beneath her hood.

To Yang's surprise, Kyo gently pulled his arm out of hers and went up to Dougal, who was exchanging a final goodbye with Blake. Dougal turned to regard Kyo as he approached.

"Look after my mother," said Kyo as he clasped hands with Dougal.

"I always have and always will," said Dougal firmly, "until the end of my days."

"I am not speaking of your duties as her Imperial Guard," said Kyo, his eyes locking with Dougal's. "With my father gone, I want you to leave O-Kaa-san's shadow, and stand by her in the sun."

"But…" said Dougal.

"I understand," said Kyo. "We all know you can't replace Tou-san. But you have been with O-Kaa-san longer than anyone, even my father. You have loved and cared for her longer than anyone. You know her and her strength better than anyone. She does not require a guard, but an equal, someone to truly share her trials and triumphs as the ruler of the Mibu. My father's time has passed and yours has come. I know that this is what he would have wanted, too."

"I won't force my affections upon Sora-sama," said Dougal, bowing his head to Kyo. "But I shall do as you bid, and be by her side as she needs. And if we should…"

Kyo smiled and tightened his grip on Dougal's hand. "You have my blessing. I have loved you as family, a second father even. It would bring me no greater joy."

Yang could see from the crinkling of Dougal's eyes that he was smiling. "Thank you, Kyo. Go forth and fight well."

"So I will," said Kyo, letting go of Dougal's hand.

Turning around, Kyo made his way to the airship, his friends and companions following him. Dougal sank down into his shadow, while the rest watched as the airship lifted off into the sky.

Yang looked down from the lounge on the center deck, watching as their craft glided slowly over the Palace. Then, to her surprise, she spotted Sora, stepping out onto a balcony, Dougal at her side, and supporting her with his arm. Standing next to her, Kyo lifted his arm in a wave, which Sora returned, apparently somehow seeing them, despite their growing altitude. As the ship turned north, Yang found herself praying that this would not be the last time she saw this land and its remarkable people.

* * *

They spent the days of the trip to Atlas passing the time as best they could. There was no real space for them to train on the ship, and none of them dared, not even on the open observation deck in front of the bridge, for fear of disrupting the ship's flight. Kyo stood at the point of the deck that overlooked the ship's bow, staring ahead, sometimes for hours, until Yang came to pull him away.

There were plenty of amusements to be had, but nearly everyone was too nervous to indulge in them, their minds all dwelling on the test that lay ahead, and the difficulties that awaited them.

Fortunately, Atlas was still there when they arrived, much to everyone's relief. In fact, it was looking better than it had when they had left. Already, the demolished portions of the Kingdom were showing all the telltale signs of new construction. The breach in the northeastern wall had been filled in, though it would take months to rebuild the defensive emplacements that had guarded it. A trio of warships drifted in the skies above, and numerous smaller airships flitted about them.

"Looks all right," noted Jaune, staring down at the scene as their ship turned towards Atlas Academy.

"For now," said Ruby, her eyes fixed on the wall. "But if the enemy attacks now, that wall won't last a second."

"We'll just have to make sure that they don't," said Jaune, squeezing her hand.

The ship dipped down, coasting towards one of the landing pads that marked the Academy grounds. As the ship lowered, they could already see Qrow and Winter waiting for them, along with Glynda. Makoto was there as well. So were, to everyone's shock, Ozpin, Pastoria, and Ozma.

"The Headmasters are all here," said Jaune nervously. "I guess they weren't kidding, when they said that the Academies were sending reinforcements too."

"I just hope we're right about the location of Nobunaga's base," said Blake, swallowing hard. "If we're wrong, we just put all our eggs into one basket, and left every other Kingdom in the world wide open."

"I doubt that's the case," said Kyo as he joined them.

"Why do you say that?" asked Ren.

Kyo frowned. "When I crossed blades with Nobunaga, I feel as though I understood him somewhat. Among other things, what he relishes most is direct confrontation. He's aiming to crush, not merely the Kingdoms that oppose him, but the spirit of all who resist. What better way than to allow his enemies to consolidate their strength, then demonstrate his power by obliterating them in one fell swoop? This gathering is a challenge to his supremacy that he can't, and won't, ignore."

"Are you sure?" asked Nora.

"As sure as I can be," said Kyo.

"We'll just have to hope you're right," said Yang.

The ship touched down gently, and they all disembarked. The delegation that had been awaiting them came forward to meet them halfway.

"It looks as though you made it in time," observed Winter.

"Well, the Kingdom's still standing, so I think they knew that before they landed," muttered Qrow, pausing to take a drink from his flask.

"We will brief you on the situation, and the enemy's location," said Makoto, "as well as share what intelligence we have gathered, which, sadly, is little beyond the location."

"We'll take what we can get," said Ruby.

The office in Atlas Tower was surprisingly crowded, with all the extra people that had come. Winter accessed the desk's holographic projection system to bring up a map of the pass that led over the northeastern mountains.

"Makoto's scouts located the first entrance here," she said, an indicator appearing on the map. "Further investigation determined the location of several more entrances, including some very large ones. Presumably these are the ones the Grimm issued forth from."

"Well, with Kubira dead, I doubt more Grimm will be coming out," said Saisei.

"They might make a good point of entry," mused Jaune, looking at the map. "All the smaller entrances are pretty much dangerous bottlenecks. If we let ourselves get bunched up in there, it could cause serious trouble."

"That's right," said Ruby. "So the larger entrances should be our best bet."

"The problem is that what lies beyond them is completely unknown," mused Ren, frowning as he regarded the map. "There's no telling what the layout of their base is like, not to mention what security measures they will have in place."

"I doubt that there will be any," said Makoto calmly, making everyone look at him in surprise. "If there is one thing that has always characterized Nobunaga, and those who serve him, it is absolute confidence in their own abilities. That means that not only is it their prerogative, but even their pleasure to repulse any attack on their home ground with their own strength."

"That's true," said Kyo. "And Nobunaga would relish a chance to test his newfound power. So it's more likely that he would invite intruders in, then arrange things so that they can be confronted, individually or in small groups, by the Junishinsho."

"So…what you're saying is that, once we get in, we'll probably be split up and forced to confront the bad guys, one-on-one?" asked Weiss, an edge of tension in her voice.

"It depends on the one confronting you," said Kyo. "Some will likely revel in the glory of individual combat. Others will take pleasure in displaying their skills against numbers. Either way, it is likely that our enemy will be exercising control of the battlefield, and determining who will be fighting who."

"And do you have any idea of what their criteria will be?" inquired Pastoria.

"It won't be strategic," said Hayate. "They won't be looking to match up their skills against someone at a disadvantage against them, if they want to show those skills off. In other words, they'll take whoever will give them the most excitement, or bring them the most pleasure."

Weiss, thinking back to her and Hayate's fight with Haira, shuddered and nodded.

"Others will probably be aiming to settle grudges," noted Saisei, with a concerned look at Blake, who paled at the remark, before looking to Ruby, who frowned determinedly.

"But some of them were more pragmatic than that," noted Yang. "That Indara guy I fought, he seems like the kind of guy to target the greatest threat, and try to take it out as expediently as possible."

"True," agreed Makoto. "Some of them are capable of such pragmatism. However, of the current Junishinsho, the only ones I imagine would act in such a manner would be Indara and Makora. The others will engage according to their whims, and little else."

"And Nobunaga, with such supreme confidence in his own strength, will care little if the Junishinsho fall as a result," said Kyo quietly. "With my father's body, and the power of the True Mibu, he will be able to make up the balance all by himself, if he needs to."

"And that's where you come in?" inquired Ozma.

Kyo nodded.

"How certain are you that you can kill him?" asked Winter.

Kyo frowned. "Not very," he admitted. "Thanks to O-Kaa-san, I've obtained sufficient mastery to be able to activate the True Crimson Eyes at will. However, at best, that only places me on roughly even footing with Nobunaga now…and even that is unlikely. According to my parents, that is only a precursor to what is truly required, in order to fully master the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ and unleash a power that can defeat even one of the True Mibu at the height of his power."

"When you put it like that, it's not very encouraging," said Glynda.

"Indeed," said Ozpin, nodding soberly. "However, it is also clear that this hope, slim though it may be, is also our best. No one else can hope to match this enemy. So, in the end, we must leave everything to you."

"I don't like this," said Glynda. "It's bad enough that we're putting all this on Kyo. But I don't like that we are sending the students in. As Huntsmen and Huntresses, this burden should fall to us."

"I think you are well aware, Glynda," said Ozpin, smiling sadly at her, "that our students have truly moved beyond the level where we would be the ones protecting them. Even though they have only just returned, I can already tell that their strength has reached a new pinnacle. I think the time to consider them students has now passed."

"Professor…?" said Ruby, her eyes widening.

Ozpin smiled at her. "Team Ruby, Team Juniper, step forward, please."

The Beacon students shared confused glances, but did as they were told. Kyo, the Shiseiten, the Goyosei, the visiting Headmasters, even Qrow and Winter fell back as RWBY and JNNR stepped forward, Ozpin standing directly in front of them, with Glynda only slightly behind him.

Ozpin's gaze went to each person as he addressed them. "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long…Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Neo Capello, Lie Ren…all eight of you have surpassed our greatest expectations, accomplishing things that we could only dream of. You have succeeded where those wiser, stronger, and more experienced than you have failed. You have fully embodied what it means to by Huntsmen and Huntresses, executing your duties and establishing yourselves as the representatives of a new generation of limitless possibility. Thus, it gives me great pleasure to officially declare that you have _graduated_ from Beacon Academy with the highest of honors. You now stand, Huntsmen and Huntresses, fully empowered to discharge your duties, and protect the people of this world from the darkness seeking to consume it." He smiled broadly at them. "Congratulations."

Despite the gravity of what they faced, in spite of the challenges that loomed in their future, Ruby and her friends couldn't quite keep shocked, but happy looks from their faces as they looked to one another with excited smiles. None of them had expected this. Not only had they officially graduated from Beacon, but a year early no less.

Ozpin chuckled fondly as he observed their wonder and glee. "I apologize that we couldn't arrange a proper ceremony for you eight. However, we can arrange a more formal ceremony for you, after this situation has been resolved."

Behind him, Glynda suppressed a grimace, not wanting to undermine the moment by introducing the possibility that not all of them would live to see their formal graduation ceremony.

Hayate chuckled, coming up behind Weiss to take her hand in his. "Told you that fourth year was just gonna be a formality," he said softly to her, making her giggle.

"Well, though the timing could be better," said Winter, addressing her sister, "I have to admit that I'm very proud of you, Weiss."

"Thank you," said Weiss.

"Well, I can't argue with Oz," said Qrow with a chuckle, as he took a swig from his flask, then grinning at Ruby and Yang. "I have to admit that he has a point, turning you girls loose on the world."

"Aww, thanks, Uncle Qrow," said Ruby, grinning.

"All things considered, it is an honor we cannot dispute," said Ozma, going over to Ren and Nora, taking their hands. "Congratulations."

"Thanks!" cheered Nora.

"We will strive to be worthy of it," said Ren, bowing his head.

"I can't help but wonder if you ever imagined yourself in this situation," mused Saisei, gently hugging Neo from behind, her tail circling around Neo's waist.

Neo beamed and shook her head, thinking back to when she had once been a criminal, who had wanted nothing more than to kill every person she was now lined up with. Never had she imagined that she'd come to see them as friends, as family, and graduate from a Huntsman Academy at their side. She had always thought that the latter would forever be a path closed to her, yet here she was.

Meanwhile, Jaune smiled and rested his hand on his sheathed sword. A small hand covered his, and he looked over to see Ruby smiling at him. "I bet you can't wait to tell your family," she said.

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "That's gonna have to wait, of course."

"Yep," said Ruby, her smile faltering slightly, before returning. "But now we have _two_ awesome surprises for everyone back home."

"Two surprises?" asked Qrow, raising an eyebrow. "Uh oh…Did Arc really…?"

"Yep," said Ruby, beaming at him. She currently wasn't wearing her engagement ring. As beautiful as it was, it wasn't the sort of accessory she wanted to wear into battle and risk damaging, so it had been returned to its box and stored with her luggage. Nora had done the same with her ring as well.

"Whoo boy…" said Qrow in a weary tone, taking another swig from his flask, "…Tai's head's gonna be spinning for sure, when you break this to him."

They broke down chatting for a little bit longer. Finally, Winter and Makoto decided it was time to bring everyone back on task, and finish planning their assault on Nobunaga's lair. However, their efforts became unnecessary, when the situation itself decided to remind them all of it.

A chill wind swept through the office, and a swirling red and black vortex blossomed out of the empty air in the space directly in front of the desk. Everyone jumped back, and the room filled with the sound of weapons clearing sheaths or unfolding from their storage modes. The blades of every Huntsman and Huntress in the room leveled at the portal. and the red-clad figure that strode from within it. Raven Branwen showed no sign of acknowledgment of the accumulated threat of death pointing her way, seemingly unconcerned as she walked forward, the mechanical sheath of her weapon hanging from her left hand by its handle, her right resting calmly at her side.

Her Crimson Eyes, partially concealed by the white mask covering her face, slowly swept the room. "Be at ease," she said. "I am merely here to deliver an invitation." The portal collapsed behind her, and she reached up to remove her mask, setting it casually on Winter's desk, as though it were her own.

"A dramatic entrance befitting one of the Junishinsho, Shindara-san," said Saisei, smiling slightly at the look of disgusted malice that Raven directed at her.

Makoto sighed and slowly shook his head. "I suspected as much," he said sadly, sheathing his sword.

Raven nodded. "We noticed your spies easily. Were it up to me, none of them would have lived to report back. However, My Lord, Nobunaga, declared such measures unnecessary. He is fully aware that you were planning this assault, and we have been waiting for you to gather your forces."

"And so, the invitation," said Kyo, looking at Raven in understanding.

"Yes," said Raven. "We will open the way for you. Bring as many or as few as you see fit. Three days from now, those who choose to answer this challenge may come to any of the entrances you have discovered, and make your way within to fight. The ground has been prepared for you. There will be no traps. We await you. After we have crushed those who have come to fight, Lord Nobunaga will begin his attack in earnest, and sweep all other resistance away. This is your final chance and hope to avert catastrophe, though it will do you no good."

"We'll see about that," said Yang, her eyes narrowing in a glare at Raven.

"You've certainly fallen pretty far, Sis," said Qrow dourly. "Time was you weren't anyone's errand girl. Now you're letting _this_ creep tug your leash?"

Raven's glare drifted to her brother. However, she said nothing to him, merely content to stare at him for a moment, before moving on.

"I have delivered my message," she said. "I will be going, though I suppose you could try to stop me if you wish."

"That will not be necessary," said Kyo, smiling cheerfully at her. "I must admit though, I had thought that you regarded the Mibu with quite some suspicion. To help Nobunaga obtain a Mibu body-"

"A True Mibu body, you mean," said Raven, her eyes fixing at him with an intense look of pure hatred and loathing. "Yes, I know the deep secret of your Clan, the secret that led to the death of mine."

"It was your clan's desire to prey upon those weaker than them that led to their death," said Kyo. "And here I thought you were one who believed that the weak deserved to die."

"They were _not_ weak!" snapped Raven, her glare intensifying, the fingers of her right hand clenching and unclenching, betraying a desire to draw her blade that she was suppressing by only the barest of margins. "They were slaughtered by an abomination that has no place in this world, a being that defies its rules and overwrites them with his own. The Mibu, _especially_ the True Mibu, have no place in this."

"Well, I can agree to a point," said Kyo, his words, drawing a surprised jump from everyone in the room, especially Raven. "The True Mibu are but a passing shadow, one whose time has long passed. By all rights, I should not have been born as Mibu Kyo, son of Mibu Kyoichiro, latest in the Line of Kyo. I should have been born as an ordinary member of the Mibu Clan, without the latent power of the True Mibu lingering in my blood."

"Kyo…" said Yang softly, shocked to hear the boy she loved speak of himself like this.

Kyo continued, not acknowledging her words. "Which is why I find it quite ironic that you, Shindara-san, have chosen to become one of the Junishinsho, a pillar supporting the one who is our sole remaining reason for lingering in this world. In doing so, you are one of those who had helped perpetuate our existence. So…I wonder…perhaps that means you do not cherish your family as much as you claim, that you would sully their loss, and betray your own beliefs so."

The sound of Raven's fraying temper snapping was practically audible, though it was probably actually the clicking sound of the rotary system within her sheath, aligning her chosen blade. Her hand flew to the handle of her weapon, and the sword subsequently flew from its scabbard. Her blade flew right at Kyo's neck. The others immediately leveled their weapons at her, but paused when Yang, stepped right between Raven and Kyo, raising her right arm. Kiren Kaina snapped into place, covering the arm right in time, as Raven's blade clanged against it, Yang stopping the attack cold. Yang glared at Raven, her own eyes turning Crimson as she met Raven's glare.

Time seemed to stand still, and silence fell throughout the office, save for the grating sound of the edge of Raven's sword grinding against Yang's gauntlet.

The tense silence was broken, not by Raven or Yang, or even Kyo, but a shocked and horrified gasp from Saisei. "That sword!" she exclaimed. "How in God's name do you have _that_ sword?"

Saisei's anger and shock appeared to amuse Raven enough that she was content to relinquish her desire to kill Kyo, for the time being, lowering her blade and stepping back, though Yang remained firmly in place between her and Kyo, in case Raven decided to have another go. All eyes went to Raven's sword, only Makoto and Kyo showing any signs of recognition.

The sword was not one of the Dust-infused blades Raven's mechanized sheath normally armed her weapon with. Unlike her usual blades, this one was no longer than an average katana. Furthermore, it was jet-black in color, almost seeming to suck the light of the room into itself. The blade had an Aura of its own, infusing the air around it with a deathly chill, everyone practically able to hear it crying its desire to spill as much blood as it possibly could.

"One of the four great Demon Blades that Muramasa forged," said Kyo, his voice soft, equal parts reverent and horrified, "the eldest and deadliest of them all…Shibien."

"How did you get that sword?" demanded Saisei again.

A smug smile stretched across Raven's face. "I'm sure you can figure it out," she said in a taunting tone to Saisei. "It was when I infiltrated your Palace, while you all were playing with Mekira. Your precious Murasame himself practically gifted it to me."

Saisei hissed, her body tensing, Neo threw her arms around the fox faunus to keep her from lunging at the smirking Raven.

"I figured as much,' said Makoto, seeming calm, though those in his immediate vicinity could detect the humming buzz of anger kept tightly confined by sheer force of will. "And Murasame only reported that Nobunaga's Samonji was missing. Because we thought him beyond reproach, we never thought to check and confirm his report of which blades were stolen." He sighed and lowered his eyes.

"That sword is one of the sacred treasures of our Clan," snarled Saisei, struggling to get out of Neo's grip, a struggle she was winning, even when Jaune, Ren, and Nora joined in Neo's efforts to keep her restrained. "A worthless bandit like you has no claim to it."

"Oh?" said Raven, raising an eyebrow. "Actually…I have the _only_ claim."

Then Raven's Aura exploded, filling the room like a flood, her mask shattering from its explosive release. The fight went completely out of Saisei's body as she was driven back by its force. Even Kyo and Makoto found themselves falling back before the awesome strength of Raven's unleashed Aura, a power they had never expected from anyone but Kyo or Nobunaga forcing them away. Even more shocking was the change that came over Raven's eyes.

The red of her irises spread outwards, completely eclipsing the whites, the black of her pupils contracting into mere pinpricks, her eyes now radiating crimson light like a pair of miniature suns, making her body and skin appear dark by comparison, the light of the True Crimson Eyes seeming to swallow all else.

"No way!" gasped Yang as she and Kyo held and supported one another against the onslaught of Raven's Aura. Even Kyo was shocked beyond words, staring at Raven in sheer uncomprehending amazement.

Finally, Raven's Aura relented and her eyes returned to their usual Crimson color as she smiled triumphantly at the shock and fear on display.

"I see…" said Saisei, apparently the only person in the room appearing to understand the meaning behind what had just happened, her previous anger forgotten. "…now it becomes clear. I had wondered just what powerful bloodline outside of the Mibu Clan itself would enable such a strong manifestation of the Crimson Eyes that it would appear in both of your eyes, both you and your daughter. But the True Crimson Eyes, and that blade, make your ancestry clear now."

"Oh…" said Kyo, appearing to realize what Saisei was getting at.

After learning the truth about the Mibu, and about Kyo, Saisei had delved deeply into the true history of the clan, in order to learn more, including many details, lost to all but members of the royal line.

"What is it?" asked Yang.

"The current Mibu are descendants of the fighting puppets created by the True Mibu," explained Saisei. "However, not all of the fighting puppets were created equal.

"The title Kyo bears, that of Crimson Cross Knight, did not originally describe the son of the current Crimson King. Instead, it had a very different meaning. The Crimson King that the first Kyo faced created four very special fighting puppets, far more powerful than the rest, by making them from his own flesh and blood. These were the original Crimson Cross Knights. They were meant to serve as his enforcers, his secret corps of assassins, who would slay all who sought to defy the Crimson King's will or unlock his secrets. However, of these four, one sided with the first Kyo in his battle against that Crimson King. After that conflict, that Crimson Cross Knight settled down and married. Even _I_ never imagined that he would produce a line of descendants that would continue on into this age."

Saisei fixed her eyes on Raven. "That man's name was Mibu Kyoshiro. Not only was he one of that Crimson King's Crimson Cross Knights, created to possess power on par with that of the True Mibu themselves, but he was also the Shibien's original wielder. Given that sword's willful and bloodthirsty nature, it is remarkable that you can wield it at all. But being Kyoshiro's descendant would make things easier. It also explains how you not only exhibit the Crimson Eyes in both eyes, despite being of such distant descent from the ancient Mibu Clan, but possess the True Crimson Eyes as well."

"Correct," said Raven, smirking. "Now that you understand, I will take my leave." She sheathed her sword again. The mechanical apparatus within the sheath cycled through various blades. She paused just long enough to retrieve her mask, and don it once more. When she drew her sword again, it was a blood-red blade that increased in length as it cleared her sheath. With an idle swing, she cut open the space behind her, opening another swirling vortex.

"We await you. Three days…" Her eyes narrowed, and her gaze fixed on Yang specifically. "I will deal with you personally."

"That a promise?" asked Yang, her own eyes narrowing. "You'd better keep it." She shoved her fear at the sight of her mother's True Crimson Eyes, and her shock at the truth about their lineage, aside for the time being. She would be damned if she allowed those revelations to throw her off her game.

Raven's expression soured. But she said nothing more and turned to stride through her portal, which shrank in on itself before disappearing entirely. Her absence from the room was like a void now, an utter silence that no one was quite willing to break…until Ozpin decided to speak.

"Well, it appears we have just received our declaration of war," he said gravely.

* * *

"Congratulations!" exclaimed Velvet as she hugged Ruby tightly.

"Thanks, Vel," said Ruby with a giggle, as she returned the embrace.

"I still think it's ridiculously unfair," grumbled Coco, though her irritation was good-natured, and she did little to hide the smile on her face as she regarded the newly-minted Huntresses and Huntsmen of RWBY and JNNR. "You guys are always stealing our thunder. And this is _our_ year to graduate no less."

"Sorry, Coco," said Yang, her tone not matching her words in the slightest. "We just can't help being awesome."

Seeing as the enemy had taken care of their strategy for them, no one had seen much reason to continue their meeting in Atlas Tower. Instead, they'd been given the freedom to spend the three days before they met the enemy's challenge as they wished. The Beacon students had been surprised to see that Ozpin hadn't come to Atlas alone, having brought several third and fourth-year teams along with him, including Team CFVY, a welcome sight for RWBY and JNNR as they reconnected with their upperclassmen.

"Seriously though, congrats girls," said Sun as he hugged Blake from behind.

"Thank you," said Blake as she leaned into his embrace, tilting her head back to share a kiss with him.

"We are so partying it up, after this is over," declared Coco with a firm grin.

"You bet," declared Yang gladly, though, in the back of her mind, a dour voice commented, _If we live through it._

They spent the remainder of their time socializing with their friends from the different Academies. Blake barely left Sun's side for more than a few minutes, leaving him long enough to place a call to her parents in Menagerie, and inform them of what was happening. It had been a difficult conversation, with many tears shed by everyone involved. Ghira had been understandably upset that his daughter would once again be facing an enemy that it seemed even the might of entire Kingdoms would falter against, to say nothing of the fact that she would be facing Adam again. Kali was more openly understanding, but Blake could see the fear and worry in her eyes as well.

She wanted to reassure them, to tell them that everything was going to be all right. However, she couldn't hide the direness of the situation and the threat that they were all facing. However, they ultimately released her with their blessings, and Blake went to rejoin Sun, clinging tightly to him throughout the day and night.

Blake wasn't the only one contacting family. Jaune and Ruby were wrapped up in a prolonged call with Jaune's parents and sisters. They were proud to hear that RWBY and JNNR had graduated already, and ecstatic to learn that Jaune had proposed to Ruby. However, that happiness was tempered by the knowledge that they were once again putting their lives on the line. Still, Jaune's sisters and mother gleefully pestered Ruby with ideas for the wedding.

After that, it was time to call Taiyang, and inform him of what was going on. As Qrow had predicted, the announcement of their engagement threw Ruby's father for a loop, leaving him borderline incoherent for several minutes, before regaining enough of his senses to demand to know if Jaune had gotten her pregnant…which embarrassed Ruby to no end, though they finally managed to talk him down. Once that was done, he was all too happy to accept their betrothal, promising to get in touch with Jaune's family, so that they could better plan the wedding.

Yang also got the chance to talk to her father, Kyo along with her. Taiyang was glad for the chance to talk to his eldest daughter, though he remained slightly leery of Kyo. He was accepting overall though, mollified that Yang didn't have any surprise announcements of marriage along with her sister's. Yang and Kyo decided to withhold from telling their father about Kyo's nature as one of the True Mibu, or even the True Mibu in general. She did, however, inform her father of the fact that Raven was one of the enemies they were facing. Taiyang had blanched when he heard that, but ultimately accepted it, though he clearly found it difficult to learn that a woman he had once loved had fallen so far.

As the most difficult battle they had ever faced loomed ever closer, they each spent their time as they thought best.

* * *

"It's nice to be able to eat together like a family again," said Weiss, as she enjoyed the dish the server had set in front of her.

"I agree," said Winter with a smile, enjoying the flavor of her own dish. "Now if only Mother and Klein were able to join us."

"Klein tells me that he's doing well enough in Mistal," said Whitley. "As glad as I would be to have him back, I have no desire to uproot him again, simply for our own sakes. As for Mother, I've heard she's doing well in rehab. With any luck, she should be fit to return home in about six more months."

Winter and Weiss both nodded. The final night before Weiss and her friends were due to confront the enemy, Whitley had invited both Weiss and Winter to dine with him in one of the fine dining establishments of Atlas left standing after Nobunaga's invasion. Said restaurant had supplied much of its provisions to people displaced by the conflict, so Whitley supplied them with the ingredients to make some of their best dishes for the siblings, along with a generous bonus to help them get back on their feet, after the reconstruction was finished.

"Have you given any thought about what you are going to do after this?" asked Winter, looking to Weiss.

"I have," said Weiss softly. "Right now, I'm thinking of traveling with Hayate for a while. He wants to show me some of the places he discovered, while traveling himself. After that…" She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I do have to teach Haruka and some of the other Mibu how to utilize our glyphs, so that they can maintain the protective shields around the capital without me."

"Admittedly, I'm not sure how I feel about that," said Winter, staring at her plate. "Teaching the secrets of our family Semblance to others feels…I don't know…like a cheapening of it, I guess."

"It would be, if it were a Semblance," said Weiss. "If it were truly something that only people in our family could utilize, it wouldn't even be _possible_ for them to learn it." She smiled. "Besides, I owe my mastery of it to Hayate in the first place. He's the one who opened me to the possibilities of what could be done, and helped me to understand what it is really capable of."

"That boy really has been a good influence on you," mused Winter, regarding Weiss with a thoughtful smile.

"Of course," said Weiss. "That's why I want to go with him, after all of this is over."

"One can only hope that you'll get the chance to," said Whitley, before flinching at his somewhat thoughtless remark, which brought up the fact that there was every possibility that not all of them would live past tomorrow.

That comment brought down Weiss' mood. She stared pensively at her plate. "I intend to," she said. "We'll protect each other, and do everything we can to make sure that everyone gets through this."

"I know that you will," said Winter, reaching over and resting her hand over Weiss'. "After all the trials you've been through, I don't doubt that you will manage this one."

"Thank you," said Weiss, smiling at her sister, before turning that smile on her brother. "We'll get through this. When we do, I'll see you both again."

Despite the confidence of her words, Weiss remained somewhat circumspect as she returned to the guest dorms in Atlas Academy. She wasn't surprised to see Hayate waiting for her. "Did dinner go well?" he asked as he fell in step next to her, the two of them making their way down the hall towards their respective rooms.

"As well as it could," she said. "Maybe you'd like to join us next time."

"Maybe," said Hayate. "I'll have to warn you that I've never cultivated much in the way of table manners. The places your family probably likes to eat would probably be too fancy for me."

"I think you'll be fine," said Weiss, taking his hand in hers.

They reached their rooms. Hayate made to enter his room, but stopped when he realized that Weiss had yet to let go of his hand. Turning to look at her, he saw a pleading look on her face. "Weiss…?"

"Hayate," she said softly. "I want…I want to spend the night with you."

Hayate gulped, his cheeks coloring at the thought. "Are…are you sure?" he asked nervously.

Weiss nodded, now gripping his hand in both her own. "I'm scared," she admitted. "Tomorrow…there's no telling what might happen. We'll fight for each other, and protect each other to the best of our abilities. But, even so…"

Hayate nodded slowly.

"So…if nothing else…I at least want this night," said Weiss. "I'm not ready for anything too intimate, but I want to hold onto you."

"I understand," said Hayate.

Weiss smiled shyly at him. "Let me get ready, and I'll meet you in your room."

"Okay," said Hayate, letting go of her hands, the two of them retreating into their respective rooms.

A few minutes later, Hayate, clad in only a pair of shorts, looked up expectantly as Weiss entered the room. She was dressed in her nightgown, her hair unbound, flowing like a white cascade down past her shoulders. "You look beautiful like that," he said softly.

"Thank you," said Weiss.

Standing up, Hayate gently wrapped his arms around her waist. Weiss returned the favor by draping her arms over his shoulders, pulling each other close. Looking into one another's eyes, they hesitated for the briefest of moments before leaning in towards each other, their lips coming together.

Locked in their kiss, Hayate stepped back, sitting down on the bed, pulling Weiss down with him. Leaning over, they lay across the bed, wrapped in their mutual embrace, unwilling to pull their lips away from one another, their tongues extending out to mingle between them. After several minutes, they finally parted, panting slightly.

"If we keep this up, we might wind up getting intimate after all," said Hayate with a wry smile, his cheeks burning all the same.

"Not yet," said Weiss. "We have more time to spend together, more moments to share, before we take that step. For now…can you just hold me?"

"There's nothing I'd like better," said Hayate, hugging her tight and pulling the covers over them.

* * *

 **Yang is the descendent of Mibu Kyoshiro. Those of you who've read _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ should know who he is. Interestingly, that would also make her a descendent of Shaman, Sakuya, who possessed the power of foresight. Granted, Yang hasn't shown any signs of that, nor have any of her other family members.**

 **Next chapter, the final battles begin.**


	94. Chapter 94

**Chapter 94:**

"Well, if we're all ready, then we should be off," said Kyo, standing at the ramp leading up to Winter's airship, which would fly them over the pass.

The others nodded and prepared to file aboard. They paused when a shouted "Hey!" from Neptune prompted them to turn to face him.

"What is it, Neptune?" asked Ruby.

Neptune stopped in front of them, panting for breath. "I need to give you something," he said to Ruby, walking up to her. "This was found outside the wall, after the battle." He pressed a familiar, rectangular object into Ruby's hand.

"Penny's scroll!" gasped Ruby, cradling the device in her hands.

"I don't care what that jerk of a father said about her, I know she hasn't gone over to the enemy," said Neptune firmly. "When you see her again, make sure you give it to her."

Ruby met Neptune's eyes and smiled determinedly. "I will," she promised.

"Are you coming with us?" asked Yang, looking to Saisei.

"I am," said Saisei, curling her tail around Neo's shoulders. "It may be tricky. But you need someone to look after you. Makoto-sama will take care of the healing on this end of things."

"That's reassuring," said Yang with a relieved smile. The thought of having Saisei and her healing abilities on their side lifted a weight from her shoulders. Granted, there was no telling how things might turn out, but she was happier knowing that the fox faunus would be with them.

They filed aboard the airship, which took to the skies, flying over the Kingdom and across the mountain pass. A trip that would have taken at least a couple of days on foot was over in less than an hour as they settled on the other side, the passengers disembarking amidst scrub and broken rock, moving across the hard ground with purposeful strides as they spread out, preparing for any signs of hostility.

The only thing that greeted them was the sounds of the wind rushing across this harsh, seemingly lifeless landscape.

"No sign of the enemy," noted Ruby.

"They're waiting for us," said Jaune simply. "Look!"

He pointed ahead of them right where the rocky ground rose to form the mountains that lined the pass. One of the boulders shifted aside with a grinding noise, revealing a black entryway.

"I guess that's their idea of laying out the welcome mat," said Yang wryly.

"It's not as though we have to accept this particular invitation," noted Hayate. "We can detour to one of the other entrances."

"The results are likely to be the same in any case," said Ren. "The enemy is ready for us, and we can't avoid fighting them on their home ground, unless we want to wait until they launch their own attack."

"Let's go," said Nora firmly, nodding her agreement with Ren's statement.

"At this point, there's no truly good answer," said Kyo, already heading towards the opening, Yang walking alongside him.

The others followed along, stepping through the opening, which enveloped them in darkness. As Blake, who was bringing up the rear, stepped through, the boulder shifted closed behind them, plunging them into pure black.

"Sheesh, you think they could've bothered with a few lights?" asked Yang wryly, channeling a little extra Aura through her right arm, causing the Aura construct to glow softly, revealing the curving walls of carved stone that surrounded them.

"They're probably going for atmosphere over practicality," said Weiss with a huff.

They made their way through the tunnel, aware that it was gradually sloping downwards. They weren't certain how long it went on for. After what seemed like an eternity of walking, the walls opened up, revealing a massive cavern. The curved dome of the ceiling towered over them. Yang was able to extinguish the light from her arm, as the chamber was lit by its own light source, faintly glowing, sickly-purple Dust crystals of some variety, which sprouted from the floor like jagged trees and dangled from the ceiling like grotesque chandeliers.

"Wow…I think these guys copied Salem's aesthetic," commented Yang.

They proceeded into the cavern, keeping a wary eye about them for any sign of attack. The floor continued its slight, downward slope, and they noticed channels carved into its surface, which all converged on the far end of the chamber, where an elaborate throne, carved from pitch-black stone resided.

"Hello!" called Ruby into the gloom around them. "Anyone home?"

"This has to be a trap," hissed Weiss.

"I agree," said Blake, frowning severely. "They probably want us to chase our tails down here while they get on with attacking Atlas."

"Fear not," rumbled a familiar voice as a figure emerged from the darkness near the edge of the chamber. "We shall honor our word."

Yang tensed, recognizing the silvery hair and looming figure of Indara.

Other figures emerged from the chamber's perimeter, their manner of entrance hidden. Blake met Basara's glare with a neutral look, before directing a worried one at the flickering, staticky figure of Makora, standing not far away. Ruby's Silver Eyes met Cinder's smoldering, orange one. Then her gaze drifted over, and a nauseous feeling settled in the pit of her stomach as she saw Murasame and, lingering close to him, Penny. Neo swallowed as she focused on the slender figure of Ajira, who smiled in her direction, the sloping scars above his closed eyes serving as a reminder of the maiming injury he'd subjected himself to. Jaune also gulped, but faced the hooded figure of Santera determinedly. Kyo smiled politely, in an almost taunting manner, at Raven, whose Crimson Eyes glared out at him from the holes in her mask.

"And Nobunaga?" asked Kyo.

"Here." The empty throne was suddenly no longer empty. It was occupied by a familiar figure, clad in a black kimono with dark-gray hems, his legs enclosed by black hakama and sandals on his feet.

None of those who looked at him could fail to see the image of Kyo's father, resting there. His hair was longer, looking unkempt and slightly curled. But it was still that familiar black shade. However, that familiarity was underscored by the vicious grin on the man's face, and even further disrupted by the appearance of his eyes, the left one a complete circle, the lids and skin burned away to reveal almost the full socket, scared skin surrounding it. He sported Kyoichiro's Crimson Eyes, but they burned with pure, unadulterated malice and hunger.

"Welcome," intoned Nobunaga, his voice resonant and thunderous, actually making the ground vibrate beneath their feet. "How wonderful it is that you've answered my challenge, Kyo."

"I'm glad that you kept your word," replied Kyo.

Nobunaga chuckled, a low sound that jolted them to their bones. "Now that I have the flesh of the True Mibu, subjecting this world to my rule shall be but a trifle. Facing you shall constitute the last true challenge to my dominion. I intend to enjoy this to the fullest."

"In that case, how are we doing this?" asked Kyo, moving to stand directly before Nobunaga. "Shindra's invitation led me to believe that you were preparing some kind of stage."

"Several actually," said Nobunaga. He locked gazes with Kyo. "I was impressed by your victory over me in Atlas. Needless to say, that was but a fraction of the power I now possess. I wish to see if you possess the capacity to actually oppose me. So we shall not duel just yet. You must first demonstrate your worthiness."

"And what does the Demon King know of worthiness?" Kyo wanted to know.

"I have tested the strength of generations of your bloodline," intoned Nobunaga gravely. "Yet I have never encountered one of the Line of Kyo quite like you. You are weak, yet strong. I wish to see the true measure of your strength, and determine if it can challenge my own."

"There's no better way than to try it yourself," said Kyo, his hand closing around the handle of his sword.

"Yet he shall not be your first opponent," said Murasame softly, taking a step forward.

"I do not intend to allow you to decide that," said Kyo, turning to charge towards Nobunaga. His body practically vanished, reappearing directly in front of the Demon King, his sword flying from its sheath to slash through Nobunaga's torso. However, Nobunaga's image flickered and vanished, extinguished like a candle flame, leaving his black throne behind, which toppled over, its back sliced in two.

"An illusion!" gasped Weiss, looking about, worried that she'd suddenly spot Haira lurking about. There was no sign of her. However, to their collective worry, the Junishinsho had vanished as well, leaving them alone in the cavern once again.

"Now what?" asked Ren.

The floor lurched beneath them and a low, cracking sound of breaking stone echoed through the darkness.

"That's not good…" said Jaune, staring down.

" _Prepare yourselves,_ " Nobunaga's disembodied voice thundered through the cavern. " _The final battle for this world begins now._ "

Cracks spread across the floor of the cavern. Then, all at once, the floor gave way, huge chunks of stone dropping out from beneath them. Their screams echoed throughout the cavern as they plunged down into darkness.

* * *

"Ugh…" Yang's voice cracked as she groaned. Her cheek rested against something cool, dry, rough, and hard. Her body ached a little, and she reflected she must have hit the ground fairly hard. With another low groan, she pushed herself up. As she expected, she was resting on a section of hard stone. The ground around her was littered with the debris of the floor that had crumbled beneath her and her friends to drop them down here.

 _My friends…?_ Yang was suddenly conscious of the fact that there wasn't any sign of the others. She was in another cavern. However, this one had no visible roof. Dull, purple crystals scattered about, hanging out of walls that curved upwards and out of sight into darkness above. "What the hell?" Looking around, she blinked in confusion. There was no one else here.

 _How is that possible?_ Yang knew they'd been fairly close together when they'd fallen. What was more, this room was enormous. If they had been divided by being dropped into a bunch of scattered, smaller rooms, she wouldn't have been surprised. But this room was enormous, easily as big as the cavern they'd fallen from, if not bigger.

"Ruby? Kyo?" Unfortunately, neither of them answered in response to her calls.

"Your friends aren't here," declared a familiar voice, coming from behind her, a voice that Yang had once yearned to hear as a young child, but now was sick to death of.

"Where are they?" asked Yang, turning to face Shindara, Raven, her mother.

"They are in similar straits," said Raven, taking the mask off her face, looking sternly at Yang, her Crimson Eyes luminous in the darkness. "I understand that this does not make sense, but Lord Nobunaga's power now exceeds all reason. In just three days, the very earth around us was warped to this extent. Do you see now, the monstrous power inherited by the one you consort with?"

"Yeah, I do," said Yang. "But I can't help but notice that you helped an even _worse_ monster get the same power, rather than leaving it in the hands of someone who had sworn never to use it. You're the one who helped unleash this, and this is _your_ master's doing."

"For now," said Raven. "But I have my own intentions. I need not explain them to you."

"Yeah right," scoffed Yang. "I'm sure you'd tell me that you're planning on stabbing the bastard in the back, the moment he lets his guard down. I'm pretty sure that would be a load of bull."

"As I said, I owe you no explanation," said Raven, her eyes narrowing.

"Fine," huffed Yang. "I don't need one anymore. I don't care why you abandoned Dad and me, why you left without a word and as good as pretended I didn't exist. I _definitely_ don't care that you have a grudge against Kyo, because he killed that tribe of thieves and murderers you call your family. Right now, you're just one of the enemy."

"So be it," said Raven, her hand straying to the handle of her sword, clicking noises sounding from the sheath as its rotary system selected the proper blade for her. "Then prepare for battle, Yang Xiao Long."

"About time," growled Yang, her gauntlets sliding into place over her arms as she tensed.

* * *

"Ren? You okay?" asked Nora as she helped Ren sit up.

"I'm fine," said Ren, feeling relieved that he and Nora were together. It certainly made him feel better, considering that he could neither see nor sense any sign of the others. He was glad that his first impulse had been to reach out and grab Nora's hand when they fell. There was no way he'd feel this calm, if he'd woken up without her.

"I wonder where everyone else is," mused Nora, her eyes glancing about eagerly for any sign of their friends.

"Considering the nature of our enemy, they could very well have ended up anywhere," said Ren. "We'll just have to look for them as we go. I suspect that we'll encounter the enemy before long."

"That is correct," rumbled a low voice that made them both tense. The towering figure of Indara emerged from the shadows, striding towards them with a bearing of absolute confidence, the air around him practically humming with barely restrained power.

Ren swallowed and tensed, drawing StormFlower, while Nora pulled out Magnhild, the weapon opening up into its hammer form with a series of clicks. They both remembered what Yang had told them about this particular opponent, namely that he was exceedingly powerful. He only utilized the basics of Aura-manipulation, the basic exercises that Kyo had first taught them. But he had mastered those skills to their utmost, and had used that mastery to become an unstoppable juggernaut. Ren hoped that his newly honed skills were up to the task of breaking through that Aura, tempered to a strength beyond that of steel.

Indara looked less than pleased by the circumstances. "Were it up to me, I would have desired to put an end to you lot in a more expedient fashion. But our master craves spectacle."

"Wow…gotta be tough having a boss who won't do things the smart way," mused Nora.

Her words had little effect on Indara. Instead, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "If it his will, even if it demands I end my life for no reason, save that he demands it, I will oblige."

Ren's body tensed even further as he now remembered what Yang had said about Indara's fanaticism. The word, "fanatic" conjured up images of unhinged lunatics shouting senseless dogma, and attacking those they deemed enemies with wild abandon. However, Indara's fanaticism instead lent him absolute conviction, tempered and shaped into the purest expression of will. His absolute devotion to his master lent him equally absolute strength. _This isn't going to be an easy battle._

* * *

"I've got you," said Weiss as she held Hayate close, her arms hugging him tightly about the waist as his own arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"Thanks," said Hayate.

They descended slowly through the darkness, the only light coming from the wings conjured from Weiss' glyph, spreading from her shoulders. They'd completely lost sight of the others. The second the floor had fallen away from beneath them, Weiss had activated her glyph and swooped to catch Hayate before they could get separated. Unfortunately, she only had the strength to carry one other person like this.

They descended carefully. Weiss was worried that they might descend forever, until her Etheric Crystal ran out of power. However, a few minutes later, she saw the ground. The two of them landed, and Weiss dismissed her wings.

"Now where are we?" she asked.

"Well, I'm guessing that this is the arena where we'll battle at least one of the Junishinsho," said Hayate.

"That's right," announced a smooth voice, as the slender figure of Ajira walked out from the darkness in front of them, his two blades already in his hands. "So, I am to face the two of you. I had hoped that I would get the chance to finish the little one, but it seems she has been slated to fight another. Still, I believe that the two of you will be fine opponents, against whom I can try my skill."

"Great," said Hayate with a sigh, "another weirdo, like Haira. Seriously, where does Nobunaga _find_ you people?"

"Here and there," said Ajira with a chuckle. "So…you are the one who slew Haira. A pity. You are correct in your judgment. I did feel a strong kinship with her. I suppose that makes this an even more fitting match."

Hayate and Weiss drew their weapons. Weiss eyed their enemy nervously. This was the man who had nearly killed Neo, during the attack on Atlas. If they weren't careful, he might very well kill them. According to Neo, his mastery of the sword was absolute.

"Now, come," said Ajira eagerly, raising his swords in front of him.

* * *

From the moment she'd gotten up, Blake had started walking. In this dark, twilit world, she was robbed of all sense of distance, direction, and time. Where she was walking, how far she'd come, how long she'd been walking, had ceased to have any meaning for her. She figured that, if she kept moving, she'd find someone at some point. Either it would be one of her friends, or she would find the enemy and would have to fight. Either worked for her at this point.

Her awareness extended through the shadows around her. The pervasive darkness of the caverns was a tremendous boon. Because of that, she was perfectly prepared for any kind of ambush.

A section of the darkness almost seemed to vibrate to her senses, as though countless tiny insects were swarming about. The nature of the sensation became apparent to Blake in an instant, and she tensed, realizing who was about to confront her.

"It seems we meet again," commented a soft voice, that hissed like static. "I had expected Nobunaga-sama to grant Basara's wish. But it seems that he has learned not to indulge that fool's every whim."

"Maybe not," agreed Blake, drawing her weapons.

Makora flickered into sight, his appearance shivering and flickering like an image on a screen with bad reception. For some reason, his appearance seemed more definite in the darkness. Compared to how he had looked when Blake had first seen him, she could now make out definite features of her opponent. Though his body initially appeared black, she could see variations of shading in the black that made up folds and sections of his robes, a black outfit that would not have looked out of place on a shinobi. Some kind of scarf was wrapped around his neck and shoulders, Black, like the rest of his garb. Whatever color his hair had been, it now looked as though it had been spun out of the purest shadow, short wisps of it dancing above his head. His eyes were pinpricks of white on his face, their winking and blinking reminding her of stars in the night sky.

"You do not seem to be all that disturbed by my presence," noted Makora.

"I figured I would probably end up being the one that faced you," said Blake. "I'm glad I did. I'm probably the best choice to fight you."

"You may be right," said Makora. "So you believe you know the nature of my power?"

"I have an educated guess," said Blake. "If it turns out to be wrong…" She shrugged indifferently. "…I'll make due."

Even though she couldn't see his mouth, she somehow knew Makora was smiling. "I see," he said. "I was right to consider you dangerous. Very well then. Let us see how accurate your guess about the nature of my power is."

* * *

"This is bad," said Saisei, her head swiveling to look around her. "I can't sense the others at all. I hope no one was hurt by the fall."

Neo nodded her agreement. She could sympathize with Saisei's plight. A healer's skill and power were meaningless, when she couldn't reach the ones who needed healing. A situation like this was her absolute bane.

"I'm such a fool," hissed Saisei irritably. "I should have known that they'd separate us like this. Of course Nobunaga would want to sort us out for matches in some kind of sick tournament.

Neo rested a gentle hand on Saisei's shoulder and then hugged her, prompting Saisei to sigh and hug her back, her tail coming around to also hug Neo. "You're right," she said. "The only thing we can do now is try to find the others. I won't be any help, if I just stand here moping."

Neo nodded and pointed off in the darkness. She and Saisei set off. They hadn't gotten far when Neo abruptly jumped, a crimson arc slicing through the air where she had been standing. It sliced through Saisei too. However, Saisei didn't even flinch, the laceration closing before the crescent of Aura had even finished passing through her body. Neo landed next to her and the two of them fixed their attention in the direction that the attack had come from.

"You…" growled a low, angry voice from the darkness.

Ironically, the voice actually made Neo smile wider and she waved cheerfully.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Basara, stalking out to meet them, returning Wilt to its sheath. "This was not what I was promised. Where is Blake?"

"Elsewhere, presumably," said Saisei with a shrug.

"This was not how it was supposed to go," snarled Basara. "Blake is _mine_ to kill! I have no time for dealing with scum, like you."

"Very harsh," mused Saisei. "Perhaps your master has decided that it's bad for you to get what you want all the time. Spoiled children tend to be difficult to handle in the long run after all." Her eyes narrowed. "This is fine by me. From what Blake has told me, it would hurt her heart to have to kill you. If we do it in her stead, then we can save her suffering."

"Hmph," snorted Basara. "And I thought you were a healer."

"Healer," agreed Saisei, "which is very different from a doctor. A doctor swears an oath to 'First, do no harm.' As a healer, I have taken no such oath. I am free to harm or heal as I see fit. As such, I have come to learn that, sometimes, harming one can heal another."

"What convoluted, pitiful logic," growled Basara. "I suppose I should expect no better from another traitor faunus who would consort with humans."

"As though you aren't," said Saisei with a giggle. "Plenty of the Junishinsho are human after all. You just want an excuse to be angry, to see us as personal insult to your shallow beliefs, which are nothing more than a justification for the bloodshed that you have come to crave. Adam Taurus, the man Blake once loved, died long ago. His murderer, Basara of the Junishinsho, now stands in his stead, wearing his skin, and speaking as though they are one and the same. Truly a pity."

"You should save your pity for yourself," shouted Basara, surging forward, his blade flying from its sheath.

* * *

Jaune looked around, his heart hammering against his ribs at the realization that Ruby was nowhere in sight. She had been right next to him when they had fallen. He had reached out to grab her, but she'd been swallowed into darkness before their hands could touch. It took him a moment to calm himself down. _Ruby's strong…stronger than me. She can handle herself. We'll find each other. I know it._

In the meantime, he would just have to get moving and find the others…or the enemy. Getting back on his feet, he looked around, and then sighed as he beheld the figure standing silently in front of him.

"I'm not surprised in the least," he said sadly, looking at Santera, who regarded him through the cowl of her robe of iron-sand with unseen eyes. Slowly and deliberately, Jaune drew forth his sword with an audible ring, the blade flashing and flickering, as its Aura responded to his. He opened up his shield and set it onto his arm, ready for the fight to come.

Santera's cloak swirled around her, the particles of iron-sand merging into plates of armor, covering her torso, arms, and legs, even forming a facsimile of the red sash that Pyrrha used to wear, but now decorated his own waist, even tying her hair back and donning her trademark circlet. She now looked like a near-perfect recreation of Pyrrha, dressed in blacks and grays. More iron-sand swirled around her right hand and left arm, merging to form imitations of Milo and Akouo. Only the blank, glazed look in her eyes betrayed that this was not Pyrrha.

"I'm ready," said Jaune, sinking into a crouch and brandishing his own weapons.

* * *

"Jaune! Yang! Weiss!" Ruby looked around as she walked through the cavern, not hearing any response, only the returning echoes of her own voice. On the bright side, that at least meant that this cavern had a limit to its size, that there were walls beyond the range of her vision to return the sound she emitted. Sooner or later, she would find the exit. When she did, she could reunite with her friends.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the enemy had other ideas. A low roar echoed through the darkness, accompanied by a sickly red and yellow glow. An orb of fire the size of a bowling ball rushed at her from the side. Ruby jumped away from it as it raced past, leaving a trail of scorched air, smelling of brimstone, in its wake. Landing, Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose, the weapon unfolding all the way as she turned to face the scarred figure of Cinder, emerging from the darkness. A gasp escaped her as she realized that Cinder was not alone.

Beside Cinder stood Penny, dressed, as always, in her striped cape, and the black and green overalls underneath it. The only piece of her ensemble missing was her broad-brimmed hat.

"Penny!" shouted Ruby, stepping forward, only to stop by the grating sound of metal. A second later, Penny's sword emerged from beneath her cloak and leveled itself at Ruby. "Penny…?"

"You should no longer address her as such," cooed Cinder in her hoarse, gravelly, yet somehow still sultry voice. "My Lord has now granted her the name of Antera. As such, she is his devoted servant, determined to carry out his will and exterminate his enemies."

"Penny…" said Ruby, feeling a yawning void opening up inside her stomach. She had been prepared, and even been looking forward, to facing Cinder for the final time. But, even knowing that Murasame had taken Penny with her when he'd defected, she had never thought that she would be facing her dear friend.

"I…I'm sorry, Ruby," said Penny, a weak sob forcing its way into her voice. "I don't…I can't…I have to."

"That's right," hissed Cinder, her tone reminding Ruby of a snake. "You must fight for My Lord. If you do not demonstrate your loyalty to him, it is certain that your father's life is forfeit. He will not take it at all well if you do not find the will to strike down our enemies."

"Penny, don't listen to her," implored Ruby.

"Oh?" said Cinder teasingly, turning her eye back on Ruby. "And why should she listen to you? You are not the one who holds her life in his hand. You are not the one she needs to be protecting, the poor dear. After all, how terrible would it be to lose her father for a second time? Surely you wouldn't subject your dear friend to that."

"You bitch!" snarled Ruby. "First Pyrrha, now this…What's the matter? Are you _that_ afraid of facing me yourself? Where's the confidence in that power of yours, Fall Maiden? Weren't you going to destroy me with your own hands?"

"Oh, I intend to," countered Cinder. "But first, you need to suffer. You will have turn your blade on one you love. If you don't, you will die a horrible death, and the ones that love you shall suffer. Perhaps, if this pathetic puppet truly cares about you, she will leap onto your scythe. By doing so, she'll be able to save you _and_ her father." Cinder's fingers gently massage Penny's shoulders through her cloak. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, my dear. That way, the only one who is lost is you. That's the best course."

"Don't do it, Penny. You don't have to do this!" Ruby glared at Cinder. "She's just a coward, who doesn't know how to fight fair. She's a weakling who doesn't know any way to get strength but to steal it. I won't let you die!"

"Ruby! You have to!" shouted Penny. "I have to fight! I don't want to, but…"

"You know, it seems that this could be easier for you," said Cinder, smirking at Ruby from behind Penny. "After all, her dear father is a traitor, who betrayed the people he served and dragged his beloved daughter into this mess with him. Now, thanks to his selfishness, she's being faced to fight her friends…all for his sake."

"I know," said Ruby, keeping her glare on Cinder. "Murasame's a traitor, and I hate him for what he's done. But he's still Penny's father, and she loves him. So I won't use him as leverage against her. I won't stoop to your level."

Throwing back her head, Cinder laughed, long and loud. "Oh, sweet, dear Rose. Don't you see how pitiful you are, how pathetic this is?" She lowered her head and glared balefully at Ruby with her remaining eye. "That only makes it all the more galling that a worthless bleeding heart like you inflicted such pain on me."

"That's because you're weak, Cinder," replied Ruby. "You have power. But you aren't powerful. That's why you'll always lose in the end."

Cinder's lips curled back, baring her teeth. "You know nothing about power, brat." Then her taunting smile returned. "But enough talking. Antera…kill our enemy."

Penny slowly, reluctantly, began to walk forward, Cinder releasing her shoulders. Her expression was despairing as she slowly closed the distance between her and Ruby, tears gathering in her eyes. Ruby took a step back, unwilling to fight.

"Ruby…please…" said Penny, her voice choked and desperate. "Stop me. You have to stop me." Then she charged.

* * *

"I'm not surprised in the slightest," said Kyo.

Ahead of him, Murasame waited, calm and composed, resting on a seat of stone, a broad stalagmite that terminated in a flat top, less than a meter above the ground. "Of course you're not," said Murasame. "From the moment you arrived here, this was preordained."

The metal of Kyo's sword rasped as it cleared its sheath. "Thanks to Mom, I've learned to fully tap into the power of the True Crimson Eyes."

"Yet that alone isn't enough," said Murasame, rising. "After all, your father had that power as well, yet he fell before my blade. Nobunaga-sama's power now surpasses even that. Just mastering the True Crimson Eyes will not allow you to defeat him. That being the case, killing you here would be an act of mercy."

"Is it truly mercy?" asked Kyo. "I thought it was a test."

Murasame's expression did not change, but remained stern and cold. "You actually believed that drivel your father left for you…about his foolish gambit? That was nothing more than wishful thinking on his part. He could never know the full depth of what the previous Shatora showed me. I know full well what the future holds. There is no hope, even if you face Nobunaga-sama. His victory is inevitable."

"But you never struck me as the sort to simply join the stronger side," posited Kyo.

"I have a daughter to think about now," said Murasame. "It is her future that I am fighting for."

"By making her fight the ones she loves?" pressed Kyo.

For the first time, an expression of anger appeared on Murasame's face. "I did not wish for it," he said. "When I spoke to them, I warned them not to come or they would have to fight her again. You should not have brought them with you."

"I did not bring them with me," riposted Kyo. "They came of their own accord, to fight their own battles, for the sake of _their_ world, _our_ world. I suppose you thought you were being kind, warning them to keep away. Far better to let them die, crushed by Nobunaga's onslaught on the world, than to allow them to fight for their own sake."

"Nobunaga-sama's victory is inevitable in any case," said Murasame. "Here or there, now or later, they will perish anyway. Even if they triumph over the Junishinsho, they have no hope against Nobunaga-sama himself. His power alone is enough now."

"And you are the one who made that so," said Kyo.

"Yes," said Murasame, his face hardening with conviction. "I granted Nobunaga-sama ultimate power, for the sake of the world."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kyo.

"Look at what has happened," said Murasame. "Penny's original father was killed by a man he once trusted, a man who was charged with protecting the people, but who instead became a brutal tyrant. Humans allow their minds to be poisoned by hate and prejudice. Faunus allow themselves to be swallowed by the desire for revenge. Slowly, yet surely, this world is spiraling into the throes of another conflict. Once that conflict ends, after massive bloodshed, the survivors shall pledge to work for peace. They will declare that they shall not allow such a horrific tragedy to happen once again. Yet, a few generations in the future, those painful lessons shall be forgotten, and the same mistakes repeated. Perhaps the impetus shall be different, as will the ideals, goals, and factions of the participants. But it matters not. The people of this world will always find another reason to fight."

"So you intend to have Nobunaga wash them all away in a river of blood," said Kyo.

"Nobunaga-sama shall rule this world," declared Murasame. "It is true. Tens, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, shall perish as a result. But the end result will be the world united under the rule of one."

"A tyrant infinitely worse than even the one you decry for killing Penny's first father," Kyo pointed out.

"That is merely the groundwork," said Murasame. "Nobunaga-sama will rule, yes. But I will stand behind him, speaking to his ear, advising his decisions, affecting his judgment. And through him, I shall rule."

"You intend to make Nobunaga a tool?" asked Kyo. "That is what the ancient Mibu did. I thought we had learned from their mistakes."

"That was _not_ their mistake," said Murasme. "The first Kyo slew the Crimson King of the time. In doing so, he broke the Mibu Clan's hold over Noubnaga-sama, allowing him to become what he is today. Had the first Kyo not rebelled, the Mibu would have overcome the Death Disease and, through Nobunaga-sama, consolidated their control over the world, and become its true and proper rulers. This time, we can do it right. Once you are dead, there will be no one who can stop Nobunaga-sama, and the world shall finally be ruled properly."

"Except that there is no guarantee that Nobunaga will listen to what you whisper into his ear," said Kyo. "He is far past being _told_ how to rule. There is no guarantee that he won't kill you the instant he no longer has any use out of you, that you won't die, once he has finished taking the world."

"Perhaps," conceded Murasame. "But I am willing to take the risk, to venture all in order to seize victory. That is the Way of the Sword, after all."

"Except that a portion of that all includes your daughter," said Kyo. "She too is at stake."

Kyo could see that his words had struck home. Murasame tried to hide the flinch that escaped him. However, he wasn't completely successful. "Enough talk," he said. "I have set my course. You cannot change it. If you wish to battle Nobunaga-sama, you will have to reach him over my corpse. However, it would be far kinder for you to die by my hand. So I shall gladly dispense death, Kyo."

Slowly, Murasame's sword began to emerge. When it did, the lights in the cavern, faint as they were, gleamed off its surface, which reflected them perfectly. Staring at its flat, Kyo could see his own eyes, staring right back. There was no grain-like finish…only a perfect, mirror polish.

"It's been a long time," noted Kyo, "since I last saw your sword."

"Indeed," agreed Murasame. "My personal masterpiece, Kagami. With her in my hand, I have commanded a mastery of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ that surpasses you and your father. If you believe you can overcome that, then come."

"I shall oblige," said Kyo.

* * *

Winter, Qrow, the Academy Headmasters, and Makoto were in the office of Atlas Tower, going over their plans for the defense of Atlas, should Nobunaga launch another attack. The holographic system built into the desk projected an image of the Kingdom and the surrounding terrain, complete with markers designating the units that were to defend it.

By and large, they knew it was an exercise in futility. Should Kyo and the others fail, then they could not stop Nobunaga, but merely delay the inevitable. Despite that, they proceeded, the act of planning whatever defiance they could serving to give them a sense of purpose.

Winter and Qrow were debating the best position to deploy the allied forces that had come from Mistral, when the hologram flickered, static flooding through it before the image dissolved completely.

"What's going on?" demanded Winter, using her control to contact one of the network administrators.

" _We don't know,_ " the administrator replied, the sound of her voice filled with static, cutting out for brief fractions of a second. " _All of a sudden, the system's stopped responding to our commands. I-…think-…-munication-…lon-…_ " Her voice dissolved into a haze of static.

"Something must be infiltrating the network," mused Ozpin. "This feels disturbingly familiar.

Qrow nodded. "Back when Cinder used that virus to take over Vale's CCT."

A screen appeared over the desk. Suddenly, all the scrolls in the room buzzed, as though everyone was receiving a call simultaneously. As they pulled out their scrolls, they found the same image on the screens as the one that appeared on the screen hovering over the desk.

It was the image of Nobunaga, in Kyoichiro's body, his Crimson Eyes glaring out of the screen at the watchers. " _People of this pathetic Remnant..._ " he said.

"He's doing this?" asked Qrow, his jaw dropping.

"So his power has grown to this extent," mused Makoto softly.

"And it's not just us," said Ozma, horror clearly evident in her voice. "He's taking control of every line of communication across the planet."

" _I am Oda Nobunaga, Demon King of the Sixth Circle, the one who will soon stand over you, not merely as your lord, but your God. I hold in my hand absolute power of life and death. What you are seeing is not some trick, the product of some mundane virus or program. It is a product of my will alone. This is but a trifling demonstration of my power. You might also say that it is my mercy to you._

" _For, despite the fact that I have attained the power of God, I have chosen to give you pathetic wretches one last hope for salvation. Behold, the champions who will do battle on your behalf. Perhaps you recognize them. Perhaps not. But know that these are the fools who are staking their lives on the futile hope of stopping me._ "

The image of Nobunaga disappeared, broken by a series of several screens, displaying the interior of a series of darkened caverns. And within them…

"Kyo," said Makoto.

"And the others," observed Ozpin.

"So he's gonna let us watch their fights," said Qrow. "Mighty kind of him."

"He's hoping that watching them be defeated will break our will to resist," said Pastoria.

Nobunaga's voice echoed out from the screen. " _These are your defenders, the ones fighting for you. Hope…pray…beg for their success, though it is not possible. For, once the last of them falls, I shall begin my assault on the world, and I shall drown all Kingdoms in rivers of blood. The screams of the dead and dying shall put the Grimm to flight, and I shall rebuild my new dominion from the ashes of your pathetic society. So watch closely, and do not look away. The fate of your very existence depends on the outcome._ "

"Well, at least we get to watch now," said Qrow. "This is way better than just sitting here, twiddling our thumbs, and wondering how things are going."

"This is bad," said Ozma.

"What do you mean?" asked Winter, glancing at Haven's diminutive Headmistress, though she couldn't pull her gaze completely away from the image of Weiss and Hayate facing down the man she remembered had slaughtered most of the contingent manning the walls during Nobunaga's attack.

"If people across the world are seeing this, then imagine what they must be thinking," said Pastoria.

"A mysterious force seizes control of the CCT with a proclamation by a hostile force, and forces them to watch the battle that may well decide the fate of the world," said Ozpin.

"I see," said Makoto. "It will conjure distress, agitation…fear."

"You're saying that it's gonna raise anxiety levels, and draw in the Grimm," said Qrow.

"That's right," said Ozma. "And worse, the military strength of all the Kingdoms is currently concentrated in Atlas. The defenses of the other Kingdoms, are manned by a skeleton crew at best. If the Grimm begin to pressure them in earnest…"

"Then they could be overrun without Nobunaga needing to lift a finger," gasped Winter.

"And even if they aren't, it'll soften 'em up for when the bastard goes on the attack," noted Qrow morosely.

"However, there is good news," noted Makoto.

"What is it?" asked Winter.

"We sent Kyo and his friends because we had faith in their ability to succeed," explained Makoto. "Assuming they win their battles, then the people's fear shall be alleviated, and the threat of the Grimm shall be reduced."

"That's true," said Qrow. "We didn't exactly send them in expecting them to lose either."

"All we can truly do is wait and hope," said Ozpin.

All plans were forgotten and they locked their eyes on the screens, desperately following the battles that would determine their fate.

* * *

 **Matchups set...let's do this.**


	95. Chapter 95

**Chapter 95:**

Ren and Nora jumped back as Indara's fist slammed into the ground where they were standing. All around him, solid stone fragmented, chunks larger than they were taking to the air. Ren planted his feet against one of them and kicked off, flying right at Indara, pulling the triggers of StormFlower, bombarding the hulking man with a barrage of shots.

Indara didn't even react as StormFlower's attacks shattered on his Tempered Aura, not even scratching it. Instead, he turned, undaunted, to face Ren's approach, one fist already rising to deliver a punch that would likely pulverize him through his Aura. Striking out, Indara's fist glowed like a comet as it connected right with Ren's face…only to plunge right through his afterimage, as he suddenly accelerated in midair, changing direction at the same time.

Though his eyes had lost sight of the target, Indara's other senses already knew where Ren was, tracking him as Ren circled around him, his body inexplicably moving in a curving arc, without needing to touch anything to change his direction. Indara spun in the opposing direction, lashing out with his arm to deliver a backfist. But Ren somehow accelerated again, flowing beneath the blow. As he moved, the blades of his weapons struck home, biting deep into Indara's Aura and making him grunt with pain, though his Aura had yet to be broken.

And then Ren was gone, flying away with incredible speed, once again leveling the barrels of his guns at Indara and pulling the triggers. This time, the magenta color of his weapons' rounds was sheathed with an ebony Aura. Indara's instincts, honed over a lifetime of battle and service to his master, warned him of the danger. Unable to dodge in time, he crossed his arms in front of him, focusing his Aura into a smaller space as the shots impacted with far more force than they should have rightly carried, driving him back, his feet scraping furrows through the ground. He grunted and narrowed his eyes.

And then Nora struck. She had leapt into the air, and now descended down on Indara above, her hammer whirling around her body like an oversized baton, arcs of pink lightning sizzling around its shaft with increasing intensity. Indara struck out at her, but his fist was deflected by the whirling shaft of her weapon. In the same instant, her hammer whipped around her body, and whirled to come right at his head from the side. Indara ducked beneath it, then found himself falling back as Nora's hammer continued to rain blows on him from every conceivable direction. All his efforts to counter bounced uselessly off the whirling shaft, which practically surrounded her with a protective cage of steel. What was more, with each passing second, her attacks were gaining power and speed, becoming harder and harder to keep up with.

The violet light of Indara's Aura began to pool in his hand, concentrating and condensing to form a sphere of pure energy. Leaping back, he thrust out his hand with a roar, Projecting the blast of his Aura, which expanded, bursting against Nora's weapon. Nora grimaced, and allowed herself to be driven back, the pink of her Aura clashing against Indara's, before she was blown backwards. Even as she fell back, Nora maintained the rotation of her weapon.

Touching down, Indara's legs tensed as he prepared to go on the attack against Nora. But then Ren re-entered the fray, an emerald streak lancing through the air as he flashed past Indara, the blades of his weapon digging deep into the man's Aura. _When did he get so close?_ wondered Indara as he lashed out, only to find that Ren had accelerated out of range, and vanished from his senses, only to reappear behind him once more.

Once again, Ren's blades bit into Indara's Aura. Trying to track where he would be heading next, Indara turned, aiming to catch Ren as he sped out of range once again, only to lose track of Ren as he circled around at close range, reappearing to Indara's senses just as he slashed at the towering man several more times.

"ENOUGH!" Indara roared, Projecting his Aura out from his entire body.

Ren grunted in surprise as he was blasted away, his own Aura straining to take the force of impact. Defense had never been Ren's greatest strength. He could block powerful attacks, but his endurance reached its limit quickly. However, he allowed himself to move with the flow of the attack and ablate most of its force.

"Ren!" shouted Nora, leaping up to meet him. Their eyes met and Ren nodded.

Indara watched them. Despite the fact she was heading straight for her ally, Nora did not disengage her own technique, her hammer continuing to whirl around her, the pink lightning trailing from it turning the air around her into a pink and silver maelstrom. It now looked as though her partner and lover was about to fly right into it.

However, at the last second, Ren's body seemed to swerve to the side. He then began to circle around Nora rapidly, his movements actually matching the spin of her hammer. What was more, as Indara watched, he could see the energy that Nora's own technique was gathering being siphoned off by Ren, merging with his own Aura, tinting its magenta color with pink edges.

"Go for it!" shouted Nora, turning the spin of her hammer so that she whipped it around in front of her. For some reason, Ren's motion cooperated with the hammer until he was aligned directly with Indara. Then Ren flew at Indara like a magenta and pink arrow, leaving a trail of light behind him.

Growling, Indara hunkered down and focused on boosting his defensive strength to its maximum. He was grateful for the precaution as Ren struck with the combined force of both his and Nora's Auras. His blades carved away at Indara's tempering and he flew past, only to loop back around in a narrow elliptical flight to strike at Indara again, before repeating the same motions. His repeated ellipses left a pink and magenta trail behind him, spreading around Indara like the petals of a flower, his blades cutting home again and again.

" _Infinite Lotus!_ " shouted Ren as he finally allowed his remaining momentum to hurtle him clear of Indara. He landed, his feet skidding across the ground as he slid to a stop.

His blades had bitten through Indara's Aura, inflicting countless small lacerations across his body. However, considering Indara's build, they amounted to little more than scratches, and Indara still had a substantial amount of Aura remaining. His eyes rose above his crossed arms, glaring determinedly at Ren.

"Heads up!" shouted Nora gleefully as she descended from above. In doing so, she altered the spin of her weapon so that she now brought it down in a single, powerful, mighty overhand swing. Utilizing what she had learned from Chika and Senzaemon, Nora channeled the whole of her intent and will into the strike, the form of the hammer seeming to swell up and increase in mass, transforming into a massive construct of Aura that descended on Indara from above with the force of a meteor.

" _Mjolnir!_ " Indara threw up his arms, crossing them over his head and bracing his body as Nora's attack slammed home. The ground at Indara's feet instantly shattered and cratered. His entire body bowed beneath the weight of the mighty stroke. The huge Aura hammer pressed down upon him, its glow intensifying with each passing second as Nora channeled all her accumulated strength into the blow. Blood spurted forth from the wounds that Ren inflicted, which tore open even wider as they were strained by the immense pressure of the blow from above.

Roaring in pain and anger, Indara pushed back upwards, Projecting his Aura out from his arms. Nora grinned fiercely and pulled the trigger on her hammer. In a flash of white and pink, he vanished, a massive explosion throwing dust and debris in every direction as Nora rode its wave to vault away and land next to Ren, squeaking and stumbling as the strain of her exertions caught up with her, though Ren quickly moved to steady her, the two of them watching the dust where Indara had been standing.

"Do you think that did it?" asked Nora.

"It's hard to imagine even someone like him standing up to that kind of power," said Ren. "But I wouldn't count him out just yet."

"Then you are wise." Indara's voice echoed out from the cloud of dust, causing Ren and Nora to tense up, though Nora still needed Ren's support to remain upright.

Indara slowly emerged from the cloud, his violet Aura swirling around him. His wounds bled profusely, the pressure of Nora's strike exacerbating the cuts that Ren had inflicted. But, even as they watched, Indara's Aura was slowly healing the damage. He moved with confidence and conviction, hardly seeming inconvenienced by the pain of so many deep injuries.

"Truly remarkable," he complimented them. "You have trained a great deal to achieve that kind of skill."

"You could say that," said Ren, carefully letting go of Nora, making sure she could stand on her own.

"I must compliment you on your technique," said Indara, looking at Ren. "I recognize, at its base, the gravity-control arts of the _Mumyo Daion Ryu_ , wielded by Chinmei of the Earth. You have made a most unique use of it."

Ren nodded. His new technique had been dubbed the _Gravity Slingshot_. Rather than simply suspend gravity as Chinmei did, Ren designated his opponent as the point that his personal gravity focused upon. Ren was then pulled towards that target. However, by altering his course and using his Aura, he could turn that plunge into an orbit around the focus of his gravity. Used properly, the resulting effect could generate powerful acceleration, allowing him to rapidly circle around the target. Releasing the effect at the right time enabled him to fling himself away before the enemy could counterattack. Normally, such a skill would have required too much Aura to use on his own for a very long time. But using what Hayate had taught him about drawing Aura from the world itself, he was able to merge with and manipulate Remnant's own gravitational forces, drawing them around his opponent. At the same time, it allowed him to use what had once been his Semblance to close in and slip around his enemy, without them being able to perceive it.

"A truly magnificent technique," mused Indara. "If you are able to polish it further, I do not doubt that it would become nigh unstoppable. All the more imperative that I kill you here."

Ren and Nora exchanged uneasy glances. They had hoped that their combination attack would be enough to take down Indara. However, it seemed that his raw endurance and determination trumped that.

Indara's walk faltered and he stopped briefly. A second later, he lurched forward, coughing wetly. Turning, he spat a mouthful of blood out to the side before turning back to Ren and Nora, who rallied somewhat. They hadn't put him down, but they'd managed to put a serious dent in him. The energy Indara was expending to heal his own wounds was energy that he couldn't turn against them in the fight to come. If they could land another combination like the one they just used…

"I'll go in first," said Ren.

"Okay," said Nora, moving to stand behind him. She was still wobbling a little. Her weapon collapsed back into its grenade launcher form. Leveling it ahead of her, she squeezed the trigger and fired six shots at rapid succession, aiming right for Ren's back. However, as the pink Dust-grenades hurtled towards Ren's back, they were swept up to orbit around his body as he charged forward at Indara.

Indara went into a run at the same time, the two combatants closing rapidly. Indara thrust his hand out in front of him with a shout, Projecting a blast of Aura that shattered the earth where Ren was…except that Ren wasn't there anymore. His course now sent him hurtling around Indara's flanks, before the bend abruptly tightened, sending him flying straight at his target. As he did, the grenades circling his body split off on a wider orbit of their own, moving in a wide circle around Indara.

Indara turned to meet Ren directly. However, Ren seemed to slip through his senses and appear behind him once again. But Indara was ready for this, already anticipating where the next attack from, even if he couldn't sense his attacker. Ren was forced to use his orbit to accelerate out of the way as Indara unleashed a blast of Aura right where he had been. His senses heightened to their absolute limit, Indara felt Ren's presence reappearing from above, and jumped off the ground, flipping his body over backwards so that he could kick straight up.

Forced to abort his attack once again, Ren circled around to come at Indara from a new angle. However, each time, he was forced to evade the counterattack. Now that Indara had better read the nature of Ren's technique, he was able to predict his opponent's motions in conjunction with the path of the orbit he'd chosen. The two of them were a blur, like a deadly dance as Indara spun and turned about to try and strike at Ren, while Ren whipped around Indara in rapid circles, trying to cut into him with StormFlower's blades before escaping.

However, Indara's eyes turned to Nora, who had opened Magnhild up into its hammer form once more. She had begun to spin it again, pink lightning once again leaving sizzling arcs behind the shaft. However, after expending her accumulated power in the previous attack, it would take her much longer to build her momentum and energy up to the same level as before. In the meantime, she was counting on Ren to keep the enemy occupied until she was ready to strike.

But Indara had noticed that. While still fending off Ren's attacks, he went into motion, moving the course of their battle towards Nora with the clear intention of attacking her as soon as he was within range. Ren increased the pace of his own attacks, trying to keep Indara occupied. However, the powerful warrior accepted the blows that Ren landed as the price for accomplishing his objective, and broke into a charge, heading right for Nora.

"No!" shouted Ren.

Spreading out his arms, Indara concentrated his Aura into the palms of both his hands, Projecting it out, even as he maintained its Tempering, to form orbs of concentrated Aura hovering over both palms. Leaping into the air, Indara jumped in an arc that would bring him down almost right on top of Nora. The orbs of Aura in his hands abruptly swelled to monstrous size, each one becoming larger than his own body. Descending on Nora, he began to swing his arms inwards, preparing to bring the orbs together and crush Nora between them.

"STOP!" shouted Ren, appearing in front of Indara. He swept his arms out to the side, flinging his weapons away, spinning, leaving him empty handed as he planted himself firmly between Indara and Nora. When Indara had jumped Ren had given up attacking and instead increased the speed of his orbit, circling around Indara faster and faster. When he stopped in front of Indara, Ren had actually executed a sharp bend in his orbit, then abruptly stepped down, channeling all his accumulated momentum and projecting it out with his Aura from his hands.

Indara's chest slammed into the powerful barrier of Aura that Ren unleashed, his momentum completely canceled out. The force of the blow then blew him back. Growling in frustration, Indara switched his target to Ren and swung his arms inwards, bringing the massive orbs of Aura he'd gathered together.

They exploded upon collision with each other, a massive blast that rocked the entire cavern. Nora had to jump back to avoid being caught in its radius, her whirling hammer deflecting the debris that came flying at her body even as her technique accumulated more and more power with each revolution. "Ren!" she shouted, losing sight of her partner and soon-to-be husband. The blast opened up a massive crater in front of her.

"One down," mused Indara sternly. However, looking around, he noticed something.

The grenades that Nora had fired at Ren, which had been swept up into an orbit around him, before Ren had set them into orbit around Indara, were still continuing their revolutions around him. A hissing sound of the air being parted by a sharp object reached his ears, and Indara looked up to see Ren's weapons, which spun as they arced gracefully through the air. Then, through the dust and smoke raised by his attack, Indara saw a figure rising through the air over the crater he'd created.

Ren looked a little worse for wear, bruises and grime covering his exposed skin, his clothes looking slightly tattered. He had accumulated a few nicks and scratches here and there. But, on the whole, he was still more than able to continue the fight. Indara's eyes widened at the sight of such a fragile opponent escaping such a powerful attack.

Then StormFlower swept around, the two weapons' blades cutting through the grenades in orbit around Indara. The grenades exploded, but the released energy was swept up around the whirling weapons. Each of the guns cut through three of the grenades, accumulating their energy as Ren activated his technique and allowed himself to be pulled towards Indara.

Indara tensed, focusing his senses on Ren's every movement. However, Ren seemed to fade and vanish before his eyes. Growling, Indara prepared himself, trying to anticipate the direction that Ren would orbit around to attack from. However, he was caught off-guard when Ren did something that he had never done throughout their entire fight up to that point…attack head-on from the front.

 _Were all his previous tactics meant to diffuse my awareness, in preparation for this?_ wondered Indara as he shifted to counter Ren. But the unexpectedness of the maneuver had caused him to hesitate for a fatal second.

StormFlower returned to Ren's hands, the channeled power of Nora's grenades hanging out like extensions of the blades, held in form by Ren's gravity. The moment the rotation ended, the energy held in place by the weapons would begin to rapidly disperse, but Ren caught them by their handles, swinging the weapons and making their arcs an extension of the previous rotation, crossing them in front of himself, the twin slashes etching an X-shape across Indara's chest. " _Chrysanthemum Wheel!_ " The energy gathered around the blades was channeled into the cuts Ren had made before exploding outward like countless petals of a blooming flower.

"Not…enough…!" growled Indara, straining his body to withstand the powerful explosive force that had been focused and carved right into it. His Aura surged, swirling around the wounds, fighting to close them.

"You're right," agreed Ren, before leaping up in an arcing backflip.

Behind him, Nora launched herself in a leap that took her over the crater that Indara had created. As she closed in, Magnhild collapsed back into its grenade launcher form while she continued the motion in a sweeping, upward arc that brought it right in line with the point where Ren's two attacks intersected. A determined grin appeared on her face as Nora pulled the trigger. " _Gungnir!_ "

The power that Nora had accumulated through spinning her hammer continuously blasted out from the barrel of her weapon in an enormous, pink surge of energy, like the blade of a massive spear, punching right through Indara's body and out his back. The energy surged through the cuts Ren had made, both old and new. Indara's skin crackled and blackened, and the body around the point where Nora's attack had landed was already crumbling to ash. Blasted back, he landed, skidding across the ground.

Ren landed next to Nora and caught her as she swayed and nearly toppled over. "Good work," he said, smiling at her.

"Thanks, Ren," said Nora sweetly, nuzzling into his shoulder.

"Such…flawless…coordination…" Indara's voice was a hoarse croak compared to its previous rumbling quality. "The two of you have…come so far…in such a short time…How do you fight as one…so well?"

"You can still talk," mused Ren as he and Nora made their way to where Indara lay, his body still disintegrating. Considering that the damage was centered on his torso and spreading outwards, it was nothing short of a miracle…or a phenomenon beyond mere physical ability, that was enabling him to still speak.

"How…?" repeated Indara.

"That's a simple question to answer," replied Ren. "For many years, the two of us have been one, even before we decided to bind our fates as husband and wife. It is only natural that we could work together so well."

"I see…" said Indara, smiling in spite of his pain and the imminent death. "So…your love for each other has overcome my devotion to Nobunaga-sama. How disheartening."

Ren knelt by the man's head, staring down into his eyes. "Though you were the enemy, you fought as a true warrior. There is no shame in this."

"Hah!" Indara's laugh was more of a cough than anything else. "Words of comfort for the enemy…I cannot fathom your foolishness…Perhaps that is why…I fall here." His eyes drifted closed as his voice faded away. His body continued to burn away, black and white ash drifting through the air around him.

Standing up, Ren shared a look with Nora, the two of them exchanging a loving smile. "We should go," said Ren finally.

Nora nodded. Ren turned and began to walk, picking a direction, more or less at random, and hoping that they would find some clue as to where their friends were. He didn't manage to even take the first step before Nora's arms looped themselves around his neck and her weight descended on his back.

"I'm tired, Ren," whined Nora, punctuating her statement with an exaggerated yawn. "You'll carry me, right?"

Despite the unexpected burden, Ren smiled warmly. "Always and forever," he promised.

* * *

With the crack of an accompanying gunshot, Wilt exploded from its sheath as Basara swung it at Neo and Saisei. The blade accelerated to the point to where it was nothing more than a streak of red light in the twilight of the cavern. Saisei and Neo burst into motion at the same time, charging the leader of the White Fang and, now, member of the Junishinsho.

Neither of them made any visible effort to dodge. Basara's blade carved right through Saisei's body, but the wound was already closing before his sword had completely passed through. His sword continued on to strike Neo's body. However, her form shattered like glass. Grunting in frustration Basara held up the sheath, Blush, to block as Saisei lashed out with a powerful roundhouse kick. The blow struck his weapon, but the sheer strength behind it launched Basara through the air.

Using his momentum, Basara turned his flight into a flip, coming back down on his feet, leveling Blush at Saisei and pulled the trigger, firing a bullet. Once again, Saisei made no effort to evade, her head jolting slightly at the impact as the bullet struck her square between the eyes. However, once again, the wound closed nearly instantaneously.

"Blake told me you were stubborn," commented Saisei wryly. "But she never mentioned that your stubbornness crossed into outright stupidity."

"Silence!" snapped Basara, re-sheathing his sword and rushing right at her again. Once he came within reach of her, he drew, launching a rapid series of slashes that cut at Saisei through Saisei from all directions, accompanied by several shots from the gun/sheath that punched holes through her chest and stomach.

Saisei was completely unconcerned by the attacks, letting them hit her body and making zero effort to defend or evade. The wounds all closed immediately, not even a single speck of blood leaving her body. Indeed, it seemed that Saisei's form seemed composed of some other material, something gelatinous that merely reformed each time it was cut. Basara's efforts could be likened to using a stick to draw lines in standing water.

"They say stupidity is trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result," said Saisei with a sigh. Her tail divided into nine and whipped around her body. Basara was forced to leap back, jumping away in a series of rapid flips as the tails slammed into the ground he had been standing on and shattered it.

"I wonder what Nobunaga was thinking, pitting you against me," mused Saisei as she walked after Basara at a sedate pace, her tails winding around her body like a storm. "This is a complete mismatch. You can't possibly hope to harm me with those attacks of yours. You'll only continue to expend your strength in a futile struggle."

"I never expected to face an opponent with such a cowardly style," growled Basara.

Saisei giggled. "Such is the philosophy of the Wood School of combat. The essence of combat lies in attack, not defense. No matter how great your defenses are, if you cannot strike down your foe, you cannot hope to win. To a master of Wood, defense is needless. Your enemy cannot defeat you, if he does not attack. But his attacks cannot harm. So he attacks and attacks and attacks, until his strength has wasted away. After that, crushing him is a mere formality."

"On the other hand, if I don't waste energy unnecessarily on you, then I cannot be worn down, so long as I don't attack," said Basara.

"True," agreed Saisei with another giggle. "However, therein lies the other aspect of our philosophy. Regular fighters must balance their strength and awareness. Even when attacking, you are on guard against counterattack. You strike, but are prepared to block and evade as well. For a master of Wood, though, there is _no_ need for defense…so I am free to devote all of my strength and awareness to the attack."

Saisei suddenly surged forward, closing into Basara's range without the slightest hesitation. Basara's draw was so fast she didn't even see that, the blade biting cleanly through her flesh, before the sound of the gunshot Basara used to accelerate his attack even reached her ears. However, as always, the wound was closed before Wilt had finished its exit. Saisei continued on as though nothing had happened, swinging her fist straight for Basara's head.

Basara lurched clumsily to the side. Saisei's fist caught his shoulder instead. It was a glancing blow, but the power Saisei wielded was massive, and Basara was sent flying and spinning, his body bouncing off the ground hard enough to crack it, before finally skidding to a stop. With a pained growl, he forced himself back to his feet. Sheathing his sword, he fired and drew it again, launching a crimson arc of Aura at Saisei's body, cutting through her, but leaving no lasting damage in its wake again. Saisei was already closing in at a run again.

Something glinted off the flat of Basara's sword and his instincts screamed danger signals to his brain. He jolted his head back, feeling something narrow and sharp graze past his cheek, its edge sharp enough to bite through his Aura and draw blood. With a grunt of pain, Basara jumped back to see Neo landing in a crouch a short distance away.

Something had changed about her. Neo still looked as she usually did. However, her eyes were their natural white color, instead of the brown and pink effect her Semblance typically maintained. Her already pale skin seemed to somehow shine brighter, despite the faint light of the cavern. Her clothes were brighter as well, the colors paler, a nimbus of light seeming to hover around her, hanging just a few centimeters off her skin in a faint haze.

Basara leveled his rifle at Neo and fired. The bullet passed right through her body. Once again, it shattered like glass. The fragments of her illusion scattered through the air around Basara, forming a loose hemisphere around him, and a streak of light bounced off one after another, like a laser bouncing off a series of suspended mirrors.

As Basara attempted to re-sheath his sword, Neo struck from the front. He barely managed to catch the blade extending from the tip of her umbrella on his partially sheathed sword. Her attack and body seemed to bend a reflect off his own blade, bouncing around in another insane series of reflections before coming to strike at him from a new angle. Basara spun in place, barely able to get his weapon into place in time, catching her attack in the same manner as before.

The pace of Neo's attacks only increased. Basara blocked those that he could, but several more found their way home, piercing through his Aura and sending tiny spurts of blood flying through the air. Then Saisei arrived, her tails swirling around her like a miniature hurricane, tearing apart the earth, before striking with her fist, which Basara barely managed to avoid.

"It seems that Torchwick's little minion has learned some new tricks as well," muttered Basara as he landed again.

Neo scowled at the mention of her father-figure's name, but she did nod an acknowledgment to Basara's observation. This was the fruit of her training under Hayate, learning to merge with and draw power from the Aura of the world itself. In doing so, she had found that her own form could be suffused with the energy that she controlled. In essence, Neo herself could _become_ light. Applying that to her Manifestation, she could now not only use it to reflect the ambient light of her environment, but to refract herself as well.

Basara cracked off several shots at her with his gun. Neo opened her umbrella, spinning it in place to deflect his shots. As she did, the canopy seemed to shine a little brighter, shimmering slightly. Closing it again, she extended the blade from its tip. With a loud shriek, the canopy section of the umbrella launched off the shaft, trailing fiery sparks in its wake, like a rocket. Basara sheathed his sword and partially drew it out to catch the tip of her blade. The canopy snapped open, blocking his field of vision for a brief second, scattering more orange sparks in the air.

Pushing back, Basara forced the bladed umbrella back, slamming his blade all the way back into its sheath once he broke contact. As he did, he noticed the sparks scattered from the canopy gathering behind him. Spinning in place, he drew again, Wilt becoming a streak of crimson light, cutting through Neo as she appeared from the cloud of merged sparks. But it was another illusion, and shattered on contact.

The umbrella canopy snapped closed, drawing Basara's attention back to it. Neo drove inserted her shaft back into the upper section, using the same motion to thrust forward with the extended blade again. Angling Blush with his wrist, Basara pulled the trigger and used a shot from the weapon to deflect the umbrella's thrust, then turning to slash at Neo again.

With a flick of her wrist, Neo brought her umbrella up to parry, the edge of Basara's blade failing to cut through it. For a few seconds, the two of them advanced and retreated, their weapons clashing together like a pair of fencers, Neo's barrage of attacks keeping Basara from returning his blade to its sheath, in order to execute another lightning-fast draw. Firing Blush again, Basara forced Neo to open her umbrella's canopy, spinning it to deflect the bullets. Doing so gave him time to return his sword to its sheath, drawing it again immediately, carving right through the spinning canopy of her weapon, returning the blade to its sheath yet again in a flash.

But it was another illusion, shattering again as the real Neo used her unique Manifestation to reflect herself back away from Basara. As she did, Saisei came thundering through in her wake, once again attacking with a straightforward punch. Acting on reflex, Basara partially drew his blade, catching Saisei's incoming fist with its edge. The razor-sharp edge of his sword split her fist easily, cutting through Saisei's flesh like a hot knife through butter. Despite that, Saisei continued her swing unimpeded, her wound closing even while it was still being inflicted, and her punch slamming home into the center of Basara's chest.

Basara roared in pain as he was sent flying back. His Aura strained to withstand the hit, and his ribcage groaned, threatening to crack or break completely. He was sent flying back, Wilt nearly being torn from his grip and remaining lodged in Saisei's arm. But he managed to hold onto it, the momentum of his impact ripping it free of her body. He landed on his back, sliding to a stop before flipping back onto his feet.

Saisei looked at her hand. "Hmm…that had less power than I thought," she observed.

Neo came up behind her and tapped her shoulder insistently, before holding up her umbrella and pulling its component pieces lightly apart to mimic the action of Basara partially drawing his sword.

"Oh! Right," said Saisei, nodding, "his Semblance. I remember now. What was it called again?"

Snarling wordlessly, Basara sank into a crouch, readying himself to draw again.

"Do you think he's accumulated enough power?" asked Saisei.

Neo shrugged, her expression wary.

"I suppose we'll just have to find out," mused Saisei.

Neo nodded, the light suffusing her body intensifying as she shot forward. Basara drew, and Neo jumped above the level of the incoming slash, motes of light trailing around her as she moved. Even as she evaded his sword, Basara angled his rifle up and fired. Neo swept her umbrella down, opening the canopy as she did. Spinning it, she deflected the shot, closing the canopy and launching the upper half of her umbrella at the same time, the blade extending out from it. Basara jumped to the side, escaping the shot as it zipped past, the blade embedding itself in the stone floor.

Then he realized that Neo had touched down on the opposite side. Basara turned to face her, only to find himself face-to-face with the barrel of the gun hidden in her umbrella's shaft. Squeezing the trigger, Neo launched a shrieking bolt of flame that Basara barely managed to block, returning his sword partway into its sheath and using the bared portion of the blade to catch the attack, which was sucked in.

Slamming the sword back all the way in, Basara immediately executed another draw. Neo vanished in a flash, but Basara still felt the edge of his blade make contact with something. Then he jumped away as Saisei descended from above, bringing the heel of her foot down in an axe-kick that split the earth where he'd been standing.

Neo appeared next to her, bleeding from a shallow wound across her stomach. Before she knew it, Saisei's tail had brushed across it, and the cut vanished.

Growling in frustration, Basara re-sheathed his sword once more. "I've had my fill of this farce," he snarled.

"I admit that I'm getting bored with this fight as well," said Saisei with a sigh, folding her arms behind her head. "From all that I've heard about the great leader of the White Fang, who toppled Sienna Khan, I was expecting someone with more depth to him. But it seems that there's nothing particularly special about you at all, save for your fixation on poor Blake."

"Silence!" snarled Basara. "Die already, and let me move on, so that I can find her."

"I think not," said Saisei. "Instead, why don't you die here, so that you can stop bothering her already?" Her smile took on a vicious edge. "I believe I'm more than adequate to help you along in that respect." She charged forward once more.

Bending his knees, Basara began to lean forward, readying to draw once more. This time, the interior of his coat and the designs decorating its back began to shine with sickly, red light, which climbed up to even illuminate the mask resting on his face. "You do not give a thought to defense or evasion…so you won't even think to dodge this."

Basara's attack was so swift that the motion itself was completely invisible. Time seemed to slow exponentially. Abruptly, the world was dyed red, all objects turning into black silhouettes against the bloody background. Saisei was frozen mid-leap, her fist cocked back, poised to strike. Basara's blade cut a line clean through her torso.

Then time returned to normal. Basara's blade returned to its sheath, and the red background vanished, Saisei's body dissolving into blackened petals that scattered through the air, before disappearing entirely, leaving no trace of her.

"Wilt and scatter," intoned Basara coldly. "My _Moonslice_ leaves no trace remaining. Not even a regenerator like you could possibly recover from that." His gaze rose to take in Neo's horrified visage, tears streaming from her eyes. "Now…it's your turn to join her in death, traitor."

Neo's eyes narrowed in an angry glare.

" _My my…that was quite the display._ "

"What?" gasped Basara, whipping his head around at the sound of Saisei's disembodied voice.

" _That technique of yours is quite terrifying. We were right to be wary of it. I'm glad Blake warned us about it. Had that actually landed, it really would have been the end for me._ "

"Impossible," growled Basara, searching for the voice's source. His eyes returned to Neo, who was still wearing her angry and saddened expression. But, as he watched, Neo reached up and lifted her face off her… _face?_

It was as though Neo had crafted a mask in a perfect imitation of her own face, with an expression of anger and despair. Now she pulled that mask off, holding the disembodied face in her hand to reveal another face behind that, the same face, but this time smirking triumphantly.

"Wh-wha-what?" stammered Basara, taking an uncertain step back.

The "sad Neo" mask shattered like glass in her hands.

" _Isn't my beloved Neo-chan brilliant?_ " asked Saisei's voice. " _Thanks to her tutelage under Sora-sama, she has become a master of light, completely controlling the world that you perceive through your eyes._ "

A section of air next to Neo shattered to reveal Saisei standing there, eight tails dancing behind her. "Of course, I did have to sacrifice one of my tails, so that you felt that you hit something with that attack," she said. "I can reproduce it, but it will take me a few days to build up the necessary biomass. It also temporarily lowers my overall strength." She cracked her knuckles eagerly. "I'm going to take the compensation out of your hide."

"You were toying with me?" demanded Basara.

"Not really," said Saisei. "This was necessary to determine the amount of power you needed to build your attack. It also allowed us to observe the nature of your style, and determine its limitations. You can't absorb attacking energy unless your sword is at least partially sheathed. Furthermore, you can't use that technique effectively, until you've built up a certain minimum amount of power. Aside from that, there are telltale signs that indicate your intention to use it. In other words, if we act correctly, we can seal that overpowered attack of yours, and stop you from using it."

"How very calculating of you," said Basara. "You're quite the schemer aren't you?"

"So it would seem," said Saisei cheerfully. "But part of that scheming was determining that the time for schemes is now past. This battle will be over soon."

"I'll make sure of it," growled Basara.

"Actually, Neo-chan here will make sure of it," said Saisei, gesturing to Neo. "As I said earlier, she has become a master of light, thanks to her tutelage under Sora-sama. However, with further training and development, under my dear little Hayate-kun, she has learned to merge with the Aura of the world, allowing her to suffuse her body with the qualities of light itself. With my support, her own ultimate technique is complete."

"What ultimate technique?" growled Basara, drawing back a few steps.

Saisei giggled as Neo moved to stand in front of her. Saisei raised her hands and rested them against Neo's back. Her Aura glowed and flowed into Neo's body. The shine infusing Neo's body seemed to intensify. The space around her grew darker, seemingly because the light in the space was being drawn into her body itself.

"Tell me, Basara-san…do you know about faeries?" asked Saisei.

"Nothing important," scoffed Basara. "Is this supposed to be story-time now?"

"Hardly," said Saisei. "Faeries are beautiful, yet dangerous. Capricious and unpredictable, they can be blessing or bane as the mood strikes them. They are masters of misdirection and illusion, ensnaring their victim's senses, and controlling the world that they perceive. In other words, they're a great deal like my precious Neo-chan.

"With my support, she draws the light around her to become her garment. Her power ascends and becomes transcendent, just like a queen. The faeries of ancient lore had a queen. With that in mind, we created the name for this technique."

The light forming around Neo completely obscured her original clothes, becoming a dress of flowing, pure white. A pair of glittering wings, like a butterfly's extended from her back. Her skin lightened even further, so that the point where the difference between her skin and the flowing garment she now wore became indistinct. Basara wasn't sure if the fact Neo was manipulating the light in the area was affecting his sense of proportion as well, as she seemed a little taller, yet even more slender and graceful than before, almost seeming inhuman. The mismatched brown and pink of her eyes had vanished again, leaving her normal irises in their place further heightening the "white" theme of her new appearance.

Saisei stepped away, beaming with pride. " _Titania: Raiment of the Faerie Queen!_ " she pronounced.

Neo smiled and raised her weapon. The umbrella seemed to have changed in her hand. The folded canopy was replaced by a broad-bladed sword that extended longer than the weapon's original length. Like her new dress, the blade seemed to be forged from pure light.

 _Claiomh Solais_. That was the name they had come up for the blade that Neo's power now conjured. It was something that, like her garments of light, could only exist thanks to Saisei's support. With further training, perhaps she would be able to learn to execute this technique by herself. However, that would be for later. For now, Saisei's support was more than enough for Neo.

Basara bared his teeth and sank back into a crouch, preparing to draw. "Pathetic," he snarled. "A gaudy display like this can't-"

His voice was cut off as Neo appeared behind him. Basara turned to face her, but was startled by the feeling of a sharp edge biting into his flesh. "What-?"

His words came to an abrupt end as his entire body flew to pieces. Neo's attack had been so swift that he hadn't even sensed it. It was speed that transcended speed. In her current state, only a few people could have countered Neo's attack, and only two people in all of Remnant could have matched or, possibly, exceeded her speed in this state. Because of that, Basara was dead before the realization of his defeat had reached his brain.

His mask separated from what remained of his head and face to clatter across the stone of the cavern floor, coming to a rest before Saisei's feet, its empty eye-holes gazing up at her, the mask's menacing design almost seeming to impart an sense of malice that Basara hadn't had time to muster at the instant of his death. Saisei gazed back down at it, then lifted her foot and stomped it contemptuously, shattering it into pieces.

"Pathetic," she said in a disappointed tone. "In the end, I didn't even really need to go through the trouble of analyzing his technique." Still, in this situation, it had been best to proceed cautiously. Blake hadn't noted any particular growth or development in Basara's abilities from their fight, back in Atlas. But that didn't guarantee anything. Basara had been one of the Junishinsho after all. It was always safe to assume that they had some quality or ability that remained unknown.

Saisei was roused from her musings by the sound of a body hitting the stone and saw that Neo had fallen forward onto her face. "Neo!" Saisei broke into a run, dashing past the splattered parts and pool of blood that were all that remained of Basara's body to reach Neo's side.

Neo's new technique was extremely powerful, increasing her speed and attacking power to such a degree that only Nigel or Sora could probably compete with her. In order to do that, she needed Saisei to boost her Aura to execute it. The other weakness was that _Titania_ was a technique that could only be used for a few seconds at most. It boosted Neo's abilities to such a degree that those seconds were enough to completely end most battles. But Neo was now completely drained from the exertion it put her body under.

"How are you feeling?" asked Saisei, rolling Neo onto her back, noting that Neo's eyes were white.

Drained as her Aura was by the exertion, Neo couldn't use her Semblance to aid her communication. But the reassuring smile she directed up at Saisei was more than enough.

"Good," said Saisei with a relieved sigh, holding her hand above Neo's chest, its palm glowing with the warm light of her Aura. "Just rest for now. I'll help you recover your strength."

Neo nodded and closed her eyes, entering a peaceful slumber as the healing light of Saisei's Aura washed over her.

* * *

 **That's two down.**


	96. Chapter 96

**Chapter 96:**

The battle was not going well. Though it wasn't really a coherent thought, the realization was apparent to Hayate as he panted for breath, bleeding from several small cuts. Individually, none of them really amounted to much. But he could feel his strength fading. Without Saisei here to heal him, he couldn't afford to take many more wounds.

The problem was that the man in front of him was not the sort of person that Hayate could fight without taking serious injury. Ajira of the Junishinsho was a completely different level of opponent from what Hayate had been expecting, even _with_ the warning that Neo had imparted to them about his skills.

That had become apparent when Weiss had opened the battle by summoning her Knight, the massive construct born from her Aura, and suffused with etheric energy, had also been charged with lightning-Dust, leaving a hint of ozone in the air around it as it moved, its armor and sword shining a pale-yellow color, crackling and buzzing. It had charged forward to swing at Ajira with that massive sword. Charged as it was, the blade would have released a buzzing discharge of electricity, shocking Ajira, even if he tried to parry, the range of the effect maybe even catching him if he dodged instead.

While the Knight had charged, Hayate had circled around, keeping from drawing on his own lightning just yet, he instead split his sword, intending to meet Ajira directly and compete against him, blade to blade.

But Ajira had stepped inside the Knight's range, and swung his sword exactly _once_. The towering, armored behemoth had been split in two so cleanly that not even arcing discharges of electricity had jumped between the two vertical halves of the summon. The two pieces fell apart, then shattered into motes of light that crackled and sparkled.

Ajira's movements had been so smooth and graceful that he seemed to be acting in slow motion. But the actual speed had been unbelievably fast. It was then that Hayate realized how far out of their depth that they were. Ajira's mastery of the blade had reached a level beyond where he used them to execute the "cut" of a physical object, but rather, invoked the concept of "severing" as a phenomenon that he exerted upon the physical world. At this level, there was probably almost nothing that Ajira's swords couldn't sever.

Still, Hayate had put his faith in the Hokuto Shichisei, one of Muramasa's great masterpieces, as he closed in, meeting Ajira blade to blade. To his relief, his blades appeared to be among the scant things that Ajira's own swords could not cleave. However, that was only the beginning of their problem. Hayate had spent years wielding his swords, learning to master them…but that paled in comparison to Ajira's skill.

Ajira's blades seemed to flow like water, bending around blocks and parries, homing in on him effortlessly in a way that reminded him of the Dancing Blades skill utilized by Shinrei and the users of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_. However, Ajira's skill appeared to surpass even that. Hayate felt their blades cross constantly. But, for each strike he defended against, two more seemed to weave their way effortlessly through his defenses.

They danced back and forth, Hayate trying his hardest to keep up. But it was clear that this man's skill far exceeded his. Weiss did her best to try and help in the fight. A black, clockwork glyph appeared beneath Ajira's feet, the effect of the inverted Time Dilation glyph threatening to slow his speed critically. But one sword had flashed downwards, and the glyph itself was split in two, its effect dissipating harmlessly, something Weiss had only ever seen Kyo do before. She tried to support Hayate by activating a regular Time Dilation glyph under his feet. But Ajira had struck before the glyph could take effect, forcing Hayate to dodge as Ajira's sword cut that glyph as well.

As they fought, Hayate couldn't help but be irked by the seemingly careless look on Ajira's face. He swung his swords in a manner that Hayate couldn't help but describe as wistful, as though he didn't even really care whether he hit anything or not. It took Hayate a minute to realize that that was exactly what made Ajira so dangerous. He had completely abandoned his sense of Self, losing himself completely in the act of wielding his blades. It was the state of one who had sought to perfect the art of the sword above all else.

Ajira was a Kensei.

Hayate didn't bother with his lightning. He could tell that Ajira would just cut through it, like he had everything else. Instead, he completely relaxed his thoughts, immersing himself in the Aura of the world, sweeping that powerful current of Aura around him, and using his heightened awareness to read the flow of his opponent's movements through Remnant's Aura.

It was then that Hayate discovered that Ajira was doing the same thing. The nature of the clash on the surface was one of flashing blades, the faint light of the cavern gleaming off their surfaces, metal and Aura sparking on the occasions where they came in contact with one another. However, beneath that surface, it was a far more complex picture. The currents of Aura around them wove together in encircling tapestries that meshed and tangled with one another when they clashed. It was an abstract notion that came the closest to describing how their fight seemed to Hayate's senses. Ajira's weave was so complex and tight that it seemed to completely fill the space around him. At the same time, he perceived and moved through gaps in Hayate's weave that would be all but imperceptible to anyone else, his blades scoring marks in Hayate's flesh again and again, Aura offering no protection to the all-severing edge of Ajira's sword.

Finally, Hayate disengaged, leaping back from Ajira's range, barely managing to fend off another strike that would have split his stomach open, and spilled his intestines across the ground. Had he followed up, Ajira would have no doubt been able to force a decisive blow. Yet he allowed Hayate's retreat all the same.

Hayate landed in a crouch, trying to catch his breath, while also trying to ignore the feeling of blood trickling across his skin. Despite the welcome respite from their exchange, he couldn't help but be irked by Ajira's willingness to let him fall back so easily. It stank of a sense of superiority that said that Ajira was so confident in his victory that he felt no need to rush it. The fact that that confidence was completely justified only served to make it even more irksome to Hayate.

"Dammit!" he growled.

"Hayate!" shouted Weiss, starting forward.

"Stay put!" Hayate shouted back. It was one thing to support him from a distance with her glyphs. But if she tried to enter the melee personally, it was an invitation to her own death. It was true, thanks to her exploration of her glyphs, and creation of new ones, Weiss had created an amazing and complex fighting style. However, this fight was a mismatch for her, as Ajira's "simplicity" was an ideal counter for the complexity of Weiss' own style. That capability was only possible through the tremendous time and effort that Ajira had put into refining his style, probably more time than either Weiss or Hayate had been alive, probably even more time than the pair's lifetimes put together.

Ajira had assumed a relaxed stance, his arms lowered, his curved backswords resting at angles pointing away from his body. Despite how relaxed his stance looked, Hayate knew that Ajira was the furthest thing from being off-guard. Those blades could leap to his defense instantly, not even requiring his own conscious input to guard against incoming attacks or counter them.

This situation wasn't good. Simply changing up his strategy or trying something unexpected wouldn't allow Hayate to close the gulf that lay between him and Ajira. At this point, he had a hard time believing that even Kyo could handle an opponent like this. Barring Murasame, Ajira was likely the absolute strongest of the current Junishinsho.

 _Simply raising my level a little isn't good enough,_ thought Hayate with a frown. _We need a miracle._ The thought made him smile slightly.

Miracle. That word spoke of a supernatural occurrence that defied all rational explanation, the kind of thing that could only be explained as the intervention of God. However, in his time traveling with Kyo and his experiences beyond that, he'd come to understand the term in a different way. He'd seen people do things that others wouldn't have hesitated to call "impossible." From an outsider's perspective, a mere five people triumphing decisively over the overwhelming strength of the Atlesian military would have been called a miracle. And perhaps it was. But, to Hayate, that only meant that he and his friends had the power to bring about miracles of their own.

 _Right here and now, I'll make a miracle happen,_ he thought, sinking down into a crouch.

Relaxing his senses, he allowed himself to be immersed in the Aura of the world, feeling it drawing in around him. His blades began to crackle and spark with electricity as he drew upon the power of lightning, merging it with his own Aura as a catalyst. Holding his swords down at his sides, crackling lightning danced between them, forming an arch over Hayate's back.

Simply calling lightning into his blades wasn't enough. Hayate had always been cautious about using his body as a conduit for such uninhibited elemental power, given its relatively fragile nature in comparison to the Muramasa masterpieces in his hands. The _Raikoken_ , the technique he'd inherited and adapted from the legendary shinobi, Sarutobi Sasuke, would shatter even the finest of blades with the strain of hosting such tremendous power. The thought of using his own body seemed like an invitation to turn his own flesh into ash. But, in order to achieve victory against this opponent, Hayate had to abandon caution.

He allowed the power to flow through him. As he did, he felt his skin crackling, drying, and burning. He could feel tiny, snowflake-sized pieces of his epidermis begin to burn up and drift away. His muscles twitched and threatened to spasm. His heart shuddered irregularly. If this kept up, he'd give himself a heart-attack before he burned out his body.

He heard Weiss call his name. No doubt she was worried by what she was seeing. Despite that, the sound of her voice firmed his resolve to fight, reminding him of just _who_ he was fighting for. Just hearing her, and knowing that she was there, calmed and relaxed him. As he did, he realized something.

Lightning wasn't something that he needed to bear. Just like the electricity that made it up, it was power that flowed through mediums, be that air, metal, or his own body. When that power encountered resistance, the energy bled off into the medium. Right now, the resistance provided by his own body was causing the lightning's energy to bleed off into his own flesh, which was what was burning him. Rather than try to withstand the power, he had to provide it with a channel, a path to follow and circulate through. From there, he felt as though he could assimilate it. However, that was easier said than done. The speed at which lightning moved was just a step below that of light itself. It wasn't the kind of speed that thought could keep up with. In order to match that, Hayate needed to abandon thought completely.

He could do this. Ajira had pursued pure mastery of the sword above all else. But Hayate had pursued his own form of mastery, heightening it through each engagement and battle, honing it through training. Building it through his experiences with his opponents. He had learned to immerse himself in the world itself, and become one with it. Because of that, there was no reason that he could not become one with this power, which was born _from_ the world.

The pain vanished. In its place was a humming sensation, and Hayate felt each of his senses become acutely awakened. He could feel each particle of dust and air that brushed against his skin, the stirring of each strand of hair across his body. To his eyes, the world seemed to stand still, as though time had suspended itself.

His senses came to rest on Ajira. Hayate could feel the tension of Ajira's body, those taut muscles stretching and contracting as he readied himself for motion. From his body, Hayate could see pathways stretching out, the arc of Ajira's swords, the movement of his feet, the change in his posture. They were phantoms that were extending out, though Ajira's body itself remained still, making Hayate realize that these were future actions, potential responses to attacks that he made. Hayate visualized a different approach and sequence of attacks and saw Ajira's phantom actions shift in response. Before his eyes, he saw his techniques and Ajira's form a tapestry of sorts, weaving together. Now he could see the gaps in Ajira's weave that were all but invisible to his senses before.

But he also saw Ajira's capacity to counterattack. What Hayate had achieved by merging with lightning to boost his senses and consciousness to the highest level, Ajira had achieved by completely suspending his consciousness, even relinquishing his sense of sight. The gaps in Ajira's weave had opened, but the gaps in Hayate's weave remained and Ajira was still more than capable of exploiting them.

The outcome of this fight then, depended on seizing the moment, venturing all and putting his life on the line. There wasn't time to hesitate. Hayate knew that his mastery of this new technique, this "miracle" he'd created, was limited. He couldn't sustain this state forever. Already, he could feel the strain as his body and mind were forced to a level they couldn't sustain on their own, performing far past their normal limits. Too much of this and he would only be injuring himself.

" _Raijin no Mai._ "

With a deafening crack, Hayate surged into motion.

* * *

From her position, Weiss gasped at the change that had overcome Hayate. First he had called lightning into his swords, then had caused that lightning to flow into himself, arcs of blue and white electricity climbing across his body. As she'd watched, portions of his skin on his arms began to redden, then blacken, then flake away, making her realize that he was on the verge of incinerating himself. Then, as she watched, the arcs and sparks of electricity began to die down, the power seeming to merge with his body itself, his skin lightening. His silvery hair began to glow blue with harsh, white edges to it, rising up over his head, as though about to stand on end. When he'd opened his eyes again, their normal amber color had turned a harsh, pale blue.

He'd focused his gaze on Ajira. Then, with a loud crack, Hayate was suddenly at an angle slightly behind the swordsman, one blade of the Hokuto Shichisei, its edge glowing and humming, threatening to bite into Ajira's back.

But Ajira's sword was already there, the two blades clanging as they met, a clang that was then supplemented by a loud spark. Ajira leapt back, a thread of electricity trailing from where his blade had made contact with Hayate's, the slight twitching of the muscles on his arms betraying the jolt he'd received from meeting Hayate's blade. It seemed that Hayate had managed to keep Ajira from severing his lightning the way he severed nearly everything else.

With another crack, Hayate moved again. This was even beyond the fantastic speed he normally demonstrated, which often looked like it was on the verge of teleportation, the kind of speed nearly everyone who had mastered advanced Aura-manipulation arts, and learned to use them to supplement motion, had achieved. Weiss had only seen this kind of speed from the likes of Sora and Nigel.

It was such that Hayate seemed to be in multiple places at once as he danced around Ajira, attacking from all directions. Yet Ajira's swords were more than up to the task of defending him, weaving a cage of steel around his body that kept Hayate's attacks at bay, the jolting of their contact seeming only a minor nuisance to him. The two of them were now nearly equal.

But Weiss knew it was only a matter of time before this battle reached its tipping point. As Ajira and Hayate danced in front of her, she became conscious of the fact that Ajira was also attacking, even as he blocked that insane barrage of strikes. Hayate was defending as well. The two of them were trading blows at a level she could scarcely comprehend. But, at this rate, it was only a matter of time before Ajira, with his greater experience and mastery, tipped things in his favor.

She had to take action. She hadn't come so far and worked so hard that she would allow herself to be relegated to the role of a mere bystander in someone else's fight. This was _her_ fight too. Ajira's strength was transcendent, something she could scarcely imagine opposing. However, Weiss wasn't prepared to give up so easily.

First, she had to close the gap in perception between her and the other two combatants. Fortunately, Weiss had the perfect tool for that. Orienting Myrtenaster downwards, she stabbed its tip into the earth at her feet. Pearlescent light unfolded out from the tip, forming the clockwork glyph of her Time Dilation power.

Of the three basic categories her glyphs fell under, the one Weiss had experimented with the least was Temporal Manipulation, which was the basis for the Time Dilation glyph she'd been taught by Winter since her childhood. It wasn't that she had difficulty with executing it. After mastering her Propulsion glyphs, she had moved on to Time Dilation quite naturally. Summoning had been the most difficult of the three basic glyphs she'd learned to master. It remained the most costly, in terms of her Aura and stamina. Despite that, she'd learned how to imbue her Summons with power from Dust, enhancing their strength and giving them abilities that they wouldn't normally have.

It wasn't that Time Dilation was difficult for Weiss to use. It was more that it was hard to figure out where to go from there. On a conceptual level, speeding things up or slowing them down was simple enough to grasp. But…then what? What other qualities or effects was Temporal Distortion capable of? One thing Weiss knew for certain was that it wasn't the same as Time Traveling. There was no way she could travel to the past or the future. It wasn't about having or lacking power. It was just beyond the fundamental capability of her power. However, she had wondered if she could turn time backwards or forwards within the localized space affected by her glyphs. If she did, what did that even do? What happened when her glyph expired, and the normal flow of time resumed?

For example, say she used some sort of Time Reversal glyph to turn back time in a specific area temporarily. If an object was broken in that area, could she repair it? If it was repaired, would it just break again when the glyph expired? Ironically, Summoning, while much more difficult and costly to execute had been much easier to experiment with.

Even if she did have an idea of what to do, it wasn't as though Weiss could create new glyphs on the fly. Just as with learning a written language, she had to memorize their shapes and internalize their meaning on a level that she could look at a glyph and immediately _know_ its "meaning" without even having to think about it. It took her at least a day to memorize even the simplest of the new glyphs she'd created. The more complex ones took longer still.

 _Maybe that doesn't have to be the case,_ thought Weiss, her eyes widening as the world around her began to slow. Hayate and Ajira were still moving at a level that was hard to perceive, even with her internal sense of time being enhanced. _I've never thought of doing this before._

Light bloomed out from Myrtenaster's tip as she cast another Time Dilation glyph across the floor beneath her. It unfolded at the same rate to her perception as the last one had, which meant that it appeared even more quickly from the perspective of one outside its effect. The world around her slowed further. Frowning in concentration, Weiss executed the glyph again…and again…and again…The Time Dilation glyphs disappeared after they dispensed their effect. However, there was a brief delay before that happened. As Weiss created more Time Dilation glyphs, each enhancing the effect of the last, they displaced the others, which had yet to fully disappear upwards. To the view of an outsider, it was as though she was now enshrouded in a series of rapidly rising rings. Weiss had lost count of how many Time Dilation glyphs she used. She continued to use them until time had all but stopped to her view.

She immediately felt as though she were under immense pressure. She got the feeling that, if she tried to move, she'd break apart into pieces. Even with just one, regular use of Time Dilation, she could feel the difference in acceleration in her movements. She didn't fully understand it, probably something to do with the physics of the realm outside her glyph's effect acting on her temporally accelerated body, compounding the physical strain it endured. All she knew for certain was, at this level, trying to move would probably rip her body apart.

But she hadn't done this with the intention of acting immediately anyway. The important thing was that, right now, both Hayate and Ajira were almost completely unmoving to her eyes, locked in place between seconds. What she'd done now was create the one thing she needed, but hadn't had enough of before…time. Weiss turned her focus to her blade and allowed her awareness to be completely absorbed into it.

* * *

 _"_ _It hurts!" complained Myrtenaster, tears gathering in her eyes as the young embodiment of the sword rushed into Weiss' arms._

 _"_ _I know it does," said Weiss sadly. "But we need time. How bad is it?"_

 _"_ _Bad," said Myrtenaster, "almost so bad, I could break. Please don't use any more right now."_

 _"_ _I won't," promised Weiss. "Will you be okay?"_

 _"_ _I will," said Myrtenaster, wiping her eyes. "I can endure it. I'm strong…just like you."_

 _Weiss giggled. "Thank you," she said._

 _"_ _We should hurry," said Myrtenaster. "The first glyph is expiring. When that happens, each one after that is going to expire faster."_

 _Weiss nodded, figuring that was the case. Each glyph's time of effect was compressed by the glyph before it. Once the first one expired, they would all begin shattering according to their compressed time of effect, the cumulative effect vanishing far faster than it had ever come into being. To her perception, it would probably seem like it happened all at once._

 _However, right now, the time she had created between now and that fateful second was far longer than it would be on the outside. "I need your help," said Weiss._

 _"_ _Of course," said Myrtenaster proudly, smiling through her tears, her natural confidence and boastfulness urging her to plant proud fists on her hips and thrust out her chest in a triumphant manner. "You always do," she added._

 _"_ _That's right," said Weiss. "Let's do as much as we can with the time we have…"_

* * *

The first glyph's effects vanished, and the overlapping compression of time evaporated all at once. Weiss gasped, filling her lungs desperately with air, feeling almost as though she'd held her breath for the entire extended time she'd been under the effects of the compound glyphs. Her head was assaulted with a sharp, piercing pain, feeling as though a dagger was being driven through her skull. Something wet trickled down her upper lip. Reaching up, Weiss wiped it away, not surprised to see her fingers stained red.

 _Of course that would happen,_ she thought wryly. It was hard to factor in just how her body had been affected by such a tremendous temporal distortion. Were this not the middle of a life or death battle, she would have been compelled to stop and ponder until she figured it out. But now was not the time. _Come on! Get it together! I've still got work to do!_

Now that her sense of time had returned to normal, her eyes had once again lost track of Hayate and Ajira's motions. Back at normal speed, individual seconds were a commodity too precious to squander. The balance between Hayate and his opponent could tip against him in an instant. Before that, Weiss had to ensure that the balance tipped the other way. To Weiss, this battle had become an equation. She had just spent precious time and energy inventing the math that she hoped would allow her to solve it.

Almost as though sensing her intent, she felt Hayate's gaze move her way. For an instant, it was as though time had stopped again. It was an offhand glance, the most he could spare in such a dire battle. But it was enough. She could sense the warning in his gaze, the sense that he was afraid of what would happen to her if she entered that maelstrom…a well-founded fear. However, she met his worried look with one of steely determination. She wasn't here to sit off to the side, while others fought. She wasn't his protectorate.

Right now, they were partners, as though Hayate, not Ruby, had been the one Weiss' eyes had met on the day of Beacon's Initiation two years ago. Even if he was stronger, more experienced, and more skilled than her overall, it was still her place to support him, and ensure that they won. Far more hung in the balance than just their own victory and defeat, or even their own lives.

Turning her awareness to Myrtenaster, Weiss was perturbed by how much of the Etheric Crystal's power she had channeled into that compound Time Dilation. Its current level was more than halfway depleted. Granted, the crystal was replenishing itself with the Etheric Energy it drew on continuously, but the drain had been far more than its current conversion ability could sustain.

 _That just means that I have to make the best use of the power that I have left,_ thought Weiss, frowning. It meant advancing into territory that she was extremely uncertain about, and was worried might do permanent damage to the crystal. She could only hope that she and Myrtenaster were correct about the ideas they'd kicked around with each other as Weiss worked feverishly to create her new glyphs.

Raising her blade, Weiss worked it through several circular passes before orienting it vertically, resting the first to fingers of her right hand against the flat of the blade as it rose up, dividing her face. Opening herself to her weapon, Weiss felt her Aura merge with Myrtenaster's, their combined Auras almost exploding outwards.

A series of layered rings appeared around the Etheric Crystal on the rapier's ricasso. Numerals etched with light began to cycle around it and the light emitting from the crystal increased, its blue-green and yellow colors intensifying.

Behind her, new glyphs appeared, spinning clock-faces, revolving rings of numerals like the one circling her sword; and others, both bizarre and complex. Individually, they were strangely shaped. However, together, they meshed like the gears of a massive clock, Weiss drawing inspiration from the setting of Ozpin's office, and the massive gears that turned both above and below the feet of those who visited. Together, they formed an array, like letters combining to form words, and words combining to form sentences. Taken altogether, they were Weiss' treatise on this battle, and how it would reach its conclusion, the conclusion she desired.

 _Let's go,_ she thought to her sword, feeling it surge in response.

Another, conventional Time Dilation glyph appeared at her feet, its power infusing her body, once again making time slow down. As it did, she cast several new glyphs. These were glyphs she'd already used before, elemental glyphs that used the power of her Dust, Summoning glyphs, even basic propulsion and vectoring glyphs.

She had both combatants' attention. Ajira shifted his position, apparently aiming to disengage long enough from Hayate to attack her. Hayate doggedly tried to keep him from doing so. However, Ajira dipped his head beneath a slash from Hayate's sword and shifted to charge at Weiss. No doubt, he could close the distance between them so quickly that it would be as though he'd teleported to her eyes. But Weiss had seen that coming.

The instant he began to move in her direction, a glyph appeared in front of him, similar to the snowflake sigil of her propulsion glyph. However, its tips ended in arrows. Its appearance really was instantaneous. There was no time for Ajira to react. His body and physical motion completely reversed in an instant, and he was flung away from her. Hayate took advantage of Ajira's sudden predicament to attack, aiming his blades to bisect the swordsman by his torso.

Ajira twisted his body with an acrobat's grace, barely managing to turn his sudden backwards flight into a graceful backflip that allowed him to arc over Hayate's slashing blades, completing the flip and touching down at his feet. Even as his feet made contact with the stone, there was a flash and they were suddenly locked in shackles of ice. Ajira's eyes went wide and glanced downwards to see the remnants of another glyph dispersing.

Hayate plunged both swords into the ground, sending a wave of lightning rushing through the earth to merge with the ice, and then climb its way up Ajira's legs. The swordsman stabbed his scimitars down, shattering the ice that bound his legs, leaping clear just barely in time. He flew at Hayate, his blades scissoring to take off Hayate's head. With his swords still anchored in the ground, Hayate had no time to dodge.

Instead, Ajira's blades sliced another glyph in half. This one was a clock-face, like Weiss' usual Time Dilation glyph. However, this time, the hands were spinning rapidly backwards. Hayate had vanished, suddenly reappearing where he had been, just a second before he'd planted his blades in the ground. Not wasting any time over pondering what had just happened, he lunged forward, thrusting his blades right for Ajira's chest.

Ajira reversed his course, barely managing to keep ahead of the extended tips of Hayate's swords. Suddenly, his momentum reversed again, and he realized that another of Weiss' vector glyphs had appeared at his back, throwing him forward, and threatening to spit his chest on Hayate's blades. Ajira's blades swept upwards in an almost frantic parry, barely managing to knock Hayate's blades away. The two of them were nearly body-to-body now, too close for either of them to bring their swords into play. However, Hayate didn't hesitate to stoop into a shoulder-check, slamming his shoulder into Ajira's chest. With a painful crackling, the electricity that circulated through his body and infused his form discharged, jolting Ajira's chest, and making him cry out in pain as he was flung backwards again.

A black snowflake glyph appeared right underneath Ajira as he was thrown backwards, yanking him down, and planting his back to the ground. Hayate was above Ajira in an instant, slashing downwards. Ajira worked his own swords swiftly to deflect the strikes, defending flawlessly, even from his prone position.

The black glyph holding him down finally expired. Ajira lashed up with a kick, which managed to catch Hayate's chin, but made him flinch as he once again caught the bite of the lightning in Hayate's body, sending a painful jolt down his leg. At the very least, the kick knocked Hayate back. Ajira flipped backwards, going into a handspring that brought him back up into a standing position, blades poised to resume the attack.

Then Weiss was behind him. Ajira hadn't even sensed her movement previously. Only now, just a few feet away, the tip of her blade poised to sink between her shoulders, did he realize she was there. His left arm whipped up and over, bringing his sword, around and over his shoulder, then down, catching the tip of her rapier with the edge of his own blade. He hadn't even glanced in her direction. Transitioning smoothly into the offense, Ajira ducked his head under his left arm, spinning elegantly around to slash at Weiss with the sword in his right hand.

But she was gone. Instead, his senses picked up Hayate's own, literally, lightning-fast advance. Turning again, Ajira met Hayate's blades with his own. They clashed again, their blades coming together so swiftly and frequently that the individual sounds of their impacts merged together into a continuous ring. Then Weiss appeared again, flanking him. Once again, there were no hints to her approach. She launched a barrage of thrusts at Ajira, splitting his attention as he was forced to deal with the attacks on two fronts simultaneously, Weiss and Hayate constantly dancing and circling around him as they struck. He managed to fend them off, but the sheer pressure the two of them were exerting on him kept him from retaliating.

He noticed that Weiss had several glyphs extending out from behind her shoulders, like a pair of irregular wings. However, these were not the wings that took her through the air. They meshed like the gears of some complex mechanism, patterns within them changing and spinning. New glyphs appeared, only to vanish just as quickly.

Abruptly, dozens of tiny glyphs filled the air around Ajira as Hayate instinctively fell back half a pace. These glyphs were miniature clock-faces. However, the hands were replaced by swords, making them something of a combination between Weiss' Time Dilation and Summoning glyphs. Simultaneously, the tip of Weiss' rapier shot out from each of the glyphs, plunging at Ajira from every possible direction. Ajira spun and swung his own blades, parrying and dodging as many as he could, but more still found their marks on his flesh, biting through his Aura, breaking skin and drawing blood.

Now Hayate charged forward, the lightning suffusing his body flooding into his blades, making them blaze as crackling arcs of energy ran up and down their lengths. He was no longer moving at the nigh-impossible speeds he had before. However, this was fast enough. Ajira began to move his own weapons to defend. Several flashes reached the corners of his eyes as new glyphs erupted from his wounds like welts and rashes, ice encasing his limbs, the cold even penetrating inwards to freeze blood and muscle.

" _Raijin: Honorai Ikazuchi!_ " One of Hayate's blades descended from above, the other came at Ajira from the side. From somewhere in the darkness above, a bolt of lightning descended down, striking with timing to match Hayate's overhead strike. Ajira vanished in a roar of thunder as the illumination of the lightning backlit his form, showing him being quartered as Hayate came to a stop behind him, arms crossed in front of his body, his swords held vertically upwards.

The dazzling light from the lightning faded, making the cavern's darkness seem even deeper and more pervasive to Hayate and Weiss, the echoes of the thunder still resounding in the distance. Weiss gasped out, her body sagging. The glyphs behind her back, and those ringing Myrtenaster's Etheric Crystal, shattered. The crystal itself went completely dark.

Weiss stared at her weapon, her heart pounding in her chest. _She isn't broken…is she?_ Neither she nor her sword had been certain how severe the consequences of their actions would be.

"That was incredible," said Hayate, taking a step towards her.

Weiss nodded, still fixated on her sword, desperately hoping for some sign that she hadn't done permanent damage to it. Closing her eyes, she opened herself to her blade, trying to feel the presence of its Aura. To her complete relief, it was still there. _Oh thank God!_

She was glad that her delving into Temporal Manipulation had borne such impressive fruit. It hadn't been easy to create several new glyphs, even using the compressed effect of compound Time Dilation glyphs. Her head still ached fiercely, and her body now felt as though it was made of lead.

Her first development had been realizing that she could apply the Temporal Distortion to her own glyphs. The result had been her developing a way to send glyphs a few seconds into the future, where they would emerge at intervals she decided on. Because they had already been cast, they would appear instantly when they were designated to appear, eliminating the interval that Ajira had to counter them. Of course, that relied on predicting when and where she would need a new glyph to appear, sometimes down to a fraction of a second. Thanks to her immense training and practice, Weiss had worked out quite well when and where she would need her glyphs.

The next big development had been Time Reversal. The effect was profound, and was barely good for more than two seconds. But the object of its effect could be pulled back in time by that brief interval. Weiss hadn't yet worked out whether or not damage taken prior to its activation would return once the effect expired, so she opted to use it on Hayate _before_ Ajira's blows had landed.

Then there had been the glyph she'd created to get close to Ajira without him sensing it. It was a modification of her previous Time Dilation glyph that literally moved her body forward several seconds in time, allowing her to cover distance without the normal interval, giving him no time to react to her approach, until she was already within striking distance. Applying her Time Reversal to herself, she'd been able to retreat just as quickly before Ajira could counterattack.

Finally, there had been the trick she'd used to actually wound Ajira. By launching several attacks while circling around him, Weiss hadn't simply been pressuring his defenses. Using several of her new glyphs, a merger between her Time Dilation and Summoning glyphs, she was able to summon her previous attacks themselves, this time without the interval between individual blows, ensuring that they all struck simultaneously. Each of those strikes had been loaded with delayed ice glyphs to lock Ajira in place, and leave him vulnerable to Hayate's finishing blow.

The condition of her sword that had worried her so had been a result of Weiss' boldest and most reckless strategy. Working together with Myrtenaster, she'd conceived of a glyph that would allow her to temporarily circumvent the limits of her weapon's Etheric Core Crystal. The glyph allowed her to draw additional power by essentially "borrowing" future power that Myrtenaster would convert. Her best guess of the consequences had been the her crystal would be depleted for a period of time equivalent to the amount of power she had borrowed ahead on, which meant it would be all the longer before she could use it in battle again.

Which was just as well, as she now felt like she was in no condition to fight. At the moment, all Weiss wanted to do was lie down and close her eyes.

The clang of metal against stone roused her from her stupor, bringing her eyes over to Hayate, realizing that he had just dropped his swords, something she'd never expected him to do. To Weiss' horror, Hayate collapsed to his knees, hands covering his chest, face contorted in pain as he doubled over, grunting and coughing.

"Hayate!" shouted Weiss, immediately dropping to her knees at his side. Setting her own weapon aside for the moment, Weiss pried his hands off his chest and pressed her palm against it. His heart wasn't beating, so much as it was shuddering irregularly. _He was channeling his lightning through his body. He must have triggered ventricular fibrillation. This is bad! I need to stabilize his pulse!_

Turning her attention to Myrtenaster, Weiss felt her own heart shudder. The Etheric Crystal was completely dark. She couldn't draw any power from it without depleting the Dust she'd mounted on it. However, if that was what was necessary to save Hayate, she'd do it. She reached out and concentrated on producing the glyph that would allow her to produce the effect of lightning-Dust. However, her Aura completely failed to respond. _No! I'm tapped out too!_

A sense of panic began to rise as Weiss realized that, even if she had the Dust she needed on her, she didn't have the Aura to use it properly. Back when she had been studying under her tutors in the Schnee manor, she'd learned how to use lightning-Dust for defibrillation. However, without Aura, she couldn't activate the Dust to begin with.

 _I'll have to use CPR then,_ thought Weiss, not liking the idea. CPR was generally a stopgap at best. There were stories of people stabilizing or restoring a heartbeat, but that was an unbelievably unlikely circumstance, if not downright impossible under most circumstances. Here, her only hope was to use to to maintain Hayate's blood flow until someone, probably Saisei, could come along and fix him…assuming she could reach them at all.

 _But if that's what I have to do,_ thought Weiss, _I'll do it. I'll do CPR until my arms fall off, if I have to. There's no way I'm going to let Hayate die._

The sound of something metallic scraping against stone distracted her, drawing her attention to the section of broken rock where Ajira had been struck down. The floor was shattered into rubble. But, as Weiss watched, some stones shifted and, slowly, a figure began to rise from them. _No! Please! Not this! We don't need this now!_ She'd thought that Hayate's attack had killed Ajira, maybe even disintegrated him completely. But now, as she watched, the slender, statuesque man rose from the rubble.

He'd definitely seen better days. His body was covered in cuts and electrical burns. The skin of his right arm looked almost completely blackened. There was an angry, red and black burn scar running down from his face to his crotch, completely bisecting him along his vertical line, with a matching scar running across his chest. _How is he still alive…much less standing?_

She expected some expression of anger or frustration at being so badly injured. But, instead, Ajira took a deep breath, then exhaled with a series of wet coughs, spitting out blood and saliva, before taking another breath. Then, to her shock, he smiled ecstatically. "Amazing! Incredible! Truly divine!"

"What?" gasped Weiss, unable to make sense of the situation. She was in no shape to fight, she had to tend to Hayate. But she couldn't ignore Ajira either. Hayate's twitches were steadily growing more feeble and his face was going slack.

"I actually thought I died there for a moment," said Ajira, sounding enthused by the prospect. "I lost consciousness, and everything went black. It was absolutely astounding to wake up again. This pain…" He brushed his fingers over his burnt arm. "This affirmation of life after brushing with death…so intoxicating. I can't imagine a drug in the world that could match this rush. Never did I imagine that being defeated could fill me with such joy."

"Defeat…?" said Weiss incredulously.

"Of course," said Ajira, nodding in her direction. "Consciousness lost, complete vulnerability, this battle was my loss. I applaud your brilliance, particularly for a combination that you clearly came up with on the fly. It was only due to the slight gap in coordination between your strikes that I was able to avoid being killed instantly. That said, because I was truly incapacitated, however momentarily, I consider this a defeat."

Weiss swallowed, noticing that Ajira was stooping to pick up his dropped scimitars.

"That said, as much as I would like to acknowledge your efforts, I am afraid that I still have my duty," said Ajira, sounding genuinely disappointed. "As the defeated, I have no right to strike you down. But as a Junishinsho of Nobunaga-sama, I am afraid I must swallow my pride, no matter how bitter the taste, and eliminate the threat to my master."

He began to move towards them, his steps staggering at first, but gradually improving. Weiss blinked and imagined that he saw his burns and cuts already beginning to shrink. His Aura must be working overtime to repair the damage to his body. But there was no way he could heal himself that much. His wounds would probably even be fatal, if they weren't treated soon. But the fact remained that he was clearly more than ready to attack. Hayate was in the middle of a heart-attack, and Weiss was in no shape to protect him.

Nonetheless, she tightened her fingers around Myrtenaster's handle and lifted the blade, trying to level it at Ajira. However, her wrist trembled and the handle slipped from her sweat-slicked hands to clatter on the ground. Desperate, Weiss crawled and shuffled, at the very least determined to keep herself between Ajira and Hayate as long as possible.

Ajira flexed one arm, then the other, working the blades through experimental passes to test his mobility. To Weiss' horror, he seemed as swift and precise as ever, despite his condition.

"I suppose I should be proud that my fighting style expends so little of my Aura," noted Ajira. "Otherwise I wouldn't even be able to stand at all."

 _So that's it,_ thought Weiss. Ajira's swift movements and incredible technique were enough for him to hold his own almost completely on their own. Any opponent capable of competing on his level would presumably be able to cut through Tempered Aura just as easily as he could, so there was no real point to using it defensively. As a result, he could fight for extended periods without tapping his reserves, a truly frightening degree of mastery.

Now, all that reserved Aura was healing him, and enabling him to continue fighting.

"My apologies," said Ajira, looming over them, his blade rising.

A high-pitched ring echoed through the cavern. Ajira leapt back as a crescent of pure white flashed through where he had been, etching a line in the stone between him and his intended victims. He landed and turned to face the direction the unexpected and lightning-fast attack had come from. "What is this?"

Weiss also stared in the direction the attack had come from, unable to comprehend how this could even be remotely possible. Even Hayate appeared to have forgotten his condition, utterly stunned by the development. From the darkness, a figure shrouded in black appeared.

Nigel Whitaker walked towards them, sliding Hakuya back into its sheath, staring blandly at them with his eye. His look fixed on Ajira, then moved over to Weiss and Hayate.

"Hey," said Nigel. "What are you guys doing here?"

* * *

 **And Mr. No Sense of Direction comes to save the day.**

 **To my surprise, this was one of the hardest fight scenes to write, and definitely one that took up more space than I'd originally intended, particularly because it wound up being solved by Weiss forcing herself through another few levels of growth, with me working to figure out different potential applications for her Time Dilation ability, which was one of the trickiest things I've done in this story, as I didn't want it to simply become a Time Travel ability, though I suppose it might have anyway. Whether it did or not may be up to the perception of the individual reader, so I leave it up to all of you to decide for yourselves.**

 **One thing I can definitely say for sure is that Weiss will not suddenly go back in time to fix everything that went wrong in the original RWBY storyline.**


	97. Chapter 97

**Chapter 97:**

 _This must be what you'd call a Deus Ex Machina,_ thought Weiss, unable to credit the impossibility of Nigel, who had simply up and disappeared after Kyo's fight with Ironwood's army, showing up here and now. From the look on his face, she could tell that even Hayate was straining the limits of his credulity…and he had been the one to once tell them that Nigel's talent for getting lost appeared to defy even the laws of physics. He was so floored by Nigel's appearance, he had even completely forgotten that he was about to die.

"This is most unexpected," said Ajira, stating the obvious. "Where did you come from?"

"No clue," said Nigel flatly. "Where am I anyway? I found this dark tunnel…lost my footing…and I'm here." His eye fell on Weiss and Hayate again. "What are you doing here anyway?"

 _Dammit!_ "There's no time for this," snapped Weiss. "Hayate's going into cardiac arrest. He needs help."

"Oh," said Nigel flatly.

"It's not as though you could help them in any case," said Ajira, shifting to face Nigel. "I will be killing them anyway. Die from my sword, die from the fallout of his own reckless technique…it's all the same now. Disappointing…but unavoidable."

Nigel tilted his head. "Well…you don't look like much fun anyway. I don't like fighting half-beaten guys."

 _He's not going to help us?_ wondered Weiss, horrified.

"Despite my appearance, I am more than able to kill you," said Ajira, a note of frustration entering his voice at being so casually dismissed. "In fact, thanks to my brush with death earlier, my awareness has expanded exponentially. Through my defeat, I have been reborn. I imagine that my blades are capable of cutting through everything now."

 _He can't be serious,_ thought Weiss, horrified.

"Anything," said Nigel.

"What?" said Ajira, tilting his head.

"Anything," repeated Nigel. "Your swords can cut through anything…not everything."

"I'm afraid that that's just a matter of word-choice," mused Ajira. "I don't see any real applicable difference."

Nigel smiled and his gaze intensified. Weiss recognized this expression. It was the face Nigel had worn when he'd confronted Kyo, when he'd faced down Ironwood's army. It was an intense eagerness, almost animalistic. Now Nigel was hungry for battle.

"I'll show you the difference," he said. "Let me show you what a sword that cuts through _everything_ looks like. I created this technique, after losing to Kyo again, but I didn't get a chance to use it until now. But it might be worth it to use it against you."

Ajira frowned. "Then, by all means," he said, raising his own blades and shifting, getting ready to attack.

Hayate sank into a crouch, his right shoulder and leg going forwards, as he rested his right hand on Hakuya's handle, positioning the sword for a quickdraw strike. His stance actually reminded Weiss of the one used by Adam Taurus, whose style was built around Iai-style sword techniques.

A humming feeling built in the air, and Weiss could see the harsh, white color of Nigel's Aura flowing over his body, consolidating, condensing until nearly all of it rested in his right arm. The muscles of his arm bulged, veins and tendons standing out starkly underneath his skin, which was being stretched so taut that Weiss was sure that it would tear open before long. The handle of his sword blurred slightly as she realized that it was vibrating ferociously in its sheath, buzzing in sympathy with Nigel's Aura.

Ajira went into motion, his body accelerating in a blur that almost immediately closed the distance between him and Nigel, his swords raised to strike. Despite that, Nigel showed no signs of concern, or even haste, not bothering to move as Ajira drew closer and closer. Ajira came within reach, and his swords became silver arcs, aiming for Nigel's neck and torso.

Time almost seem to stop, in a way that had nothing to do with Weiss' glyphs. Somehow, her awareness was heightened to the point where she could perceive it, the time between two ticks of the clock, the world hovering between seconds. She heard Nigel's voice clearly, seemingly unhurried. " _Mekkai._ "

Everything turned white. Hakuya rang so loudly it sent sharp pains shooting through her ears. She only caught the barest glance of Ajira's form, before it dissolved into dust and vanished against a pure-white backdrop that swallowed everything. Then it was over. The white vanished and Weiss blinked furiously, trying to clear the spots from her vision. When her eyes cleared up again, she saw Nigel standing alone. The ground around him and a channel in front of him, in the direction he'd struck, had been completely and utterly smoothed, every protruding piece of rubble seemingly sanded away, leaving a surface as smooth as glass. Following the path of destruction, Weiss' eyes found that Nigel's attack had opened a hole in the nearest cavern wall.

Nigel remained as he was, his sword held in his right hand, blade extending out to the side. Relaxing, he stood upright and casually re-sheathed Hakuya. "That's a sword that cuts through everything," he said with evident satisfaction, before grimacing. "Ow!"

His right arm was trembling and quivering. Weiss realized that, whatever this technique was, it had clearly exceeded the limits of his arm, the limb would probably be numb and useless for a time.

A pained grunt from Hayate drew Weiss attention back to him. "No!" she said, realizing that his eyes were glazing over. "Hayate! Stay with me." She looked up at Nigel. "Help me! We're losing him."

"How?" asked Nigel, making his way over.

"I don't have any strength left," said Weiss. "You need to give him CPR. Start compressions to keep his blood flowing."

"Okay…" said Nigel, clearly befuddled about how to do that. Weiss suddenly realized that he probably knew next to nothing beyond the most basic of first-aid skills.

"Never mind," she said harshly. "I'll tell you how to go through it. Just-"

"Hello?"

Weiss' head snapped around, and tears of relief immediately spilled from her eyes. Through the hole that Nigel had cut in the wall, she could see the familiar figures of Saisei and Neo.

"What on earth happened?" asked Saisei as she and Neo cautiously made their way through the sudden connection between what were apparently two adjoining caverns. "Nigel? What are you-?" Her voice cut off as her eyes came to rest on Hayate.

"Hey-" began Nigel, before being cut off abruptly as Saisei's tail clubbed him in the head, and sent him sprawling away from Hayate as she immediately dropped down onto her knees where he'd been.

"Out of my way!" snapped Saisei, almost as an afterthought as she plunged her hand straight into Hayate's chest, her fingers phasing through his skin. Her Aura gleamed, and Weiss could see the muscles of her arm contracting as she apparently massaged Hayate's heart directly, even as she used her healing arts to fix the damage and restore its natural function.

"Thank God!" gasped Weiss, seeing Hayate's body jolt, then relax, his eyes clearing. He blinked sleepily.

Saisei withdrew her hand and sighed in relief, closing her eyes and leaning back for a bit. Neo knelt behind her, and held her by her shoulders.

"Sasame?" said Hayate, blinking and looking at her in confusion.

His words seemed to knock her back into awareness. Her eyes snapped open in an angry glare that she fixed Hayate with, who immediately flinched back, worried and frightened.

"You idiot!" snapped Saisei, sharply flicking Hayate in the forehead, making him yelp, then moan as he raised his hands to massage the reddened patch of skin. "What in God's name did you do to yourself? Do you have a death wish?"

"Sorry," he said. "I just didn't see any way to keep up with that guy."

"He channeled his lightning through his body," said Weiss.

"That was unbelievably reckless," growled Saisei. "First that bullet in Atlas, now this. I'm starting to think you're trying to be macho, and show off by nearly killing yourself in front of your girlfriend."

"That wasn't the intent," said Hayate.

"Good!" snapped Saisei, folding her arms, though she continued to glare petulantly at Hayate. "Don't you ever worry me like that again."

"I make no such promises," Hayate replied flatly, making Weiss giggle, even as she moved to rest his head on her legs, and stroke her fingers through his hair.

Saisei sighed and massaged her temples, leaning back into Neo's embrace. "Honestly, I have no idea what to do with you. Between you and Kyo, it's amazing I haven't gone completely gray already."

"We're trying our best," teased Hayate, making Saisei puff out her cheeks indignantly.

"And you!" she said suddenly, rounding on Nigel, who was only just beginning to pick himself up off the ground. "What are you doing here?"

Nigel blinked at her. "Um…"

Silence stretched between all five of them. Finally, Saisei groaned and sagged. "I don't even know what to say," she moaned.

Neo giggled almost inaudibly, patting Saisei's shoulder sympathetically.

Weiss smiled as she took in the picture. Deus Ex Machina or not, she was glad that Nigel had showed up when he had. He'd saved them, in more ways than one. For all that they were far from being truly victorious, as she continued to support Hayate's head on her legs, she couldn't help but bask in this sense of relief, however brief it promised to be.

* * *

Blake's sickle whirled through the air, rushing past Makora's head. With a loud crack, the pistol built into it fired, sending it flying back at the man from behind. However, as the blade sank into the back of Makora's head, it seemed to shimmer, like static on a screen, and the sickle passed through it.

Makora glided in behind the sickle as it returned to Blake's hand. She swept at him with her weapon's bladed sheath, but that too passed right through Makora's torso, without hitting anything. Makora thrust forward with his hand, his fingers pressed together and pointed at Blake's chest, as though his hand were a knife and he was about to drive it through Blake's heart.

His strike hit, but sank into the darkness that now wrapped around Blake's body like a cloak. She drifted to the side, Makora's hand coming free, trailing wisps of shadow behind it.

As their fight had begun, Blake's shadow had suddenly stretched up, swirling and wrapping around her, enveloping her body. When it had settled, she had looked completely different. Her figure was now tightly bound by swirling darkness, actually making limbs seem to shrink and disappear, granting her a wraithlike appearance that almost matched Makora's. Her face, save for her two golden eyes was completely hidden, her hair seeming to lengthen and trail out behind her, the ends vanishing into darkness.

"Ah, yes, the _Kagegoromo_ ," said Makora. "I remember that technique. The last master of the Shadow Arts I faced completely stalemated me with it. Even now, I'm not certain how to find your true body."

Blake's eyes narrowed, her technique hiding her pensive frown. This was a stalemate for her as well. Despite all the blows they'd exchanged, she had yet to figure out a way around Makora's mysterious intangibility. If neither of them could strike the other, this battle would drag on forever. She remained uncertain if Dougal's assessment of Makora's ability was correct and, even if it was, how she could disrupt his control.

Makora's form blurred, then dissolved, the static spreading and becoming a cloud of fine particles, almost like wind-blown sand, which drifted through the air around her. With how dark the caverns were, Blake could use the entire space as her Extension, which enabled her to sense the spread of Makora's form. It billowed like a wave of dust, and enveloped her from all sides.

Abruptly, she felt something stir in the air behind her and turned. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of motion. Blake immediately moved to evade, Makora's hand chopping through the shadows that concealed her form, once again failing to make contact. His shape was indistinct, nothing more than a shivering shadow amongst the drifting clouds of particles.

 _I didn't feel it with my extension,_ Blake realized, a shiver running through her. Extension was supposed to be one of the most reliable means of sensing one's surroundings, able to feel the presence and shape of things within its range, without the assistance of her other senses, a foolproof means of detecting enemies. Even if an opponent used Suppression to hide their own Aura, it was possible to sense their body instead.

 _I can sense his body right now. It's spread out all around me._ Blake's gaze flicked right and left, looking all around her and trying to blend all her senses to finding the cue that would signal the next attack. A flicker of motion drew her attention and she whipped around, just in time to see another black, distorted shape condense behind her. Dodging back, Blake once again felt Makora's hand pierce her shadows.

Then she saw additional black shapes appear, their forms mingling, almost like a crowd of distorted versions of Makora, their outlines blurred, nothing more than black shadows amidst the swirling clouds of particles. Despite being able to see them with her own eyes, Blake wasn't able to sense any difference in the particles through her Extension that told her what they were or how he was attacking. _What's going on?_

"This battle is mine now." Makora's voice was a buzz, almost as though somehow being produced through the vibration of countless insect wings. "You are in the midst of my killing technique, _Akuma no Chiri._ "

"What is that?" demanded Blake.

"Demon Dust," translated Makora helpfully. "From the nature of your attacks, it appears that you, possibly through your teacher, have learned that I control my body's molecules. I can condense or separate them as I wish. You believe that, by disrupting my control, you will destroy my form, and scatter my consciousness, as well as my substance to the winds. You might be correct. However, in this state, you cannot hope to fight me.

"My ability goes much further than that. I have complete control over every molecule of my body…which means that I can attack with them, on a cellular, or even a molecular level, without needing to actually take a specific form. This 'cloud' you are in the midst of is not merely my body. Every speck of me that you see or don't see is a weapon.

"Even wrapping your form in shadows is only staving off the inevitable now. Concealed your body might be, but you must draw breath. My body will infiltrate yours through the very air that you breathe or, over time, even seep in through the pores of your skin. I shall cut you to ribbons from the inside out."

The swirling particles began to condense, filling the air around Blake, reminding her of an intense sandstorm. They completely cut off her view of the outside world, becoming a near perfect sphere, slowly contracting down around her. The sphere continued to contract, becoming smaller and smaller, until it shrank down into the size of a marble, before abruptly expanding out to form Makora's body again, leaving no sign of Blake behind, not even a speck of blood. Despite that, Makora did not look triumphant, but, rather, perplexed.

"No resistance…" he muttered, staring down at his hands.

"By completely cutting off all light by surrounding me like that," Blake's voice whispered to him from all around, "You created a space of shadow, shadow that I was able to use to escape your reach. It seems, despite how versatile your technique might be, your molecules can't follow me into shadow."

"Perhaps you are correct," mused Makora. "However, if you wish to attack, you must emerge from shadow in order to make your strike. This is a stalemate, nothing more."

"That's what _you_ think," said Blake.

Despite the pervasive darkness, the fact was that there was still light in the cavern, shed by those purple crystals that dotted the nearby wall, and occasionally protruded from the ground. The light, intercepted by bodies and objects, produced spaces of deeper shadow than normal. From those deeper shadows, lines began to extend, winding across the cavern floor and spreading through the air.

"What is this?" hummed Makora.

"My own technique," replied Blake's voice from hiding. " _Nightshade!_ "

Vines of darkness wound through the air, across the floor, and up the walls. Phantom leaves sprouted and spread, flowers bloomed, then fruited, leaving berries of inky blackness drifting through the air. Makora recoiled as the berries came into contact with his molecules. Any that touched it being erased. "What?"

"Normally, it is impossible for one who has not learned the Shadow Arts to pass into the shadow world," said Blake. "But, it is possible to forcefully immerse them in the shadow world. Because you cannot move freely through shadows, you will be trapped, unable to escape…forever.

"Nightshade is a plant renowned for its poison. Everything, from its leaves, to its flowers, to its fruit is toxic. My technique is a poison that will consume you down to the last molecule, Makora. I created it just for you."

"I'm flattered?" growled Makora. "But it is easily dealt with."

The swirling molecules swarmed together, condensing down to recreate Makora's form once again. This time, he was completely solid, revealing grayish skin and dark-gray hair. Dark-brown eyes surveyed the scene around him. He dashed forward, his hand shivering, its outline blurring. Slashing at the nearest vines, his knife-hand strike cut clean through them.

"As I thought," he said. "Your shadows are controlled by your Aura, so my Aura will allow me to cut through them."

He danced amongst the vines, cutting through several. The severed portions dissolved into darkened shreds that drifted through the air like confetti before disappearing entirely. As he darted about the cavern, Makora kept an eye out for Blake.

"This is what you wanted, yes?" he asked as he continued to attack, mowing down more vines of darkness. "You wished for me to consolidate my molecules into a single form, so that you have something that would allow you to land an attack against me. Let us see how effective your idea is."

From behind him, Blake emerged, her form actually swelling out of one of the drifting leaves of shadow left behind by Makora's attack. The black blade of her katana was even darker than usual, trailing a wave of shadow behind it as she slashed at the back of Makora's neck. " _Kagedachi!_ "

Makora spun about and danced back. Though he appeared to escape it, through the shadows, Blake's range was distorted, and the reach of her attack actually increased. The grayish skin of Makora's neck parted, just above the scarf wrapped around it, though no blood splattered through the air. Instead, a jet of scattering molecules erupted out, almost like a geyser, swarming towards Blake's body, with the intent and malevolent purpose of a hive of bees that had just been kicked.

The stream of disparate molecules twisted and twined around Blake's body, almost like a tendril of smoke. However, before it could close, the shadows cloaking her body swirled about her, and folded in on themselves, making her vanish from sight.

 _Misdirection,_ thought Makora. _She told me that she escaped my earlier attack, because I created shadows for her to use as an escape path. But she has been cloaked in shadow this entire time. No matter where she is, she has a way out. I need to separate out her true body, in order to attack it._

Out loud, he said. "You were mistaken, if you thought you could harm me by cutting me in this form. Even now, the molecules of my body are fully under my control." He drew his extended molecules back into his body, and the wound sealed itself shut.

"That's fine," said Blake, her voice soft to the point of being almost inaudible. "Just having all of you in one place is good enough."

Makora's eyes narrowed and he tensed. A series of cracks echoed through the darkness, and bullets lanced out, converging on Makora from all directions, penetrating his body before he could react. However, once again, no blood emerged from the wound. Instead, the wounds closed by themselves, Makora keeping his molecules contained, if there was no one for him to attack. If he did, then the vines of shadow that continued to grow throughout the cavern would swallow them up…little by little.

In front of him, a bell-shaped flower budded on a vine and then bloomed, opening up, allowing Blake to emerge back into the physical world. This time, she wasn't even wearing her _Kagegoromo_.

Makora cast his gaze throughout the cavern. _She must be using all her Aura to maintain these, so she doesn't have enough left to form her protective technique. This is my chance!_

However, his molecules didn't respond. Instead, his entire body was locked into place. Makora jolted, his form refusing to respond to his will. He felt as though threads had invaded his body, locking every part of it into place, down to a molecular level. He was barely even able to speak. " _Kagenui_?"

"That's right," said Blake. Around her, the vines retracted, becoming formless shadows that then streamed towards her, pooling at her feet to become her normal shadow. "I used those bullets to deliver it, and made sure that I hit you enough times to lock _all_ of you down."

"I see," said Makora. "What will you do now? You won't be able to wound me still. If you try, you'll free my molecules to escape and attack."

"As I said earlier," replied Blake, "just having all of you in one place is enough." She sheathed her weapon and placed Gambol Shroud on her back, then clasped her hands together, two fingers of her right hand extended in a form that looked eerily intimidating. Drawing her hands apart revealed crackling, black energy extending from her palms, swirling together in the space between them, condensing until an ebony orb of swirling darkness hovered there.

Makora's eyes widened in shock. Blake extended first two fingers of her left hand ahead of her, almost as though she were making a finger pistol, holding the first two fingers of her right up in front of her face. " _Kageochi!_ " The black orb shot forward and struck Makora in the chest.

From the point of impact, darkness swirled out like a stain that spread across both cloth and skin, gradually covering Makora's entire body. Even as it did, Makora was beset with the sensation of falling. He was able to move his eyes enough to glance down. To his horror, he realized that he was beginning to fall into his own shadow.

"Disappear into darkness…for all eternity," intoned Blake.

A low, buzzing laugh emerged from Makora. His body blurred, becoming staticky again. However, none of his molecules escaped. "I see…" he mused. "No escape then. I must admit, I did not expect you to be this ruthless."

"I didn't want to be," said Blake sadly. "But I now understand that I can't allow you to live."

"Indeed," agreed Makora, his form slowly descending into the rippling pool of darkness beneath him. "Even defeated, even incapacitated, even imprisoned…the whole of my thoughts would be upon how to serve my master. No matter how cautious you were, I would have found some way to escape. This is the best way to eliminate me as a threat, permanently. For that…I congratulate you."

"This is as good as death…possibly worse," said Blake. "Don't congratulate me for it."

"Though we are enemies, serving different causes and seeking to kill one another, I cannot fault you for fighting for that which you seek to protect," replied Makora. "To do so would be to belittle my _own_ devotion to Nobunaga-sama. Farewell…Belladonna-dono."

"Yes," said Blake sadly, her face falling a little. "Farewell."

Makora's body sank into darkness, and the shadows subsided, closing in on themselves before vanishing. Blake stared at the spot where Makora had been for several minutes before shuddering and sinking, her head swimming. Though the battle had been brief, she had expended a considerable portion of her Aura through it, leaving her feeling weak. Sinking down to her knees, she drew deep breaths to try and steady herself. _I did it!_

* * *

"Well, I'll be," muttered Qrow, settling back and watching with a small grin. "The kids are giving a pretty damn good account of themselves."

"They've worked hard and it shows," agreed Winter. "I'm especially proud of Weiss."

"As you should be," noted Ozpin.

"It works out for us as well," noted Ozma. "With each victory we score, the worries of the people will be eased, and there will be less pressure from the Grimm."

"True," agreed Pastoria, stroking his beard.

"We will need to be careful though," said Makoto. "Ultimately, Nobunaga has the power to make up the difference all by himself. This battle is merely a diversion, an amusement for him."

"And as for the fighters who remain…" said Winter nervously, her gaze zeroing in on Kyo, who stood in front of Murasame. Both of them had drawn their swords. Yet, beyond that point, neither of them had moved an inch. Every few minutes, one, then the other, would reposition his sword. But then they would settle back into silent waiting, neither making a move.

"What's up with that?" mused Qrow, looking at them.

"They are each watching and waiting," said Makoto. "Normally, Kyo is much more proactive. However, against Murasame, one must exercise patience. He is a master of waiting in stillness. A match with him can go on for hours like this."

"Seriously…" said Qrow skeptically.

Makoto nodded. "Of all of us, I believe that Sora has been the only one to truly best him consistently, since he became the Mibu Clan Blademaster. She and the King were considered to be the strongest of the Mibu Clan, but Murasame has something beyond mere strength."

"What's that?" asked Qrow.

"Mu," replied Makoto simply.

"Huh?" was all that Qrow could say to that.

* * *

Since Kyo and Murasame had drawn their swords, at least thirty minutes has passed. Yet they had not exchanged a single blow. Little by little, each shifted his stance, looking for some form of opening or trying to tempt the other into an attack. However, neither of them were able to move. Not a word had been spoken. Despite that, the air between them was tensed, charged with energy. Anyone standing nearby would find their hair standing on end.

Slowly and deliberately, Kyo lowered his blade, angling it to his side, holding it back for a side-slash across his body. In response, Murasame maneuvered his own blade around, holding the handle at almost the level of his head, yet keeping the blade oriented straight upwards. Then…silence and stillness returned to both of them. The moment seemed frozen in time.

They settled into waiting again. And the minutes dragged on…

* * *

Santera spun with acrobatic grace through the air, going horizontal, her body rolling, which enabled her to bring her blade down in a rolling slash, aimed directly at Jaune's head. Raising his shield, Jaune deflected the blow effortlessly. As Santera touched down in front of him, he went on the attack, whipping his own sword around in a slash, aiming for Santera's neck.

Santera blocked the attack with her own shield and the two of them fell into a rapid exchange of blows. Jaune's own sword left a trailing white streak in the air behind it when he swung. Santera's left a trail of darkness in its wake. Where the two clashed, their Auras flared and appeared to cancel one another out. However, lacking any will of her own, Santera could only, at best, imitate Jaune's manifestation.

Jaune's blade came down, shining white. It cleaved straight through Santera's shield, splitting it in two. However, there was no longer an arm holding the shield up. Santera had already danced back half a pace. The two pieces of the shield itself hovered briefly, before exploding into a maelstrom of razor-edged tendrils, whipping around to attack Jaune from a bewildering variety of angles. White light flared out from the edges of Jaune's shield and the tendrils scattered back into iron-sand upon impact.

Driving forward, Jaune pressed his attack, whipping his sword through angles and crescents. Santera initially tried to parry, only to have her black xiphos cut in two as well. Instead, she settled for dodging, moving her body swiftly out of the path of Jaune's blade. Her weapon reforming, she tried to kill Jaune's momentum, driving at him with a thrust. Jaune took the attack on his shield, trying to use it as an opportunity to strike back at Santera, launching a slash that would have split her from shoulder to hip, had it connected.

Once again, Santera took to the air, vaulting over Jaune's shoulder and going into a spin up and behind him. As she did, her weapon shifted, stretching out to form her javelin, which Santera hurled right between Jaune's shoulders, striking him before he could turn around. However, the tip of her weapon stropped cold, the black power of her Aura, mixed with her magnetic Manifestation, scattering against the almost minuscule point, where Jaune had created his own shield to block her attack, without needing to turn in place.

Turning around in with a shout, Jaune struck Santera's javelin with his sword, blasting it to pieces. The scattered pieces dissolved back into sand, before reforming to become a plethora of swords of various shapes and types, swarming around Jaune, whirling, stabbing, and slashing. White shields appeared in the air to intercept them, scattering the blades back into sand once more. They reformed, becoming tendrils once again.

Jaune advanced grimly through the onslaught, his defenses remaining impenetrable as he drove straight for Santera, who now lacked sword and shield, attacking her relentlessly. Santera fell back, dodging, leaping, and flipping, choosing to evade his strikes, after seeing that her efforts to imitate his manifestation were fruitless. Instead, she kept up a constant barrage of attacks from tendrils and floating swords molded from iron-sand.

Jumping over a horizontal swing of Jaune's sword, Santera jumped back a considerable distance, her attacks stopping as all her iron-sand converged on her, molding itself into a single, large sword, with a massive blade, even wider than Jaune was tall. In the darkness of the cavern, the sword looked as long as a city bus, maybe even longer, its tip stretching up into the darkness.

Santera swung it down, aiming straight for Jaune's head, the blade descending with incredible speed and force, waves of ebony power spreading out ahead of it, like the bow-wave of an approaching ship. As terrifying as this attack looked, Jaune didn't even flinch, casually raising his shield.

The sword struck with the power to shake the earth. The top half of the blade crashed down, splitting the ground, and sending chunks of rock flying into the air. The bottom half did the same. However, between the two, Jaune stood unscathed, his shield still raised, almost looking bored.

"I think this has gone on long enough," he said sadly.

Santera tilted her head as she looked at him. The massive sword dissolved into sand, swirling through the air like a dust storm, surrounding her before merging into row upon row of floating swords. Jumping back a little farther, Santera swept her right arm out, and the swords launched themselves at Jaune in a relentless barrage, rising up, before descending down towards him, cresting like a wave.

Jaune strode through the swords as though they were a spring shower, not even raising his shield. The blades shattered and dissolved, breaking against points of light that opened up around him as they attacked. The sand reformed into whipping tendrils, which wove together, winding about his body and launching countless attacks, looking to all the world like a growth of kelp, trying to wrap around and entangle him. Yet Jaune advanced through them with ease, the strands parting before his Manifestation.

Raising his sword, Jaune held it level, then swept it around him in a wide circle. The blade severed Santera's tendrils, but also cleaved through something else, cutting through a curtain of black energy. The tendrils dissolved back into iron-sand and then descended to the ground like falling snow. Santera tilted her head, almost appearing to regard the scattered sand with confusion…if she was even capable of such an emotion. As Jaune approached, Santera fell back again, reaching out with both hands. The black wave of her Manifestation stretched out, now latching onto the metal of Crocea Mors. But Jaune's weapons glowed white, and Santera's power sloughed off, like water off the surface of a stone.

"That's enough," said Jaune, his tone weary as he approached her. "You're not actually Pyrrha, so you don't have what it takes."

Santera lowered her arms and regarded Jaune with her glassy, green eyes. She continued to fall back before Jaune's advance.

"It's time we ended this," said Jaune. "I'm sorry you were brought back like this, made to serve like some kind of puppet, played with like a doll. I think you're suffering. But I promise to end it."

Extending her arms out from her sides, Santera called her iron-sand back to them. The sand swirled around them, reforming into the imitations of Milo and Akouo, Pyrrha's weapons, that she had been wielding earlier. She lunged forward, starting by hurling the shield ahead of her. The spinning disk glanced off Jaune's shield, bouncing away and arcing around to come at him from behind. Jaune didn't even glance at it as it came in, and the shield bounced off another shield, a Projection of Jaune's Manifestation.

Flying away again, the shield divided into several thinner disks, each one slicing cleanly through the air as they spun. Some circled high, the others low. They arced at Jaune from numerous angles. The ones nearest to the ground cut clean lines through the rock, their absurdly sharp, rapidly spinning edges encountering no resistance. Even as they hemmed Jaune in from all sides, Santera charged right at him from the front.

They met once again, Santera's sword glancing off Jaune's shield as he raised it to counter. With a deft movement of her wrist, she brought the blade back around in a tight crescent to try and intercept Jaune's sword, striking it directly from the side. However, Jaune's swing was completely impossible for her to deflect and Santera was forced to evade from the side.

The razor disks of her other attack struck home, but each one scattered back into sand as shields of light flared up around Jaune to intercept all the attacks perfectly. Jaune practically seemed to ignore them, his Manifestation seeming to respond instantly and automatically to the attacks.

Santera pressed the attack anyway, her sword dipping and weaving, always seeking an opening in Jaune's defenses. However, his shield thwarted her at every turn. Santera danced out of the way of another slash, falling back, her sword shifting into javelin form again, which she spun like a staff so that the blade circled around, its extended reach almost making it seem to come at Jaune from behind. However, like all her previous attacks, he blocked that one as well, then surged forward, leading, not with his sword, but the shield instead.

Santera was caught off-guard as the shield slammed into her torso. A burst of light, accompanied by a loud ring, filled the air around them. Her eyes widening, Santera was thrown back, her form blurring briefly, almost seeming to double or triple slightly. The armor covering her body burst into sand, revealing her naked form once again. Santera fell onto her back hard, skidding to a stop, before managing to roll back onto her feet, the sand forming around her to re-create the image of Pyrrha's armor once again.

Santera charged forward, hurling her javelin at Jaune. Jaune simply held up his shield, deflecting the thrown weapon easily. As it clanged off, Santera took to the air, the scattered sand from her shield joining with the javelin, which also dissolved into sand. The sand swirled and reformed, creating several rows of large swords drifting in the air, which Santera launched down at Jaune.

Turning around, Jaune swept his sword out in a long swing, a wave of light launching out in a wide arc, completely disintegrating the swords. Santera landed and held out her hands, sand already beginning to consolidate around them.

"Not this time," said Jaune, lunging forward, thrusting with his sword.

Santera abandoned trying to reform her weapons and instead tried to fall back. However, the decision to retreat came too late, and she was left defenseless as Jaune's blade pierced her right through the stomach. There was another flash of white, accompanied with another ring, this one almost deafening. Then Santera's body went completely still.

Panting for breath, Jaune clenched his fingers around his sword's handle, prepared to finish this fight. By pulling up, he would split Santera in two, a wound she most definitely _wouldn't_ be able to recover from.

"Jaune…"

Suddenly, all thoughts of ending the fight were gone. In fact, all coherent thought was banished in general, as Jaune was confronted by something that had defied his most pessimistic predictions. There was no mistaking that voice, its tone, its familiarity. It wasn't the voice of a puppet or doll, but of a person whom he'd truly thought dead.

"P-Pyrrha?" asked Jaune, meeting her eyes once again.

The glassy sheen over Santera's eyes was gone, and the bright, green eyes of Pyrrha, full of life and love looked back at him. "Jaune," she said again, a sound almost like a sob in her voice, which made Jaune's arms go numb. The armor, formed from iron-sand, held in place by her power, flowed away, exposing her naked body once more. But that was the furthest thing from Jaune's mind at the moment.

"P-Pyrrha…I thought…I thought you were…" Jaune didn't even know where to begin.

Pyrrha smiled, it was a sad expression, very much like the memory of her within his weapon had given to him, when she had made what he had originally presumed to be her final goodbye. "I was," she said. "Santera really was empty, devoid of will. But…by stabbing her, you brought the part of me that she lacked into contact with her and…well…here I am." She coughed, spitting up a little blood.

Jaune's nerveless hand relinquished its grip on his sword and he stumbled back, his shield clanging to the ground. "Oh God! Pyrrha! I'm so sorry! I…"

Pyrrha stepped forward, somehow able to move her body quite well, despite the sword passing right through her navel. Her hands came up and she gently cupped Jaune's face, holding him stead. "Jaune. It's all right," she said.

"But you're you now," said Jaune. "Just hold on. I can find Saisei and we can-"

"Jaune," said Pyrrha, her tone firm and insistent, cutting him off completely. "No."

"What?" said Jaune. "But you…"

"No," repeated Pyrrha, tears leaking from her own eyes. "Jaune, this is wrong. You know it. I shouldn't be here. Nobunaga upset the rules of life and death themselves in order to bring me back. You know that. If it hadn't been you, if you hadn't put your sword through me like this, I would have fallen without any real fanfare. It's only because I'm connected to your sword now that I can talk with you."

"So…you want me to…to…" Jaune couldn't bring himself to say.

"You have to," said Pyrrha. "I wasn't brought back whole, Jaune. Once the sword is gone, I'll revert back to Santera, and become your enemy once more. You obviously can't leave it in me."

"But maybe Saisei could-" began Jaune.

"No," said Pyrrha, shaking her head. "My will has merged too completely with the sword. To remove it now would probably destroy Crocea Mors, and turn it into a lifeless lump of metal."

"If it's for you, I'd be willing to do that," said Jaune.

"I know," said Pyrrha. "But it's not what I want. Jaune. I had my chance at life. I made my mistakes, and paid for them. That's the truth." She coughed again, angling her head so that the splatter of blood missed Jaune slightly. "My time is over. What I want…what I want is to rest." She looked up at him again, her tears still flowing freely. "I'm tired Jaune. Help me sleep."

"P-Pyrrha please," begged Jaune. "Don't make me do this."

"Y-you have to, Jaune," said Pyrrha. "You were the one-" Her throat clenched in a strangled sob that cut her off for a second. "You were the one who chose to face me. You were the one-the one with the resolve to do what…what was needed. You're the only one with the strength to see this through…" She sniffled. "…to the end. Oh God! Jaune! I'm so sorry!"

Somewhat heedless of the sword handle still protruding from her stomach, Pyrrha hugged him tightly, Jaune returning the gesture with a passion that bordered on desperation.

"I'm sorry to do this to you," said Pyrrha, crying openly. "I never wanted you to have to cope with my death twice. It's not fair…to either of us. I want this to end…for good this time."

"For good?" said Jaune, his voice despairing.

"Yes," said Pyrrha. "When you…when you finish it…I'll put everything I have into Crocea Mors… _all_ of me…not just my will, but my entire spirit. If it's there…then not even Nobunaga can bring me back again."

"There's no other way?" asked Jaune.

Pyrrha slowly shook her head. "No other way that I would want," she answered sadly. "You've come this far, Jaune. I'm so proud of how far you've come. Remember how you used to be completely hopeless?"

"I know," he said. "You were the one who helped me get stronger. Your memory kept me going when we were fighting Salem."

"Thank you," said Pyrrha, leaning in to rest her forehead against his. "I'm so proud of you. I'm sorry that I missed what we could have had. But you need to end it…not just for me, but for Ruby, for your friends, for all the people I've hurt, and would hurt as Santera. It's time for me to go."

Pyrrha lowered her hands to Jaune's shoulders, then slipped them back, twining her arms behind his neck as she pulled him in, their lips connecting. For Jaune, the sensation was electric. The moment seemed to go on forever, and he desperately wished that it wouldn't end. He could feel Pyrrha pouring all of her love and affection into this final gesture, as much of a way to prepare herself as it was to prepare him.

Finally, much to his sorrow, the moment ended, and Pyrrha pulled her lips away, stepping back. She raised shaky hands to Jaune's right forearm, pulling it gently, guiding his hand to Crocea Mors' hilt, sliding them down to bend his fingers around the handle, and re-establish his grip on the weapon.

"Pyrrha…" said Jaune, his throat constricting, almost rendering him incapable of even breathing.

Pyrrha sniffled again, but remained smiling, though the tears continued to fall. "Remember, I love you…and I love Ruby. There's nothing that I want more than for the two of you to be happy together. Take everything I have, and use it to protect her. You've made a promise to her now…and you need to be strong enough to keep it. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes," stammered Jaune.

"Then it's time," she said, lowering her hands away, leaving Jaune still gripping the sword's hilt. She looked as though she wanted to take a few deep breaths to stead herself, but with a sword sticking through her stomach, the effort only pained her. "I know you can do it, Jaune."

"I'm sorry," said Jaune.

"I'm not," said Pyrrha, her cheeks sparkling in the faint light of the cavern. "As unnatural as this is…I got to see you…to speak with you one more time…to touch…to kiss…It's more than I ever could have hoped for and wanted. But my time is up. Please…do it."

She closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards.

Jaune trembled, his entire body quaking as his fingers tightened around the handle of his sword. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, exhaling the tension along with the air. He filled his mind with the thought of Ruby, remembering his lessons on how to use his Manifestation. He owed it to Pyrrha to do nothing less than put his full conviction behind his next move. His grip steadied and strengthened.

He opened his eyes, his expression calm and steady, looking right at Pyrrha. The blade of his sword blazed white and, with a single, powerful motion, Jaune pulled upwards, the edge slashing straight up along Pyrrha's spine and through her head. Her body, almost completely bisected, fell over backwards. As it did, Pyrrha's flesh seemed to crumble, turning grey and then collapsing into dirt and dust, scattering across the floor, then dispersing even further, so that no physical trace of her remained.

Despite that, Jaune felt her presence as though it were closer than ever. Looking down at his sword and shield, Jaune felt a familiar sensation. A soft note, like a finger running along the rim of a crystal goblet, filled the air, resonating with his very bones like a tuning fork. The sword's blade shined white, but there was an outline of black around it now. Jaune recognized it as Pyrrha's Semblance, her Manifestation. She said she'd put her entire spirit into his weapons, which apparently included the power born of her spirit. Her presence and her love resonated through Crocea Mors, stronger than ever. Holding out his left hand, Jaune reached out with that power, and beckoned. The shield leaped up from where he'd dropped it, and slid back into place on his arm.

Jaune's legs gave out and he fell to his knees. For a moment, he simply knelt there, gasping as a feeling akin to panic filled him. Then, he straightened up and threw back his head and howled. There was no specific emotion behind the sound. Rage, sorrow, fear, pain, and grief; he poured them all out through that single vocalization that echoed endlessly through the stygian darkness.

His voice finally petering out, Jaune slumped again, this time taking deep breaths to steady himself. He remained like that a few more minutes. Finally…he found the strength to stand. Collapsing his shield and sheathing his sword, Jaune took one more deep breath, and moved forward.

* * *

 **That's three down.**


	98. Chapter 98

**Chapter 98:**

"Damn," said Qrow, his voice hoarse and tight with restrained emotion. "I feel for the kid. I can't imagine what it's like to see your old flame like that, and then to have to cut her down."

"Tragic," said Winter softly, wiping underneath her eyes. "How can anyone be so cruel as to do that?"

"That is why the Mibu turned away from reviving the dead," said Makoto. "Life's intrinsic value descends from its transience. To deny death is to turn life into nothing more than a toy, a plaything. It is the most terrible and corrupting power that Nobunaga possesses."

"The thing that has me worried is that the entire world saw that," noted Ozpin. "While Ms. Nikos had not achieved truly universal recognition, she has become known quite widely, especially due to her participation in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Her death was, likewise, made public knowledge, though not the circumstances behind it."

"And then she reappears, fighting on the side of the enemy," said Ozma, her voice sad. "In a sense, it's a small mercy that we have not been permitted to hear the dialogue accompanying these battles. Otherwise, more people might learn of her being resurrected."

"However, that leads to those who recognized her to assume that she threw her lot in with the enemy," mused Pastoria. "Her memory will become tainted."

"That may well be unavoidable," said Ozpin. "The truth would have far worse consequences, should it become known. Despite us speaking about the importance and necessity of death, such a truth is not easy to accept, and there are many who would leap at the chance to spit in its face, even if it meant completely upending the natural order of the world."

"So we just let her memory get tarnished like that?" growled Qrow, glaring at the screen. "Haven't we put Jaune and the others through enough?"

"I doubt it will be necessary either way," said Makoto calmly, making everyone look at him in surprise. "This battle was a shocking revelation for those of us who know the full extent of what occurred. However, it is but a small part of the larger conflict and, soon, I think those watching will see things that will drive those conflicts, spectacular though they were, from their imagination."

"What things?" Winter wanted to know.

Makoto's eyes narrowed and he glared at the screen. "Several of the Junishinsho have now fallen. But their master still stands. Nobunaga cares not for the losses he takes in this battle, because he has the strength to turn tings completely his way at will. Once he takes the field, all the battles before shall seem inconsequential in comparison."

"And, of course, should he win, then the issue of Ms. Nikos' legacy shall become moot," added Ozpin darkly.

"We'll just have to hope that they can _actually_ do this," muttered Qrow. "We can worry about people's reputations later."

"Agreed," said Ozpin, his eyes drifting to a confrontation he did not like to see at all, as a tearful Penny advanced on an equally tearful Ruby, sword in hand.

* * *

The Kusanagi whistled menacingly as it sliced through the air. Activating her Semblance, Ruby shot to the side, her form trailing red petals in its wake. Penny immediately turned her downwards slash into a sideways one, aiming to try and catch Ruby before she could escape her reach. However, Ruby easily ducked it before shooting back and out of Penny's immediate range.

Pursuing her, Penny launched a flurry of slashes. Recalling her memories of Kyo's fight, Ruby avoided them with the minimal amount of movement possible, often bending her body in place, her form moving so fast that, at times, she seemed to occupy two, or even three positions at once.

Penny transitioned from slashes to a thrust and Ruby fell back, moving at exactly the same speed as Penny's attack so that the tip of Penny's sword seemed to hang in the air in front of her, rather than close the distance or fall back.

"Stop this!" shouted Penny pleadingly. "Fight back!"

"I'm not going to fight you," declared Ruby. "I don't want to hurt you…not like this."

"Please!" Penny pressed. "You have to. I can't…I _have_ to fight. Otherwise…"

"No," said Ruby firmly. "I refuse. I'm not going to let you die, Penny!"

She continued to evade Penny's blows, giving ground the entire time. She fell back until she felt the cavern wall at her back, before retreating along it as Penny pursued her, her sword scoring lines in the stone, occasionally slicing apart one of the crystal growths that lit the cavern. All the while, Cinder followed them at a distance, walking confidently, her hips swaying seductively with each step. Despite her posture, the look on her face was anything but confident. Rather, it was frustrated.

As the "fight" continued, Cinder's frustration grew, a low, hoarse growl building in her throat. Finally, she came to a halt. "How long are you going to continue this farce?" she demanded, glaring at the back of Penny's head. "Stop acting so soft and _kill_ her. If you keep this up, your father's life will be forfeit, even if you win."

Penny froze, shooting a horrified look back at Cinder, before refocusing her gaze on Ruby.

"Penny, no," said Ruby.

"I have to," said Penny, more tears spilling out of her eyes. Clouds began to stream off the Kusanagi's blade, swirling in a pinwheeling motion around it as Penny held it up at the level of her head. The blade rang, although, to Ruby's ears, the sound seemed more like a mournful keening than the usual bell-like chime that blades seemed to produce when their power was invoked, almost as though the Kusanagi shared its wielder's reluctance and sorrow at being forced to do this.

" _Ame no Murakumo!_ " Penny slashed her sword in a curving arc in front of her, unleashing a spiraling cloud, the inner surface of the spiral forming several teeth along either side, along with a rib-like texture between them that suggested a giant, spiraling jaw. The massive cloud constructed curved upwards through the air, before descending down at Ruby, threatening to devour her. Despite its size, it moved with deceptive speed, closing the distance between Penny and Ruby in the blink of an eye. It struck with earthshaking force and a deafening roar. Ruby vanished as the attack's impact threw up a cloud of dust ,and sent chunks of stone flying through the air.

Ruby cried out as she hit the ground, having barely managed to fling herself clear of the mighty attack in time. As it was, she lost her balance and wound up falling hard. Still, she managed to roll back onto her feet, turning to face Penny. Then her gaze found Cinder, smiling smugly at her. Reaching behind herself, Ruby finally drew her weapon, unfolding Crescent Rose with an artful spin, before orienting its barrel behind her and pulling the trigger, using the recoil in conjunction with her Semblance to send herself flying at Cinder, looking almost like a red comet, leaving a trail of dancing petals in her wake.

Cinder made no effort to evade or defend, simply watching smugly as Ruby closed in. With a flash, Penny interposed herself between Ruby and Cinder, intercepting Crescent Rose's swing with her blade, bracing her left hand against the flat as the combined force of Ruby's swing and forward momentum drove Penny's feet into the ground with a crunch.

"Out of the way!" shouted Ruby.

"I…" said Penny, choking back a sob. "I'm the one you have to fight, Ruby! You have to kill me!"

"No!" shouted Ruby defiantly.

"Then I'll make you," promised Penny grimly. "It's the only way."

"It's not," Ruby protested. "You don't have to listen to Cinder."

"Yes she does," taunted Cinder with a sadistic chuckle. "After all, what hope is there for her, if she survives this? Assuming you manage to do the impossible and stop My Lord, you will not be able to save her father. You'll orphan the poor girl a second time. Even if you were able to save Shatora from My Lord's wrath, you still wouldn't be able to save him. After his treachery, his own people must be calling for his head. You would only sentence his daughter to bearing witness to his execution."

"That's not true," Ruby said firmly.

"But it is," said Cinder. "The only way to spare poor Antera such pain is if you put an end to her right here, once and for all. The only other option is for her to kill you, and ensure that My Lord carries the day. Only then can she hope to live that happy life with her father." Her lips pulled back in a savage grin. "You're just being selfish, saying that you want to save her, even though refusing to fight and kill her now is hurting her more. It's just as it was in Atlas, when you learned the truth about Santera. You are such a woefully selfish girl, aren't you."

"Shut up!" snapped Ruby. "I'll kill you!"

"Not before you kill her," said Cinder. "Antera, stop holding back, or else I'll ask My Lord to kill your father, regardless of the outcome of this fight."

"Penny," pleaded Ruby, locking eyes with her friend.

Gritting her teeth, Penny strained, her arms shaking, before letting out an angry shout and pushing Crescent Rose away with the Kusanagi with all her considerable strength, launching Ruby backwards. Ruby gaped at Penny as she went flying, amazed by her friend's strength, and horrified by the look of pain and despair she was wearing at the same time.

More clouds erupted from the Kusanagi's blade as Penny thrust the weapon forward, spinning it so that the swirling clouds lunged out in four spiraling streams that swirled each other like a helix, once again forming the shapes of twisting jaws. " _Ame no Makigumo!_ "

By the time Ruby was able to get her feet back under her and come to a stop, Penny's attack had already closed in, the swirling clouds threatening to engulf and crush her between them. Desperately, Ruby began to rapidly spin Crescent Rose, holding up the spinning scythe almost as a barrier between her and Penny, the weapon going faster and faster with each revolution. With a high-pitched ring, the weapon flashed, red light erupting along the edge of the blade as Ruby went from a spin to a slash, cutting a crimson line through the air and right through the encroaching clouds of Penny's attack. The severed clouds scattered and drifted off in random directions, their force completely abated.

But Penny emerged from them immediately, having used the mist resulting from their scattering to cover their own advance, so that she appeared out of the fog like a mirage, catching Ruby almost completely off-guard. The Kusanagi struck Crescent Rose with a loud clang, and Ruby was once again thrown off her feet by the raw power behind Penny's blow. She hit the ground with enough force to shatter it, bouncing off and doing the same thing two more times, like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond, before managing to kill enough of her momentum to come to a stop.

This time, she wasn't able to roll to her feet, but wound up on her back, staring up. This left her in a perfect position to see Penny seem to almost materialize above her, diving down, the tip of her sword leading. Ruby barely managed to roll out of the way as the Kusnagi plunged into the earth, right through where her heart had been earlier. Coming out of her roll by getting her feet back on her, Ruby oriented her weapon's barrel at Penny, ready to pull the trigger, planning to use the shot to stymie Penny's momentum and, at the same time, use the recoil to launch herself away and buy more breathing room. However, her finger froze, even as it was halfway through tightening around the trigger. It was enough of a hesitation for Penny to pull her sword free and resume the attack, flashing across the distance between them at a speed that would have been a match for Ruby's Semblance, in the old days.

Ruby instead dipped her weapon so that the barrel was angled downwards, then fired, barely managing to use the recoil and her Speed to escape, Penny's sword leaving a knick in Ruby's trailing cape as she retreated out of reach. Not hesitating, Penny surged forward, chasing after Ruby determinedly. Ruby hadn't gone very far and, when she landed, Penny was immediately on her, launching another flurry of attacks. This time, Ruby whirled Crescent Rose through spinning, defensive measures, desperately fending off Penny's ferocious stream of attacks.

"Fight back!" shouted Penny as she continued her assault. "Stop me! Please!"

"You have to stop yourself," said Ruby. "I'm _not_ going to hurt you."

"I don't want to hurt you either," replied Penny. "But I have to fight you. You have to stop me. I…I don't want to go through this! I'm tired of being a tool, of always being shown what I want, only to have it ripped away! I'm sick of it! I want it to _end!_ "

They clashed again, Penny locking her blade against the shaft of Ruby's scythe and pressing in close so that they were face to face. "I'm so tired! I want this to be over with. Every time, I'm told that I'll get to stay with my friends, be with the people I love, it turns out to be a lie. I end up being used and toyed with and I just want it to be _over!_ "

"Penny…" gasped Ruby, fresh tears streaming from her eyes. It was horrifying to think about what her friend had been through. She had been created as an android for the purpose of showcasing Atlas' technological dominance, forced to be isolated from the students she would have been interacting with at the Vytal Festival, her every action strictly monitored and controlled. Then she had been used by Cinder, whose minion had tricked Pyrrha into cutting her to pieces with her Semblance, so that she could stoke the negative feelings of Vale's populace and bring about a Grimm onslaught.

Then she had been brought back and fought alongside her friends, with the promise of being able to join them at Beacon, when the battle was over, only for Ironwood to go back on his word, forcing her to go on the run and, ultimately winding up with her being "killed" again. Then she had been revived, this time in an organic, human body. This time it seemed that she would finally get the happy life she'd been looking for. She had a new life, she'd been adopted by a new and loving father. She'd once again been given the opportunity to join her friends, and she'd even made new ones. Then, yet again, all of that had been yanked away as her new father had proven himself a traitor, and had dragged her along in his treachery.

Now Ruby could see it in Penny's eyes. All that bitterness and despair had built up, hope mounting, only to be snatched away again and again. By this point, Penny was convinced that she would never get the chance at the happiness she had been chasing so hard now.

"That's right," taunted Cinder. "You're destined for a life of suffering. Better to die at the hands of someone you love, yes?"

"Shut up, Cinder!" shouted Ruby as she strained against Penny's strength, her feet sliding backwards across the stone floor of the cavern. Unfortunately, she just wasn't a match for Penny in a showdown of raw power. Straining her muscles to the limit, Penny pushed with all her strength and Ruby found herself being flung through the air once again.

"If you won't fight me seriously, you're going to die!" shouted Penny. "I won't leave you with any other choice."

"No!" shouted Ruby.

But Penny didn't heed her voice. Instead, she held her sword level with her eyes, resting the first two fingers of her hand against the flat of the blade. Once again, the cavern reverberated with the Kusanagi's mournful keen as the blade blazed with light.

 _"Oh great serpent of eight heads and eight tails,"_ intoned Penny, her eyes closing, _"whose mighty body spans eight hills and eight valleys. Rouse from your deathly slumber and bare your fangs, devouring all who stand before you...Yamata-no-Orochi!"_

Streams of cloud formed into writhing, undulating, serpentine bodies, winding their way up the length of the sword like a set of eight, speckled bands. Snake-like heads, decorated with backwards-sloping horns, formed at the ends, hissing menacingly with fanged mouths. Penny slashed across her body, and the eight serpents all lashed forward, their cloud bodies swelling and extending as they struck out at Ruby, closing the distance with blinding speed.

Ruby gasped, her pupils expanding out to encompass nearly the entirety of her irises. Within them, a strange, rune-like symbol appeared. However, the serpents had already struck, their fangs sinking into her arms and legs, closing about her neck and tearing into her abdomen. The terrific force of the attack caused her to vanish in another burst of dust and rubble as the shockwave shook the entire area, causing cracks to spread up the cavern wall, knocking chunks loose to rain upon the ground below.

"Perfect," cooed Cinder with an ecstasy that bordered on orgasmic. "A pity that killed her though. I did want to deliver the final blow myself."

"Ruby…" said Penny, sniffing and crying, her legs shaking as she looked over what she had done. "This wasn't…I didn't want it to go like this. Why didn't you fight back?"

"Because I won't hurt you," Ruby's voice answered from within the cloud.

"What?" gasped Cinder, her eye going wide with shock as she glared into the clearing dust.

"R-Ruby?" said Penny plaintively, almost afraid that the voice she'd just heard was nothing more than a hallucination.

But the dust cleared to reveal Ruby, unharmed, her cape drifting behind her in the breeze left by the passage of Penny's attack, Crescent Rose held easily at her side. She stood right next to the deep trench that the _Yamata-no-Orochi_ had torn through the earth, making it seem as though Penny's attack had missed completely. Yet Penny remembered seeing, and even feeling, her attack hit home.

"This again," growled Cinder in frustration, remembering the trick that Ruby had pulled on her during their battle in Atlas.

"I'm so sorry," said Ruby, more tears falling from her eyes as she stared across at her friend. "I never realized that you were suffering so much. I thought it was bad. But I'd never thought of it like this. I never thought about how much it hurt to go through the same thing over and over again. But I won't give up."

"Ruby, stop it," protested Penny. "I'm tired of being baited with false hope. I'm sick of having my happiness torn away from me again and again."

"I know," said Ruby. "But I'm not going to stop."

"I'll _make_ you," said Penny, glaring through her tears at Ruby, leveling her sword at the red-clad girl. "I'm not giving you a choice, Ruby."

"I'm not giving you one either," said Ruby, giving Penny a small, yet loving smile.

Penny tensed, her throat working furiously, her body practically convulsing. Finally, all her frustration, her anger, her sadness, and her despair, escaped from her mouth in a ragged scream and she surged forward with all the speed she could muster, shooting towards Ruby like an arrow fired from a bow. The Kusanagi keened once more, its blade shining white, merging with the bright-green of Penny's Aura.

Ruby's eyes drifted down to the scythe in her grip. _Sorry, sweetheart,_ she thought before hefting her weapon…then tossing it to the side. In the face of Penny's charge, Ruby threw away her only means of defense, and made no effort to evade, instead standing firm in the face of her friend's attack with her arms stretched out to the sides. In that moment, she abandoned all her fear and sadness, calmly awaiting Penny with open arms and an open heart.

Penny's eyes widened as they met Ruby's. Her advanced faltered. Her speed dropped. Just a little over a meter away, her charge petered out, and she ended up stumbling forward, the point of her sword still leading, threatening to plunge through Ruby's undefended heart. Finally, Penny stumbled to a stop, the trembling blade of her now quiet sword hovering just an inch away from Ruby's left breast. All it would take was one quick thrust, and Ruby would be no more.

"R-R-Ruby…what are you doing?" asked Penny.

"Waiting," said Ruby softly, smiling back at Penny.

"For what?" demanded Penny.

"For you," said Ruby. "I know that you've been through so much. I know it's hard. But I'm not going to give up on you. I'm going to grab onto you and hold on as tight as I can, and I'm going to get that happiness we promised you. I'm going to make sure that it doesn't get torn away from you again."

"B-but Papa…" said Penny.

"Him too," said Ruby firmly. "I can't forgive him for what he's done, but I'm not going to let that get in the way. I know you need him, and I won't let him die if I can do anything about it."

"Why…why can't you just let me go?" demanded Penny.

"Because _I love you!_ " Ruby shouted, her tears returning yet again. "I love you so much. I'm tired too, Penny. I'm tired of losing the people I love. I lost Mom, Pyrrha…even Weiss, Blake, and Yang for a little while. I lost you twice! I'm sick of it. Maybe it's selfish of me, but I don't care. I'm gonna be selfish, and hold onto the people I care about with all my strength. Even if you give up, I _won't_. I'm going to fight for your happiness with everything I've got. With God as my witness, I'm not losing you again, Penny! I'm not letting you go!"

As Ruby spoke, Penny's sword began to tremble, her grip faltering.

"Do it," snarled Cinder, flames curling from the corner of her eye. "What are you waiting for? You want to sentence your father to death? Kill her. Do it now!"

Penny grit her teeth and scrunched her eyes closed, her body tensing. Her sword was shaking so hard it had practically become a vibrating blur, hovering an inch away from Ruby's heart. Finally, with an anguished scream, she released her sword. The Kusanagi clattered to the ground and Penny threw herself forward into Ruby's arms, which wrapped around her tightly as Ruby hugged Penny with all her strength and Penny did her utmost to return the favor.

"Ruby!" shouted Penny, crying into Ruby's shoulder. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," said Ruby, shedding more tears of her own, tears of relief this time. "I've got you Penny."

"I love you," sobbed Penny desperately.

"I love you too," replied Ruby. One hand went up and began to gently comb through Penny's hair. The shaking of Penny's body subsided and the two of them relaxed, basking in the moment as the storm of emotion passed, leaving them feeling at peace.

Then Ruby's ears picked up the sound of a rising whistle. Tightening her hold on Penny, she flung the two of them to the side, sending them crashing to the ground by Ruby's scythe as a black arrow flashed past over their heads. Lifting her head, Ruby's eyes narrowed into a glare as Cinder stalked towards them, a bow of black glass clenched firmly in her hand.

"You insufferable brat," snarled Cinder, her burning eye locked on Penny in a murderous glare. "After all the favor My Lord showed you, you dare spurn him like this? You had a chance for survival, a chance to be a part of My Lord's new world order. But you spurned him, and threw it all away…And for what? For this little red bitch's honeyed words? I knew you were weak. But this is just pathetic."

Ruby growled and let go of Penny. Reaching over, she picked up her scythe and got back to her feet. "You're the pathetic one, Cinder," she retorted. "Your the one who can't get power unless you steal it from someone else first. You're the one who kept urging Penny to give up. It takes strength to get back up and try again. I know that better than anyone."

"Enough of your sanctimonious preaching!" snapped Cinder. "I'm through playing games with you. I'll kill you myself."

Ruby smirked. "About time," she said. "Finally done hiding behind proxies and puppets, Cinder?"

A wordless growl was the only answer Ruby got as Cinder raised her bow and pulled back the string, an arrow seemingly assembling itself from swirling ash as she drew. Sighting down its length, Cinder aimed the arrow straight at Ruby's chest and released, the projectile streaking through the air.

Ruby's eyes narrowed, and her silver irises flashed, like the strobe of a camera. The wave of light that burst forth struck Cinder's arrow, which disintegrated on contact.

"What?" gasped Cinder, horrified.

"Surprised?" asked Ruby incredulously. "After what happened in Atlas, I figured you knew I'd train to get stronger. I put a lot of effort into getting ready to face you, the next time we faced off. But it looks like you haven't bothered doing any training yourself."

Growling again, Cinder cast aside her bow, which shattered. A nimbus of flames rose up, swirling about her body as she spread her arms out, the flames congealing into a pair of grapefruit-sized orbs hovering over her palms as more flames streamed from the corner of her eye. Her power stirred the air, pulling at her hair and bangs, blowing them aside to reveal the mass of scar tissue that covered the left side of her face, including her ruined eye.

"Ruby…" said Penny worriedly, getting to her feet behind her friend.

"It's okay," said Ruby confidently. "I'm ready, more ready than Cinder is by a mile."

"You'd like to believe so," snarled Cinder. "I'll burn the two of you so that not even your ashes remain." The orbs of flame hovering over her palms burned even brighter, their heat building and filling the cavern, making Ruby and Penny's skin break out in sweat. Now Cinder's two fireballs were practically miniature suns, shedding light and heat, burning back the darkness and dying everything a malevolent orange, red, and yellow.

Despite that, Ruby remained smiling. "Is that so?" she asked. "Have you learned how to make black flames yet?"

Cinder faltered, and a choking sound rose up in her throat as she was reminded of her decisive defeat at Keikoku's hands, which only made Ruby smile more widely. "I thought so."

Baring her teeth with another wordless growl, Cinder hunched slightly and channeled still more power into the two fireballs she held. "I'll teach you to mock me, you brat. I don't need black flames to scour you from this earth." Swinging her arms, she hurled the two fireballs at Ruby and Penny, the flames roaring menacingly as they rushed in.

Ruby reached up and rested the first two fingers of her right hand against the blade of Crescent Rose. Her Silver Eyes flashed, and she then traced her fingers along the gentle curve of her sweetheart's blade, the gray edges of the blade turning silver to match her eyes, and extending by another inch, as did the scythe's tip, shimmering and shining with the same light Ruby's eyes held. At the same time, a pair of wing-like projections of energy unfolded from the base of the blade, extending out just above the barrel. Twirling her weapon like a baton, Ruby brought it around in a slash that cut through Cinder's fireballs, and snuffed them out like candle flames.

"What?" gasped Cinder. "Impossible!"

"I told you I got stronger," said Ruby, resting her scythe's shaft on her shoulder.

"You BITCH!" shrieked Cinder. With an angry flash, a pair of black, glass swords appeared in her hands, and she rushed straight at Ruby.

With a grin, Ruby surged forward to meet her, her body becoming a red comet, trailing crimson petals, a flashing nimbus surrounding her. She closed into striking range faster than Cinder did, taking advantage of her weapon's greater reach, channeling her momentum and strength into the strike. Desperately, Cinder pulled back, crossing her own swords in an effort to ward off Ruby's strike. But Crescent Rose's silver edge shattered the swords effortlessly. Cinder screamed as she was blasted by the shockwave unleashed by Ruby's swing, and was thrown backwards like a rag-doll.

Managing to get her feet back under her, Cinder rose up, only to see Ruby's next spin brought Crescent Rose's barrel around to aim right at her. With no hesitation, Ruby pulled the trigger, the bullet a silver stream of light as it left the barrel and lanced right at Cinder. Raising her hands, Cinder put all the Fall Maiden's power into her defensive barrier, but that too shattered with no resistance as Ruby's shot slammed into it. The next second, the bullet pierced right through Cinder's shoulder, knocking her off her feet again. This time, her scream was even more ragged as daggers of pain raced through her body, making her nerves burn like fire.

Hitting back-first, Cinder bounced, her body flipping over so that she slammed down on her chest and face. She barely even noticed the impact. Trying to get up, she wound up hunched over on her knees, her forehead pressed against the stone, shrieking through gritted teeth, her eye bulging and rolling in its socket as her right hand pressed desperately over the hole through her left shoulder.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" asked Ruby darkly as she closed the distance between them at an easy walk. "You like hurting other people. But now it's your turn. How's it feel?"

"I'll _kill_ you!" was Cinder's only reply, her voice hoarse with agony, blood and spittle flecking her lips as she forced her body upright, and began to climb to her feet.

The pain racing through her body, setting her every nerve on fire couldn't compare to the suffering of her pride. _I want to be strong. I want to be feared._ She had spent her life in pursuit of those things. She had crushed so many others beneath her feet for the sake of those goals. So that people wouldn't pity her, so they would fear her and show her the respect she deserved, she'd _taken_ the power that she needed. She'd courted Nobunaga, she'd lowered herself to become a mere servant of Salem. But now, before her, Ruby Rose showed no signs of fear. Now, Cinder felt weaker than ever. Trying to call upon the Fall Maiden's power after taking a shot, infused with the power of Ruby's Silver Eyes, made her body feel as though it was tearing itself apart.

It burned her memory, Ruby's defiant gaze as she unleashed the power of the Silver Eyes for the first time. She remembered all the times their paths had crossed, how she'd desperately craved the chance to see Ruby on her knees, looking up at her with eyes filled with fear and pleading. Back when Emerald had been alive, Cinder had made her use her Semblance to show Ruby in that state over and over again. But all that had done was frustrate her, as it became more and more apparent that the real Ruby Rose would never look at her like that. Emerald's illusion would remain an illusion. And now, _she_ was the one forced onto her knees, desperate, like a cornered animal. If it would have been any help, she would have gnawed off her own limbs to escape this. But there was no hope of escape there.

With an angry cry, Cinder dropped back to her knees. But the motion was actually a cover as she slammed the palm of her hand against the ground. The earth below Ruby's feet suddenly began to glow a molten orange and red. Her eyes widened before she was abruptly engulfed by a geyser of flame that erupted where she was standing. Cinder looked up, smirking triumphantly through her pain.

But then Ruby was behind her, scythe descending. Cinder barely managed to react in time, throwing herself forwards as Crescent Rose's tip bit into the stone where she'd been kneeling a second before, cutting effortlessly through the stone, so that its movement didn't even slow as Ruby turned the missed swing into a spin in order to bring the blade rapidly around for another attack.

Cinder jumped back, her leap carrying her through the smoldering embers of her last attack. Landing behind it, she began to sweep her arms through circular motions. The swirling ashes and embers began to swirl and congeal together, merging into shards of glass that Cinder launched in a deadly barrage at Ruby, who made no effort to dodge. Instead, she spun her weapon until it became a blur of red, black, and silver, the shards shattering and exploding against it without any signs of making it through.

Changing the axis of her spin, Ruby brought her scythe around in a downwards slash that sent a silver wave slicing along the ground, heading straight at Cinder and threatening to split her in two. Cinder barely managed to sidestep the wave, a burning sensation washing over her body, as though she'd just brushed up against something blistering hot.

Howling in rage, she called up fire into each hand, launching jets of flame at Ruby, who turned into a red comet as she danced between the attacks, rapidly closing the distance between them. Coming into striking distance, she led with a slash of Crescent Rose that Cinder barely managed to lean out of the way of. A direct clash was out of the question. Crescent Rose, enhanced by the power of Ruby's Silver Eyes, was cutting through anything Cinder might be able to put up to stave off her attack. She needed to gain distance and hammer Ruby with attacks from outside melee range. She jumped over another slash, using her leap to go into a backflip that would carry her further away from Ruby.

Then Ruby brought her weapon's rifle to bear again and pulled the trigger. Cinder's eyes widened as another lance of silver went rushing at her. Cinder gasped and threw out her left hand, firing a jet of flame and using its recoil to launch herself out of the bullet's path. She managed to avoid getting shot again, but her evasion was clumsy and she wound up bouncing and rolling across the ground.

When she got up, Cinder realized that her dodge had carried her to land near Penny. _This is my chance,_ she realized. After that simpering display of emotion earlier, she was fairly certain that the former-android was the perfect tool to gain an advantage over Ruby, even if Penny was no longer cooperating.

 _Not yet though,_ she thought. If she wasn't careful, Ruby would clue in to her intentions easily enough. She needed to distract the red menace. "It's not fair," she growled, taking a cautious step back. "You only have that power because you were born lucky."

"I can't choose how I was born," said Ruby, her Silver Eyes flickering and glittering. "We just have to make the most of what we're born with."

"Spoken like a spoiled brat who has no idea of what it means to have nothing," snarled Cinder, not even really needing to act to inject frustration and anger into her voice. "No matter what high ideals you espouse, at the end of the day, you're nothing more than a brat with no idea of the truth of the world."

"I think I know more than you think," Ruby replied curtly. "And I have _you_ to thank for it."

"What?" gasped Cinder, genuinely surprised.

" _You're_ the one who made me realize how terrible and unfair the world can be. _You_ were the one who showed me just how easy it can be to lose everything." Ruby's eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't have grown nearly as much as I have, if it wasn't for _you_. You were the one who made it possible for me to harness this strength."

"Lies," hissed Cinder, cringing at the thought. It was true, that, during her time as a servant as Salem, Cinder had tried again and again to snuff the life from Ruby Rose, her view of the child changing from that of a troublesome impediment to a deep, personal vendetta, after she found herself maimed by Ruby's Silver Eyes. She took another step back.

"It's true," replied Ruby, stepping forward confidently. " _You_ were the one who drove me to become strong, Cinder. _You're_ the one who helped me obtain the strength to defeat you."

"You're still an ignorant brat," hissed Cinder, her body tensing. "If you truly believe you can best me, you have a long way to go. Let me remind you just how pitiful you really are!" Spinning on the spot, Cinder whirled towards Penny, her hands raised fire congealing in her palms as she prepared to immolate the traitorous Antera where she stood.

But the instant that Cinder turned around, there Ruby was, already standing between her and Penny, her Silver Eyes meeting Cinder's a with a sober look. _So fast…_

"I knew you were going to try that," said Ruby, sounding almost disappointed. "I'm going to end this now, before you get a chance to hurt anyone else. I'll end it with the technique I created especially for you."

Ruby's pupils swelled out to reach the edge of her irises, the strange symbol of the _Seikireigan_ appearing within them once more. She seemed to move in several directions simultaneously, her image flickering and vanishing from sight. The next thing Cinder knew, she was hemmed in with silver streaks. Cinder screamed as the burning, searing, power of the Silver Eyes bit into her body, each slash making her feel as though her every cell was being tortured to destruction.

Penny looked on with wide eyes. From the outside, all she could see was countless silver arcs bending towards Cinder's body, engulfing her in silver light as the force of Ruby's attack drove Cinder back, leaving trailing loops and motes of silver light in her wake that reminded Penny of rose petals, the whole image reminding her of Cinder being caught in the midst of a blooming flower as its petals scattered, yet also forming a motif that reminded her of the image of the shattered moon that hung in Remnant's sky.

" _Bloom and Scatter, Silverymoon Rose!_ "

With a final scream, Cinder's body was completely swallowed by silver light, her body sliced to pieces, which proceeded to burn away in the purifying light of Ruby's Silver Eyes. Ruby appeared just past her attack, her scythe held so that its shaft passed behind her back, the spiked tip angled slightly upwards, while the blade was angled so that it hovered just barely above the ground. The light faded, leaving no trace of Cinder behind.

Silence descended on the cavern, which seemed to plunge into a deeper darkness, now that the intense light of Ruby's attack had vanished, requiring a few extra minutes for their eyes to adjust back to the normal, low levels of light issuing forth from the crystal growths lining the walls. With a tired sigh, Ruby relaxed her body, the light from her eyes subsiding, along with the same light disappearing from the edge of her scythe, along with the two wings that sprouted from the blade's base. Crescent Rose returned to its normal state, before Ruby quickly folded it up and stowed it.

"It's over," breathed Penny, hardly daring to believe it.

"It is for her," replied Ruby, looking at the scorched spot where Cinder had just died. "She won't be hurting anyone else... _ever_ again."

Suddenly, there was light again. Glowing motes spawned into being in the air, hovering right where Cinder had died, slowly gathering together and merging into a single, brighter orange. However, its brightness wasn't harsh. Instead, it was warm and comforting, the orange color reminding the girls of the color of leaves during autumn, of bonfires with friends and family, and the setting sun. The motes of light all converged together to form a single glowing nucleus of power. It hovered in place for a moment, before slowly drifting towards Ruby.

Ruby and Penny both realized what was happening. The power that Cinder had stolen, the power of the Fall Maiden; this was it. Ruby realized that it was only natural that hers had been the last face on Cinder's mind. Now the Maiden's power was following its natural cycle and offering itself to her. Normally, it probably wasn't so slow to act, but she supposed it was regathering itself after being scattered by her attack. It seemed that the Silver Eyes, while anathema to the Maidens themselves, were not able to destroy the source of their power, at least not immediately.

"No," said Ruby softly, holding up her hand to the orb of power. "I don't need it. Go."

A ripple passed through the orb of power, almost as though it had to take a moment to accept Ruby's rejection. Then suddenly, it shot upwards like a rocket, ascending up into the darkness and vanishing from sight.

"Where…?" gasped Penny, her eyes tracing the path the power took through the air.

"To find someone else," said Ruby. "I turned it down, so now it'll seek another Maiden at random."

"Oh…" said Penny. "Are you really all right with that? You could've been the Fall Maiden."

"I don't want to be the Fall Maiden," said Ruby, walking towards her friend. "Just being Ruby Rose has always been enough for me. Besides…I think it's for the best that I didn't try to take it. I don't think it would've went well."

"Why?" asked Penny, blinking in confusion.

"It's just…" Ruby paused and shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "Let's not worry about it." Instead, she focused her gaze on Penny and smiled warmly. "But I'm just glad you're all right."

Ruby's words, sent a wave of relief crashing through Penny and tears returned to her eyes once again. She sniffed, then threw herself at Ruby, who caught her, the two of them hugging each other tightly.

"Welcome back," whispered Ruby.

* * *

"Damn! That was a real nail-biter there for a bit," commented Qrow, slumping back against the wall. "That niece of mine just about gave me a heart-attack when she left herself open like that."

"She abandoned all anger, hostility, and fear," said Makoto. "Instead, she struck the stance of emptiness, and waited openly for her opponent, meeting Penny-chan's attack with open arms. Masterfully done. Against such openness, it's only natural that Penny-chan could not bring herself to strike."

"But why did Ruby turn down the opportunity to be the Fall Maiden?" asked Winter, frowning. "With that power, there might be no limit to the good she could do."

"'Cause my little Rose is smarter than the average girl," said Qrow proudly. "She's right to trust in the strength that she builds for herself, rather than power that's just given away."

"That…and I believe she recognized it for what it was," added Ozpin, "Cinder's final gambit." Pastoria and Ozma both nodded their agreement to his assessment.

"What do you mean?" asked Winter, looking at Ozpin in confusion.

"The power of the Silver Eyed Warriors appears to be naturally opposed to that of the Maidens," said Makoto softly. "Therefore, there is no telling what consequences might befall, if a Silver Eyed Warrior was to take the Maiden's power into her own body."

"What would happen?" asked Winter.

"Perhaps nothing," said Makoto. "Or…perhaps the two opposing powers occupying the same vessel would result in said vessel tearing itself apart from the clash between them. Mekira may have deliberately focused on Ruby-dono to be the one to inherit her power so that she would be subjected to _exactly_ such a fate."

"So she was smart enough to see it coming," noted Qrow. "Good for her."

"That's one more hurdle cleared," said Ozpin. "Now only a few of the Junishinsho remain."

"And then their master," said Makoto, his voice almost glum as their attention returned to the screen.

* * *

 _ **"It is because of the Maiden's power. Make no mistake, Cinder, you hold the key to our victory. But your newfound strength brings with it a crippling**_ **weakness.** "- **Salem.**

 **I've had this debate several times before. I know a lot of people hypothesize that it's because Cinder used that Grimm-glove to steal Amber's power, and they speculate that Cinder's been part Grimm all along, which is why she wound up in such sad shape after Volume 3. But, no. Salem literally spells it out in the opening minutes of Volume 4 that it's the _Maiden's_ power that makes Cinder weak to the Silver Eyes. Granted, grafting a Grimm arm onto herself (in canon, not here) certainly didn't help matters. I have speculations on the nature of this relationship, which is based on revelations from Volume 6, and consequently, has zero bearing on this story, which was written well before Volume 6 aired. In any case, given the shape Salem's magic takes, it's apparent that the glove Cinder used was a one-shot magical item, which dissolved and disintegrated after use, just like the Grimm do. So no, Pre-Volume 4 Cinder was not yet some human-Grimm hybrid, with _that_ being the reason she was mutilated.**

 **Okay...rant over.**

 **Oh, and if anyone hasn't realized it by now, writing scenes where Cinder suffers painful humiliation is a whole lot of fun.**

 **And I like me some Ruby/Penny WAFF, platonic, romantic, or otherwise.**


	99. Chapter 99

**Chapter 99:**

"Here," said Ruby, holding a black and green rectangular object out for Penny. "You dropped this, back in Atlas."

"My scroll!" gasped Penny eagerly, taking it in her hands. "Oh, thank goodness, Ruby. This is sensational! I thought I'd lost it for forever."

"Neptune wanted to make sure I got it to you," said Ruby with a sly smile, taking pleasure in seeing the pink blossoming across Penny's cheeks, accompanied by an adorable squeak.

Quickly sliding the scroll away, Penny brought her feelings back under control and turned her attention back to Ruby. "So what do we do now?" she asked.

"Uh…" said Ruby, looking around. "I'm not sure. I guess we should try to meet up with the others. But I have no idea which way to go. You've been in this place for weeks now. Don't you know your way around?"

"I might have," said Penny with a resigned sigh. "But Nobunaga has been using his power to shift things around constantly. I have no idea where we are in general, much less in relation with the others."

"Huh…" said Ruby, pinching her chin thoughtfully. "Well…just sitting around on our butts isn't gonna do any good. I guess we should just pick a way to go, and hope that it takes us somewhere."

"Right," said Penny. "I hope we can find Papa."

Ruby swallowed and looked at Penny worriedly. Penny smiled back at her. "I know you can't forgive him for what he did. But he's still my father. I want…I want to bring him back…if I can."

To her surprise, Ruby reached out and took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I understand," said Ruby. "I promised to fight for your happiness. I mean it."

"Thank you," said Penny.

* * *

Raven's blade glowed a dull, orange color as it slashed at Yang, trailing fiery embers in its wake, threatening to burn, even as it cut. Yang brought her right arm up under the path of Raven's slash, catching the flat of the blade on her gauntlet, and forcing the path of Raven's swing up and over her head. Yang felt the scorching heat of her mother's blade singe her hairs, sending a flare of anger racing through her. But she kept it contained.

Raven continued the path of her swing, turning her wrist to bring the blade around and under so that she now attacked Yang with an upwards slash from below. This time, Yang caught the slash with Ember Celica, once again deflecting its path slightly so that Raven's slash missed her. With a yell, Yang dove right in, swinging with a fierce right, aiming to catch Raven right in the stomach.

Jumping back out of Yang's reach, and barely avoiding the punch, Raven reversed the course of her blade, bringing it back down, forcing Yang to dodge to the side. Raven pressed the attack, circling the blade around in a crescent motion, before bringing it back across her body, forcing Yang to jump over the path of the swing.

Yang used the jump to turn her body, going into an aerial roll that allowed her to pull her legs clear of her mother's blade. At the same moment she landed, she punched straight out with her left hand, firing a bolt from Ember Celica at Raven's face. Bringing her sword back around, Raven intercepted the shot, the fire-Dust infused into her blade igniting against the same Dust in Yang's attack, causing the resulting explosion to push the two fighters away from each other.

They both landed on their feet, neither of them really harmed by the blast. Raven landed, her legs flexing to absorb the shock and sinking into a familiar crouch as she slammed her sword back into its sheath. With a succession of clicks the arming system within her sheath rotated a new blade into place so that, when Yang charged in again, Raven met her with a sword of a new color, this one shining yellow, and crackling with arcs of electricity.

Yang's eyes widened and she immediately stopped her charge to duck underneath the line of Raven's attack, feeling her hair stand on end from its passage. Straightening it back up, she gasped when she saw a line of lightning extending out from the tip of Raven's sword, crackling, but also bending and flexing, its motions reminding Yang of a whip, seeming to transform Raven's blade into a completely different weapon altogether, one that gave her both more reach and flexibility.

Raven now attacked at range, the lightning extending from the tip of her sword lashing out at Yang in whiplike motions, forcing Yang to concentrate on dodging. Its movements were unpredictable and hard to read and, more than once, Yang was forced to block. However, to Raven's surprise, there was no telltale jolt that ran through Yang's body as she brushed the attacking whip to the side with her gauntlets, even though the metal should have conducted Raven's attack right into her arms.

Then, to Raven's even greater surprise, Yang interposed her right arm and Kiren Kaina right in the lightning-whip's path, causing it to wrap around her forearm, turning into crackling arcs of electricity that climbed up and down the length of the entire limb. However, Yang continued, undaunted, pulling it her arm down and pressing Ember Celica up against the length of the lightning leading back to Raven's sword so that the whip was now curled around her left arm as well, appearing to wrap the length of the cord of electricity around her arms as though it were a physical object, before sharply pulling her arms apart, dispersing the electricity into scattered sparks, causing the rest of the whip to dissipate.

Before Raven could react, Yang closed in again, her right arm raised. The gold inlays on Kiren Kaina shined bright and, when Yang punched, her fist flashed with the same golden shine. Raven blocked with her sword, but it shattered on contact with Yang's gauntleted fist. Yang closed in further, following up with a punch from her left, forcing Raven to shift to the side, barely escaping harm as Ember Celica discharged practically right next to her head, the passage of the shot scorching her ebony locks.

With a frustrated growl, Raven drove forward, attacking by thrusting the pommel of her broken sword right at Yang's stomach. Yang blocked with her right gauntlet, then returned the favor by transitioning to an elbow strike at Raven's stomach. Raven stepped back, but Yang advanced, keeping pace with her, wheeling around to strike with her other elbow, which Raven managed to fend off with her right forearm. Using the momentum of her swing, Yang spun around, allowing her to lash out with a back-kick that took Raven in the stomach, throwing her back.

Skidding to a stop, Raven slammed her sword into her sheath once again, rotating another blade in to replace the one Yang had just broken. Yang tried to follow up by charging in again. Drawing again, Raven angled her next slash downwards, the pale-blue blade of her sword etching a glowing line in the ground. From that line erupted a wall of solid ice between her and Yang.

Not even hesitating, Yang attacked anyway, her right fist smashing through the ice easily. Had Raven still been where she'd been standing when she'd drawn, she would have taken a fist right to the face. However, Raven had followed up her slash by sinking down to one knee, reversing her grip on her sword and then driving it into the earth in front of her. Even as Yang's attack thundered through the ice barrier, a phalanx of ice spears erupted out, threatening to impale her.

Yang's response was to sweep her left arm down in a circular arc, using Ember Celica to smash aside the spears as they came, rotating her body so that she slipped between the gaps in the other ice blades, allowing her to slide closer still, before striking forward with her right elbow. At the same time, she brought her left arm back around and slammed her left fist against her right, firing Ember Celica against the plate that projected out over her fist, using the resulting force to drive her armored elbow through the ice, opening the way for her.

The swiftness of Yang's counter caught Raven off-guard and she was forced to hurriedly withdraw her sword from the ground and fall back. As she did, she once again re-sheathed it. This time, she made no effort to try and strike as she drew the blade out. Instead, she held the bright-red blade out to the side as Yang drew closer.

With a loud yell, Yang punched forward with her left fist, using Ember Celica to fire another Dust round at Raven. Raven's response was to swing her sword back across in front of her. At first, it looked as though she had reacted too early, her blade already passing across her body before Yang's shot even came into range. But then, a swirling, black and red portal blossomed out in front of her, Yang's shot flying right into it.

Abruptly, Yang felt something hot slam into the back of her head, pitching her forward onto the ground. Using the bounce to push off and roll, getting back onto her feet, she whirled around to see the portal closing behind her. Raven had used the portal to intercept Yang's attack, allowing it to emerge from the second portal directly behind her, striking Yang in the back of the head before she could even react.

Raven slashed her sword off to her right side, creating another portal, then to her left, creating yet another one. Two more portals appeared, flanking Yang from either side. Then another one appeared above, then more still, until Yang was almost completely ringed by portals. With a low growl, she crouched low, bringing her arms in close, taking the most defensive posture she could. This setup eerily reminded her of the strategy Weiss used to favor, surrounding her opponent with Propulsion glyphs, before using them in combination with her Time Dilation glyph to launch an all-out blitz against her target.

The difference was that Raven's portals functioned in a completely different manner. Yang had only the barest idea of how they worked. In fact, before now, she'd had no idea that Raven could create more than one at a time. The way multiple portals had cropped up, despite Raven only creating two directly, suggested that the portals linked freely with one another, and there might not be a direct correspondence between the one Raven entered and the one she exited out of. What was more, any shot Yang fired with Ember Celica, enclosed in this space, was more likely to hit her than Raven, as it would simply be swallowed by one portal and spat out another, likely at the angle most inconvenient for her to counter.

Without preamble, Raven turned and dived through the portal to her left. She emerged from one above and to the right of Yang. Yang barely sensed her approach, only managing to raise Kiren Kaina at the last second to deflect Raven's slash. Before she could retaliate, Raven's feet touched the ground and she kicked off, dancing back through another portal. As she retreated Yang saw her already turning around as she was swallowed by the red and black vortex. Then Raven's blade bit into her left shoulder as Raven emerged to the right and just slightly behind her, sword already slashing out before she even exited the portal. Turning to face her, Yang's only reward was the sight of Raven's ebony locks vanishing into another portal before she reappeared in front of Yang, sword raised for a downward slash that Yang only barely managed to block.

 _I can't keep up,_ she thought frantically. Raven's attack was far too unpredictable. When Raven entered a portal, there was no telling which one she would exit out of. She was reading Yang's position perfectly, always picking a point where it would be difficult to defend from. In this space, Raven could decide which portal connected to which on the fly and move freely. Stuck reacting as she was, Yang would always be a beat behind her mother.

As she fended off Raven's latest strike, Yang punched out at her with Kiren Kaina. Raven easily fell back out of the attack's range and lowered her sword, so that the blade was pointing down before stepping back through the portal she'd just emerged from. Yang gasped and immediately jumped to the side as Raven dropped straight down from above. Having anticipated the attack, Yang was already turning and lashed out with another right, Raven forced to block this time. She allowed the force of Yang's attack to knock her back towards another portal.

Yang tensed, already looking around for the next point of emergence, but missed it when Raven abruptly stopped before entering the portal and instead, standing with her back to it, instead thrust her blade under her left armpit, driving it through the portal behind her.

A scream forced itself out of Yang's lips as the blade emerged from the portal directly behind her, striking her right in the small of the back. Yang felt the tip of the blade begin to pierce through her Aura, threatening to cut right through her spine. Desperately, she jumped forward before it could penetrate too deep, and lunged straight for Raven. Raven's only response was to pull her sword back out and then allow herself to fall over backwards through the portal, turning as she did so.

Once again, Yang's eyes widened as she was struck with a premonition. Turning about, she raised her right arm, catching Raven's next sideways slash as Raven fell back out of a portal above her at an angle. Taking advantage of the fact that her mother was still in the air, Yang launched an uppercut with Ember Celica, firing a bolt that struck Raven in the chest, causing her to cough in pain as she was thrown upwards briefly.

Yang's first impulse was to follow up her attack, not wanting her to escape through another portal, except that Yang was fairly certain that another strike would simply knock Raven into one of the portals above them, so that she could exit out a different one and resume the attack. Instead, Yang found herself wrestling with the conundrum. _How did I know where she was going to attack from that time?_ The other time had been when Raven had attacked directly from above. That was when it struck Yang. _Because of her sword. She was holding it down, so I realized she was going to stab down with it. That could only mean that she was coming at me from above._

This last time too, she'd seen Raven fall backwards; not step backwards, but literally allow her body to fall back into the portal. That was when Yang realized that the next portal she emerged from would be from above. Now she understood.

Raven's transition between portals was instantaneous. She could control which portal she exited from, but she always exited one immediately after entering the first. Every time she was entering a portal, she was already moving in preparation to attack from her exit point. Her posture, the angle of her sword, the direction of her swing and how she was turning were telling Yang the angle of her attack and giving Yang an idea of which point she'd exit from.

 _But how do I keep up with that?_ wondered Yang. It was one thing to read an opponent's body and use that to anticipate their movements. It was another thing entirely when that opponent was also moving between completely different points of space. She didn't have time to work out which portal Raven would be exiting from.

 _So stop trying to think about it,_ thought Yang. If she couldn't think, she would just have to rely on the instincts and reflexes she had cultivated through her training and experience, all her previous fights, all her many past opponents, all the people who had invested their time and training to ready her for this battle. She had to let all of that guide her to anticipate Raven's attacks.

So, as Raven's short rise began to peter out and she fell back towards the ground, Yang made no effort to intercept her. Instead, she relaxed her body, taking a deep breath and lowering her arms. Raven touched back down and immediately backpedaled towards the portal behind her. Yang's eyes snapped open to watch as Raven turned, already preparing to slash her sword in an upwards motion.

Even as she saw Raven's position, Yang felt the flow of air from behind her, realizing which of the portals the one Raven was entering connected to. Raven emerged from the portal, her sword a crimson streak, but Yang had already turned to face her, her gauntlet deflecting the slash with ease. Yang's defense threw Raven off-balance and she stumbled back towards her portal. However, she once again raised her blade in preparation to stab it behind her, intending the repeat the same attack she'd used to take Yang in the back earlier.

Once again, feeling the flow of air from connected points, Yang turned to her right and punched out with Ember Celica, firing a shot into that portal before Raven could complete her attack. As a result, it was Raven who lurched forward as Yang's Dust-round exploded against the small of her back.

Yang used to recoil of her own shot to go into a spin, allowing her to bring her right leg up in a roundhouse kick that caught Raven in the temple, knocking her to the side. Raven was sent tumbling through another portal and stumbling out another. Yang, already anticipating her emergence, continued her spin, raising her right arm so that she clotheslined Raven as she emerged, knocking the older woman onto her back, hard.

Raven's breath deserted her with the impact, her eyes widening as she saw Yang looming above her, fist cocked to punch straight down. Raven barely managed to roll out of the way as the earth where she'd been laying shattered underneath Yang's fist. Getting back on her feet, Raven saw Yang already continuing her attack. She had no time to evade, instead putting up her blade to block. As she did, she saw the golden inlays of Kiren Kaina shine, accompanied by the lightening of Yang's hair, and her eyes turning Crimson. Yang's punch slammed home and the red blade shattered, shards of it stinging Raven through her Aura as she was thrown backwards, her portals vanishing with the destruction of her blade.

Raven landed with her feet skidding across the floor. Once again, she was forced to sheath her sword to replace a blade Yang had broken. "Well, it looks like you learned a few new tricks," she observed.

"I did better than that," said Yang, smacking her armored fists together, creating a minor shockwave that buffeted Raven.

Raven huffed irritably. "Someone's gotten cocky. I suppose that, as your mother, I'm duty bound to provide you with some discipline."

"Yeah right," scoffed Yang, her eyes narrowing. "I may be your daughter, but you aren't my mom. You had your chance at that a lifetime ago. You're the one who threw it away, when you walked out on me and Dad to go back to that tribe of bandits. Now you're nothing more than the enemy, Shindara."

"Don't lecture me, brat," growled Raven. "I had a responsibility to my people, my family, to ensure that they survived."

"So you abandoned the man who loved you and the daughter you carried in exchange," replied Yang coldly.

"Shut up!" snapped Raven. "I wanted Tai to come with me. I wanted to raise you _properly_. He was the one who was too weak to do what was necessary."

"Maybe he was just too good to want to spend his life robbing and pillaging the homes of innocent people," Yang snapped back. "But I guess someone like you would mistake integrity for weakness."

"The strong live, the weak die," said Raven coldly. "That's the way of the world. That's how it's been from the moment humanity first emerged in this place. If you're weak, then you're nothing more than fodder."

"Sure, that's the point of view you take," growled Yang. "But only when it benefits you, right? When your people are the weaklings, when they're the ones who become fodder, then it's because the one who killed them was a monster."

"Demon Eyes Kyo _is_ a monster," snarled Raven. "It disgusts me that you, who've seen more of what he's capable of than anyone, can't understand that."

"No," said Yang. "I've seen a real monster, a monster so unnatural that just the thought of him makes me want to curl into a ball and cry. Funny enough, you're the one who decided to serve that monster. Yet you've got the gall to call Kyo a monster."

"A means to an end," said Raven. "I never claimed that Nobunaga wasn't a monster. But he's a monster born of a whole clan of monsters, including the thing you've taken as a lover. They all have no place in this world."

"So you're planning on wiping them all out?" asked Yang. "Not just Kyo, but the entire Mibu Clan."

"That's right," said Raven.

"Well, I'm not going to let that happen," said Yang. "The Mibu aren't perfect, but I like them just fine. I've got friends there now and, more importantly, a woman whom I've only spent a little time with, but I already consider more of a mother than you've ever been." She gave Raven a cheeky grin. "Though, I suppose future-mother-in-law would be a better name for her."

Raven sighed despondently. "I suppose there's just no reasoning with you," she said almost despairingly. "There's only one thing left to do now."

"What's that?" asked Yang, her body tensing as a sense of almost indescribable menace filled the air.

"Yang…I brought you into this world," said Raven coldly, "and I'll take you out of it. No daughter of mine will be permitted to consort with the Mibu, especially not Kyo. I'll kill you before I permit that."

"You disgust me," said Yang, raising her hands and assuming a guard position, awaiting Raven's next strike.

With a series of clicks, Raven selected the next blade of her weapon. Drawing it out from her sheath, she tossed the sheath aside, apparently having decided that she no longer had a use for it. Yang's eyes widened as she once again saw that pitch-black katana, a blade that seemed to radiate pure malice and bloodlust, almost seeming to chill the air around it.

No longer holding her sheath, Raven lifted Shibien, taking the sword's handle in both hands and holding it positioned straight up.

Yang edged back slightly, her previous confidence diminished. She remembered what Kyo had said about the Shibien, how it was the most dangerous of all Muramasa's masterpieces. She had to admit that just looking at it made the hair on her body stand on end. The jet-black blade almost seemed ready and willing to take the initiative and attack all on its own.

Raven surged forward, moving faster than Yang remembered her previous advances being. She brought Shibien down in a straightforward slash. Yang raised her right arm to block and was immediately glad that she did so. She felt almost as much as she heard the scream of Shibien against Kiren Kaina's plates. The force behind Raven's blow was incredible, the raw power of it driving Yang back with enough force to crush the stone beneath her feet. In the end, Yang found herself flung backwards, barely managing to deflect Raven's swing slightly to the side. A shockwave roared out along the line of her slash, carving a deep swath through the cavern floor, clipping a few strands of hair from Yang's head as it passed.

At the moment, Yang didn't even have the wherewithal to be angry about the damage her hair had just taken. The situation was just _that_ dire. Had she not managed to deflect Raven's slash, the resulting attack would have split her in two.

 _How did she get so strong all of a sudden. The sword alone shouldn't be able to do that much, right?_

Raven gave her no time to ponder this conundrum as she followed up her first attack with another, circling her blade around and slashing at Yang from the side. Yang punched downwards, firing Ember Celica and using its recoil to hop over the line of Raven's slash. She found herself glad she did so. The next slash passed beneath her and Yang found herself buffeted once again by the shockwave of its passage. She could see a wave of dust thrown off along the path of the attack, which almost seemed to shave the ground clean as it passed.

 _What is this?_ wondered Yang as she landed. At this point, mounting a counterattack seemed like a dream within a dream. Raven continued her assault with unabated ferocity, her wave of attacks only picking up pace, all while the immense power emanating from Shibien made it all but impossible for Yang to completely resist her blows. They came on, attack after attack after attack…never slacking.

In a sense, Yang was reminded of the time her father had taken her and Ruby to the beach once, when they were young. While Taiyang had watched and played with Ruby on the sand, making sand castles, Yang had strayed down to frolic in the waves. But the waves began picking up power and, at one point, Yang had found herself knocked over by one, completely disorienting her and submerging her. She'd tried to get her bearings and stand up, but was simply knocked over again by the one that followed and again by the one that followed that, the sequence of powerful waves keeping her from getting up until she was certain that she would drown. Fortunately, Taiyang had noticed her plight and pulled her out before the damage was anything more than a severe scare. But Raven's attacks, and their relentless sequence, now reminded Yang of that day. If she allowed one through, Raven would land one blow after another, without giving her any time to recover, until she was dead.

However, as she continued to dodge and deflect, Yang couldn't help but notice something. She remembered what Saisei had said about what had happened to Kyo, when he'd delved deep into Tenro's consciousness, while she and Blake had been down in the underground with Chika and Kyo's parents, learning the truth about the Mibu. Saisei had described in impressive detail the corruption caused by the sword's consciousness invading Kyo's body.

Now she could see that same corruption with her own eyes. Only, this time, it was _Raven_ suffering from it. Her hand had turned completely black, and the darkness was spreading up the skin of her arm, lines of even deeper darkness reaching upwards, but also producing vein-like bulges that made Yang think of maggots writhing beneath skin. When Raven attacked, the black corruption subsided partially, but never vanished completely.

 _What in the world is she doing to herself?_

* * *

"Holy crap!" gasped Qrow. "Raven's always been a wild one. But I've never seen her fight like this. This is straight up berserk!"

"Where did she get so much power?" asked Winter, staring at the screen with the same wide-eyed shock as Qrow. "Is this Shibien sword really so tremendous?"

"That's not it," said Makoto softly. "What she's doing is unprecedented. I never imagined that someone could wield one of the Demon Blades in such a manner."

"What do you mean?" asked Ozpin, glancing at Makoto curiously.

"Shibien is the most bloodthirsty and dangerous of the four great Demon Blades Muramasa forged," said Makoto. "However, ultimately, wielding it is no different from any of the others. You must first command it by subordinating it to your will, and containing its bloodlust. From that point on, wielding it is a matter of applying the sword's power to the school that you wield.

"What Shindara is doing is completely different. Rather than suppress, or even command, the sword's malice, she instead is allowing it to partially overtake her…then projecting that accumulated bloodlust back out through the blade, focusing and directing it at her target. It's a unique way of utilizing the strength of Shibien's Aura in a purely offensive manner that gives her attacks unprecedented destructive power."

"That's quite dangerous," mused Pastoria. "Based upon what you said, she uses the attacks to vent the sword's animosity and keep it from overtaking her completely. That's the meaning behind this continuous string of attacks. If her rhythm is disrupted, the sword could quickly overtake her soul and transform her into a blade demon."

"True…except I don't believe she is worried about being overtaken," said Makoto. "When she came to us to deliver Nobunaga's ultimatum the other day, she attacked with Shibien, with no signs of encroachment. Given Shibien's nature, she would not have been able to do so unless she had already managed to obtain command over the blade's will. This then is a new personal style, the result of a unique bond that Shindara has forged with Shibien, allowing the two of them to vie against one another as they fight, but using that conflict as a catalyst to generate even greater power still. It is both remarkable and terrifying.

"Thus, while it appears wild and uncoordinated, such a technique is the result of careful refinement and mastery, the product of a deep bond that even most master swordsmen have failed to achieve with their weapons. Ironically, that means that calling it bestial is actually quite fitting. When that word is used to describe someone, it is generally meant to imply lack of control or restraint, something clumsy and ill-refined. However, true beasts in the wild, particularly predators, are masters of refined techniques of hunting and attack that are meant to give them the highest probability of success while reducing the likelihood of being injured by their prey. That fits Shindara's current style quite well."

"You said it," said Qrow.

"Ms. Xiao Long can't possibly keep this up for long," said Winter worriedly. "If this keeps up, she'll be overpowered."

"Do you really think so?" asked Ozpin, smiling slyly.

"What?" asked Winter as both she and Qrow looked at Beacon's Headmaster in confusion.

"If I'm not mistaken, Ms. Xiao Long is biding her time," said Ozpin. "She is presently waiting for her chance to seize victory, a chance that only grows with each attempt Raven makes to kill her. It seems that she has found the answer to this problem already."

"Indeed," agreed Makoto with a chuckle. "I have heard that, during her training in preparation for this battle, her sparring partners were none other than three of the Goyosei. From what they told me, her style is such that it will be impossible to defeat her with power alone. As fierce as Shindara's attacks are, they will only prove to be her undoing in the end."

* * *

 _What is going on?_

Outwardly, Raven was calm. Everything seemed to be going as it should. Her continuous sequence of attacks progressed unabated, leaving no opening for Yang to counter. The constant pressure should have been wearing her down, inducing fear and panic, leading to openings in her guard that wold ultimately allow a blow to land.

But, after her initial shock at Raven's unique style had passed, Yang now seemed almost settled and _comfortable_ with the pace of the battle. She remained on the defensive, but her movements were calm, fluid, and confident, not at all frantic. She used circling, cooperative motions to deflect the line of Raven's slashes, causing them to glance futilely off her gauntlets. Given its keen edge and indomitable strength, not to mention the raw power that Raven was channeling through each strike, Shibien should have cleaved through Ember Celica like a hot knife through butter. And, even if she couldn't cut right through the Kiren Kaina Murasame had forged, Raven assumed that it was still inherently inferior to Shibien, and would have at least been scratched and scored by repeated strikes. However, neither of Yang's weapons showed any signs of damage, showing off the perfect refinement of her defensive measures.

Yang calmly circled her right arm down and around, bringing it back up just in time to catch Shibien's blade on the flat as it came at her in a sideways slash, smoothly angling the direction of the slash upwards so that the force sailed harmlessly over her head. Raven whipped her sword back around and brought it slashing straight down, but Yang's response was to catch it with Ember Celica, smoothly, almost gently moving the line of the attack aside until it struck the ground harmlessly off to her right.

Next, Raven went low, dropping into a crouch, while stepping out into a lunge as she directed her next strike at Yang's legs. However, Yang discharged a shot from Ember Celica straight downwards, using the recoil to launch herself up, then using Kiren Kaina to catch the slash and transition into a roll that brought her over the attack. That was when Raven realized something unusual.

Yang was dedicating her efforts to deflecting Shibien's slashes. But she was deflecting even slashes that she could have outright avoided instead. In fact, it almost seemed as though her real effort was to make contact with Raven's sword as much a possible throughout this endless sequence of attacks. But that ran counter to the logic of combat. Blocking or deflecting an attack demanded more strength and stamina than simply avoiding it, especially if one could avoid an attack with minimal motion. However, Yang appeared to be dedicated to deflecting every attack she could, even the ones she could outright evade easily.

Of course, Raven knew all about her daughter's Semblance. Even if she hadn't bothered raising Yang, she had kept tabs on the girl ever since she was young, if only to assess her potential. If Raven had deemed it worthwhile, she might have even taken Yang with her and induct her into the tribe. However, she'd seen in Yang the same weakness that had ultimately led her to leave Taiyang as well. It didn't help that Summer had clearly corrupted the child with her soft upbringing. Raven was fully aware of the destructive potential Yang possessed.

However, Raven also knew that, in order to utilize that Semblance, in order to increase her power, Yang had to take damage. She had to weather powerful blows, then feed that power into her own strikes. But attempting such a thing against the awesome destructive strength of Shibien was nothing short of suicide. Even a single blow would have cleaved clean through Yang's Aura, and cut right through bone easily. Under these circumstances, there was no way Yang could rely on her Semblance.

However, Yang continued, calmly shifting each incoming attack to the side with incredible ease, her lilac eyes focused intently on Raven's Crimson ones, her hair dancing and swirling around her in the wind that circled around them.

 _Wait! The wind…_ Raven finally took notice of how the air itself was moving. It was easy to see. All the dust raised by her successive attacks clearly showed the wind's path. However, rather than being billowed and dispersed by the continuous blows of Shibien, the wind instead appeared to be drawn into a cyclonic pattern that circulated constantly, with Yang standing at its center. Because Yang was keeping close to her, Raven hadn't initially noticed when the movement had started. Now that it had caught her attention, she noticed something else, something weaving and circling through the windblown dust. _Is that…Aura…Yang's Aura?_

Indeed, it almost seemed as though Yang had gained a second Aura. However, instead of emanating from her body with the usual radiance such power exhibited, instead wound through the air in concentric circles. On closer inspection, Raven could see scaled patterns along its length and triangular spines running along its top, as though the Aura had taken on the serpentine form of a winding dragon constantly coiling in on itself. Following the path of its movement, Raven was able to trace it all the way to the center of the pattern, where the Aura circled tighter and tighter, like water down a drain, flowing continuously into the shining gold inlays of Kiren Kaina, which now almost appeared to be made of actual golden flame, tongues of fire dancing on the metal, their light intensifying with each passing second.

 _She's refined it this much?_ wondered Raven in amazement. She remembered Indara's report of his battle against Yang in Atlas, the destructive power she had been able to unleash. Raven could scarcely credit Yang with having achieved that level of power, not the weakling daughter she'd dismissed and even had to save one time, though she'd seen the aftermath of that attack when she'd arrived to retrieve the Junishinsho from the Kingdom.

But Indara's report had also indicated that, however much the destructive force had been refined and increased, it was still limited by the basic issue that Yang had to take damage and shoulder impacts in order to gain the strength needed to launch such an attack. After executing it, she'd been left almost as weak and helpless as her opponent, albeit without the same kind of severe wound Indara had taken.

But now, Yang was clearly accumulating absurd amounts of power from the continuous onslaught of blows she was deflecting. Yet her Aura showed no signs of flagging. Indeed, to Raven's sense, it seemed as though Yang hadn't taken any damage at all. _How has she refined her technique so much over such a short period of time?_

Despite that, Raven was confident that she would win in the end. For all the power Yang had accumulated, it meant nothing if she couldn't go on the attack. Against this continuous series of attacks, there was no room for her to go on the offensive. This battle was currently locked in a stalemate where neither of them could get the decisive advantage. But Raven, with her greater experience, would be able to last, whereas she predicted that Yang's defense would begin to flag sooner or later.

Still, it was frustrating. The daughter she'd disdained and dismissed, who should have been helpless against the awesome power of Shibien and the unique style Raven utilized, was now effortlessly defending against what should have been an unstoppable onslaught. What was more, she continued to meet Raven's eyes with that confident smile. It was galling.

After several more exchanges, in complete defiance of Raven's expectations, Yang made her move. Catching another sideways slash from Shibien with an upward sweep Kiren Kaina, Yang suddenly evoked some of her accumulated power, releasing it in a burst against the ebony blade's flat, knocking the line of the attack up higher than usual. The sudden jerk on her arm disrupted Raven's balance and, for the first time since she had begun, the pace of her attacks faltered.

Then Yang stepped in, coming almost face to face with her mother, her right arm poised to strike. The flames dancing off Kiren Kaina's golden inlays flared brilliantly and Yang's right arm, forged from her Aura, shined with an almost blinding light as she punched straight out at Raven's chest. Desperately, Raven broke off her attack, instead positioning Shibien to catch the blow. Unlike Yang, Raven was in no position to deflect. She screamed in rage and exertion as the force behind Yang's blow drove her back, her feet gouging troughs in the solid stone.

But Shibien's strength held, and Raven's defense held firm. She was left sweating and gasping from the exertion, but unharmed. Still, this sudden change in the momentum of the battle inflamed her anger. Having no intention of allowing Yang to commit to an offensive, Raven immediately went back on the attack. However, this time, she intended to put an end to the fight for good.

Her anger and indignation had triggered an almost sympathetic feeling from Shibien, the sword's bloodlust and malice reacting to her emotions, its Aura merging with and magnifying her own as the black corruption of the blade advanced up her arm, nearly all the way to her right shoulder. It should have been painful and frightening. But, to Raven, it felt no different than how she drew in her breath before launching an attack. This time, she breathed deeply of her blade's insatiable hunger, raising it high over her head, before bringing it back down and channeling all her anger, merging it and unleashing it along with the sword's power in a single devastating attack.

In the face of such an awesome blow, most would have faltered. But Yang calmly sidestepped and brought Kiren Kaina up in another block, circling it out to her side and, with that same fluid gentleness as before, redirected the blow to the side of her, so that the attack opened a seemingly bottomless chasm right by her feet. At the same time, that circling, serpentine, draconic Aura seemed to congeal out of the Projected Aura of the blade's attack, winding through the air and coiling in on itself, before being drawn into Kiren Kaina, the flames dancing more wildly and brightly than ever.

Yang herself almost seemed transfigured. Her hair had become a mane of golden flames that danced wildly behind her. Her skin glowed with an almost unearthly shine, and her Crimson Eyes glowed like miniature stars. The sight alone was enough to fill Raven with dread. However, that foreboding feeling was compounded by the crackle of Yang's accumulated power.

"My turn," was all that she said, stepping forward, closing the gap between her and Raven in an instant. Raven reeled back, desperately trying to find room to bring her sword into play. However, it was too late. Yang's arm was transforming, her fist melting into the toothy head of a dragon, sprouting horns, and scales forming across its surface. The plates of Yang's gauntlet separated, now resting across the dragon's back like some kind of barding. " _Huang-Long-no-Ken!_ " Stepping forward, Yang' pivoted, putting her shoulder and upper arm through a punching motion that sent the dragon of Aura surging at Raven with an earthshaking roar.

Desperately, Raven raised Shibien, interposing it between herself and the oncoming attack. The dragon's jaws seemed to close over the blade, and Raven's entire world was washed out by golden fire. With another roar, this one of impact, Yang's attack plowed over her opponent, crushing the earth and lighting up the cavern brighter than day, allowing her to see its massive scope for the first time, though her focus was too narrow to really appreciate it.

Through her Aura, Yang could still feel Raven, even as she continued to be driven backwards by the attack. However, it was apparent that Raven couldn't hold out for much longer. It seemed that Shibien would hold up under the force, but Raven's own strength would buckle before Yang's accumulated power was spent.

Then, suddenly, Raven's resistance increased dramatically. Yang's attack was abruptly checked, unable to drive Raven back any further. Then Yang heard a scream, accompanied by an almost deafening, bell-like ring from Shibien, then a razor-sharp edge bit into her straining Aura and sliced clean through it. Gasping in shock, Yang pulled away, abandoning her attack, her arm contracting back into its normal size and form, while Kiren Kaina retracted and its plates linked together. She threw herself sharply to the side, raising her left arm to try and deflect the oncoming attack. However, there was a shriek of metal and Yang saw shavings of her gauntlet go flying through the air. At the same time, the force of Raven's return blow bit into her left arm, just below the shoulder, making Yang cry in pain as blood splattered through the air. The shock was enough that her eyes returned to their normal color.

The shockwave of the attack's passage was enough to knock her off her feet, sending her into a roll that she used to ride out the impact and come back to her feet, arms raised for the next strike, even as she tried to figure out what had just happened.

"I won't be beaten, least of all by the daughter that _I_ birthed."

The light of her attack had faded, leaving her in almost complete darkness. Because of that, she saw, all too clearly, Raven striding towards her, her body surrounded by a surging, roaring, crimson Aura that whipped the air around her into a maelstrom. Even more shocking was the state of Raven's eyes. The crimson of her irises had swelled all the way out to the edges, completely eclipsing the whites, while her pupils had contracted until they were practically invisible. They blazed like a pair of red suns, the light they emitted making her skin seem unnaturally dark by comparison. All of that was accompanied by that oppressive, overwhelming sensation that Yang had experienced before, back in Atlas Tower.

 _The True Crimson Eyes,_ she thought with a gulp, taking a nervous step back. Suddenly, the battle had become infinitely more desperate.

* * *

 **So this was written back before Volume 5 came out, and we learned how Raven's portals worked (Geez, have I really waited that long to post this thing?). Now we know that she bonds to particular people and uses her Semblance to create portals to them. However, back when writing this, I assumed that it was an ability specific to her sword, namely the red blade she makes a point of using, whenever she creates one of those portals. For all we know, that might be true. We haven't seen her create any portals with any of her other blades, which had me coming up with the idea of Raven using a portal-spam attack, which I thought would be rather cool.**


	100. Chapter 100

**Chapter 100:**

Once again, Yang was beset by the sensation of being utterly outmatched. It was similar to the sensation that she'd felt facing Nobunaga back in Atlas. Raven's Aura lacked the sinister nature that Nobunaga's possessed, but the gulf between her and Yang's respective strengths seemed almost as vast. Raven's power seemed bottomless.

"I didn't think you would push me this far," Raven admitted as she approached Yang, walking along the very same trench that Yang had created with her previous attack. "I suppose I should give you some credit, even if you only managed to accomplish that much by using someone else's strength."

Despite her nervousness, Yang forced a cheeky smile. "Well, if you're so sloppy that you go throwing your strength around without thinking about it, it's perfectly fine to use it against you."

Raven huffed, then coughed. Yang was surprised to see red that had nothing to do with her eyes now decorating her face, as blood trickled from one corner of her mouth. Yang's eyes narrowed as she examined her mother in more detail. Initially, she had been too focused on the True Crimson Eyes and the fear that they inspired to notice that Raven had not gotten through that last attack unscathed. Her clothes were torn and tattered in several places, her open skin showing a myriad number of cuts and discoloration that was visible, even with the color obscured by the light of Raven's eyes.

Now Yang was reminded of something else about the fight against Nobunaga in Atlas, namely when Kyo had activated the True Crimson Eyes. True, doing so had pushed his power into another bracket altogether. However, it hadn't erased the damage he had taken before, nor replaced the stamina he'd spent, both in the fight against Nobunaga _and_ the battle against Ironwood's army before that.

Raven's power might have reached a new pinnacle, but she was still feeling the effects of the fight that came before that. From what Yang remembered, the True Crimson Eyes were not something that could be maintained constantly. Pushing her power to the limit would put a tremendous burden on Raven's body as she continued to fight, a strain that would only exacerbate the injuries she'd already received.

In other words, Raven hadn't suddenly become invincible. She was more powerful than ever, but she was also fighting on borrowed time. If Yang could fight conservatively, then, perhaps, she could outlast Raven until her strength ran out.

 _Well…it's a plan,_ thought Yang nervously. It remained to be seen whether or not she could actually carry it out. Remembering how powerful Raven's blows before had been, Yang shuddered to think about what they'd be like if she began attacking in the same manner, while putting that new power of hers behind it.

"This is the end," declared Raven firmly. "You have no hope."

"We'll see," growled Yang, smacking her gauntlets together with a clang. "You'd better hope those fancy new eyes of yours aren't just for show."

"Oh, they _are_ for show," countered Raven, with a smile that was unquestionably cruel. "They are for showing you _despair_."

Despite her bravado, Yang swallowed, finding that her mouth had turned drier than a desert.

Then Raven swung. It wasn't like her previous attacks. There was no sign of Shibien's encroachment as she brought her blade around in a simple sideways slash from left to right, looking almost casual in its execution. Yang brought her left arm down and around, sweeping it back up, aiming to catch it on the flat of the blade and deflect the slash up and over her head as she'd done countless times before in this battle.

Ember Celica rang as it struck Shibien's blade and Yang found that, despite her best efforts, she couldn't alter the sword's course. Instead, she wound up catching the attack with Kiren Kaina, raising her right forearm and bracing it with her left hand. The impact was ferocious, exceeding anything Yang had ever encountered before. Her feet sank into the solid stone she was standing on, cracking and breaking it, before Raven's attack completely overpowered her and she was sent bouncing and spinning.

"Pathetic," snarled Raven.

Yang slammed shoulder-first into the ground, plowing a shallow trench before coming to a stop, groaning in pain. Her entire body trembled as she forced herself back to her feet. It was more shock at the overpowering strength behind the blow than actual exhaustion fortunately. However, the sensation served to reinforce Yang's impression that she was in very deep trouble.

Raven raised her sword over her head. Now Yang saw that familiar-looking black encroachment climbing up her arm. When it reached her elbow, Raven brought the sword back down, the blade shrieking like a ravenous predator on the hunt, a wave of deep red Aura exploding outwards from the edge and rushing at Yang in a crimson crescent, tearing apart the ground as it progressed.

Sidestepping, Yang desperately tried to engage her technique, and begin accumulating power again. She raised her right arm, determined to, at the very least, make contact with Raven's attack and draw off some of its power for her own use. She didn't want to risk damaging Ember Celica any further, so she figured it was best to rely on Kiren Kana, and hope it was up to the job.

Even if her gauntlet was, Yang's strength wasn't. Even just brushing up against the fringes of that attack made her feel as though what remained of her flesh-and-blood arm was going to be torn from its socket. Once again, she was sent spinning and flailing away, bouncing across the the stone before skidding to a stop once more.

 _It's not working,_ thought Yang desperately as she forced herself onto her feet yet again. She could feel the power building through her Manifestation. However, she was also taking damage. Just those two blows had wiped out a significant chunk of her Aura. If this kept up, there was no way Yang could hope to accumulate enough power to overwhelm Raven in her current state. Playing for time was obviously the best way to go. But Yang wasn't even sure she could manage _that_.

"This is the end for you," intoned Raven flatly as she began walking closer again. "The strong survive. The weak die. This has been the way of the world since time immemorial. You are now amongst the weak. Accept your end."

Raven's words sent a chill of fear through Yang. Despite what Sora had told her, Yang couldn't help but feel horrified by the realization that this was her mother talking to her. This was the woman who'd carried her for nine months, and then given birth to her. And now she was casually speaking about killing her own daughter as though it were some natural thing.

 _Like hell I'm gonna let that happen,_ thought Yang furiously, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, focusing her eyes on Raven in a determined look that actually seemed to give the older woman pause, cocking her head and looking back at Yang curiously.

"I'll never accept anything from you," said Yang, her voice emerging as a harsh growl.

"Fool," said Raven, frustration coloring her voice as she raised her sword again, leaping forward and bringing the blade down in another slash, once again unleashing Shibien's power in a blood-red wave.

Yang dodged desperately, though her body was still battered by the attack's passage, the shockwave of the near miss draining her Aura further. It seemed that trying to wait Raven out was impossible too. There was no way she could continue to hold out until Raven's new power became too much for her to sustain. Even when Raven's strikes missed, they still dealt damage. The gap in power between the two of them was just too much.

Unfortunately, Yang didn't have time to put too much thought into it because Raven followed up her attack with another one, charging straight at Yang, now unleashing that same, unrelenting sequence of attacks as before, only, this time, the force behind them was orders of magnitude greater. Yang was forced into a desperate retreat, raising her arms and doing her utmost to keep from being overwhelmed completely.

* * *

"Is that…distraction I sense?" asked Murasame softly as he and Kyo continued their stare-down.

Kyo offered no response, his eyes remaining focused on his opponent, the two of them remaining dead-still, not yet able to find the impetus to move.

"I can sense it as well," said Murasame. "Shindara-san has shown impressive mastery of Shibien. I suppose she has her remarkable pedigree to thank for that. From the feel of things, it seems that their battle will soon come to its end."

Still, Kyo said nothing.

"I take no joy from Xiao-Long-dono's death," said Murasame. "I truly believed in her potential when I forged Kiren Kaina for her. Truth be told, she has more than lived up to it. Yet there is no way she could possibly stand against the likes of Shindara, especially if Shindara uses the True Crimson Eyes."

Still nothing. Kyo's expression remained as calm and composed as ever.

"You put on a good face," said Murasame. "Yet I feel your concern for your lover."

"Of course I would be concerned," replied Kyo with a smile, finally speaking. "It's only natural. However, you need not be concerned. I am not distracted."

"You are not?" asked Murasame, raising an eyebrow. "Your lover is on the verge of death, even as we speak."

"Yang won't die," said Kyo. "I know that because I know _her_. She is too strong to be taken down by an opponent like Shindara."

"Hmm…" hummed Murasame. "I suppose that such sentiment is understandable, considering that she is Shindara's daughter. They come from the same bloodline after all."

"Oh, it has nothing to do with that," replied Kyo. "Perhaps Yang will tap into that power, perhaps not. Either way, she will still win. That is because she is Yang Xiao Long. Her strength lies in more than just her blood.

"So…I have faith in her, knowing that she will win the day. Because of that, there is no distraction here…unlike your own concern over your daughter, Shatora-san."

Murasame's throat made a choking sound, though his body did not slack. "Don't be naive," he scolded, his tone sharp.

"You needn't worry," said Kyo. "I know that Ruby would never harm Penny. Just as I believe in Yang, so too do I believe in Ruby. Your daughter will be fine."

"No more," said Murasame, his hands tightening around the handle of his sword.

"So be it," replied Kyo.

* * *

Yang grimaced as she felt one of Raven's attacks rush past her, this one managing to cut through her Aura, sending another arc of blood splashing through the air. Since Raven had begun her onslaught, Yang had been dodging desperately. However, her attempts had been of limited success. Now her condition resembled her mother's more. Her clothes sported several holes and tears. Her limbs had accumulated numerous scratches and bruises. She felt battered and sore.

And yet, the attacks continued on, rapidly chipping away at her strength. Yang's mind was once again brought back to that terrifying day on the beach, where the waves had relentlessly crushed her beneath them. Raven's onslaught had much the same feel to it, but was much more gradual.

Her Manifestation was still working though. At least she had that much. Through the glancing blows she suffered, Yang continued to accumulate power. Already, flames were beginning to dance off Kiren Kaina's gold inlays. However, the amount of power she was gaining just wasn't matching up to the amount of damage she was taking. She had a long way to go before she could even think about going on the offensive, but her own strength would run out well before that.

 _Dammit!_ In a flash, Yang's frustration got the better of her. Her eyes flashed Crimson, and she lashed out with her right arm, venting some of her stored power at one of Raven's incoming attacks. It was no artful deflection. Raven's sword was coming at her diagonally from the right, so Yang lashed out directly at it with her gauntlet.

Kiren Kaina rang as it clashed against Shibien, the cries of the two weapons drowning out the actual ring of metal on metal. A flash of gold burned fiercely against a wave of red. The ground between Yang and Raven shattered and the two were forced apart by the resulting clash between their respective attacks.

Reflexively, Yang drew on the power released by the clash, Shibien's force, the energy released by the collision between the weapons, even her own expended power, and found her drawing nearly all of it back into herself, so that the resulting strength she gained actually surpassed the amount she expended. Yang froze in place, staring in awe and amazement at her gauntlet. Raven paused in her own assault, just as shocked as Yang was, albeit because her seemingly unstoppable assault had been stopped.

 _What did I just…?_ A small gasp escaped her as she was hammered by a new realization. Her Manifestation hadn't been complete yet. _Now_ she realized what she was missing. She'd been so focused on building up her power without taking damage herself, that it had never occurred to her that she could expend her accumulated power in smaller amounts to aid in attack and defense, while _still_ continuing to absorb power.

The realization actually made her giggle as she noted that this idea was a lot more appealing than just sitting back and playing it safe. _That's not the kind of girl I am,_ she thought, grinning eagerly as she looked back up at Raven once again.

For her part, Raven was both disturbed and angered to see her daughter's glee. Just a few seconds ago, she'd had Yang on the ropes. Did Yang really think that a simple impulse had suddenly turned the fight in her favor? The gulf between their respective strengths remained as vast as ever. Her hands tightened their grip on Shibien's handle and Raven raised the sword before charging in.

To her amazement, Yang's grin widened and she too threw herself forward into the fray, punching out with her right arm to meet Shibien's descending blade head on. As she did, the inlays on Kiren Kaina flared, and a flash of golden fire exploded out to clash against the red wave of Shibien's manifested bloodlust and Raven's will. Once again, their Auras crackled and sparked as they clashed against each other, before, with a shout, Yang twisted her arm, pushing it past Shibien's edge and pressing it against the side of the blade and essentially shouldering the slash aside.

 _Kaze-Ryu-Guruma!_ Even as she and Raven passed each other, Yang drew in the power unleashed by their clash, which swirled around them, manifesting in swirling, sinuous coils, winding concentrically inwards, before descending down into Kiren Kaina.

 _I can't believe I never thought of this before,_ thought Yang eagerly as she spun about, her movement matching Raven's. Raven was swinging Shibien around in a side-slash at Yang from the left. Bringing Kiren Kaina around in a circular motion, Yang shouted and threw her accumulated power into the motion, the explosive force released sharply deflecting Raven's slash upwards and disrupting the attack almost entirely. Raven grunted as she fought to begin a new attack, but Yang jabbed out with her left, firing a bolt from Ember Celica that caught Raven right in the stomach.

Raven gasped in pain as she was driven back, but she still managed to bring Shibien down, the black blade practically howling as it descended. Yang met it head-on with an uppercut, throwing more of her power behind the attack, completely blowing Raven's sword back and sending her stumbling away, even more off-balance than before.

With a shout, Yang rushed in, jumping to put more force behind her left-handed punch, aimed right at Raven's face. Raven jerked sharply to the side as Yang touched down. However, Yang's body was almost right up against her own, too close for Raven to bring her sword into play. She tried to retreat, but then Yang folded her left arm across her body and fired Ember Celica, using its recoil to drive her elbow right into Raven's sternum.

The hit blew Raven backwards and made her scream in rage and pain. She landed on her feet and immediately went back on the offensive. But Yang was turning to meet her as well.

 _Now it makes perfect sense,_ thought Yang exultantly, as Kiren Kaina clashed against Shibien once more. Her realization of what she could do clicked into place, like the last missing piece of a puzzle she'd been painstakingly assembling over the course of months. _If I give some of the energy I'm storing up, I can keep from taking damage, even if the attack is overwhelmingly powerful. I can even draw most of it back, along with my opponent's power. I never thought my technique could be this deep._

Even when she expended some of her power to deflect or stop Raven's attacks, Yang more than made up the difference by drawing it back in, along with the energy of her opponent's blows. The exchange was fierce. Blood, sweat, and sparks flew through the air. But the winds of battle continued to gather strength, making the Wind-Dragon-Wheel spin ever faster. The more they clashed, the more power Yang gained and, thanks to the fact that she was using that stored power instead of her own Aura, she was no longer taking damage. It was an almost perpetual cycle that found her gaining more and more strength with each passing second, her accumulated power rising in an ever-upwards spiral. Her eyes blazed Crimson and her hair danced behind her, shining so brightly that it seemed a construct of living flame.

Now Raven was the one feeling the pressure. She could sense Yang's rapidly increasing strength. What was more, Yang's counters kept disrupting her rhythm, keeping Raven from building up momentum for a relentless series of attacks. Now she was actually being forced to defend herself, and was taking hits from Yang. Against the incredible power of the True Crimson Eyes, none of the blows Yang managed to land did all that much damage. But the fact that she was landing any at all was galling. Worse still, while it seemed more like an even exchange now, Raven could tell that the battle's momentum was rapidly shifting against her. With each time they clashed, Yang's power surged higher, while Raven felt herself approaching her limits.

"ENOUGH!" she roared, raising her sword up in both hands, Shibien's encroachment rushing down both her arms, nearly all the way to her shoulders, before bringing the blade straight back down in a two-handed slash. The red wave of Shibiein's bloodlust, merged with her own anger seemed to split the earth itself. Not even with all her stored power, could Yang hope to counter this. At this range, it was also too close to evade.

Despite that, Yang answered Raven's angry shout with a roar of her own, her right arm transfiguring into a dragon that lunged at the incoming wave of death, its jaws clamping down on the edge before simply exploding in a flash of golden light. Gold and red strained fiercely against one another before the gold began to be driven back.

"Give it up!" yelled Raven over the roar of their clashing attacks. "You're too weak to oppose me! The weak should just DIE!"

"NEVER!" Yang roared back, straining with all her strength. Now she was being forced back, her feet digging trenches through solid rock as she strained against Raven's attack, the shining, ringing form of her gauntlet pressed right up against it, straining against the edge of Raven's attack.

"If you're weak," she continued, "you just have to get stronger! But sitting back and letting you roll over me is not…HAPPENING!"

Her feet sank a little deeper into the rock and then, Yang held. With another, wordless roar, she strained with all her strength, pushing back against the force of Raven's attack. She wasn't sure how much stamina she had left, but her complete refusal to stand down seemed to be its own source of strength to her, the coils of the phantasmal dragon winding around her circling faster and faster. There was a sensation, almost like the feeling of something breaking, then the world exploded.

Raven gasped and crouched down, plunging Shibien into the earth and using the blade to anchor herself in place as the shockwave rushed over her. After the explosion subsided, Raven slowly rose to her feet. Logically, she figured that there should have been no way that Yang could have survived that. However, something beyond logic told her that this battle was not yet over. In fact, she felt something akin to deja-vu, a sensation that set her nerves on edge and made her body tremble.

The space where Yang stood was still choked with dust. But that dust was twisting and swirling as though it were being pulled around by a powerful maelstrom. Then Raven saw the coils of the phantasmal dragon winding through it. Suddenly, the dust was dispersed by a wave of power exploding out.

Yang stood in the midst of an inferno. Her normal gold Aura was now interspersed with waves of red that billowed out, the two colors twisting and churning around and against one another. At the center of it all, Yang stood tall, her eyes shining like a pair of suns, the Crimson irises having swelled out to eclipse the whites, while the pupils contracted down to the point of being invisible. Unlike the effect of Raven's eyes, Yang's skin was not darkened by contrast, as it seemed almost to be lit within, the effect transforming her into a being of pure luminance.

 _I don't believe it,_ thought Raven with a gasp. _She couldn't even maintain the Crimson Eyes constantly. How could she possibly unlock the True Crimson Eyes?_

For her part, Yang felt the surge of power within her. She was practically bursting with strength. However, at the same time, she also felt a sense of intense danger. Her body almost felt as though it was on the verge of being torn apart from within. Even if she couldn't see herself, Yang realized what must have happened. But unlocking the True Crimson Eyes wasn't necessarily a good thing. It seemed that the resulting power was clashing against the energy accumulated through her Manifestation, and the result was threatening to rip her body to shreds.

 _I can't maintain both at the same time!_ she thought frantically. Then another thought, almost like a whisper from the back of her mind, spoke. _So don't._

If the power of her Manifestation and the power of the True Crimson Eyes were clashing against one another, then all Yang needed to do was take advantage of that. With circular sweeps of her arms, Yang began to direct the overflowing power of the True Crimson Eyes, drawing that strength out of herself and sweeping it up into the flow of the dragon-wheel. The circling dragon was dyed a shining red as it wound about faster and faster, flowing swiftly and steadily into Kiren Kaina.

Yang blinked. When her eyes opened again, they were the normal Crimson Eyes. When she blinked again, the eyes had returned to their normal lilac color. The surging gold of her regular Aura blazed all the brighter around her, and she focused her eyes on Raven in a determined glare.

"No!" gasped Raven, taking an uncertain step back. "What is this? You shouldn't be this strong!"

"I told you," replied Yang, a confident smile blossoming across her face. "I got stronger."

She drew her right arm back, her fist once again morphing into a dragon's head. This time, when the dragon's eyes opened, they blazed with the light of the True Crimson Eyes.

"I can't lose!" shouted Raven, raising Shibien once more, the black of its encroachment flowing down to her shoulders, spreading across, nearly reaching her neck. "I won't allow it!"

"Too bad," Yang quipped back. " _Huang-Long-no-Ken!_ "

The dragon lunged out at Raven with a roar, covering the distance between them in an instant. Raven screamed, throwing all of her and Shibien's strength into one final slash. Once again, red and gold clashed, straining against one another. This time, the bloody red of Raven's Aura gave way and her attack shattered, the golden wave of Yang's attack barreling straight into her. Raven's scream of defiance became one of agony as her body seemed to be consumed in an explosion of golden light.

Yang scrunched her eyes closed as the light of her own attack reached blinding levels. Under the roar of the explosion and the sound of chunks of rock crashing to earth, Yang heard a sound that should have been inaudible, the soft "chink" of metal striking stone.

Gradually, the echoing rumbles died away, and Yang slowly opened her eyes. The darkness of the cavern had returned, all the deeper because so many of the purple crystals that supplied what little light there was had been destroyed. Still, somehow, there seemed to be enough to see by. Slowly, cautiously, Yang made her way forward, her steps stumbling and uncertain. Her limbs felt like lead now.

Yang followed the deep trench scored by her attack, heading towards the cloud of dust that lingered at the end, feeling some trepidation. Part of her was afraid that the dust would suddenly be swept clear to reveal Raven, still alive and ready to strike back. However, there was no indication of Raven's presence. As Yang continued forward, the cloud of dust dissipated further, and she received the first indication of the battle's outcome.

A jet-black blade stood out of the earth, almost like a grave marker. It had fallen tip-first, now pierced through the ground. The handle had apparently been destroyed, but the blade itself showed no signs of damage.

"Geez, they weren't kidding about these Muramasa blades," noted Yang wryly, stepping carefully around the sword. "They really are indestructible, I guess."

A faint, gurgling cough drew her attention further down the swath of destruction her final blow had left. The dust cleared a little more and Yang was treated to the sight of her mother, sprawled out on the ground.

There was no question about whether or not Raven was still a threat. Her right arm and both her legs were completely gone, along with her left arm below the elbow. In fact, her body up to her waist had been reduced to a red smear against the ground. Yang, to her unease, could even see the trailing ends of Raven's intestines lying out on the cavern floor. The damage continued on, spreading upwards in a bloody swath up the right side of her body, meeting the shoulder.

Raven coughed, still more blood spilling out her lips. "I never imagined…I would be…this…pathetic…"

"Yeah…" said Yang, at a bit of a loss about how to feel about this. "That's really not a good look for you."

"I guess…I was the weak one…this time," said Raven. "Like my…my family."

"You finally believe that?" asked Yang.

"Fighting you…and…losing…opened my-" Raven was cut off by another series of coughs before she managed to regain enough lung-power to speak. "-my eyes. I…considered Kyo's…power…to be unnatural. But I…I embraced the same power…for the sake of…killing him…avenging my…tribe. It seems you were right…about me. I _am_ a sore loser."

"I guess," said Yang.

Raven's bloody lips slowly spread in a sardonic smile as she looked up at Yang. "I guess this is it…then. You were right…I was never your mother. I don't have any right to say it, but…just once…I want to say something a…mother would say…to her daughter."

To her surprise, Yang felt a familiar pressure building up behind her eyes. _It wasn't supposed to feel like this,_ she thought sadly.

"…Live well…Yang," said Raven. She paused as more coughs rendered speech impossible. "Tell Tai…I'm…sorryyyyyyyyy…" Raven's final word escaped her mouth in a slow exhalation, trailing off into silence as her neck muscles relaxed and her head tilted to the side, her eyes drifting closed.

For a moment, Yang simply stood there, staring dumbly at Raven's body. Then she sank down to her knees, clenching her eyes closed, tears squeezing out from between the lids. Raising her shaking right fist, Yang drove it down into the ground. "DAMMIT! Couldn't you have been an asshole to the end?"

A shuddering sigh escaped her and Yang slumped down, her sorrow seeming to flow out of her. Despite her final words, the sadness at Raven's passing was transient, just like her presence in Yang's life. She supposed that she shouldn't have been jumping with joy that she'd killed the woman who'd birthed her. But Yang also hadn't thought that victory should feel this hollow.

Taking a deep breath, Yang struggled to her feet. _I've got to find Kyo,_ she thought. She turned and took a step, before swaying tiredly. She felt wrung out now. Her emotional exhaustion at the event of fighting her biological mother to the death aside, she felt battered, sore, and ready to keel over at any moment. But the battle wasn't over. There was no telling who else was left to fight.

With a low groan, Yang forced herself to take another step, slowly tottering her way out of the trench her attack had excavated. However, her legs weren't up to the task of carrying her much further and she slowly slumped down with a tired sigh.

 _I've gotta use Suppression,_ she thought, switching off the outward flow of her Aura. Her right arm drew back into the stump, and Kiren Kaina folded back up into its portable form. With another sigh, she relaxed and took slow, deep breaths. She wouldn't get far if she didn't try to recover at least some of her strength.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that. At one point, Yang thought she might have even fallen asleep sitting up. However, she was roused from her torpor by the crunch and scrape of shoes over rough stone. Blinking furiously, trying to clear away the cobwebs cluttering up her consciousness, Yang looked up towards the source of the sound, her heartbeat picking up alarmingly as anxiety raced through her. There was no telling who was coming, and she was in no shape to fight right now.

A figure appeared from the pervasive gloom of the cavern and Yang let out a sigh of relief as a familiar boy, with his unruly mop of blonde hair. "Jaune."

"There you are," said Jaune, letting out a relieved sigh of his own. "I panicked when your Aura disappeared, but I figured you'd still be somewhere around here."

"My thoughts exactly," said Blake as she too melted out of the shadows, her sudden appearance making both Jaune and Yang yelp in surprise.

"Well, good to see that we're all okay," said Yang with a giggle. "That's good news at least."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune.

"So I take it you two won your fights," commented Yang.

"That's right," said Blake, while Jaune simply looked down. Both their expressions turned melancholy, and it became clear that their victories had been no more encouraging than Yang's had been.

"Now what?" asked Blake, recovering slightly.

Yang sighed. "We get this done," she said.

"Yeah," said Jaune. "Let's try and meet up with the others, though I don't know where we should go."

"Somehow, I don't think it matters," said Blake, looking around, her eyes narrowing.

"Why's that?" asked Yang.

"Look at how huge this place is," said Blake, looking at the cavern around them. "You were fighting right over there, right?" She pointed at the torn up earth and stone where Yang's battle with Raven had taken place.

"Yep," said Yang, feeling a twinge of queasiness at the reminder that her mother's body was lying down in that trench.

"That looks like you unleashed some serious firepower," said Jaune, cluing in to what Blake was getting at. "But I didn't hear or feel a thing, not even a tremor."

Blake nodded. "All we sensed was your Auras. First, Raven's Aura vanished, then yours. But that was after all the fighting was done."

Jaune nodded in agreement.

"So…what are you saying?" asked Yang.

"I think we were meant to meet up with you here," said Blake. "It isn't that he enlarged his underground base or made it more elaborate…Nobunaga's power allows him to control this entire space. He's literally changing the layout and shape of every cavern according to his will. He's the one who arranged for us to find each other."

"But why?" asked Jaune. "I mean…he could maroon us in different caverns to keep us from finding each other. That would make things easier for him. Why would he actually help us meet back up?"

"Why else?" said Yang, a sick feeling settling into the pit of her stomach. "He's doing it for kicks. This is all just a big game to him right now. He doesn't think we can stop him, even if we kill off all his damn underlings. He's just kicking back and watching the show."

"Bastard…" growled Jaune, his Aura pulsing and making both Blake and Yang's hair stand on end. Looking at him, they both recoiled to see a look of intense fury on his face, an expression that bordered on downright murderous.

 _Not that I can object, given who he probably had to fight,_ thought Yang, realizing that Jaune's opponent was likely Santera. He'd been forced to kill Pyrrha again, even if it was just the shell of her body, which had been resurrected by Nobunaga. To think that Nobunaga had arranged such a fight simply for his own enjoyment, not actually caring about the one who he'd brought back from the dead…Yang could understand why Jaune was so angry.

"Well, in any case, we still need to find the others," said Blake, calling their attention back to the task at hand. "If Nobunaga wants to make that easier for the fun of it, then I don't really care, so long as we can still meet up with everyone and confirm that they're all right."

"Works for me," said Yang, shifting with a grunt, only to find that her legs were no longer allowing her to get up. "Uh…Little help here?"

Jaune chuckled. "Sure," he said, reaching down and taking her hand, pulling Yang up to her feet before hooking her arm over his shoulder and ducking down so that Yang could climb up onto his back.

"Are you gonna be okay doing this?" asked Yang, leaning over his shoulder to glance at his face.

"I'll be fine," replied Jaune with a chuckle. "Ruby's given me all the practice I need for this."

Yang couldn't keep from giggling. "Well, let's get going then."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Jaune as the three of them set off to find their friends.

* * *

"How much farther is it?" asked Weiss, struggling slightly. While she was, by no means, weak; amongst her team, her physical strength was probably the lowest. After her previous exertions, the act of supporting Hayate was a bit of a struggle for her. He had his arm hooked over her shoulders, while she kept her arm around his waist, helping him remain upright as they moved forward.

"I'm not sure," said Saisei, looking around. "I think I sense Ren and Nora's Auras this way, but it's hard to pinpoint their location. I believe that Nobunaga is rearranging this space, even as we speak."

Hayate grunted. "In other words, your finding us right after I'd nearly killed myself probably wasn't just a lucky accident."

"Probably not," said Saisei, a contemplative frown on her face. "I know that Nobunaga is probably staging all of this for his own amusement, but I don't understand why he'd help us find one another. It would fit his sadistic nature more to keep us apart, so that we can't find and help each other, and make sure we know it."

"Probably because he has something even worse planned," muttered Weiss.

"Probably," agreed Saisei with a pained groan.

They came to a stop when Neo, who'd been walking next to Saisei, froze, then tapped Saisei urgently on the shoulder, before pointing off into the darkness. Saisei blinked and followed the direction of Neo's finger. Then her eyes widened.

From the darkness, a pair of familiar figures emerged. Ren walked calmly, seemingly unconcerned by the weight of Nora resting on his back, the orange-haired girl seemingly having fallen asleep as he carried her. When he saw them, his stoic expression was replaced by a relieved smile. "I thought I sensed you, over this way," he said, before his smile was replaced by a look of confusion as he saw Nigel, standing sedately by Weiss and Hayate. "What's he doing here?"

The members of Saisei's party, with the exception of Nigel, exchanged looks before Saisei merely shrugged and sighed. "No one knows," she admitted. Then she focused her gaze on Ren and Nora. "Is Nora hurt at all?"

Ren shook his head. "She's just tired," he said. As he spoke, Saisei walked up to him, two of her tails splitting off and running up both sides of his body, erasing the myriad nicks, cuts, and bruises he had suffered in their fight against Indara.

"Thanks," said Ren, feeling a good deal better, now that his wounds, light as they were, were closed.

"It's what I'm here for," said Saisei cheerfully. "I could help replenish Nora's strength, but I think we should save it, in case anyone else is in need of more serious healing.

Ren nodded. "Good idea." He looked around. "Where should we go now?"

Saisei closed her eyes, her Aura Extending out in the form of nine, winding, phantasmal tails that stretched out, sweeping through the darkness around them. As they moved, she found them brushing up against currents of Aura flowing in from another direction.

"That way, I think," she said, pointing in the direction her Extension had indicated. "I can sense traces of Kyo's Aura from that way."

"Let's go then," said Weiss, while Hayate nodded.

* * *

"Yang! Jaune! Blake!"

Yang tiredly looked up from where her head had been resting on Jaune's shoulder at the sound of Weiss' voice. She realized that she'd nearly completely drifted off, while being carried by him. Blinking blearily, she turned to look in the direction Weiss' voice had come from, and was rewarded by the sight of most of the rest of their friends arriving.

"Hey guys," she said tiredly. Unfortunately, her right arm was still withdrawn while she tried to recoup her Aura, or she would have waved at them. Suffice to say, she didn't feel confident enough to let go of Jaune with her remaining arm to make the gesture. Fortunately, Blake did the job for her, waving politely at their friends.

"You look awful," commented Weiss as she helped Hayate to hobble closer to them.

"You're one to talk," said Yang. "Your boyfriend looks like he's been through the wringer."

"Our opponent was…formidable," said Weiss.

"No kidding," said Hayate.

Then Yang's eyes came to rest on Nigel, who stared at her blankly. "What's he doing here?"

"No one knows," the entire group (sans Nigel) replied simultaneously.

Saisei giggled and stepped forward, while Jaune carefully lowered Yang off his shoulders so that Saisei could look at her injuries.

"You've certainly taken a beating," Saisei noted with a huff as she raised her hands and the light of her Aura began to wash over Yang's body.

"Yeah," agreed Yang with a tired yawn.

"I take it your opponent was Shindara then," observed Saisei, frowning.

"Yeah," said Yang, her voice sounding even more tired and weary than before.

Saisei met Yang's eyes and her mouth opened slightly, as though she wanted to say something. However, she then appeared to think better of it, instead opting to focus on Yang's healing. Then, something else occurred to her. "You, by any chance, didn't happen to retrieve the Shibien, did you?"

Yang shook her head. "Nope," she said. "It was intact, but I didn't want to touch it. That sword gives me the creeps."

"Not that I blame you," said Saisei with a smile. "Still, it is a crucial relic of the Mibu Clan, so I'm obligated to make some effort to take it back into our custody."

"Well…it's probably a little too far away for us to go back for it now," said Yang. "We've been walking for a while and, if I'm honest, I don't really think we have any idea where we came from."

"Nope," said Jaune in tired agreement. "Without someone's Aura to use as a beacon, we're basically wandering blind here."

"So I guess we'll have to look for it after everything's-" Yang felt a chill run down her spine, a tremor running through her entire body. Feeling a sense of foreboding settling over her, Yang slowly turned her head to look behind her in the direction that she, Blake, and Jaune had come from.

There was Shibien, still pierced into the ground, standing just a few meters behind them…as though it had been there the entire time or…more troublingly…as though they hadn't really gone any distance at all. Its presence made Yang automatically whip her head around, looking for some sign of Raven's body. Fortunately, it was nowhere to be seen.

"Okay…that's just creepy," she said.

"I suppose we have Nobunaga to thank for this," grumbled Saisei, standing up after finishing her treatment of Yang.

"We were thinking the same thing," said Blake sourly. "But this seems unduly helpful of him, even if he _is_ doing this for the sake of his own amusement."

"There may be no explaining the thoughts that run through that creature's head anymore," said Saisei. "At the end of the day, all we can do is merely try our utmost to ensure that he does not inflict his evil on the world."

Yang got up an stretched. "Well…whatever the case, we should probably get moving."

"Agreed," said Saisei, pulling out a wide sheet of fabric from her sleeve and laying it out next to the sword. Working gingerly, she pulled her arm partway up into her sleeve, and used that as a buffer to close her fingers around Shibien's tang. Pulling it free, she then laid it on one end of the sheet and, once again, careful not to allow her fingers to make direct contact with the blade itself, rolled it up in the sheet. Producing another, narrow, strip of fabric, Saisei tied each end of it around opposite ends of the roll, leaving enough length for the fabric to serve as a carrying strap, while ensuring that the sword couldn't slide out either end.

"That was rather well-prepared," noted Blake.

Saisei sighed, picking up the bundle by the strap and slipping it over her shoulder. "I figured that, if we managed to defeat Shindara, we would have to retrieve Shibien. However, touching it directly is dangerous, especially if you are not committed to wielding it. There have even been stories of the sword attacking all on its own."

"Spooky," said Yang, staring at the bundle now resting across Saisei's back with trepidation.

"With that in mind, I asked Makoto-sama for advice on what to do," said Saisei with another sigh. "After Murasame, he, or another of the Taishiro, would be the best choice to ask about how to handle a Demon Blade."

The others nodded gravely.

"Speaking of the traitor," said Yang, "I guess we should hurry up and find Kyo. I'll bet Kyo is facing off with him right now."

"It's probably the most obvious course events have taken," said Saisei with a frown.

"Then let's go," said Jaune. "Hopefully we'll find Ruby there too."

"Hopefully," said Yang, a lump settling in her stomach at realizing that, aside from Kyo, Ruby was the only one of their number still missing. She could only hope that her sister was all right.

"Let's go," said Yang, swallowing her worry.

* * *

 **And there goes Raven. Now we're down to the last of the Junishinsho. Then it's time for the epic BOSS BATTLE. The end is in sight...maybe.**


	101. Chapter 101

**Chapter 101:**

Kyo could see Murasame's deepening frown as Shindara's Aura vanished from both their senses. Yang's disappeared shortly thereafter, but Kyo quickly surmised that Yang was using Suppression to try and restore some of the power she'd expended. The realization that she must have been victorious almost made him relax before his opponent. Sadly, lowering his guard was not a possibility.

Instead, they remained perfectly in place, neither moving. At the moment, they embodied pure emptiness, each trying to tempt the other into making an attack, with the intent to strike into the opening that resulted. However, neither was weak enough to fall for the other's temptation, so they remained in a silent stalemate that continued to progress.

They shifted again, Tenro dipping almost to the point of scraping its tip against the ground. Murasame stepped forward, and held Kagami far out to the side, carefully holding his sword in both hands. Then the two settled in to wait once more. They both knew that, once they began to move, the battle would not stop until one of them was dead. Each also knew that the slightest misstep, the tiniest degree of haste or hesitation could be fatal. Were they avoiding making a fatal error by acting impetuously, or hesitating and drawing out their duel unnecessarily…neither could be sure.

The sound of footsteps reached their ears, and Kyo felt the presence of his friends at his back as they all emerged from the darkness.

"Kyo!" shouted Yang, moving to approach him, but stopping when Saisei stretched out an arm to bar her path.

"Don't get any closer," advised Saisei.

"Why not?" asked Weiss incredulously. "It doesn't look like they're actually doing anything."

"I wouldn't say that," said Jaune, wiping his forehead. For some reason, despite the lack of obvious action, the atmosphere around Kyo and Murasame had him breaking out into a cold sweat. Even if neither of them so much as twitched for several minutes, the air around them was practically crackling with tension.

"I agree," said Saisei, frowning and licking her lips. "I don't like this. This kind of fight isn't exactly Kyo's forte."

"He's doing well enough," observed Nigel, his eye going to Murasame. "Why is he here?"

"You of all people asking that…" grumbled Hayate under his breath.

"Murasame betrayed us," said Saisei. "He was Nobunaga's servant all along."

"Oh," said Nigel, appearing unconcerned by the explanation, which was probably true enough. If anything, it would give him valid grounds to challenge the former Elder to a fight later on, if he got the chance.

As they watched, they realized that Kyo hadn't so much as glanced or twitched in their direction. He was certainly aware of their presence, but had not yet acknowledged it. Instead, his focus was on Murasame, the two of them continuing to face one another motionlessly, despite their growing audience. Gradually, even the ones who hadn't realized it at first were cluing in to the crackling tension filling the air.

They weren't sure how long the stalemate dragged on for. The minutes seemed to stretch on into hours. Time lost all meaning as the group was completely swept up into the atmosphere that surrounded the two dueling swordsmen.

"Yang!"

Yang jumped as a familiar voice reached her ears, completely jolting her out of her absorption in the silent battle before them. Spinning in place, she gasped in both surprise and relief to see two familiar figures approaching them.

"Ruby! Penny!" shouted Yang, a smile spreading over her face as she waved at them.

Because she was looking at her sister and Penny, Yang didn't see the sudden twitch that ran through Murasame's body, as though he'd been jolted by an electric current. At that instant, both he and Kyo burst into sudden, furious motion. They became blurs as they crossed the distance between them. Their swords met with a deafening clang, and a palpable shockwave washed over the onlookers, immediately drawing Yang's attention back to the battle, her breath deserting her lungs.

Kyo and Murasame locked their blades together, straining against each other, a low rumble building in the air around them as the tension, rather than dissipating, rose to a fever pitch. Their expressions were calm and composed, even as their Auras clashed against one another. Their bodies strained, their feet sinking into the solid rock of the cavern floor with a loud crunch.

Finally, with an explosive roar, the two swordsmen were blown back from one another. The instant Kyo's feet touched the floor, he went on the attack. " _Suzaku!_ " The blazing, fiery wings of the Vermillion Bird spread outwards, sweeping across the cavern floor with a shrieking cry, like the call of a bird of prey, its beak racing for Murasame's body.

Murasame had landed at almost the same instant as Kyo, yet he had virtually no time to rally before the _Suzaku_ was upon him. Despite that, Mursame showed no signs of being pressed as he raised his sword to confront Kyo's attack head-on. The beak of _Suzaku_ struck the edge of his sword then, strangely, Murasame swept his sword down and to the side of himself in a smooth, flowing motion. To nearly everyone's shock, the _Suzaku_ went with it, the bird's body dissolving and flowing gently away to the side, its force completely dispersed.

Kyo closed in in the wake of his previous attack, his sword a flashing, silver blur as he swung at the former Elder with all his speed and strength. Murasame's sword seemed to move much more slowly and lazily. Those watching noted an unusual phenomenon, the sword seeming to glide through the air in arcs of darkness as he countered Kyo's swings, not with blocks, or even parries, but with strange, sweeping motions that seemed to redirect Kyo's attacks away in harmless directions, even as they seemed to sap all the force and speed out of them.

Finally, after seeing several blows miss their marks, Kyo retreated once again. "I see your sword has lost none of its refinement," he noted.

"If even your father could barely manage to land a blow on me, then how could you possibly do so?" countered Mursame coldly. "I have told you, time and again, Kyo, you will never overcome me with power alone. If you are to defeat me, you must do so with mastery."

"What's going on?" asked Yang, looking to Saisei in confusion.

"This is the reason Murasame's mastery of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ is unmatched," said Saisei, gritting her teeth, bringing her tail around to hug it against her front nervously. "Amongst the varied styles that are taught amongst the Mibu, the way they are used can fall within one of two broader categories.

"The vast majority of the Mibu Clan's warriors practice what can be called _Yang_ -style techniques, using their Auras to project their power outwards. All the battles we've seen until now have been primarily _Yang_ -style battles, where combatants clash against one another until the more powerful one wins out."

There was certainly more nuance to it than that, but the others understood. After all, none of the opponents they'd faced, to say nothing of they themselves, had accomplished anything akin to Murasame making the force behind his opponent's blows vanish into thin air.

"In contrast, Murasame's _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ is rooted in _Yin_ -style swordsmanship," continued Saisei. "The _Yin_ sword stands opposed to _Yang_ and nullifies it. Against an opponent wielding his opposite, Murasame can neutralize all their techniques, regardless of their power."

"Crazy," said Jaune, frowning. "That sounds pretty powerful. Why don't more people fight that way?"

" _Yin_ -style swordsmanship is much more difficult to learn," said Saisei. "Yang and Yin embody the duality in all things: hot and cold, growth and stagnation, positive and negative, life and death. The extreme of Yang is birth and the opposite extreme of Yin is death. Because our techniques derive their power and form from Aura, itself the manifestation of our own life-force, all living practitioners of the art naturally have a stronger affinity for _Yang_ -style combat than _Yin_. To master that style, you need to essentially learn how to turn a positive into a negative."

"How?" asked Weiss, aghast.

"I have no idea," admitted Saisei. "I've never been inclined to learn _Yin_ -style techniques myself, because they run completely counter to the philosophy of the Wood-school and the healing arts. All I know is that there's no such thing as a natural _Yin_ -sword user. It can only be learned through careful training and refinement."

As they watched, Kyo went on the attack again, dancing around Murasame to try and flank him. However, Murasame read his movements easily, turning to face Kyo as Kyo launched an attack with _Byakko_. The white tiger of wind lunged out at Mursame with its claws and fangs. However, with a single sweep of his blade, Murasame made even that attack vanish into nothing.

"Still the same blindspot as your father," said Murasame dispassionately, his hair barely disturbed by the passing breeze of Kyo's attack. "How many times have I told you? You cannot master the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ with power alone. The mind opens, the body becomes formless as shadow. The divine wind blows and all returns to nothing. If you want to defeat me, you will also have to learn how to embrace nothingness...Mu."

Kyo blinked, then smiled. "You know, when you talk like that, I wonder if you truly are so committed to serving Nobunaga. You said that you intended to kill me. Yet, when all is said and done, you still speak like the teacher I have known my whole life."

Murasame's expression darkened and his eyes narrowed. "You seem to be in quite the hurry to die," he said. "I was giving you a reminder of your own powerlessness. Up to this point, I have merely defended. But now, I will change that. I shall strike out, and we shall see if you can handle a blade that nullifies all, including your ability to defend."

Murasame shifted forwards, his sword rising. Kyo fell back, his own blade a blur. " _Mizuchi!_ "

Murasame didn't even need to use his sword. Using his left hand, he effortlessly caught the wave of Kyo's _Mizuchi_ , even as it broke against him, and brushed it aside, as though moving past a curtain, seeming to take a single step, but actually closing the distance between him and Kyo in an instant. His sword flashed out towards Kyo. Kyo raised his own blade to block. However, Murasame's own blade seemed to glide past it, looking almost as though it had become intangible, before slashing across Kyo's chest, sending a spray of blood through the air.

Murasame's sword became a blur, flashing at Kyo from all directions. Kyo's own blade moved just as quickly, both weapons seeming to be in multiple locations at once. Where their blades made contact, sparks erupted into the air. Despite that, Murasame's own blade always seemed to find its way past Kyo's, the onlookers unable to see how he managed to do so. Even when Kyo's blade was positioned to block perfectly, Murasame's sword appeared to phase right through it. Cuts opened up all across Kyo's body. Even as he blocked, Kyo also tried to dodge, so none of his injuries were very deep.

It reminded Yang of the fight with Nigel, with Kyo taking several shallow wounds, while managing to land a decisive blow at the end of the match. However, something told her that was less likely under these circumstances. She couldn't help but watch those dancing sparks in the air around them with trepidation. _Wait! Sparks?_

The sparks that had been thrown off by the clash between their swords were lingering in the air around the pair of fighters. Abruptly, they flashed brilliantly, Murasame's eyes locking closed to avoid being blinded. An azure, birdlike figure flashed behind him. " _Aohi!_ " Kyo's sword swooped at Murasame's exposed neck...only for it to glance off Murasame's sword, his attack sweeping out harmlessly to the side.

"Flawless," observed Murasame. "But you can't beat me with the sword I taught you, even if the way you employ your techniques is inventive." He turned to face Kyo, who fell back. "Now...let's up the difficulty." Murasame's sword swept down and the wings of the Vermillion Bird flared out. " _Suzaku!_ "

" _Genbu!_ ' With a sweep of his sword, Kyo conjured up a protective lattice of wind, like the shell of an enormous turtle. From it, streams of wind, like a nest of serpents, boiled forth to intercept the incoming attack. However, the _Suzaku_ seemed to part the serpents, indeed, the very air itself around it as it passed, continuing on to reach Kyo's defense unabated. The beak of the bird struck the turtle's shell and the winds shielding Kyo parted effortlessly, the _Suzaku_ sweeping through unabated.

Kyo threw himself down, planting his sword into the ground to stop from going completely prone, barely able to duck the _Suzaku,_ whose speed hadn't even been slowed by his defense.

"He dodged it," gasped Yang in relief.

"No he didn't," said Saisei, her eyes wide with terror. "It made contact with his technique. With any contact, the _Suzaku_ will lock its target in place for the second strike!"

Murasame touched down behind Kyo his sword at the ready...only to freeze in place himself as streams of air rose up from the ground itself to bind his body. " _Yato!_ "

A frown decorated Murasame's face as the streams of air suddenly became a violent twister that tore at his body, the winds completely obscuring him from sight as they rose up into the darkness.

"Got him!" shouted Ruby, her eyes widening.

Then Murasame's hand emerged from the whirlwind, seeming to sweep the whole thing aside with just a gesture. "Impressive," Murasame said as the winds dispersed, leaving him unscathed. "I will give you credit for using your technique to disrupt the _Suzaku_ 's second strike. You used the interval between the attack's contact and your immobilization to immobilize me instead, to keep the second blow from beginning."

"Still speaking like my teacher," said Kyo, turning to face Murasame. "You continue to make me wonder if your heart is truly in this."

 _He's seriously talking like that?_ thought Yang, looking Kyo over. His kimono was cut in several places, revealing cuts in his skin that bled freely, blood running down his legs and to his feet. What wasn't wet with blood was soaked with sweat. This battle hadn't gone on very long at all, yet Kyo looked as though he was fighting harder than he ever had in his entire life, save against Nobunaga himself. Even after cutting his way through Ironwood's forces with just four others, Kyo hadn't looked nearly as strained as he did now. _He doesn't look badly hurt, but it's taking everything he has to keep a fatal blow from landing. Every one of Murasame's strikes could have killed him, if he hadn't been working his hardest to keep from being killed._

"I merely wanted you to taste despair," said Murasame, frowning more. "Instead of making you understand your impotence, all I have done so far seems to have stoked your impudence." He sighed, lowering his head. "Very well then. I shall end this here and now."

Murasame raised his sword, the faint light that seemed to pervade the caverns gleaming off the mirror-polish of its sides. "At the very least, one of my most important lessons to you appears to have taken root. The Four Secrets are, above all else, manifestations of the conceptual potential of the school. When fully understood, even the lesser techniques of the _Mumyo Jinpu_ can command absolute power. A _Mizuchi_ can overcome the _Suzaku_...or even another technique, as you demonstrated earlier. As such, I will now subject you to the technique of the school that I have mastered to the fullest extent."

To the observers' utter shock, Kyo actually paled, his entire body tensing, his tongue moving out to lick his lips nervously.

Changing the grip on his sword, Murasame held it up before him, then changed the blade's orientation so that the edge was to the side, the flat facing Kyo. He then began to rotate his grip on it, making the sword spin around in a wheel in front of him. As he did, the light caught on the mirror-like finish of the blade, glittering off as the blade itself seemed to become something phantasmal and flickering, appearing to be in multiple places at once. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu...Shin!_ "

* * *

"Damn!" grunted Qrow, swiping his arm across his forehead as he and the others continued to watch the match. "I'm not even in the same room as those two and I'm getting the chills."

"As always, Murasame's sword is terrifying to behold," mused Makoto. "Even if Sora is universally acknowledged as the strongest of the the Taishiro, Murasame is, without question, the most accomplished in the way of the sword."

"The ability to turn most forms of strength into weakness," noted Ozpin. "He has the ability to completely nullify enemy attacks, while expending a fraction of the strength. I no longer find it so remarkable that Kyo's father fell against him."

"Is there anything Kyo can do?" asked Winter.

"It's difficult to say," said Makoto. "Of all of us, only Sora has ever won a bout with Murasame, and only because she was able to use her speed to catch him before he could begin any of his techniques. Even though he can nullify all power, if one can preempt him before his defense begins, then he can be struck. However, since that time, Sora hasn't won another bout, because Murasame awakened to this deficiency and refused to be preempted ever again."

"What if Kyo tried using _Yin_ -style?" posed Qrow.

"Impossible," said Makoto with a decisive shake of his head. "If it were so easy as to simply switch styles, then Murasame would not be such an exalted master of the blade. These styles are formed around the entire manner with which one approaches, not merely just the sword, but how they perceive their Aura and, indeed, their own lives."

"Truly frightening," mused Pastoria, stroking his beard. "The other Junishinsho have all fallen. But it seems that the sole remaining one might be enough to make up for them in his own right."

Makoto nodded. "Furthermore, there is one other troublesome truth. If Kyo cannot overcome this trial, then there is no way he can hope to overcome Nobunaga either."

"It's strange, though," said Ozma. "If Murasame has mastered such an incredible style, then not even Nobunaga should have been able to stand up to his sword."

"Nobunaga is...different," said Makoto. "I cannot even begin to fully explain the nature of his style. He fights with negative energy, the very essence of death itself, yet he wields it in the manner of a _Yang_ -style swordsman. Furthermore, even if that weren't an issue, the fact remains that Nobunaga now has the True Mibu flesh at his command. He wields the power of God, the complete ability to create or destroy as he sees fit. With such absolute power at Nobunaga's command, Murasame could not hope to win, no matter how effective his sword is. Only one who has mastered the true, ultimate, technique of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ could hope to achieve victory."

"Is that even possible at this juncture?" asked Ozpin.

"I don't know," admitted Makoto sadly. "The outcome of this battle alone is completely undecided in my mind, though, the way things are, I cannot see how Murasame could lose. However, beyond that lies a complete unknown, the question of whether or not Kyo has the capacity to defeat Nobunaga himself."

"We can only hope," said Ozpin.

The others nodded, and refocused their attention on the battle.

* * *

Kyo rushed forward, trying to catch Murasame before he could launch his technique. However, his eyes were caught by the flash of light glittering off the flat of Kagami, Murasame's sword living up to its name as its mirror-like finish caught even the faint, ambient light of the cavern, and sent it straight into Kyo's eyes.

In the next second, it wasn't Murasame who stood before Kyo, but someone else, a looming shadow taller...heavier...and far stronger.

Kyo and Murasame passed one another and stopped for a second. Then, with a flash, blood spurted through the air from a deep cut across Kyo's chest as he cried out in pain, collapsing to his knees.

"KYO!" screamed Yang, her eyes wide with horror as Kyo struggled to stand upright.

"You know that you won't be able to break through it that easily," said Murasame.

Kyo frowned and turned, coming at Murasame again.

"Kyo! Don't-!" shouted Saisei.

Kyo didn't seem to hear her...or wasn't listening if he did. Once again, Murasame turned to face him, sword raised. They passed yet again, and another cut opened along Kyo's body, this time on his left shoulder, triggering another pained gasp.

"Stop!" shouted Penny, tears in her eyes.

But Kyo turned again, charging Murasame a third time. This time, Murasame merely sidestepped Kyo's strike. As Kyo staggered to a stop, a burst of red seemed to explode out from his forehead, causing him to stagger dizzily.

"What the Hell was that?" asked Jaune. "Murasame didn't even touch him."

"He doesn't need to right now," said Saisei, defeat flooding her tone. "Kyo is trapped within Murasame's technique."

"Trapped?" said Yang, looking at Saisei in confusion.

" _Shin_ is short for _Shinkiro_ ," said Saisei. "In the Old Tongue, it means 'mirage.'"

"So it's an illusion technique," said Weiss.

"Been dealing with that a lot lately," added Hayate, while Neo nodded.

" _Shin_ draws forth the target's fears from their subconscious, and forces them to confront those fears," said Saisei. "If they can't overcome it, they are left helpless before the technique's finishing strike." Her eyes narrowed as they watched another cut open up on Kyo's body, completely on its own. "But Murasame's illusions are especially powerful. Whatever Kyo is confronting within the illusion, the image is so potent that it's inflicting real damage on him."

"No," said Murasame. "It isn't my illusion doing this. Kyo's fear of what he is confronting is so intense that it is pulling his heart and mind even deeper into the illusion than I have. At this rate, he might die before I can strike the finishing blow."

"What?" gasped Yang. _What could Kyo be afraid of? What could he fear so much that he'd wind up hurting himself?_

"Interesting," said Murasame as he watched Kyo swing his sword at empty air...only for a cut to open up along his back, knocking him forwards. Kyo stumbled and fell, barely managing to stop from falling all the way down by planting the blade of his sword and using it to hold him up. His eyes focused on Murasame.

"I can't tell," said Murasame. "Are you in the grip of my illusion or not?" He sighed. "Either way, it is time to end it."

His body blurred, crossing the distance between them in an instant. Kyo blinked and saw Murasame flying at him, his sword rising in an upward stroke. Kyo threw himself back at the last minute, skidding to a stop, his eyes wide and clear.

"He dodged it," said Yang, her voice heavy with relief.

"No," said Saisei, her voice trembling with despair, "he didn't."

"Huh?"

Then Yang saw wetness trickling down Kyo's cheeks from his eyes. It was too dark to be regular tears. _It's blood!_ Kyo was bleeding from the eyes. Even as they watched, more blood began to trickle from his nose, then his ears...even the seeming to ooze out from the pores in his skin.

"You can see it too, can't you?" asked Murasame as he turned away, holding his sword vertically before his face, his fingers tracing its spine. "A blood-red mirage."

Kyo's body suddenly seemed to explode, a misty spray of blood scattering in all directions. His body collapsed completely, landing flat on the ground.

"KYO!" screamed Yang, stepping forward, her fists going up.

"Stop!" shouted Saisei, interposing herself in front of Yang. "You'll just get yourself killed."

"But Kyo..." Yang looked plaintively past Saisei at the prone body of her lover.

"You cannot save him," intoned Murasame sadly, beginning to walk towards them. "The fear invoked by _Shin's_ illusion raises the blood pressure to the maximum extent. The final strike creates a momentary vacuum around the target. The two factors combined cause the widespread rupturing of blood vessels throughout the body. Inside and out...Kyo is bleeding to death...if he hasn't already."

"No..." whispered Ruby, her eyes overflowing with tears.

"You cannot save him," repeated Murasame. Then his eyes turned cold. "But you can join him. I will send you there. Do not resist, and I shall make your passing peaceful and painless, as easy as sending you off to sleep."

They stepped back, all of them hesitating. To reach this point, they had all confronted members of the Junishinsho, powerful warriors, many of whom who truly deserved to be called superhuman. They had overcome incredible odds, survived the trials placed before them. Before now, they'd been confident in the belief that they could manage the final remaining member of the Junishinsho waiting for them. They'd even held on to hope that they could confront Nobunaga himself.

But now, that hope seemed like a distant dream. Murasame, Shatora of the Junishinsho, had confronted Kyo head-on...and brushed off his attacks like they were nothing. It might be because they wielded the same style, Murasame's greater experience and mastery telling against his own student. However, none of the rest of the companions were under any illusions that they had the capacity to succeed where Kyo had failed.

Then, the sound of rocks scraping caused Murasame to pause, as the sound had come from behind him. He dismissed it, thinking that Kyo's final spasmodic twitches were probably behind the noise. But then he heard the sound again, the sound of something scraping. There was a clink of steel against stone.

Yang's eyes widened, new tears flowing from her eyes, a different kind of tears. "Kyo..." she whispered with a hopeful smile.

Disbelieving, Murasame slowly turned around. His own eyes went wide with shock as he saw Kyo slowly forcing himself to his feet, his entire body quaking and straining with the effort.

"Stand up..." pleaded Saisei. "Stand up...please..."

"You can do it," whispered Hayate.

Murasame turned all the way around and stared uncomprehendingly at Kyo as he continued to force himself up. With a pained grunt, Kyo strained once more. Then, with an echoing shout, he forced himself fully upright, even withdrawing his sword from the earth, standing tall, staring straight up, breathing heavily, still gravely wounded, but...somehow...still very much alive.

"Impossible..." Murasame whispered to himself. Then he slowly shook his head. "Your will is impressive, Kyo. But it does you a disservice. You should have allowed yourself to pass from the world. Struggling like this only prolongs your suffering."

"I can't give up," said Kyo. "I won't...not until I've exhausted everything, used up every last scrap of myself...to find out what lies beyond." He lowered his face to look at Murasame once more. "Thank you for this, Murasame."

"What?" asked Murasame, his perplex response shared by Kyo's friends, strangely enough.

"Not even my mother..." said Kyo, "...only you...only you could push me to this extent, force me to the absolute limit. I have to keep going...look beyond..."

"Fool," intoned Murasame coldly. "There is nothing beyond."

"There is," said Kyo with absolute certainty. "The final secret of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ cannot be taught. It must be found by pushing past all limits."

"It's a lie!" shouted Murasame, betraying true anger for the first time. "I know what your father told you, I know what I was told...but I know that it's all a lie. The final secret of the _Mumyo Jinpu_ , the true divine wind, it's a myth, a fairy tale. It does not exist."

"It allowed the first Kyo to slay the Crimson King in his time," said Kyo. "It is real."

"It's a lie," repeated Murasame, his eyes narrowing, his fingers clenching around the handle of his sword. "Do you know how I know...because Nobunaga told me the truth about the Crimson King the first Kyo rebelled against."

"The truth...?" Kyo tilted his head in confusion.

"The deepest...darkest secret of the Mibu of that time," said Murasme. "It's a truth that none, save for the King himself knew. In that dark chapter of the Clan's history, the Mibu were a dying breed...slowly succumbing to the Death Disease, one by one, their future blocked by their inability to have children of their own. Seeking solace, they rallied around their king, the last, sole remaining True Mibu."

"I know that," said Kyo.

"But that _is_ the lie," said Murasame with certainty. "That is the deepest secret of that era. The Crimson King the first Kyo fought...was not a True Mibu."

"What?" gasped Saisei.

"He was never one of the True Mibu," said Murasame. "In the end, it was revealed that he was but another of their fighting puppets."

Kyo's jaw dropped and the point of his sword lowered nearly all the way to the ground. He stared incredulously at Murasame. "That's..."

"That is why the first Kyo won," said Murasame. "He truly was the last of the True Mibu. The Crimson King of his time was a fighting puppet of the earliest generation, the closest to the True Mibu in power...but ultimately falling short in the end. Against the power of one of the real True Mibu, of course the first Kyo would have prevailed."

"That's a lie!" shouted Saisei. "It has to be! How would Nobunaga even know?"

"Luck, in a sense," said Murasame, giving Saisei a sad smile. "His final host in that era was the sole person who managed to uncover the secret of the ancient Crimson King...

* * *

 _"_ _It can't be..." whispered Murasame, staring at the floor._

 _"_ _It is true," said Nobunaga carelessly as he lounged on his throne. "In that ancient era, the final vessel I faced the first Kyo, my Kyo, in was the Shaman, Shiina Nozomu. His shamanic power allowed him to see into the past of his subjects, enabling him to call forth the souls he encountered...or uncover forgotten secrets._

 _"_ _Entranced and resentful of the Mibu's power and authority, he sought to turn the tables on them by studying the past of the Crimson King himself. In doing so, he uncovered a frightful secret, one that drove him out of the Mibu Clan's lands, and deep into hiding. It was a secret that even the Taishiro of that era did not know, a truth so devastating that it could have rent the entire Clan asunder._

 _"_ _The Crimson King created the Crimson Cross Knights from his flesh and blood. To mark them as his creations, he branded them with the incomplete form of the Red Cross that only those acknowledged as the true Crimson King from the True Mibu bloodline could possess. But, hidden away in a vault in his tower, was the Crimson King's own heart, itself branded with that Crimson Cross, marking him as yet another of the True Mibu's artificial creations. That was the secret that ultimately brought him down."_

 _"_ _So...there was no final secret," said Murasme in shock._

 _"_ _It seems not," said Nobunaga dismissively. "Of course, I was not present to witness the final battle. But it makes sense to me. In the face of the real thing, the imitation, no matter how close the likeness, will always fall short."_

 _"_ _It was impossible...from the very beginning," said Murasme, looking at Nobunaga in his new form._

* * *

"So you see...the end result is already known," said Murasame. "Nobunaga is possessed of the True Mibu flesh. Kyo, the only other living True Mibu, is the only one who can oppose him. However..." His eyes narrowed in a glare at Kyo. "...against Nobunaga, who has no reservations about tapping into the full extent of the divine power that the True Mibu possess, you, who forgo the use of such power...will have no hope of victory. Your struggle is doomed to fail."

"You sound strangely pessimistic, Mursame," said Kyo, giving Murasame a surprisingly confident smile, in spite of his condition, and what he had just learned.

"Nobunaga must be lying, right?" asked Nora, looking over at the rest of her friends. "Right?"

"It's not the sort of lie he would tell," said Saisei with a frown. "Still...it can't be true, can it?"

"Being pessimistic is better than putting my faith in fairy tales," said Murasame, glaring at Kyo.

Kyo chuckled, then coughed wetly, before spitting out a mouthful of blood. "Strange...that you would frame it like that. After all, we live in a world where fairy tales are quite real..." His eyes looked past Murasame to Ruby. "...a world where a Silver Eyed Warrior fought and won against the Fall Maiden."

Ruby couldn't quite keep from giggling at that.

"Semantics," growled Murasame.

"Yet...I choose to believe," said Kyo. "I will believe in my father's words. I will believe that the final secret exists. I will reach beyond the limit and achieve the impossible."

"Empty boasts will do you no good," said Murasame, brandishing his sword once again.

"Are they so empty?" asked Kyo, cocking an eyebrow. "After all, isn't it happening right before your eyes, right now...something beyond your understanding?"

Murasame's eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare.

"He's right," whispered Saisei.

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

" _Shin_ is devastating, when it lands," said Saisei. "Kyo should be dead already. There's no way his Aura, powerful though it is, could heal such extensive damage in so short a time. Kyo is bleeding profusely. He shouldn't even have the strength to stand...and yet..."

"Does that even count for anything?" asked Jaune. "I mean, yeah...he's standing. But can he actually fight like that."

Saisei wanted to say something to support that idea. However, she couldn't bring herself to say the words. Despite what she'd just said, her healer's instincts were telling her that Kyo should be at the edge of death. Even if he was standing, there was no way he could find the strength to lift his sword all the way, much less swing it.

"So what if I can't understand it," said Murasame. "This changes nothing. You have not gained the skill or strength to reach me. If anything, you are merely prolonging the inevitable." He raised Kagami. "If that is the case, then I shall simply continue...until your stubbornness reaches its end. _Shin-_ "

Kyo abruptly vanished, seeming to blur back into existence directly behind Murasame, his sword raised and striking for Murasame's neck, the movement drawing a gasp from the onlookers, not because they thought Kyo had truly gotten the better of Murasame, but because they hadn't imagined that Kyo could move that fast in his current condition.

Murasame barely even glanced back, bringing his sword up and over his shoulder, and at an angle that intercepted Kyo's blade. " _Shin._ "

There was a flicker of light off the flat of Murasame's blade and Kyo reeled back, three new cuts opening up across his body. As he did, Murasame turned about, bringing his blade around, down, and back up in a smooth motion, launching the same upwards, sweeping slash he had the last time he'd used that technique. Kyo's blood once again sprayed through the air and he fell onto his back, hard.

"Foolish," said Murasame. "It is true that Sora once defeated me by preempting me with speed, to strike before I could finish the technique. But that defeat has spurred me to improve since then. In fact, it was your mother's victory over me that inspired me to craft Kagami, in order to better facilitate _Shin's_ usage. I can execute _Shin_ merely by catching your eyes with my blade's reflection."

"No..." whispered Yang.

"You survived once," said Murasame, "but not twice." He turned away from Kyo and began to walk away.

Then Tenro twitched, the blade scraping across the ground as Kyo's fingers clenched tight on the handle.

Murasame stopped and turned to face Kyo again. His eyes narrowed, simmering anger in his gaze as he watched Kyo twitch, then, with a groan, slowly force himself to sit up.

"How...?" gasped Saisei, a sentiment echoed by everyone watching, wondering where Kyo was finding the strength to even remain alive, much less rise again, after all the damage he'd taken.

"How vexing," said Murasame, the words leaving his mouth in a frustrated snarl. "Just die already!"

"Sorry...but I have no intention of dying...or even losing," said Kyo, spitting up another mouthful of blood, managing to shift into a crouch. "I will not give up."

Murasame sighed in disappointment. "Truly...you are addicted to suffering. Very well then...I strike you down with your fears until you cannot rise again. Then, at that moment, I shall make sure of your death by taking your head."

"NO!"

Murasame froze as a blur crossed his field of vision, his body halted as a familiar figure interposed herself between him and Kyo. Penny stood before him, her arms flung out wide as she stared plaintively at her adoptive father.

"Please stop," pleaded Penny, tears streaming from her eyes. "I can't let you do this, Papa. I know this is hurting you. I can't stand to watch you hurt yourself like this. I don't want you to do this."

"Penny..." Murasame stared sadly at his daughter.

"Please..." pressed Penny.

Murasame lowered his eyes and closed them, taking a deep breath, before bringing up his sword, holding it at an angle across his chest. "Penny...sleep." Murasame abruptly changed the angle of the blade, rotating it so that the flat was suddenly facing Penny, causing her to suddenly lock eyes with her own reflection.

Penny's eyes suddenly glazed over and rolled up into her head. She collapsed bonelessly to the ground, becoming still.

"What did you do?" demanded Ruby furiously, brandishing Crescent Rose threateningly.

"I merely applied a milder version of _Shin_ ," said Murasame dismissively. "Penny does not have the heart to resist me, so it is easy for me to simply send her the impulse to sleep. It's harmless. When she wakes...you shall all be dead and the world will belong to Nobunaga. She may never forgive me for this, but...so long as she is alive...I will embrace any evil for her sake."

"What kind of life is that?" snarled Kyo, his voice betraying anger for the first time during their fight.

Yang and the others blinked in surprise. All things considered, Kyo had plenty of reasons to be angry with Murasame. After all, this was the man who'd stabbed Kyo's father in the back and presented him to the most terrible monster in the world, who'd essentially condemned Kyoichiro to death. Yet, before now, Kyo's behavior towards his former mentor had been quite congenial.

"You'd rob her of her own agency," pressed Kyo, "force her down the path of your choosing, take away everything and everyone she loves...and you dare to think that she could ever be happy with that kind of life? Do that and you'd be an even worse man than Ironwood!"

If the barb hurt Murasame, he showed no sign. "You have no right to judge me," said Murasame coldly. "In the long term, none of that matters, so long as my daughter is alive. Where there is life, there is hope."

"You're right about that," said Kyo with a weak chuckle. "After all...I'm still alive, so there's hope for me yet." He rose upright once more. "What's more...you're right about the other thing too. I may not have the right to judge you, but..." He raised his eyes to meet Murasame's. "...I do have the right to stop you."

Kyo's Aura exploded outwards, flooding through the cavern, throwing his body into shadow as the crimson of his irises expanded to completely swallow the whites, the pupils contracting to pinpricks that were barely even visible, his Aura multiplying further as the True Crimson Eyes awakened.

Kyo surged forward, his blade descending towards Murasame with incredible force. The two combatants disappeared in a shockwave that nearly blew everyone else off their feet.

"Did he do it?" asked Yang, straining to remain upright.

The dust cleared and revealed the two of them standing, back to back. Kyo's attack had carried him past Murasame and now he stood with his sword planted in the ground, a black trench stretching out from where the blade had struck. In contrast, Murasame stood with his blade raised up, as though he had just accomplished a sweeping, upwards slash.

"They say stupidity is attempting the same thing repeatedly, and hoping for a different result," said Murasame calmly, lowering his sword to his shoulder and turning to face Kyo.

Kyo's body lurched and blood fountained out from a new cut across his chest. He staggered, stumbling forwards, nearly falling, but managing to plant his sword into the ground. Swaying drunkenly, he turned and forced himself to face Murasame again, his True Crimson Eyes still shining in the darkness, though their light had diminished considerably.

"He can't keep this up," said Saisei, her voice tight with fear. "At this rate...he'll bleed to death in just a minute, if not less."

"There will be no need to worry about that," said Murasame cooly, holding his sword up in front of him. "I will end this battle by taking Kyo's head."

"N-not if I can say anything about it," said Kyo.

"You can't," said Murasame simply. "Your stubbornness is unnatural, it's true. But don't expect it to produce results that defy any possibility. You have no hope of acquiring the final secret. The truth about the first Kyo and the former Crimson King proves it. It never existed in the first place."

"Then I will create it," said Kyo, levering himself upwards and managing to stand all the way up once more. "Even if what you say is true, then I will find a way. I'll keep moving forward, and do what the first Kyo couldn't."

Murasame paused, blinking. Then his eyes widened. "Ah! I see now," he said decisively.

"What?" Kyo tilted his head in confusion, but the motion nearly unbalanced him completely.

"I had wondered what fear could be so deep, so driving, that it could inflict wounds on you, all on its own," said Murasame.

"Kyo's fear?" Yang blinked in confusion.

"No way," said Ruby. "Kyo's not scared of anything, right?"

"I...I don't know," said Saisei. "I mean...I've seen him show fear before. But...I can't say what he specifically fears, what _Shin_ would confront him with. I could never imagine him having a fear so destructive that being forced to confront it, even as a mere illusion, would physically wound him."

"You know..." Jaune frowned, looking more closely at Kyo. "I can't say for sure...but every time Murasame's used that technique on him, the wounds Kyo gets...they look like sword wounds, don't they?"

Saisei gasped. "You're right! But what does that mean?"

Murasame sighed and smiled, lowering his gaze for a second. "It means that Kyo's fear is so deep that he has been unable to realize or acknowledge it. Both consciously and subconsciously, he turns away from it and, in his ignorance, it only makes his reaction more dramatic."

Lifting his sword, Murasame held it up in front of him at chest level, the blade parallel to the ground, stretching across his chest with the edge angled upwards, the flat facing Kyo. The first two fingers of his left hand rested agains the flat of the blade. "This is what it means to truly master _Shin_ ," he said. "In its basic form, _Shinkiro_ is a technique that draws out the target's subconscious fear. I do not need to know what that fear is to activate the technique. However, if I _do_ know what that fear is, if I understand my target's fear, then I can place him in an even deeper illusion, a blood-red mirage that will drown him in his own terror."

"He's bluffing," said Weiss.

"He hardly needs bluffs at this point," said Hayate.

Kyo grimaced and raised his sword once more.

"Die...die in fear, Kyo," said Murasame. Kagami flared to life, throwing off refracted light in strange colors.

Weiss suddenly felt very sick. The way the light was reflecting, so strangely, off Kagami's blade reminded her of Haira's weapon. Just seeing it filled her with a sense of foreboding.

Murasame began to spin the blade as he had the first time he'd used the technique. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_...Hidden Blade: _Shin Shinkiro_!"

Kyo's eyes widened as the light swallowed him whole.

* * *

 _He stood alone, surrounded by darkness...darkness and crimson fog. Looking around, Kyo frowned. "My fear is rather...desolate," he said._

 _Then he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Turning to face the noise, Kyo gasped, finding himself staring into a pair of Crimson Eyes that were just like his own. This person, however, was not Yang or his father, nor was it Raven. It was a man, standing a good bit taller than Kyo did. His long, black hair flowed down his back in a wave. His face was hard, eyes seemingly perpetually narrowed in anger. His expression seemed frozen in a perpetual scowl._

 _He was clad in a nearly identical kimono, black, with the Mibu Clan's taijitu symbol embroidered on the back. Kyo's eyes saw the sword he held in his right hand, its back resting casually across the man's shoulder. It was a perfect match for Tenro, the blade in Kyo's own hand._

 _"_ _It can't be," he whispered._

 _"_ _It is," said the man in front of him, his voice a coarse rumble._

 _"_ _Who are you?" asked Kyo._

 _"_ _You know who I am," answered the man. "You know why I'm here."_

 _Words failed Kyo. His entire body trembled and he found himself frozen in place. For the very first time in his life, he knew true fear, paralyzing fear that completely locked every cell of his body in place. It was perfectly understandable after all. Before him stood the first, the original, the true Demon Eyes Kyo._

* * *

 **Admittedly, a big component of Murasame vs Kyo is drawn from Kyo vs Kyoshiro, from the original SDK manga. But I really liked the idea of doing other variations of the _Shin_ technique. In the original series Kyo (the original Kyo) uses that technique exactly once, and it's hardly ever mentioned again. Heck, aside from _Mizuchi_ and _Shin_ , none of the other lesser techniques of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ that were hinted at ever make an appearance, which was what led me to create my own for this story.**


	102. Chapter 102

**Chapter 102:**

Kyo sank to the floor, his True Crimson Eyes gone, his regular Crimson Eyes staring out sightlessly. He only remained upright by virtue of Tenro, which had been braced against the floor at an angle, barely managing to keep him from falling all the way down.

"Now all we need do is wait," said Murasame.

"You think Kyo will fall to his fear alone?" scoffed Saisei.

"It is a fear he was unable to confront," said Murasame. "Kyo's fear is his ancestor, his progenitor, the first Kyo."

"What?" gasped Saisei.

"Ironic, isn't it?" mused Murasame, staring coldly at Kyo's unmoving body. "It has been hundreds of millennia since the first Kyo walked the earth. Yet his existence casts a shadow that stretches across that vast gulf of time. Despite the fact he is no longer in this world, Nobunaga still obsesses over him. He imparted his name to the royal line, ensuring that each child passing down the ages would inherit his name."

Yang frowned, her mind going back to Kyo's battle against Nobunaga. Nobunaga had repeatedly compared Kyo to his ancestor...and found him wanting. _Is that it?_ she wondered. It seemed strange that Kyo's fear could be so encompassing. It wasn't uncommon for people to be afraid of being held up in comparison to someone who was an example of what they aspired to...only to fall short. "That can't be what Kyo is afraid of."

"In the normal course of things, it would be an ordinary, mundane fear," said Murasame, "one that could be easily overcome. But the blood that flows in the Line of Kyo is no ordinary blood, nor is the first Kyo any original progenitor. His line has lived with the duty of continuing the fight against Nobunaga for generation after generation, each one suffering through the same trials, learning the same lessons, yet never truly seeming to ever accomplish their goal. It's as though they are left running in place. Compared to all that, the first Kyo, who managed to change the Mibu Clan so profoundly with his own power...what the True Mibu are to humans, the first Kyo is to his descendants."

"I'm not convinced," said Jaune firmly. "Kyo will make it back. You'll see."

"He won't," said Murasame. "And, even if he does, he will have likely bled to death by that point." He turned and began to walk away from Kyo, then paused.

 _"_ _After all, isn't it happening right before your eyes, right now...something beyond your understanding?"_

Murasame frowned. _There is no possibility...none. He's dead if he fails, dead if he succeeds. He is beyond the reach of all hope. And yet..._ Murasame looked down at his sword. _Why do I still feel this strange pressure, this sense of threat from him that I cannot escape, no matter how many times I strike him down?_

Murasame turned back towards Kyo. _I should make sure...once and for all._ He raised his sword up, aiming to strike Kyo's head from his shoulders.

"NO!" shrieked Yang, already charging at Murasame from the side. However, even as she did, she knew she wouldn't make it in time. Murasame's sword was already descending.

Kagami rang as it slammed against a broad, curved blade.

"You?" Murasame stepped back, reeling in surprise.

"Me," said Nigel, looking up at Murasame. "Kyo is mine to kill. I won't let anyone have him before I get my chance."

"You never had a chance from the beginning," said Murasame.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" roared Yang, charging in like a freight train, Kiren Kaina blazing as she lunged at Murasame, striking at him with all her power.

She was caught by the sensation of her strength suddenly seeming to flow away as Murasame's sword came up and seemed to, ever so gently, brush against her gauntlet, sweeping away the power of her attack and neutralizing it completely. She watched as Murasame's blade seemed to move in slow motion, gliding around and down to come back up in a slash that would split her open right along the front of her torso. Despite it appearing so slow to Yang's eyes, she realized that it was her imminent death that was causing her sense of time to distort. Her body was unable to respond in time.

Then Ruby appeared behind Murasame, Crescent Rose's edge flaring silver as she slashed at his back. Murasame's blade shifted effortlessly as he moved from attack and back to defense, diverting Ruby's strike, the leaping out of the way as the white crescent of Nigel's attack flashed through the space he'd been occupying a second earlier.

Taking advantage of Murasame's distraction, Saisei rushed to Kyo's side, her Aura blooming from her outstretched hands as she worked frantically to close the wounds across his body, and repair the internal damage suffered from repeated blows by Murasame's technique.

"It's futile," said Murasame calmly as he continued to dance and weave between the attacks of all his new opponents.

"We'll see about that!" shouted Jaune as he and Neo joined the fray.

From the sidelines, Weiss and Hayate looked on, the two of them too spent to contribute, however much they might have wished otherwise. The Etheric Crystal set into Myrtenaster remained dark and unresponsive and Weiss wasn't sure how much longer it would remain that way, given how much of its power she'd borrowed. Hayate, for all that he'd been effectively healed by Saisei, was still feeling weak from the heart attack he'd suffered.

Murasame frowned, realizing that, even if they couldn't defeat him, Kyo's friends were using the fight to herd him away from Kyo's body, so that Saisei could heal it. "This is a waste of time," he said. "Even if you heal the damage done to Kyo's body, the fact remains that his mind, heart, and soul are in the grip of my technique. Unable to overcome his fear, the fear of the shadow of the first Kyo, he will still die as his body becomes a soulless shell."

"Yeah, right!" shouted Yang as she hammered at the ground where he was standing with Kiren Kaina. "You sound more like you're trying to convince _yourself_."

"Right!" agreed Ruby as she swept Crescent Rose at Murasame's head.

"Even though you said that, you still decided you had to finish him off for good," added Jaune, thrusting with his sword. "What are you afraid of?"

Murasame's body seemed to flow away from all the attacks aimed at him. Dancing back, he now stood behind Ruby, his sword poised to cut into her body. But then he suddenly felt the presence of a tremendous force behind him.

Nora and Ren seemed to materialize out of thin air. Nora's hammer was raised to deliver a massive blow, straight down, at Murasame's head. At the same time, Ren was gliding in low at his feet, the blades of his weapons aiming for Murasame's ankles.

 _How long have they been here?_ wondered Weiss, shocked to see the two of them suddenly appear like that.

Ren and Nora had hidden themselves with Ren's technique, doing it so subtly that the others hadn't even noticed they were gone, hadn't even thought to question their absence. Apparently, Ren had already foreseen the possibility of their intervention being needed, and acted accordingly.

Nora's hammer flared, the pink arcs of lightning manifesting into an even more massive hammer-head as she brought it down, the accumulated power she'd spent as much time gathering as she could. " _Mjolnir!_ "

Taking advantage of Murasame's sudden preoccupation with the new opponents that had appeared out of nowhere, the others all closed in.

And yet, despite all this, Murasame hardly even seemed to react. Kagami flared to life. " _Mizuchi!_ " With a downwards sweep, the white wind of the _Mizuchi_ exploded out around him, enveloping them all as Murasame seemed to stride casually clear of the chaos, still unscathed.

Everyone was frozen for a second. Then all of them seemed to simply collapse as countless lacerations erupted across their bodies, sending blood flying through the air as all of Murasame's attackers collapsed to the ground with cries of pain. Yang in particular grunted, then gasped as her right arm evaporated into motes of golden light, leaving her feeling almost completely helpless, what little energy she'd recouped since her fight with Raven leaving her.

"A fine effort," observed Murasame. "However, it seems that your fights against the other Junishinsho have left you weakened. Even with your full strength, you would not have been able to win in any case. It is better for you to simply bow to the inevitable."

He turned towards Kyo and Saisei. The latter rose up and positioned herself between Murasame and his target, her arms outstretched as her eight remaining tails wrapped around Kyo, continuing to heal him as best she could manage.

"I hope you aren't so foolish as to believe that your regenerative abilities will allow you to withstand me," said Murasame as he stared down at Saisei. "The _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ reduces all to nothingness. There will be nothing left of you to reform."

"I never thought so," said Saisei. "I know you have the capacity to kill me. Despite that, I won't let you kill Kyo either."

"I do not require you to let me," said Murasame. "I will kill Kyo, regardless of who stands in my way. All who impede me shall die as well."

Standing ominously over Saisei, Murasame raised his sword high.

* * *

 _Kyo braced himself as the First Kyo's sword slammed down against his. The force was awesome. Despite using all his strength, Kyo was still blasted backwards. Fortunately, in this space, there was nothing for him to slam into, so he simply skidded to a stop._

 _"_ _Pathetic," snarled the First Kyo._

 _Kyo grimaced and dashed forward, eager to return the favor, swinging down with all his strength. The True Crimson Eyes flared into being as he attacked. The First Kyo met him with a sideways slash, their swords crossing between them. Kyo's momentum was canceled and reversed in an instant as he was blasted backwards again._

 _Slamming down onto his back, Kyo staggered to his feet, staring in shock at his opponent. The First Kyo's eyes remained unchanged from their normal shape and color. Yet he'd completely crushed the strength of Kyo's True Crimson Eyes._

 _"_ _Is that the best you can do?" growled the First Kyo. "Someone as pathetic as you is a waste of my time."_

 _"_ _Then, by all means, do depart," suggested Kyo. "I have things to do after all."_

 _"_ _And why would I do that?" asked the First Kyo. "It's fitting that I be the one to kill you. You damn idiots...After generations, you still cling pathetically to my name and blood. The True Mibu should have died off with me."_

 _Kyo blinked, surprised by the First Kyo's assessment. "You don't care about your bloodline?"_

 _"_ _Of course not," said the First Kyo. "Why would I give a damn about that bullshit. Blood doesn't mean a damn thing, not if you have the will."_

 _"_ _But your line remains because of Nobunaga," protested Kyo._

 _"_ _So what?" snapped the First Kyo. "Nobunaga never needed one of the True Mibu to defeat him. If my blood had been allowed to thin and disappear, then he would have never had a True Mibu body to aspire to in the first place. It's you people's idiocy, your insistence on clinging to my name, and the power that I carry, that allowed him to take your father's body."_

 _"_ _I..." Kyo didn't know what to say. He supposed it was true. Nobunaga's goal had always been the True Mibu flesh. Knowing that, keeping the Line of Kyo alive, maintaining the last remaining True Mibu bloodline, did seem like a blunder. Granted, Nobunaga could find other, formidable vessels. But never would he have had the chance to wield the godlike power of the True Mibu._

 _Kyo was forced to block again as the First's sword clashed against his own. The blow drove Kyo down to his knees. Rather than withdrawing his blade for another strike, the First bore down with his strength and weight, making Kyo's body begin to buckle as he strained to keep his blade interposed between him and his opponent's. If he faltered, the First's sword would split him in two._

 _"_ _Just look at you," said the First, "cowering and whimpering, barely able to stand...and I'm not even trying yet. Even inside your own head, where all your fantasies could come true, you're still weak."_

 _"_ _I don't...care..." ground out Kyo, his eyes narrowing as he strained against the First's sword, no longer merely trying to hold him off, but force it back._

 _"_ _Huh?" asked the First in a bored tone._

 _"_ _I don't care," said Kyo with a little more conviction. "I don't care if you think I'm weak or not. All I want is to protect the people I care about!"_

 _"_ _That's it?" scoffed the First._

 _"_ _Isn't that enough?" asked Kyo. "Didn't you save the Mibu Clan from themselves?"_

 _"_ _I didn't save shit!" snapped the First. "I fought the Mibu because they picked a fight with me. I fought the Mibu because I was sick of their holier-than-thou attitude. I fought the Crimson King because he pissed me off. I fought because I don't give a crap about the Mibu or their power or their glory or their salvation. I fought to become the strongest there is...and that's_ all _there is."_

 _"_ _Is that all?" asked Kyo disbelievingly. He remembered what the first Crimson King had told him, about how the First Kyo was a surly, selfish person. However, he couldn't believe that the First Kyo was this bad._

 _"_ _What other reason do I need?" asked the First contemptuously. "It's certainly better than a rat like you, clinging to my name and blood like a parasite, hoping to leach off some of my greatness."_

 _"_ _That's not true," growled Kyo, gathering all his strength and will, putting it into both his sword and his words. "I am not clinging to your name or your blood. I choose to be myself, to live life by my own standards. I don't need you to be my measuring stick."_

 _His efforts were bearing fruit. Slowly, Kyo pushed back the First's sword. He strained with all his might, putting everything he had into it._

 _"_ _Then why do you care about being a True Mibu at all!" yelled the First, the force he was bringing to bear on Kyo redoubling, forcing Kyo back down to his knees. "For all that you say you don't care about your blood, you certainly seem to like those eyes of yours."_

 _"_ _It's the only way...to defeat Nobunaga now," ground out Kyo, his arms burning with the effort to keep the First's blade away from him._

 _"_ _Idiot!" snarled the First. "Are you really that stupid?"_

 _"_ _Wha-what?" gasped Kyo._

 _"_ _Do you think I overcame the Crimson King with my blood?" asked the First._

 _"_ _But Murasame said the Crimson King was another fighting puppet," Kyo said._

 _"_ _He was," said the First. "Dumbass! Do you think that makes a difference? His power was_ equal _to the True Mibu. Just being another of the same wasn't good enough to beat him. Do you know what happened when I tried?"_

 _"_ _Y-you won," said Kyo._

 _"_ _No! I lost!" snapped the First._

 _"_ _B-but the King-"_

 _"_ _Not to him!" said the First sharply. "I lost to myself, to my blood. That's what it means to rely on the power of the True Mibu! It means forsaking yourself, the strength you've seized with your own hands. Instead, you trust in the power carried by your blood, and that power swallows you whole!"_

 _"_ _No..." growled Kyo._

 _"_ _I beat that bastard because I gave up on being a Mibu," pressed the First. "I threw that away and put my trust in something else, something better. What about you? What do you put your trust in?"_

 _"_ _I..." Kyo's mind went back to his conversation with the Original Crimson King, what he'd said about the True Mibu's power he'd just learned he possessed._

 _"_ _Are you going to trust in something you got because you were born lucky?" demanded the First. "Or are you going to trust in what you learned through how you lived? Which is worth more to you?"_

 _Kyo blinked. His body was feeling hot...no...it felt like there were parts of him that were burning feverishly, lines of fire etched into his skin. He realized they were scars, the scars left by those he had crossed blades with._

 _"_ _You think you can learn the final secret when you're this pathetic?" pressed the First with his words as much as his sword._

 _"_ _Murasame said it's a lie, an illusion," said Kyo._

 _"_ _And you believe him?" scoffed the First. "It's the the mark of a_ true _loser to claim that something is impossible, just because_ they _can't do it themselves. Are you going to let what he said stop you?"_

 _Kyo frowned...something bubbling up within him._

 _"_ _If you're not going to put up a real fight, then you might as well die!" The First's force multiplied, and now Kyo found himself unable to hold up, his own sword being pushed back towards him, the edge of the First's inching ever closer to his skull._

 _Was this how it was going to end for him? Was he going to die in the recesses of his own mind, crushed by an illusion of his ancient ancestor? His blood, the inborn strength of his True Mibu nature, had done nothing for him. It hadn't even allowed him to land a blow on Murasame. And now, before the might of the First, Kyo found his power being crushed by something else, something greater. If the True Mibu blood wasn't good enough, then what was?_

 _It hardly seemed to matter, the First's sword was practically hovering just a fraction of an inch away from his head. A little bit further and the edge would bite down through. That would signal the end, and Kyo would die._

 _Was he really going to die? What about everything that rode on him? What about the people who'd come with him, trusting in him? What about the people who loved him? What about his mother, Saisei..._ Yang!

 _"_ _No..." growled Kyo, straining back, somehow finding the wherewithal to push back again._

 _"_ _Huh?" grunted the First again._

 _"_ _Dying here...like this...I won't let it happen," growled Kyo, his arms and legs shaking with the strain as he pushed back with everything he had, not just the muscles of his body, but the force of his will. "Dying in an illusion is bad enough...But I refuse to be done in by an arrogant blowhard like you."_

 _"_ _Blowhard, huh?" scoffed the First. "This feel like a bluff to you?" He bore downwards with even more force._

 _"_ _Not your strength," hissed Kyo. "That's real enough. But you won't admit the_ real _reason you fought, the_ real _reason you won." He glared up, his True Crimson Eyes fading to their normal form. "I may not have the drive to be the strongest...but I have the strength to say that I fight for the people I care for...the people that I love. Betraying their trust, betraying their faith...I won't...let...that...HAPPEN!"_

 _The last word tore its way out from Kyo's mouth in a roar. Suddenly, his strength surged. The weight of the First's sword seemed to disappear completely as Kyo forced him up and back with a powerful push that sent the First skidding back. Kyo pressed the attack, swinging his own blade with all his might, with all his strength, with all his will, with all his Self._

 _"_ _I may have your name!" Kyo shouted as his blade slammed against the First's, the two of them striking at the same time so that the world around them seemed to explode, "but I don't need to be YOU!"_

 _The force of the collision between their swords and spirits threw both of them back away from each other. Kyo skidded to a stop, the First doing the same._

 _The first's mouth opened wide and he barked out an exultant laugh. "Finally!" he crowed. "If that's the case, then come! Show me just how strong you are!"_

 _The First's Aura exploded out from him as he drew back his sword, his crimson Aura wrapping around him like a nimbus of flame. Kyo recognized that stance and realized what was coming, taking the same stance himself. He swallowed, feeling that familiar sense of fear._

 _Even with his new resolve, there was no denying that the First's Aura was truly awesome to behold. If Kyo's power...if his resolve faltered even by a fraction, he would die in an instant. But he couldn't afford to die._

 _Closing his eyes, Kyo took a deep breath, thinking about all the people he'd met, the people he'd fought, and the people he'd fought_ for _. Their faces and names rose in his mind. This wasn't just his strength, it was theirs as well. He would put everything he had, everything they had given him into this attack._

 _His eyes opened again and now Kyo's own Aura exploded around him, matching the First's own._

 _In unison, the two of them intoned their technique._

 _"_ SUZAKU! _"_

 _The wings to the twin Vermillion Birds spread as they took flight at one another. They clashed with force that would have shook the earth, had there been an earth to shake. The wind roared and howled as the twin atmospheres strained against one another. The entire world turned red, and everything seemed to vanish._

 _Then it was over, the two of them passing one another, coming to a stop. Kyo staggered and slumped with a gasp, using his sword to prop himself up. On the other side, the First stood tall...for a second longer. Then a fountain of blood erupted from the gash that had opened across his chest._

 _Shakily, Kyo rose to his feet and turned to face his opponent. The First hardly seemed inconvenienced by the wound, instead turning around as well and striding forward, his sword resting casually over his shoulder. He walked closer and closer, coming to a stop just a couple feet away, the two of them well in reach of one another's swords. He glared down at Kyo, while Kyo glared back with all his resolve._

 _The silence between them seemed to stretch into eternity. How long it had been, seconds, minutes, hours...Kyo couldn't tell._

 _Then, like a switch being flipped, the First grinned and threw back his head, howling in laughter. Kyo blinked in confusion, not sure how to react. Then the First lowered his gaze. Reaching up, he flicked Kyo in the forehead with his free hand, making Kyo reel in pain as the wound stung._

 _"_ _You pass!" shouted the First._

Haven't I been through this before? _mused Kyo, struck by a sense of deja-vu. Looking up, he frowned and looked closer. The image of the First had inspired such terror that Kyo had originally had trouble looking at him closely. But now...that fear had subsided, Kyo refusing to be bound by it any longer. Looking closer, he saw a familiar image seemingly superimposed over that of the First...Or was it the other way around? It was the image of a much taller man, with locks of tangled, red hair, and a pair of blazing True Crimson Eyes._

 _"_ _Tenro...the first Crimson King?" Kyo blinked._

 _To Kyo's amazement, the flickering image superimposed over that of the First...or that the First was superimposed over, solidified, swallowing the image of the First to reveal the first Crimson King, the original True Mibu, the soul that resided in the blade of Tenro._

 _"_ _Correct," he said simply._

 _"_ _Wait..." Kyo blinked in confusion. "What just happened? That_ wasn't _the First Kyo?"_

 _"_ _It was and it wasn't," said the Crimson King. "What you just faced was his memory, the residual image of his spirit left imprinted in your sword's Aura. Tenro holds, not just my spirit, but the memory of everyone who has wielded it. Your opponent used_ Shin _to confront you with the image of your fear, that of your fear of falling short of the potential of your line's progenitor, the original Kyo. I took advantage of that, by merging the memory of that Kyo with the illusion created by_ Shin _in order to allow you to confront him in as real a context as was possible under the circumstances."_

 _"_ _Why?" asked Kyo._

 _"_ _You know why," said the Crimson King. "It's the reason you won. Unlocking the power of the True Crimson Eyes allowed you to unleash your full strength as the descendant of the True Mibu, but you also lost sight of the power that will allow you to go beyond them."_

 _Kyo looked down at his hand and his sword. "My real power..." he said thoughtfully._

 _"_ _That is what you need in order to unlock the final secret," said the Crimson King. "When you unleash it, you will be able to invoke the true divine wind, a power truly capable of slaying God. That power doesn't come from your blood, Kyo."_

 _Kyo's right hand clenched tighter around the handle of his sword. His left clenched around his fist. "Thank you," he said, looking up at the Crimson King._

 _The first King smiled, the expression warm. "You are far removed from your predecessor, young Kyo. You find strength in kindness, in affection, in compassion. Using that, you have overcome both your fear and the illusion of your progenitor. Now...the time has come to go forth and face reality once more. For those who have put their faith in you, those who believe, are still eagerly awaiting your return."_

 _Kyo nodded and closed his eyes, taking a breath and then slowly letting it out, relaxing, feeling the world of Murasame's illusion fall away. As he did,_ he felt his physical body once again, feeling the pain from all the wounds Murasame had afflicted once again plaguing him. He was tired...weak. His muscles were torn, tendons and ligaments strained to the point of snapping. He was practically empty of blood. By all rights, he should be dead already.

 _No,_ he thought. _I can't die here._

Distantly, he could hear the voices of those around them, the sound of his friends arguing vigorously, Murasame's cold tones in response. He could feel the loving, sisterly warmth of Saisei's Aura flowing through him, striving to mend what was broken. But he didn't need that. Her love, her care, her belief were more than enough on their own. And Kyo didn't have just her. All of his friends believed in him. In doing so, they gave him the strength to believe in himself.

 _It's so simple,_ he thought, almost chuckling at the realization. _The lamp is darkest at the base, as they say._ _All I needed was to think that I could do it...and I can._

Just like that, the heaviness that had overcome his limbs fell away. He inhaled deeply and his body suddenly felt so light, so warm...so strong.

And, without a second thought...Kyo stood.

* * *

Murasame's raised sword had barely begun its descent when it froze in place. Saisei gasped, not from what was happening before her, but what she felt behind her. She suddenly felt Kyo's Aura surge tremendously. It was like what happened when he invoked the True Crimson Eyes, but something was different.

Murasame, in contrast, gaped unashamedly, staring past Saisei in complete shock. "No..." he whispered. "There's no way."

From within the embrace of her tails, Saisei felt Kyo rise. His hand came down to rest on her shoulder, gently urging her aside as he stepped forward to confront Murasame once more.

Kyo's Aura had changed dramatically. Rather than its normal crimson color, it shined like gold. He still looked battered and haggard, but his movements were sure and calm, as though he hadn't been injured at all.

"What is this?" demanded Murasame, glaring at Kyo.

Kyo did not answer with words. Instead, he answered with his sword, dashing forwards and striking out with a straightforward slash. Murasame frowned, raising his own blade to nullify Kyo's attack. However, as their blades met, Murasame was beset with the sensation of Kyo's attack powering through his nullification, forcing Murasame to meet strength with strength, bracing himself against the blade. It wasn't enough, and he was blasted backwards.

"Kyo!" gasped Yang, tears of relief spilling from her eyes. He didn't appear to acknowledge her, but Yang knew he'd heard her. She could see the serene smile on his face, though his hair was covering his eyes, rendering them invisible for the moment. His Aura wafted through the air, and Yang felt it wrapping around herself and the others with a warm, blissful feeling, the kind of feeling that made her think that everything would be all right.

"What have you done?" gasped Murasame, forcing himself upright, his body staggered by the blow Kyo had just unleashed.

There was still no answer as Kyo charged forward yet again. Murasame met him head-on, their swords slamming together, something about Kyo's attack apparently rendering Murasame's normal tactic of nullifying Kyo's blows ineffective. Furthermore, the raw power carried by Kyo's strikes drove Murasame back, as their furious exchange continued, their blades ringing repeatedly against one another, the impact enough to drive Murasame's feet into the solid stone beneath him.

Seeing their enemy occupied, Saisei quickly moved to help get the others clear of the fight. Weiss and Hayate moved to help, Weiss supporting a staggering Nora, while Hayate did the same for Ren. Saisei curled her tails around the others, channeling her Aura through the limbs to facilitate healing, even as she moved them clear. A sweat broke out across her forehead as she did so. The wounds left by Murasame's _Mizuchi_ were persistent, and stubbornly resisted closing. Though they ultimately submitted to her Aura, they took far more strength than normal lacerations did to heal.

"What's going on?" gasped Yang, not tearing her eyes away from Kyo the whole time.

"It appears Kyo has found his answer," said Saisei as she set everyone down at a safe distance.

"What do you mean?" asked Jaune, staring in awe at Kyo as he moved with speed and power that he hadn't shown before, completely dominating Murasame now. "What is this?"

"Put simply, it's Faith," said Hayate, watching Kyo with rapt attention, "Faith rooted in the state of nonbeing."

"What is that?" asked Weiss, regarding Hayate curiously.

"Basically the miracle of effort," said Hayate. "Throughout all his battles and fights, and accumulated experience, to say nothing of his training, Kyo has persisted until the will to battle has embodied itself in his very form and essence. It's power beyond anything that can come from blood or talent. It can only be earned through sweat, blood, and tears, by pushing oneself to the limit time and again. It gives torn muscles strength, allowing a body devoid of vital blood to stand tall, an Aura once depleted to overflow..." Hayate sighed. "I never thought I'd get to see it myself."

"I bet I can do it," said Nigel petulantly.

"Sure you can," said Saisei with a giggle, patting Nigel atop the head.

"How come Murasame can't nullify Kyo's attacks anymore?" asked Ruby, cradling Penny's still sleeping form.

"If I had to guess, Kyo is using instinct to read the path of Murasame's blade," said Hayate. "Nullification is about countering power with an equal and opposite force, causing it to cancel out. He's feeling the change and shifting his movements ever so slightly that Murasame can't simply neutralize his attacks' power."

Meanwhile the fight between Murasame and Kyo intensified. Now that it was no longer a one-sided match against an overwhelmed Kyo, Murasame was forced to push himself, to exert himself in an effort to hold back Kyo's power.

"This doesn't mean anything!" he shouted. "Just because you've found your third or fourth wind doesn't mean you can win! It doesn't mean you can defeat Nobunaga! Let me show you!"

He whirled his sword around in front of himself, the blade flickering with ghostly afterimages as the light danced off its mirror-finish. " _Shin!_ "

Kyo came straight on and struck, forcing Murasame to block, causing him to gasp.

"You can't use my fears against me anymore," declared Kyo, speaking for the first time since he came back, "I'm beyond fear."

Murasame grunted in frustration, leaping back. Landing a short distance away, his Aura boiled around him in a silvery maelstrom. "Then I shall crush you straight out! What you faced before was merely me testing you. Now...face the full strength of Shatora of the Junishinsho... _SUZAKU!_ "

The Vermillion Bird's wings spread outward, seeming to encompass the entire cavern, blocking out the darkness above them like a hemisphere sliding over the sky, before descending down towards Kyo with the hunting cry of a bird of prey.

"It's huge!" gasped Yang, her eyes wide. It was far larger than any _Suzaku_ she'd seen Kyo produce. She was certain that, if the hit landed, there wouldn't be anything left of Kyo. Murasame wouldn't even need to take advantage of the technique's final strike.

Kyo's golden Aura seemed to condense around him as he slashed down with his sword. At first, Yang thought he was meeting Murasame with the same technique as the wings of Kyo's _Suzaku_ , red with gold edges, spread through the air. But then she and the others realized it wasn't alone.

The White Tiger roared as Kyo's _Byakko_ raced alongside the _Suzaku_. The serpents of _Genbu_ hissed and slithered forward, seeming to carry the starry shell of the the powerful turtle at a speed that matched the other attacks, while the circling, azure form of _Seiryu_ spiraled around all three of them.

"He invoked all Four Secrets at once!" gasped Saisei. "That can't be possible!"

"But it is," said Hayate with a fierce grin on his face. "Go!"

Individually, none of the four attacks was a match for Murasame's _Suzaku_ in size and power. However, when the four of them slammed into the soaring bird, they struck it at different points, tearing through it, scattering the Vermillion Bird into motes and flickering tongues of dancing, red winds, before continuing on unabated towards Murasame, who grimaced and raised his sword to intercept them.

"He can do it!" gasped Weiss, feeling hope fill her as she watched.

Murasame braced himself as Kyo's Four Secrets slammed into the blade of his sword, their force driving him back as Murasame roared, putting all his strength into the effort to resist them. They drove him backwards, his feet digging channels in the cavern floor. Then, just as it seemed that they were about to break through, Murasame shifted the edge of his blade ever so slightly, and swept his blade right through them, causing the attacks to disperse into a single cloud of shimmering, gold wind, which flowed around Murasame's body before dissipating.

"How?" gasped Blake, glaring at Murasame.

"Breaking through his _Suzaku_ must have dulled their force just enough that Murasame was able to find purchase and nullify them," said Saisei, gritting her teeth in frustration.

They watched in frustration as Murasame drew his sword back and raised it above his head, holding it ready for another sweeping strike. "Still no good, Kyo," he said darkly. "I don't know what this newfound strength of yours is, but the fact remains that your death is inevitable. Still...I credit you for such a monumental effort to be able to produce all Four Secrets simultaneously."

Kyo said nothing, still remaining as he had been, sword extended as though he'd just finished his attack. Silence reigned for a second as everyone held their breath, waiting for Murasame to strike back. But then the air began to rumble, an angry hum reaching everyone's ears and making their bones vibrate. The ground was trembling and the air itself suddenly grew heavy.

It was Yang who noticed first, feeling the sudden pressure from-"Above!" she shouted, looking up.

Then the rumble became a roar as something smashed through the cavern roof high overhead, a column of pure gold descending downwards from the sky far above their subterranean arena. As it drew nearer, Yang gasped, her jaw dropping as she saw the winding form of a massive dragon, far more powerful than the azure one of Seiryu. Its scales were shining gold, the nimbus of light they gave off seeming to impregnate the air around it, causing the whole of the atmosphere to form into a single column of pure power that barreled down at Murasame like a ray of divine judgement.

"Impossible!" gasped Murasame, sweeping his sword around to create the rising tornado, which formed itself into the azure scales of another dragon as his _Seiryu_ surged upwards to meet the descending gold dragon head-on.

The _Seiryu_ met the gold dragon and was blasted apart instantly. Desperately, Murasame swung his sword around him again, the starry shell of Genbu forming over his head, the serpents winding upwards to try and twist around the dragon. However, they were shredded and the golden dragon continued downwards to punch through the lattice of air that formed the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ 's ultimate defense as though it were nothing more than paper. Murasame raised his sword in one last, belated effort to block the attack, but was utterly crushed as the dragon slammed down, the column of golden wind blasting down into the rock and causing the whole of the earth around them to shake.

Murasame vanished in an explosion of dirt and dust that rushed upwards in a massive plume before beginning to dissipate. In the wake of the the thunderous cacophony that had swept the battlefield, the silence that followed was practically deafening.

The dust slowly cleared, a wind stirring it away. A shaft of light from above stabbed downwards, a hole punched all the way through from the sky above, allowing natural light in for the first time since the intense battle against Nobunaga's forces had begun. It illuminated Murasame's resting place like a spotlight.

"The Golden Dragon dwells at the center of the universe," intoned Kyo as he approached his foe. "Its winding coils form the core of the true divine wind. It rules over the Four Gods and strikes with absolute force." He paused as he stood over Murasame. "Can you feel it...the wrath of _Koryu_ 's judgement?"

"Yes...yes, I feel it," croaked Murasame, staring vacantly straight upwards.

Yang was reminded of how her mother had looked at the end of their fight. Nearly the entirety of the lower half of Mursame's body had been completely obliterated, leaving nothing more than a bloody pulp where his waist and legs had been, barely encased by the torn and tattered remnants of his hakama, more blood seeping out of him to flow down the slope of the crater, the side of which Murasame now lay on. His clothes were torn and tattered, revealing even more cuts in his flesh. Kagami had been shattered like glass, its fragments scattered around him, only fragments of the sword's guard remaining attached to the handle that Murasame still clutched in his hand.

"So...it _does_ exist," said Murasame. "The Final Secret of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ is real after all...How vain I was, to assume it was impossible, simply because it was beyond my ability." He gasped. "What a frail ego I possess. No wonder it was so easy for Nobunaga to manipulate my mind and heart." A wet cough forced itself out from his lips, flecking them with blood.

He sighed, his eyes drifting closed. "What a fitting way to pass from this world."

"Wait!" gasped Ruby. "He's going to die!"

"Yes," said Saisei simply. "That level of damage...not even my arts could mend that."

"B-but...No!" Ruby shouted, causing everyone to look at her in confusion. "He can't die!"

"Ruby? Don't your remember what he's done?" asked Blake incredulously, scarcely able to believe her ears, all four of them.

"He betrayed his clan," said Weiss coldly. "He handed over Kyo's father to a monster, and gave that monster godlike power."

"But he's still Penny's father," said Ruby, hugging the friend in question close. "If he dies then..."

That caused a sickening sensation to sweep through them all. As terrible as Murasame's crimes had been, his defeat was now soured by the realization that, by killing him, Kyo would be depriving Penny of her father...and this would be the second father she'd already lost in her lifetime.

"I promised her," said Ruby, tears covering her cheeks. "I promised her she would be able to live with her father. What do I tell her now?"

Ruby's heart shuddered and jolted when Penny moaned and began to stir. "Wha-what happened?" asked Penny blearily as she slowly opened her eyes. "R-Ruby..."

"P-Penny..." Ruby stared down at Penny, unsure of what to say or do.

"It's quiet," said Penny. "Is it over? Where's Kyo? Where's Papa? Who-?" Penny shifted, beginning to look for Kyo and her father.

"No!" shouted Ruby, realizing what was about to happen. "Don't look-!"

Penny gasped as the tableau unfolded before her. She saw Kyo standing over Murasame's broken body, the lifeblood pouring out of her father's form. Even without her eyes, she could feel Murasame's Aura dwindling.

"PAPA!" she shrieked, bolting upright in an instant, knocking Ruby over and rushing to Murasame's side. "NO! DON'T DIE! YOU CAN'T!"

Desperate to comfort her friend, Ruby surged upright and staggered after Penny, the others following her, gathering around Penny, Kyo, and the dying Murasame.

"P-Penny..." Murasame's eyes fluttered open as he forced the word out of his mouth with what remained of his dwindling strength. He slowly turned his head to look at his adopted daughter, taking in her distraught look and the tears that cascaded forth from her eyes.

"Please!" begged Penny, falling to her knees. "Please don't leave me! I don't want to lose my father again! I don't want to be alone!"

"You are not alone," said Murasame, his voice becoming softer and hoarser. "You have such kind and loving friends, who care for you with a strength I foolishly couldn't comprehend. I...love you so much. But I am a fool, a fool who did not realize that your love was worth more than anything I could do. I...I should have been content with your love, with you...yet I nearly forced you to face the death of those who loved you much more truly than I did."

"No...that's not true," said Penny. "I love you, Papa! I...I...I don't know what I'll do without you."

"Follow your dreams," said Murasame, his hand releasing its grasp on Kagami's battered handle and rising shakily to reach for her cheek. Penny grasped her hand in both of his, pressing his palm to her cheek, desperately trying to feel the warmth that was slowly slipping away from him. "It's what I should have allowed you to do from the very beginning, rather than allowing you to be pulled into my foolishness."

"Papa...Papa..." Penny sniffled and sobbed, feeling the last traces of her father's life slowly ebbing away.

Kyo stood over the two of them, completely silent. Yet, as Murasame spoke, his expression had darkened, his lips had pulled back, baring his teeth. He glared down at his fallen foe with a look of rage so uncharacteristic on his face that it gave Yang chills.

"This isn't enough," he growled.

"Huh?" Yang blinked in confusion, wondering what Kyo talked about.

"You stabbed my father in the back, betrayed the trust that everyone placed in you, handed Nobunaga the True Mibu body on a silver platter, hurt the people I care about..." Kyo's voice trailed off in an enraged growl. "And now...when Penny's about to lose the second father she's had, you're just going to slip off with a smile, like going to sleep. This isn't nearly good enough! This doesn't come _close_ to making up for everything that you've done!" His left hand clenched into a fist and his right's grip on Tenro tightened until his knuckles turned white, tremors of anger running up and down his whole body.

"K-Kyo..." Yang shivered at the feeling of anger that poured out of her lover's body. She didn't want him to go on. This was bad enough for Penny. She shouldn't have to lose her father while the boy she'd grown so close to cursed him through his passing.

"Fuck it!" snarled Kyo, startling everybody. "Fuck it all! There's no way in Hell I'm letting you off that easily, you bastard!" He raised his sword high, now standing over Murasame like an executioner.

"Kyo! Don't-!" shouted Yang, lurching forward to stop him.

She was too late, too tired, too spent. There was nothing she or any of the others could do as Kyo's sword descended. Then, to their shock, his blade bit, not into Murasame's neck, but into the skin of his own left arm, opening up a shallow cut with a single, swift movement. Then, he swung his left arm in a wide arc, scattering droplets of his blood all around him, splattering everyone.

Yang opened her mouth to ask what Kyo even thought he was doing, then gasped instead as a feeling like fire raced over her, burning across her entire body. In its wake, she felt...good-No!-better than good. She felt great, _incredible_. Her entire body felt completely renewed, the pain of her injuries, the fatigue of her exertions, they were all gone, as though the fights before had been nothing more than a dream.

Looking around her, Yang saw that she wasn't the only one. While their clothes still bore the signs of their previous battles, everyone otherwise looked as good as new. Then she gasped again, her eyes immediately going to Murasame. His body was whole again, his legs and waist completely restored, all his cuts closed. His Aura, which had been on the verge of vanishing entirely, now brimmed with renewed strength. The damage to his clothing aside, it was as though the blow Kyo had used to lay him low had never occurred.

"Unbelievable," gasped Weiss, falling to her knees in shock.

Saisei merged her tails back into one and hugged it tightly. "So this is the power of the True Mibu," she said, her voice a terrified and awed murmur. "He can command regenerative power beyond even my healing arts...No wonder they were called gods."

Yang's eyes darted to Kyo, seeing that he had healed himself too apparently.

"Kyo..." said Murasame, haltingly sitting up as a frantic Penny helped to support him. "You..."

"I broke my promise," said Kyo coldly. "I broke the promise I made to myself, not to indulge in the power of the True Mibu. But I know this will be the _only_ time. This is your last chance, Murasame. There won't be any others."

"Why?" asked Murasame. "Why save me...after all I've done?"

"I didn't save you," said Kyo, glaring at Murasame. "This is your punishment."

"My punishment?" asked Murasame, blinking on confusion. Beside him, Penny looked just as befuddled, though her own confusion warred with her elation at her father's recovery.

"You don't get to atone for your crimes by dying," said Kyo. "That's too easy an end for you. You're going to have to _live_ from now on."

"But...after everything...I could never serve the Clan again," said Murasame despairingly. "They would never accept me-"

"And they shouldn't!" snapped Kyo. "You don't get to go back. You don't live for the Clan, or even yourself."

"Then what?" asked Murasame.

"That's obvious," spat Kyo. "You live for Penny now. She is the reason you're still alive, so, as of now, she is your only reason for living. You are no longer Murasame of the Taishiro or the Mibu Blademaster, nor are you Shatora of the Junishinsho. From now on, you are Penny's father...and nothing more. That is your sole purpose now...to be the very best father you can be for Penny, to give her the most complete and perfect love you can. That's your punishment, that's how you earn your atonement."

Silence descended after Kyo's pronouncement. Murasame lowered his head, then began to shake, his body quaking in silent sobs as tears spilled down his cheeks. "You...you are such a cruel boy, Kyo."

"Cruel...?" wondered Ruby.

"To think that you could envision such a cruel punishment," continued Murasame, "a punishment that would force the punished to thank you with his heart and soul. Thank you...Kyo."

"Papa!" asked Penny, tears still streaming down her cheeks as she now hugged Murasame around the shoulders.

Murasame looked up at Penny. "I'm so sorry, Penny," he said. "I was such a fool. Please...let me be your father again. I promise to do it right this time."

"Of course!" wailed Penny, throwing herself against Murasame, knocking him back down and laying atop him, crying and sobbing as she hugged him with all her might. Murasame's arms found their way around her and he hugged her back with just as much vigor, the two of them losing themselves in their relief and their love as the others looked on with relieved smiles.

* * *

 **For those familiar with the SDK manga, this is something the original Kyo pulls at the end of his duel with Kyoshiro. I didn't want for it to be an absolute parallel and...well...let's just say that there will be consequences for doing this, and pretty immediate ones at that. Kyo doesn't break his own word lightly.**


	103. Chapter 103

**Chapter 103:**

"Hey! Where'd the picture go?" asked Qrow.

Something strange had happened. The tide of battle had mysteriously turned. Kyo had suddenly begun to overpower Murasame. Then...to the shock of everyone watching, he had unleashed all Four Secrets of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_. They'd seen Murasame block and nullify his attack, certain that it spelled Kyo's end...only for whatever signal Nobunaga had used to override the CCT to cut out suddenly.

"You think this is Nobunaga's doing?" asked Ozma, looking worriedly at Makoto.

"I doubt it," said Makoto. "He would want the world to see Kyo's fall. Furthermore, if Kyo was about to win...he would still wish for us to see it, so that the despair could be compounded, should he kill Kyo afterwards."

"What other option is there?" wondered Pastoria.

"Something else..." mused Makoto, "...something, perhaps, capable of cutting through even the power of the True Mibu, a force that transcends it. If such a power struck in the vicinity of Nobunaga, whatever signal he is producing might be disrupted. We shall just have to see."

* * *

Watching Penny hug her father as the two of them wept, Yang felt a weight lift from her heart. It made her glad to see Penny get the happy ending that had been denied to her repeatedly. Hearing a sniff, she looked over and saw Ruby smiling and wiping her eyes.

Then Yang noticed Kyo turn and walk way, moving to the edge of the crater he'd created to stand alone, staring off into space.

Going over to him, Yang rested her hand on his shoulder. "Kyo...are you okay?"

Kyo looked around at the cut he'd etched in his arm. Already, his Aura was closing it. "I broke my promise," he said softly.

"To not use your True Mibu power?" asked Yang.

Kyo nodded. "The damage I'd done to Murasame exceeded Saisei's, even Makoto-sama's, ability to heal. There was no way he could have come back from that...unless I intervened. I..." He closed his eyes and bowed his head, a shudder of disgust running through him. "...I just couldn't leave it like that...let Penny lose her second father, not after her original father had been murdered. And he was smiling like he was so at peace with it, as though it didn't matter how much it would hurt her to lose him and..." Kyo shuddered again.

"I understand," said Yang, squeezing Kyo's shoulder. "We all felt the same way. Even if Murasame was a bastard who stabbed everyone who cared about and trusted him in the back, no one wanted to see Penny go through losing her father a second time. Not a single one of us thinks you did the wrong thing."

"But I can't do that...not again," said Kyo, staring down at his hands. "If I do...if I give in to that power...I don't know if I'll _ever_ be able to stop."

Yang opened her mouth to assure him that he would be able to stop, but stopped herself. After all, that's what she'd heard about drug addicts and drunks, who weren't her uncle. Some realized what they were doing, and the harm they were doing to themselves, and vowed to stop. But the temptation to indulge once again was often too overpowering. It was never easy to give up something tempting...and Kyo's temptation would be to wield godlike power for whatever he deemed necessary.

"Then just this once," she said. "You won't do it again. You can hold it back."

"Can I?" asked Kyo, looking at her with bitter eyes. "What if, next time, it's _you?_ What if _you're_ kneeling next to your father, your uncle, or Ruby, watching the blood drain out of one of them, knowing they can't be saved through normal means? If I stood by and did nothing, because of that vow..."

Yang's mouth worked silently, her heart nearly stopping at the prospect of being in Penny's place, watching the life leach away from the one she loved, while being powerless to do anything. It was easy to say that wouldn't happen. It was easy to say that she'd never let Ruby, or anyone else in her family, wind up like that...but that was unrealistic. They were Huntsmen and Huntresses, people who sought out danger in a dangerous world. Even if they won this battle, there were no guarantees that something worse wouldn't be lurking in the future. They were skilled, but even the best had lapses, moments of vulnerability, where they let their guards down. There were no guarantees in the future that Yang _wouldn't_ be where Penny was, someday.

If she was...and Kyo was standing by, just watching, when she knew he had the power to save them...what would happen then?

"I...I don't know," she said finally.

Kyo nodded. "I don't know either. I don't know if I could stand by and watch. The elation I felt when I saw Penny's face after that..."

"What if we drew the line," said Yang. "You've vowed never to bring back the dead."

"True," said Kyo. "But even coming to the edge of that line is dangerous. Suppose we are just a little too late. Do I decide to save someone because they've only been dead a few minutes...what about a few hours?"

"I..." Yang's mind painted a nightmare scenario, the two of them running to Ruby's aid, only to find out they were too late, to kneel there, cradling her sister's lifeless body. If she had been just a few seconds faster... If she looked at Kyo then, could she stop herself from asking him to bring Ruby back? Would she be able to forgive him if he said no?

It was easy to say that she would, that she could resist the temptation to take out her frustration on Kyo, to blame him for holding true to a vow that kept him from becoming a monster. But people were rarely rational in the throes of emotion. Would she be able to remember the importance of Kyo's vow? Would she be able to respect his choice...his decision.

"I don't know," she admitted finally. "I guess it's something we need to talk about. We will...once we're done here."

Kyo swallowed and nodded. "Now, I suppose it is time we dealt with Nobunaga."

" _I suppose that it is._ "

Yang froze, unable to say anything. The very breath in her lungs froze, and a sense of indescribable fear filled her. She could suddenly feel Nobunaga's presence, swirling all around them. It was the same ravenous, devouring Aura she'd felt back in Atlas...but more overpowering by an order of magnitude.

" _You have triumphed over my chosen warriors. You've overcome every obstacle...and not a single one of you perished. Truly a remarkable feat._ "

Kyo took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, letting his spirit settle. "Are you going to show yourself, Nobunaga?"

" _Of course,_ " replied Nobunaga. "After all, I've been here all along."

All of a sudden, his voice was coming from just in front of them. The darkness of the seemingly endless cavern drew back like a curtain to reveal Nobunaga. He rested on a throne of black stone, perched atop a dais, a perverse reflection of the one that held Kyoichiro's throne, back in Onmyo.

A sickening feeling passed through the group as they looked upon Nobunaga once again. They took in the sight of Kyo's father, his form now perverted and corrupted, his left eye a perfect circle amidst scars of burnt skin. The savage, bloodthirsty grin that he wore looked so completely out of place on Kyoichiro's face that it wasn't hard to accept that Kyo's father was no longer there.

"Still," said Nobunaga in an idle tone, "while I didn't expect you to win...Shatora...I must say that I'm disappointed that you didn't manage to send at least one of Kyo's friends to Hell."

Murasame sat up and faced Nobunaga with a grim look, his eyes narrowing.

Then Nobunaga's glance slid over to Penny. "I had few expectations of you Antera. But you were singularly pathetic"

Penny paled and quailed beneath the look Nobunaga gave her. She clung tightly to Murasame who held her, his expression still grim as he watched Nobunaga.

Then Kyo stepped to place himself before Murasame and Penny, drawing Nobunaga's eyes to him. "I am your opponent," he said firmly.

"Indeed you are," said Nobunaga, rising off his throne. "You are, all of you, formidable. Indara, Makora, Haira, Ajira, Bikara, Basara, Mekira, Kubira, Santera, Shindara, all dead; Shatora and Antera have chosen to betray me; my inner circle in shambles. Yet..." He began to step down the stairs of the dais. "...so long as I remain, I will have victory. With but a a thought, I can return those defeated to the world of the living. I will even remake them into stronger generals to facilitate my rule of this world."

"That's not going to happen," said Kyo. "The dead do not need to be brought back, Nobunaga. Let them rest."

"Those who rest do so at my largess," said Nobunaga dismissively, reaching the bottom of the dais. "Those who have pledged their lives and swords to my service are bound to do so beyond the reach of death itself. So I decree...as the new God of this world."

"You...a god?" asked Kyo skeptically.

"Of course," said Nobunaga dismissively. "You children of the Line of Kyo dismiss the divine power that flows through my veins, the very same power that, once, long ago, set in motion the events of my own creation. If you will not wield this power, then I _shall_. I will exercise it over the world, and pass judgment upon all before me." He walked across the stone floor of the cavern, until he stood, face to face, with Kyo.

"I won't allow that," said Kyo.

"Then pass your judgment on _me_ ," said Nobunaga, his grin widening, "just as you did Shatora. Where you spared him, you would choose to smite me. You have already tasted that power, Kyo, the power to inflict your will upon this world, regardless of what is meant to be. Now...embrace it! Call forth your power as one of the True Mibu, and unleash it to cast me down upon the stones."

Nobunaga's words caused Kyo's skin to go pale and his throat to lurch alarmingly. Beside him, Yang felt sick. It didn't feel fair for Nobunaga to use Kyo's decision to save Murasame against him like that. But then she realized something. Nobunaga wasn't merely picking at Kyo's insecurity...he was completely sincere.

 _Of course, since he's a god too now, I guess he would think that way,_ thought Yang. Just as Kyo was the only one who could stand before the godlike power of Nobunaga, in the True Mibu body of Kyo's father, so too was Nobunaga one who, if Kyo tried to pass judgment on him, possessed the power to oppose that judgment, maybe even overrule it. He was calling upon Kyo to face him as an opponent, as an equal.

"I do not know what power you tapped into to defeat Shadora," said Nobunaga. "But it will be worthless against me. I have _all_ the power of the True Mibu, all the power of God, free to create, shape, and destroy as I see fit. Unless you are willing to embrace that power as well...your death is an absolute certainty."

Nobunaga came to a stop, he and Kyo now just standing a few feet apart, well within the striking distance of each other's swords. Nobunaga's fingers curled around the handle of his own blade, which slid forth with a low, grating sound as he drew it slowly and deliberately, before taking a casual stance, with the blade at his side, hanging down slightly, matching Kyo's own position.

"We'll see," said Kyo. "The entire point of that was to obtain power to surpass the True Mibu."

"Maybe..." said Nobunaga. "But I can guarantee...there is no power that surpasses _me_."

"Yang..." said Kyo, not taking his eyes off Nobunaga, "...stand back, please."

Yang swallowed and did as she was told. Truth be told, the last thing she wanted to do was sit this battle out. This was their final fight, with the fate of the entire world at stake. If Nobunaga won, everything was over, and all their previous struggles would be meaningless. It didn't seem fair. After overcoming all of his servants, they now stood before the mastermind himself, yet he didn't seem to even rate their victories as an inconvenience, rather, seeming to consider the whole set of battles that had preceded this one as nothing more than entertainment for himself. Yang still remembered the final fight against Salem and her remaining minions. Even though Salem had remained calm about the damage done to her plans, she had definitely conceded that they had been set back by years, thanks to what her enemies had done.

 _He has the power of a god,_ thought Yang. That apparently gave him the ability to override all that in an instant, just like hitting the reset button.

"Tell me," said Kyo, apparently having similar thoughts to Yang's, "why do this, Nobunaga? Why go through all this trouble? If you have no qualms about using your power, why allow everything to ride on this?"

"This is all that truly matters now," said Nobunaga, his Aura spreading through the air around him. Once again, Yang's eyes showed her skeletal figures writhing in agony, trying to escape, yet being perpetually pulled back. But now they were tormented by crimson flames as well. "Once your corpse is cooling on the earth, taking this world shall be a formality. But all this was set in motion by your ancestor. The day he appeared before me, he showed me the glorious sensation of striving towards the summit, of seizing the title of the strongest. Now...against you, I shall finally end this long trial between your line and me. In doing so, I shall take that position with my own hands."

Kyo's fingers tightened around the handle of his blade and his eyes narrowed. His own Aura exploded forth, flooding the air around him with swirling, crimson wind, striving against Nobunaga's own. The air between them filled with a tension so powerful that Yang found herself struggling to breathe, forcing her to retreat further. She wasn't the only one. The others, including Murasame and Penny, were falling back, all of them pale and covered with nervous sweat.

"Interesting..." said Nobunaga with a quizzical tilt of his head. "You have no reservations about facing me, even though I stand before you in your father's body?"

"None," said Kyo. "I know what Father did. He surrendered that body to you, allowed you full rein, and his own soul to be forced out. My father is no longer in there with you."

"Quite true," said Nobunaga. "I must admit I was surprised by that development."

"He did it for me," said Kyo. "When I faced you, he wanted it to be without hesitation, no holding back on the slim, maybe nonexistent chance of saving him. He sacrificed himself, so that I would not withhold anything from this battle."

"Admirable," said Nobunaga with a grin. "Now I have even _more_ to be grateful to your father for."

 _I don't want to sit this out,_ thought Yang. At this point, they should have been throwing everything they had, including the kitchen sink, at the final villain, the last roadblock to their victory. This was the time to pull out all the stops and go all-in. But she didn't really have a choice. None of them did. This was now a struggle between the last of the True Mibu, and a demon in the body of the same. This fight would likely enter into the realm of a clash between divine beings. As much as it irked her to admit it, there might be no place for mere mortals in this.

Then Yang swallowed, a strange feeling of disappointment filling her. _When did I start thinking of Kyo like a god?_

She was so perplexed by the strange notion, that she was caught off-guard when the final battle began.

Kyo and Nobunaga moved simultaneously. It was almost like watching the flickering of a movie screen, where the movie being played suddenly skipped a frame. The two of them blurred and, the next instant, their swords clashed against one another with a deafening ring that was only enhanced by the howling cries of the blades themselves, as they awakened at their wielders' command and threw their own Auras into the battle as well.

The resulting shockwave from their initial clash blew Yang clear off her feet. She wasn't the only one.

Saisei wrapped her arms and tails protectively around Neo as the two of them were thrown back, slamming hard into the ground. Saisei took the brunt of the impact, which, naturally, healed quite quickly for her, though, from the look on her face, Yang could see that she was enduring some pain as a consequence, which was shocking.

Ren was thrown backwards, Nora along with him, the two of them colliding painfully as they hit the ground and skidded to a stop. Beside them, Weiss barely managed to cushion her and Hayate's landing with a series of glyphs, though they were both a bit more haggard as they struggled to their feet. Meanwhile, Blake escaped harm by wrapping her shadow around herself, but still had to force herself to stand up after the shock of what had just happened.

Nigel's sword flashed white as it emerged from his sheath, cutting into the shockwave to part it around him. Beside him, Murasame held Penny close, pushing his right hand ahead of him and Projecting out his Aura to shield the two of them.

Jaune had, somehow, seen this coming, wrapping an arm tightly around Ruby's shoulders and holding her close, even as he unfolded his shield, without drawing his sword, and drove its end into the ground, hunkering the two of them down behind it as much as he could manage, the white flair of his Aura expanding the shield's protection just as the shockwave reached them. Even then, it still forced the pair back along the ground, the shield digging a trench as it was pushed back.

Jaune and Ruby, along with Murasame and Penny, were the only ones still on their feet after that...and it was just the opening blow of the battle. Without even needing to converse, Jaune moved forward, while everyone else settled behind him. Saisei came up and rested her hands on his shoulders, using her skills to enhance his power as his shield expanded outwards, creating a clear, shimmering barrier that would hopefully protect them from further buffeting, though none of them knew for how long.

In the meantime, Kyo and Nobunaga paused in the wake of their opening blow, the two of them straining against each other, their swords grating as they strained. With simultaneous roars of exertion, the two of them surged with as much strength as they could put forth, knocking each other back, their feet digging trenches through the solid stone of the cavern floor.

Kyo waisted no time, his Aura flaring around him as he brought his sword down. " _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Suzaku!_ "

Their observers' jaws dropped as not one, but _three_ birdlike forms burst forth, spreading and surging outwards, their rushing progress shredding the earth as they closed in on Nobunaga simultaneously.

Nobunaga roared as well...roared with laughter, that is. The look on his face was nothing short of exultant as he launched his own attack. " _Tenma Ryoga Koran!_ " Three skeletal apparitions surged out to meet the incoming birds, all six attacks colliding and making the explosion of their initial clash pale in comparison. Smoke and dust blossomed out to engulf both warriors.

The earth shook and split, a yawning chasm opening where the swordsmen's attacks had met. Jaune and Saisei's joint barrier held...barely...but the two of them soon became drenched with sweat from the effort to maintain it.

Murasame moved behind Saisei and took one of her tails into his hands, feeding his Aura into her to help support their shield, which solidified further, turning the space under its protection into a spot of calm amid the ocean of chaos.

From out of the smoke, the two fighters leapt upwards, Kyo and Nobunaga crossing blades once again, this time in midair. With nothing to brace against, they repelled one another immediately.

"Just one battle, and you've already become so much stronger, Kyo!" shouted Nobunaga over the ring of their blades as they fell back, their Auras pushing away the dust and smoke, so there was nothing to obstruct the view as they charged one another again. "Or did you just stop holding back?"

"I've never held back anything!" Kyo shouted back, his Crimson Eyes blazing as they came together yet again.

"Yet you're not giving it your all either!" Nobunaga shouted again as they clashed, their blades ringing as they exchanged well over a dozen blows in a second, their weapons becoming blurs of silver, starbursts of their Auras exploding in the space between them. "This is only the beginning! I want to taste the true flavor of our struggle! Come! Take me to the edge!"

Kyo growled and merely attacked more aggressively, forcing Nobunaga back with a flurry of blows with an intensity that caused him to fall back and fight more defensively, before he jumped over a wide side-slash, flying back through the air to land further away.

"If you're reluctant, I shall go first!" yelled Nobunaga, his Aura of black and red flaring around him yet again. His eyes transformed, the crimson of his irises flaring outwards to swallow the whites, while his pupils shrank down. His Aura exploded even further, the writhing, skeletal figures that appeared to make it up seeming to merge together into an even larger figure that rose behind Nobunaga as he brandished his sword. " _Gashadokuro!_ "

A truly massive skeletal apparition, its bones seemingly made up of countless smaller bones from thousands of skeletons, lunged forward, its outstretched hand merging with Nobunaga's slash in a massive, surging shockwave that threatened to swallow Kyo whole.

" _Genbu!_ " Kyo shouted. The gigantic apparition's claws slammed into Genbu's barrier, which crackled against the skeletal fingers. Cracks in the lattice of protective winds that kept Kyo safe began to appear. Just when it seemed that the Black Turtle's shell was about to break, the winding serpents of the attack lunged out, curling around the manifestation of Nobunaga's technique, constricting around it with crushing force. Finally, with an enormous explosion, both techniques shattered, completely obscuring Kyo from sight.

Nobunaga's True Crimson Eyes were fixed on the space where Kyo had been, yet he didn't seem caught off-guard when Kyo seemed to appear behind him, Kyo's own eyes having shifted as well. Kyo now stood in a stance similar to that of someone about to draw their sword, with his hand appearing to act as the sword's sheath. " _Byakko!_ "

The White Tiger lunged out, slashing with its claws at Nobunaga, who laughed as he turned to meet it, his sword clashing against the claws of wind. However, those claws then wrapped around him in a powerful tornado as Kyo rode the winds of his own attack, closing in as Nobunaga was pulled in himself.

As Kyo's sword seemed to merge with the tiger's fangs, Nobunaga reversed his grip on his sword and drove it into the earth at his feet. A bone-white light, like a miniature star, appeared, radiating out of the center of his chest, a field of shimmering black surrounding it. In less than a second, both the black and white reached a critical point. " _Tenma Goukasho!_ " The field of black shattered as the white point exploded out from Nobunaga's body, completely annihilating Kyo's _Byakko_ and appearing to swallow Kyo himself.

Silence descended, punctuated by the sounds of stones of various sizes falling back to earth. The light cleared, revealing Nobunaga standing at the center of a crater, his eyes blazing like red suns as he grinned at Kyo, who was crouched, having driven his sword into the earth to anchor himself. Kyo was at the edge of the crater, now sporting several cuts of varying sizes across the skin that had been pristine, when he'd healed himself and the others.

Standing up, Nobunaga raised his head and laughed. "Glorious!" he shouted. "But there is still more yet to see. This is the final battle, Kyo! Hold nothing back!"

Kyo stood up and glared at Nobunaga.

"Something's wrong," said Yang.

"What?" asked Ruby, looking at her in confusion.

"I see it too," said Hayate.

"Me too," agreed Saisei.

"What?" asked Weiss, looking to Hayate.

"Kyo's _not_ smiling," said Yang. "Normally, in an intense fight, he'd be grinning like a loon right now."

Saisei and Hayate both nodded in grim agreement.

During his previous fight with Nobunaga, Kyo had been grinning like a madman. Only when the fatigue of his earlier battle with Ironwood's army began to tell, did his smile begin to falter. Right now, despite having managed to restore his own strength and Aura, along with his body, through the use of his True Mibu power, Kyo now looked distinctly troubled.

 _Don't tell me he's still worried about what he did?_ thought Yang, her stomach churning uncomfortably at the thought. Was Kyo still troubled about his moment of weakness, and his decision to tap into his True Mibu power in order to save Murasame, as well as heal the rest of them, and even himself?

Nobunaga seemed to notice Kyo's attitude, tilting his head as he looked at Kyo inquisitively. "You seem to lack the enthusiasm we had, when last we fought. In fact..." Nobunaga sniffed the air. "...I detect the the smell of...fear...from you. How...odd."

Kyo's expression remained grim as he rose upright, clenching his sword tightly as he held it at his side.

"Yes..." said Nobunaga, nodding to himself. "I smell fear from you...fear of this fight." He growled, baring his teeth. "You insult me, Kyo. Fear of me I could understand. I would even be proud to impart such fear into the likes of you. But fear of battle, of _our_ battle...that is nothing less than unacceptable. Has the Line of Kyo truly dwindled to such a pathetic extent that you would shrink from this?"

"I do not shrink from anything," said Kyo firmly.

"Is that so?" wondered Nobunaga. "Let me test that." Yet again his Aura flared around him. "When I take a new vessel, I take its latent power, including the special abilities it possessed."

"You won't be able to use the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ ," said Kyo with firm conviction. "The other reason my father surrendered his body so easily was so that he could depart with the knowledge and skill contained within his soul."

"Quite true," agreed Nobunaga. "However, I also have the powers of my previous vessels as well, including the power of the shaman, Shiina Nozomu. With his ability, I can look into this body's past and comprehend all the techniques it has commanded."

Kyo tensed.

"Worry not," said Nobunaga, smirking. "I won't use the arts of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ against you. Rather, I have used the knowledge I have gained to create new techniques to celebrate this form. You experienced one of them just a moment ago. Now, allow me to show you another!"

The black and red Aura wrapped around Nobunaga in a shroud of blood-veined darkness as he raised his blade, before swinging it straight downwards. " _Yatagarasu!_ "

Wings of black, edged with red, spread outwards, and the shape of a three-legged crow took to the air with a harsh caw that made the onlookers wince and cover their ears.

"That's like..." gasped Yang.

"Kyo's _Suzaku_ ," said Saisei, her face pale.

The three-legged crow charged straight for Kyo, who raised his own sword to meet it head-on. The gigantic bird let out another echoing caw as it struck with its beak and all three of its legs, the explosion of its impact seeming to swallow Kyo whole.

"Did he get away?" asked Ruby, peeking past Jaune.

The smoke and dust thrown up by the explosive force of his attack had nearly reached Nobunaga as well. Then, Kyo exploded out from the smoke, flanking Nobunaga, his sword raised to strike.

"He dodged it!" shouted Nora with relief.

"Did he?" asked Saisei.

Kyo's sword halted mere inches away from Nobunaga's neck, Nobunaga himself not even flinching. The reason became apparent as an ebony miasma had swirled around Kyo's arms and neck, restraining him completely. That miasma resolved into that of the three-legged crow, which cawed deafeningly as its grip tightened.

" _Yatagarasu_ is a spirit of guidance," intoned Nobunaga. "Its appearance symbolized the divine intervention in the mundane world. Block it, evade it, the three-legged crow will always guide my blade to find you, no matter what means you try to escape." Nobunaga now raised his sword, seeming to merge with the miasma of the fearsome bird, before sweeping past Kyo with a single stroke, his passage slashing Kyo's body countless times and sending blood flying through the air.

"Just like the Four Secrets," murmured Saisei, "Nobunaga's attack is a two-step technique, which only becomes more lethal when the opponent counters the initial blow."

Gasping in pain, Kyo collapsed to his knees.

"Stand up, Kyo," said Nobunaga, turning to face him again. "We haven't yet begun to push the limit of what we are capable of. Come, allow me to plumb the depths of my full power, push myself to the limit of this new form. That is what this battle is for!"

Grimacing, Kyo forced himself to his feet, turning to face Nobunaga as well. His True Crimson Eyes still blazed furiously, but there was something about his Aura that filled Yang with a sense of unease.

"This isn't right," she said, her voice nearly a whisper.

"What is it that you fear so?" asked Nobunaga, surging forward, striking with enough force to split the earth beneath Kyo's feet as he raised Tenro to parry. "Why do you shirk the power that flows through your blood? Why do you deny me this battle?"

"I'm not denying you anything!" shouted Kyo, shifting his weight to force Nobunaga back. He raised his blade with a roar, his crimson Aura flaring around him. " _Su-_!" He was cut off when Nobunaga's left hand slammed into his face. Nobunaga had reversed his momentum and charged back in, now striking Kyo with his empty hand, before Kyo could even get his attack off. Stepping forward, Nobunaga leaned into the blow so that he thew Kyo back, slamming his head into the ground with enough force to break stone.

"Lazy...sloppy...weak," snarled Nobunaga, no longer smiling, instead baring his teeth in an angry sneer as he glared at the fallen Kyo. "There was more substance to you when we fought in Atlas. Hesitate against me, and it will cost your life."

Groaning, Kyo forced himself back up. He shook his head to clear it, but then another spout of blood seemed to explode out from his forehead as a cut, which hadn't been there before, suddenly opened, the pain driving Kyo back down to his knees again.

"Pathetic," growled Nobunaga. "Do not sully my victory like this, Kyo. Do you merely intend to hand it to me? In that case, simply bow your head and accept the inevitable. That would be preferable than the pitiful insult that is your idea of resistance."

"We'll see about pitiful," said Kyo, standing up. Now he charged forward, striking down at Nobunaga, who fended off Kyo's slashes with a disinterested expression, even as the flurry of wild-looking strikes caused him to fall back.

"There is more power to your blows, Kyo," said Nobunaga. "Yet I still do not feel your intent, your hunger for victory."

Kyo said nothing, merely continuing to hammer his blade against Nobunaga's with abandon.

"ENOUGH!" roared Nobunaga, his dark Aura exploding out of him, driving Kyo back with the force of that alone. "I tire of this farce! If you will not face me with the fullest extent of your will, Kyo, I will end you here and now!" He raised his blade, a familiar skeletal apparition emerging from behind him. " _Tenma Muku-!_ "

Nobunaga's voice cut off abruptly as the apparition he'd summoned suddenly shattered...along with the steel of Nobunaga's own sword. The Demon King froze in place, arm raised as though he was unable to comprehend what had just happened to him.

"From the very beginning, I've been aiming to win," declared Kyo, suddenly appearing in front of Nobunaga and slashing upwards. His blade scored a deep blow, Nobunaga skidding back as blood fountained out from a long cut up and across his chest, his mouth wide as he roared in pain.

"So that was Kyo's plan," said Hayate.

"What happened?" asked Weiss.

"However well-made it was, however lovingly he maintained it, the fact can't be changed that Nobunaga's sword was forged by human hands," said Hayate. "It can't match the quality of the virtually indestructible Muramasa blades, particularly the likes of Tenro. That sword is hundreds of thousands of years old. What's more, by taking on the body and power of the True Mibu, Nobunaga was straining the blade more than ever with the force of his own attacks. Kyo took advantage of that and, instead of focusing on Nobunaga, focused his strength and attacks on the sword itself, so that the clash between them would push it past the breaking point."

"That's great!" shouted Nora. "Kyo has him on the ropes now!"

"I doubt that," said Murasame quietly. "If defeating Nobunaga were as simple as breaking a single sword, even his favored partner, he would have been defeated permanently generations ago."

Meanwhile, Nobunaga was still recovering from the blow that had just landed. His fingers went up to touch his chest, wiping away some of the blood. Now Nobunaga held up the blood-smeared fingers in front of his face, inspecting them with an almost curious expression. Then his gaze turned down to the handle, which, aside from a small, jagged section of metal, was all that remained of his sword.

"How very clever," he mused. "And yet...I can still sense that your cleverness was born from the desire to avoid committing yourself to fight against me. You lack the will to try your power against my own, so you choose to rob me of my weapon instead."

"Whatever works," said Kyo, raising his sword.

"Fool, boy," said Nobunaga with a snort. "Samonji has served me well, but I suppose that is the limit of a sword forged by mortal hands. Fortunately, there exists a blade perfectly suited to me as I am now. I allowed Shindara to wield it in preference for my own beloved blade, but now, I have all the reason I need to claim it for my own."

Kyo's eyes widened. Nobunaga released his grip on the remains of his sword and then raised his hand, holding it up and out to the side slightly.

Saisei yelped as she was yanked off her feet, the strap holding the bundled Shibien on her back snapped, and the bundle itself flew up into the air, before parting before the Shibien's edge as the ebony sword sliced its way out of containment. At the same time, the handle that Nobunaga had dropped appeared to disassemble itself, the hilt and handle separating while the wrapping unwound itself to weave through the air around Nobunaga in serpentine motions, the shattered remains of Nobunaga's old sword dropping to the ground. The hilt and handle came back together just in time to meet Shibien's tang as it slid into place, before the wrapping wound itself back around.

The Shibien's Aura howled out from the blade, shedding waves of bone-white light, which merged with Nobunaga's red and black Aura, causing it to explode with even greater power than before.

"Ah...yes," said Nobunaga, heaving an ecstatic sigh. "I can feel your bloodlust. Even though you were once the blade of the enemy I hated most, I can feel a strong affinity for you. In my hand, you shall be sated."

 _That's why Nobunaga made sure we had the Shibien with us,_ thought Saisei, rubbing her shoulder, before moving to reestablish contact with Jaune to continue boosting his Aura. _Even he must have realized that his strength had surpassed the point where he could continue to rely on his old sword._

"Now then," said Nobunaga, leveling his sword at Kyo, who was simply staring at him, "let us bring this farce to its conclusion. I have grown weary of dallying with you, Kyo."

Nobunaga raised his arm out to the side, holding Shibien with its point oriented towards Kyo. His Aura condensed into a swirling, sickly miasma around his arm. A white, skull mask that reminded the observers uncomfortably of one of the Creatures of Grimm congealed into being, centered at Nobunaga's elbow, complete with glowing, red eyes, which blazed with malice, all of which focused on Kyo. From the top of the apparition's skull, two curving horns extended, the right one curving around to overlap with the profile of Nobunaga's sword. From behind, more of the entity's skeleton began to manifest, forming a spine, then extending out into spider-like legs as the size of Nobunaga's miasma extended.

" _Gyuki!_ " The horned beast launched itself at Kyo, crushing the ground beneath its passage as its horns threatened to spear through Kyo's body.

" _Genbu!_ " The serpents of wind that made up Kyo's attack rushed forward, trying to wind around Nobunaga's apparition before it could reach him. However, the monstrous attack powered right through them, right up until its horns slammed into the barrier of Kyo's wind. For the briefest of moments, Nobunaga's attack was stymied, before the barrier of wind cracked and the horns pierced through.

Sidestepping at the last second, Kyo barely managed to avoid being impaled by the horns, his defense having slowed Nobunaga's attack enough that Kyo was able to avoid it. However, he winced as the right horn grazed across the side of his torso, sending another line of blood flying through the air.

Still, Kyo pressed on, trying to counterattack. However, as soon as his right foot stepped down, the ground beneath it cracked then compacted downward and Kyo grunted, stumbling slightly, the entire right side of his body suddenly feeling like lead.

" _Gyuki_ 's horns compound your weight, making escape impossible," said Nobunaga smugly as the apparition rounded on Kyo once again. Kyo turned and braced himself. However, the apparition suddenly accelerated and Kyo's body was pierced multiple times by a series of savage thrusts, Nobunaga gliding past him, leaving Kyo's blood trailing through the air between them.

For a moment, Kyo remained where he was. Then he staggered and fell forward onto the ground.

"Kyo!" shouted Yang, lurching forward, wanting to reach out to him, but holding herself back. However much she disliked it, the fact remained that this battle was way out of her league. Interfering now was just asking to get herself torn apart by the titanic forces ravaging the earth around their small, protected space, which Jaune and Saisei were only just barely maintaining with Murasame's assistance.

It really was as though they were watching a clash of gods, a war between titanic figures, with power beyond their comprehension. Despite that, she could tell that Kyo's strength was flagging, not merely because of the wounds he had taken. Something was missing, something critical.

"Pathetic," said Nobunaga, standing over Kyo. "This is unsatisfying, Kyo. You were far more impressive during our first bout. Your strength was especially intense when you..." Nobunaga's voice trailed off and his mouth opened slightly. "Ahhhh...yes...that's right. _That's_ what motivates you. Beyond pride, beyond your own love of the fight, there is _that_..."

"What?" asked Nora, wondering what Nobunaga was getting at.

"Well...Kyo's strength really comes out when he..." Yang's throat suddenly convulsed and she fought the urge to gag. "Oh no..."

"Kyo's at his strongest when he's fighting to protect someone," finished Saisei, looking almost as ill as Yang felt.

"So that means that Nobunaga is going to..." said Weiss, her voice thick with fear.

Nobunaga turned away from Kyo and looked towards the others, huddled behind Jaune's shield. "Yes, that's right. When those you care about are in danger, that is when you are incited to draw out your full strength, Kyo."

"Nobunaga...leave them out of it," grunted Kyo as he forced himself up, his voice thick with pain.

"If you wish for that...then you must stop me," said Nobunaga, a wide, sadistic grin stretching across his face as he took one step towards the group, then another...then stopping. "No...not quite...We can do better than this."

"What?" wondered Yang.

"For this, a change of venue is required," said Nobunaga. He raised his left hand.

Suddenly, the earth began to shake and tremble beneath their feet. With a low rumble and the sound of stone grinding against stone, the ground lurched, then surged upwards. Above, the opening that Kyo's attack against Murasame had opened widened further, as Kyo, Nobunaga, and their audience rose upwards on a stone platform. It rose higher and higher, climbing out of the ground as the landscape around them began to warp. The pass that Nobunaga's forces had taken to assault Atlas widened and dropped, as though its ground was being fed into the earth beneath their feet, causing them to rise higher still. At some point, they reached a level where Atlas was clearly visible in the distance.

"Now the stage is set..." said Nobunaga, raising the tip of Shibien to the palm of his left hand and lightly flicking the blade across it, opening up a small cut. From it, a thin stream of blood splashed out, droplets flying into the air. They flew away from his hand, and towards the edge of the stone platform they had been moved to. There, the tiny droplets of blood spread outwards, their volume increasing with each passing second, becoming pools of darkness that looked sickeningly familiar. The pools began to ripple and undulate, dark figures rising out of them. "...and the stakes, raised."

"Grimm!" exclaimed Ruby, hefting her scythe.

"Not quite," said Nobunaga.

Indeed, the figures did bear a superficial resemblance to the creatures of Grimm, with bodies of the deepest black and glowing, fiery-red eyes. However, they were completely humanoid in form, true human forms, not the gaunt, pseudo-human forms of the Ghouls he had used to attack Atlas previously. They had no visible faces, save for their eyes. Furthermore, they were clad in armor and curved helms. Finally, they took up spears and swords, looking like soldiers or warriors.

"Behold the soldiers born from my blood!" declared Nobunaga. "Unceasing, ever multiplying, they are the ultimate manifestation of my power. From here, they will sweep down on that pathetic Kingdom. When they reach it, Atlas shall be overrun in minutes. They shall wash the streets with the blood of every living thing there, slaughtering all, until naught remains, killing everything, down to the last blade of grass." His ferocious grin fixed on Kyo. "Now then, are the stakes high enough for you, Kyo? Are you motivated to give it your all now?"

"Oh God!" whimpered Weiss, staring at the soldiers in horror as they swept out from the platform like a black tide, washing down its slope and to the pass, rushing in an ebony torrent towards the Kingdom of Atlas, which, at first, had seemed so distant, yet now seemed all too close.

"Nobunaga!" shouted Kyo, charging the Demon King furiously, slamming their swords together with enough force to shatter the earth beneath their feet yet again.

"Better!" shouted Nobunaga, before bracing and shoving Kyo away. "But not good enough! Give me more! Give me everything!"

"NOBUNAGA!" Kyo roared already closing the distance again, Tenro ringing like a huge, bronze bell. A swirling vortex exploded outwards from him as he closed in, the swirling winds closing around Nobunaga like a tornado and threatening to toss him up into the air.

"Ah, yes, the _Seiryu_ ," said Nobunaga with a laugh. "Allow me to show you my homage to this technique. _RYUKOTSU_!" Black and red swirling winds exploded out from Nobunaga's body as he and Kyo clashed swords again within the maelstrom.

The two of them rose up into the air, Nobunaga being lifted by a twister of azure wind, while Kyo was thrown into the sky within a cyclone of black wind. The winds Kyo had created wove together, forming scaled patterns as they stretched into the sky, forming the head of the Azure Dragon.

The black winds around Kyo formed a similar pattern, but plates of white bone emerged, forming ribs and spines as they formed around the dark nucleus that drew Kyo higher into the air, making it look as though he were rising through the throat of a ravenous beast. Finally, the twister of darkness crested, a horned dragon skull forming at its peak.

The two dragons writhed around each other as they rose up into the sky, making it unclear who was in the grip of which attack. At some point, the warriors merged with the winds of their respective techniques as the dragons curled back around and lunged towards one another with echoing roars. Their heads met, the fighters within striking with all their might. The world seemed to explode with a roar that dwarfed the explosions of even the mightiest Dust-warheads that Atlas could bring to bear.

Nobunaga and Kyo landed on the ground, a spiraling crater formed from their attacks having formed where they landed. Blood exploded from both their bodies, countless lacerations decorating their skin. Kyo gasped in pain and sagged, sinking to his knees. In contrast, Nobunaga only seemed invigorated.

"Much better!" he shouted. "But I _know_ there is more, Kyo. I wish to test myself against the strength you showed against your teacher. It seems that, despite my efforts, you require more motivation. And you shall have it."

He gestured contemptuously towards Kyo's friends. From the wellspring of darkness where his blood-warriors were emerging, a stream of them split off, circling around the battle to come at Kyo's friends.

"No!" shouted Kyo, forcing himself upright.

"Can we hold out against that?" asked Jaune, watching nervously as the blood-warriors closed in.

"Not for long," said Saisei.

"I guess we should fight back," said Yang, smashing her fists together. "I'm getting sick of sitting on the sidelines anyway."

"It's probably for the best," said Murasame, withdrawing his hand from Saisei's tail. "Simply staying put would allow them to completely encircle us. We can at least drive them back."

"Let's do it," said Ruby, brandishing Crescent Rose, her Silvery Eyes flashing.

"Penny, please buy me a little time," said Murasame, falling back behind his daughter. "I need to furnish myself with a new blade." From within his robes, he produced a sizable lump of metal. "Luckily, I always keep the raw materials on hand, but I will need a moment."

"Roger," said Penny, drawing the Kusanagi, which sang with its eagerness for battle.

"You good to go?" asked Hayate as he looked over at Weiss.

Weiss frowned, looking down at her own weapon. Kyo's power had not only restored her own strength and Aura, but had even restored the Etheric Crystal's full charge. It was as though the battle with Ajira hadn't taken place at all. "Yes," she said.

"Ready?" asked Nora, looking at Ren.

"Always," he said, smiling warmly at her.

Jaune with drew his weapon from the ground, drawing the sword out of the sheath and getting ready as the shield he created shrank back into the shield itself.

Blake drew her shadows around her, gripping both parts of Gambol Shroud at the ready.

Saisei fell back behind them. "I'll focus on support and healing," she said as her tails extended, weaving amongst them. "Keep me covered."

Neo nodded and twirled her umbrella, before leveling it at the incoming warriors and extending the blade from its tip.

"Stop this! shouted Kyo as the tide of blood and wrath broke over his friends.

"Stop _me!_ " Nobunaga shouted back. "My warriors cannot be felled easily, Kyo. They will press on, never faltering, all the while, their numbers increase. If you wish to stop them, you must defeat me!"

Kyo bared his teeth as he glared furiously at the Demon King. He lowered his eyes. _I don't have any choice,_ he thought. _In order to defeat him, I have to..._

"Now, come," said Nobunaga, beckoning Kyo, his trademark sadistic grin decorating his face. "It will be a while before my army is within striking distance of the Kingdom, but your friends will be lucky to last beyond the first minute, Kyo. Now is not the time for hesitation!"

With an angry cry, Kyo charged and threw himself at his nemesis.

* * *

 **Phew...this fight was a doozy to write, and we aren't done yet.**


	104. Chapter 104

**Chapter 104:**

Penny swung the Kusanagi in a broad slash, streams of cloud washing out from the blade's edge, spiraling out to form toothy maws that seized Nobunaga's blood-soldiers with crushing force, blasting them back and away, clearing the space immediately in front of her. More closed in in their wake, but Penny stood firm, determined to hold her ground as her father went to work.

Murasame stared into empty air and, suddenly, there was a spark in the space in front of him. A swirling maelstrom of fire blossomed outward, hovering in the air in front of him. Reaching out with his right hand, Murasame released the hunk of metal into the flames and began to mutter under his breath, calling out faint instructions to the metal heating within. All the while, Penny continued to keep him free to concentrate on his work.

Finally, Murasame reached into the flames and withdrew a fully-formed katana, the light of the dissipating flames gleaming off its magnificent finish.

"Not my best work," said Murasame, inspecting the blade. "This was a rush job, but it will do."

"I didn't know you could do that, Papa!" exclaimed Penny, glancing over her shoulder excitedly.

Murasame beamed at his daughter. "Well, I am the Mibu Blademaster after all. It stands to reason that I can forge a blade in any situation. Still..." he looked down at the blade. "I can only do my best work in my forge. Hopefully this will be enough to see us to the end of the battle."

He strode forward to stand beside Penny and raised his weapon, leveling it at the oncoming soldiers. As they closed in, he struck out, the white wave of his _Mizuchi_ exploding through their ranks, and sending them hurtling back through air.

Meanwhile, Weiss and Hayate fought back to back, exchanging positions as they worked around one another. Around Weiss, a series of small, sword-wheel glyphs flashed into being around them. With a flash, the forms of swords, spears, and other weapons emerged as Weiss summoned many of the various weapons she'd encountered through her experiences, sending them flying through the air to impale and cut down one another. Hayate's blades sparked with arks of lightning that leapt from one soldier to another amongst those he cut down, causing them to crumble into dust or evaporate into smoke.

Ruby and Jaune had formed a similar position. Ruby's scythe was lined with silver light, silvery wings extending out from the back of its head as she whirled it around her. Jaune's own sword flashed white, leaving trails through the air as he slashed at the incoming enemies, barriers of light forming to protect him and Ruby from enemy attacks.

Ren and Nora also worked in tandem. Nora's hammer whirled around her, turning the space around her into a virtual fortress of steel, fending off enemy strikes, but also slamming into the incoming soldiers and sending them flying. Ren seemed to orbit constantly around her in swift, elliptical motions that accelerated abruptly as he was flung away from her, his blades slashing and hacking, even as his guns spit violet shots lined with black.

Blake was virtually intangible to the enemy, their weapons failing to inflict injury as blades pierced into the shadows she'd wrapped around herself like a cloak. She wove between them, her blades flickering and slashing continuously.

Neo danced around Saisei, jabbing with the narrow blade of her umbrella, occasionally switching to whirling kicks, or drawing out the shaft to launch screaming bolts of fire-Dust at her enemies. When their blades found her body, it would shatter into mirror-like fragments that she would then dance between like a strobing camera flash. Meanwhile, Saisei concentrated on providing the best support she possibly could, her tails stretching out towards all her allies, brushing over them to bolster their Auras or heal minor injuries. Saisei herself paid no mind to their enemies, save to bat one away when it came close, their swords and spears cutting and piercing her body with no visible effect.

Of all of them, Nigel seemed to be having the most fun, apparently having the time of his life as Hakuya flashed around him, sending white crescents flying in all directions, carving swaths through the crowd of soldiers with such speed that they had no time to close in on him.

With a roar, Yang descended on a crowd of the soldiers with the force of a meteor, her right-handed punch unleashing a shockwave that scattered them and sent them sprawling. More immediately moved into the gap, and Yang was a blur of gold and silver, her arms flashing as she traded rapid blows, deflecting incoming attacks and repaying them with interest.

As good as they were doing, it merely seemed that they were prolonging the inevitable. For every soldier cut down or blasted over the horizon, four or five more seemed to step in to take their places. Just as Nobunaga had promised, their numbers only swelled with each passing moment.

Despite that, their minds were more on the plight of Atlas than anything else. They could hold out on their own well enough, but the warriors they were facing were but a fraction of the number that Nobunaga was creating. The horde that was rushing towards Atlas looked like an endless black river. _How long do they have?_ Yang wondered as she chanced a glance in that direction.

* * *

"This is bad," said Qrow, watching as the earth itself seemed to shift, the pass that led to Nobunaga's base widening and leveling out.

"This is the power of a god," whispered Winter with horror. "He's shaping the very earth...with his will? No amount of earth-Dust could change the very land on this scale."

"I am afraid that it is so," said Makoto in a grave tone.

"Nobunaga's broadcast has yet to resume," said Ozpin. "I have to wonder if this means that he was triumphant."

"I doubt that," said Makoto. "If that were the case, I have no doubt that Nobunaga would wish for the world to watch the final moments of his enemies to cement their despair. More likely, I believe that he has become wrapped up in something that has left him with no interest in maintaining the signal that would show his battle."

"So then what's this?" asked Qrow.

"Whatever is still going on, he may have decided to put pressure on us," said Makoto. "I cannot be sure of his reasoning."

"Well, there's not too much we need to be certain of," said Pastoria. "Look!"

He pointed to screen. In the distance, some kind of stone platform had risen up. From that platform, something black was emerging, streaming down its side and flooding through the path, proceeding inexorably towards Atlas. Winter zoomed in the cameras as much as possible, revealing a swelling army of black soldiers with glowing eyes.

"Nobunaga must be creating them," said Makoto.

"Does this mean he won?" wondered Winter worriedly. "He's beginning his conquest?"

"I'm not certain yet," said Makoto. "As I said, if he had been victorious, I believe he wouldn't hesitate to announce it. It matters not anyway. Our path is clear."

"It is?" asked Qrow.

"Yes," said Makoto. "I will rally the remaining Goyosei, and head these soldiers off. We will hold the line as long as possible."

"We will help, of course," said Ozpin.

"I would advise against that," said Makoto. "We probably aren't the only ones who have noticed the approach of this army. If the people of Atlas are aware of it as well..."

"Then the resulting anxiety and fear will call in the Grimm," said Pastoria.

"The forces of the Academies and the Kingdoms' militaries should be put to use against the Grimm," said Makoto. "My warriors and I do our best work if we don't have to worry about others in our vicinity."

"Very well," said Ozpin, already heading to the door to begin organizing his students. The other Headmasters were only a beat behind him.

"Are you certain about this?" asked Winter, looking intently at Makoto as he headed for the door as well. "Can you be sure that the others are still fighting?"

"I cannot," admitted Makoto. "However, I shall believe in them. Even if they have fallen, and this is the end, it is a moot point. I choose to believe in Kyo and his friends to the very end...even if it means I go to my grave a deluded fool. As such, the Goyosei and I shall hold your northeast border to our final breath. You have my word on that. We shall not let a single enemy past us while we yet live."

"Thank you," said Winter with a sad smile. "I'm grateful you would do so much for Atlas...after all that we have done to you."

"Ironwood, you mean," said Makoto with a chuckle. "We are wise enough to understand that he was a man who seized more power than he should have, and that he never spoke for all of you. Besides...in a way, this battle is a form of atonement for our clan."

"Atonement?" asked Qrow, raising a confused eyebrow.

"Our ancestors were the ones who created Nobunaga and loosed him upon the world," said Makoto. "It was millennia ago, but the responsibility still lies with us. So it is our duty to oppose him with all our strength."

"Good luck, then," said Winter, raising her hand in a salute as Makoto left through the door.

Left alone, she and Qrow looked at the screen. Despite Makoto's assurances, they couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat as the black army continued to swell, advancing on Atlas with malevolent intent.

* * *

"Stand firm," declared Makoto as he stood behind the remaining members of the arrayed Goyosei. "I shall attack first, and break their numbers down into a more manageable size. Your four will engage those who remain."

"Understood," said Taihaku as she tightened her hand around the handle of her sword before deliberately drawing it.

"I'm just glad to finally get some action," said Chinmei, already crouched and resting his sword over his shoulder as he grinned at the incoming soldiers.

"There's no way Kyo has lost yet," added Keikoku, working his spear through some spins.

"Yeah," agreed Shinrei. "It'd be pretty pathetic, if he allowed himself to be done in before us...wish we had Saisei with us though."

"She's where she needs to be," said Taihaku.

Makoto drew his sword and held it out to his side, his eyes fixed on the incoming horde. At this distance, he could make out the individual features of the enemy soldiers. Going by shape and profile, they were human, yet appeared to be formed of the same black substance that made up the Grimm, their eyes glowing with malice as they closed in. They brandished all manner of weapons in their hands, which meant they were a rather diversified fighting force. However, there was no scheme of organization to them. They did not march in corps, or arrange themselves into fighting units to better coordinate their actions. They simply moved forward with unified intent, seeming not to care how their weapons and strategies might interfere with one another in the coming battle. For the time being, it was apparent that they intended for their numbers to do the work for them.

And, unfortunately, as he looked towards their origin and saw ever more of them emerge, Makoto found himself believing that their numbers were more than enough.

With his mouth set in a grim, line, Makoto slashed across his body with his blade, leaving a blue line in the air. From that line, a surging torrent of water exploded forth, the writhing forms of dragons swimming through it as it surged up and over the heads of the Goyosei and slammed down on the front ranks of the approaching army. Immediately, the soldiers were swept away as the dragons wrapped around them and tore them to pieces, Makoto's water was a flood, driving the enemy back en-mass.

A flick of his wrist reversed his sword and then Makoto slashed it back across his body. The surging torrent of water stilled, for all of a second, then erupted upwards, countless, sinuous bodies rising in terrifying unison as a massive, and literal, wall of dragons ascended upwards, cresting high above the enemy forces, before diving over a substantial number of them to slam down into the ranks behind them, roaring like a rushing flood as they ripped and shredded, tearing the enemy soldiers apart.

The soldiers that Makoto's dragons had leapt over advanced without concern for the ones that fell behind them, nor the ones that had fallen before, rushing over the earth as they came on, their footfalls making the entire area shake with a continuous rumble.

"Showtime!" shouted Shinrei with a grin as he whirled his halberd.

Moving in unison, the Goyosei surged forward to meet the enemy.

Taihaku didn't seem to move at all as she advanced, her sword held up in front of her in a basic stance. Yet, as the enemy soldiers closed into her range, the air around her seemed to dance with flickering lights and the incoming soldiers fell, sliced silently to pieces, though Taihaku herself didn't seem to so much as flinch.

Shinrei whirled his halberd, surrounding himself with a swirling circle of dragons that lunged out and seized the enemy warriors in their jaws, crushing and rending them, even as the blade of his weapon cut through the others. He moved his body in an elegant dance, the steps of which seemed to guide his dragons through their movements.

Not far away, Chinmei dove, almost literally, into the enemy, going into a roll that carried him under their slashing blades and allowing him to enter right into their midst. The ones in his vicinity immediately rounded on him, their blades descending. However, Chinmei planted his left hand, lifting up his legs and kicking out, catching the descending blades on the metal soles of his geta-sandals and knocking them away as he flicked his hips in a circular motion. At the same time, he lashed out his blade, cutting the enemy's legs out from under them in the process.

Keikoku charged in with his spear leading, the Hokurakushimon shining and ringing as it pierced straight through the chest of the first soldier it struck, causing it to explode into black particles as Keikoku slashed and battered around him, cutting and smashing with equal measure. The enemy surged up around him, almost like a wave of darkness. However, Keikoku reversed his grip on his spear and then drove it into the ground at his feet. A wave of fire exploded out from him, completely immolating the enemy soldiers nearest, while blasting the rest away.

"Ha! These guys are lightweights," he said, standing upright and hefting his spear to meet the next group. "We can keep them back for hours like this."

"We may have to," said Makoto, not quite sharing Keikoku's enthusiasm, his eyes slowly rising towards the formation in the distance, where still more soldiers marched out.

* * *

Kyo attacked ferociously, Tenro a silvery blur as he slashed at Nobunaga again and again. However, the Demon King seemed to fend him off effortlessly, not even fully concentrating his attention on Kyo. "Well, it seems that your friends' preparations were more substantial than I expected. Having one of the Taishiro assist in holding the line has, no doubt, bolstered their defenses. Perhaps we shall see how long they can last."

Kyo grit his teeth, his True Crimson Eyes blazing with rage. _This isn't good enough! I need to hit him harder!_ He channeled his rage and frustration into his sword. In his anger, his restraint weakened, and he began to draw upon his True Mibu power. His blows suddenly became heavier and Nobunaga found himself straining to hold Kyo's onslaught back.

"Better," grunted Nobunaga with a slight exertion, before throwing Kyo back. "But not quite enough. You cannot defeat me by holding back, Kyo!" He suddenly went on the attack, the power and speed of his own strikes surpassing Kyo's own, forcing Kyo back and onto the defensive. "Know this, once you are dead, I shall kill your friends, one by one, assuming they're still alive by that time of course. I will save your woman for last. I will carve her heart out slowly."

"You...!" hissed Kyo, baring his teeth in an angry snarl. "I'm going to crush you!"

"You will try," taunted Nobunaga, unleashing a particularly powerful slash. Kyo barely caught it with his own sword, but was sent sliding backwards across the stone. " _Tenma Hyakki Yako!_ "

Nobunaga's sword became a flickering blur of bone-white lights dancing amid a sea of black as a swirling miasma billowed forth in a torrent. Within that miasma, spectral figures emerged, skeletal figures with leering skulls, wrapped in tattered robes. Some were vaguely human, others were twisted and distorted, others looking unquestionably demonic. There were far too many to count as they surged forward, riding on a tidal wave of bone-white slashes produced by Nobunaga's sword.

" _Genbu!_ " Kyo slashed the air, the shell of the Black Tortoise appearing before him even as the serpents of wind lashed out, wrapping around incoming figures with crushing force. However, still more came on, their hands merging with the white blades of Nobunaga's attack to slam into the barrier. More of _Genbu_ 's serpents reached out, trying to weave through the continuous attack and reach Nobunaga, but were themselves caught, crushed, and strangled.

 _Genbu_ 's shell began to crack. Kyo himself was driven back, his feet crushing the earth beneath him as he fought to hold his ground. _I need to push harder!_ he thought with all the fury singing through his veins. _I need to crush him! I don't care if I become a god or a monster!_ Even if it meant that he betrayed his decision not to call upon the True Mibu's power, even if it meant that he'd never be able to face Yang, or anyone else he cared about, ever again, he would still do it, if it meant killing Nobunaga, once and for all.

Still, Nobunaga's onslaught continued, more apparitions slamming against _Genbu_ 's shell, which cracked more and more.

 _Crush him...crush him...crush him...!_

But it seemed all for naught. The lattice of winds protecting Kyo finally gave way, and what remained of the horde of apparitions rushed in and fell upon Kyo like a terrible wave as his body was riddled by too many cuts to count, his blood flying in arcs through the air, his mouth open in a soundless scream as his body was on the verge of being cut to the pieces. Finally, he vanished in an explosion of wind and dust that completely obscured him from sight.

"KYO!" screamed Yang from where she was fighting. She began to desperately pound her way through Nobunaga's blood-soldiers, trying desperately to reach him. However, with each step she advanced the pressure of Nobunaga's constructs increased, and her progressed slowed, until she couldn't advance a single step.

"A pity," growled Nobunaga. "I had hoped that this would spur you to awaken, Kyo. But it appears that you were too hesitant to the very end. What a pathetic way to die."

Nobunaga turned away from the place where Kyo stood and cast his eyes towards Atlas. "First, I shall deal with this Kingdom, then I will return for the rest of you."

"Not on your life!" shouted Yang, pushing forward as much as she could.

"Then, perhaps-" Nobunaga began to turn towards Yang. But then he froze.

It wasn't just him that froze either. Everyone froze. Kyo's friends were suddenly locked in place, weapons raised, some of them even in mid-strike when they'd stopped. Not even Nobunaga's blood-soldiers had escaped the effect, now looking like spectral statues. The entire artificial plateau Nobunaga had created suddenly looked as though it had become frozen in time.

The reason behind the sudden cessation of...everything...was all too apparent, as the sensation of a familiar Aura descended upon them all. However, it was at a level and intensity beyond anything they had experienced before.

"Kyo..." said Yang, a faint quiver in her voice betraying her fear. Kyo's power had inspired fear in her before, but not like _this_. It was Kyo's Aura, yet it wasn't. It was like a familiar smell in a person's clothes, but worn by someone else. Worse still was the feeling that accompanied that Aura. It was pure wrath, an absolute hatred of everyone and everything.

"What is this?" rumbled Nobunaga, his voice betraying confusion at the sensation.

* * *

Sora lurched forward, her hands grasping the sides of her desk as she gasped for breath, the paperwork she'd been going through scattering through the air, her face pale and drawn.

"Sora!" Dougal was immediately at her side, his hands steadying her shoulders. "What's the matter?"

"It's..." Sora had to struggle for a moment to form a coherent sentence. "It's Kyo!"

"Has he...has he...died?" Dougal could barely bring himself to consider the possibility. It never occurred to him to question Sora's feeling, even though her son was on another continent entirely. He could only imagine what had occurred to cause such a tremendous reverberation through the bond that connected mother and son.

"No," said Sora, her tone distraught. "It's worse than that."

"Worse...?" Dougal's eyes widened as he wondered what prospect could frighten Sora than the possibility of her son's death.

Sora closed her eyes, then took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Then she took another...then another. After another minute, she calmed herself down, though tension still resided in every line of her body. "It's begun," she said finally, "the final test of those born into the Line of Kyo."

"Final test..." The bandages over the lower portion of Dougal's face hid his frown. "What is this?"

"The True Mibu's power is far more terrible than you could imagine," said Sora. "Ultimately, none of them can escape the temptation to use it. When they do, they are eventually drowned by that power. By losing himself in his True Mibu power, Kyo has become a force of pure destruction. He will destroy everything around him, and _continue_ destroying, until he has killed everything and everyone...until he has returned everything to nothing. Kyo is now a Demon-God."

"What do we do?" asked Dougal.

"We can do nothing," said Sora with a sniff, wiping her eyes. "It's out of our hands now. Kyo has no hope of overcoming this...not alone."

"What do you mean?" asked Dougal.

"None of those born into the Line of Kyo have overcome this test on their own," said Sora. "Power cannot overcome power. The only hope for victory lies in a simple soul."

"What?" Dougal tilted his head, not understanding what Sora was saying at all.

But Sora's thoughts were already elsewhere. _It's up to you...Yang Xiao Long. Please...save my son from himself._

* * *

A low rumble filled the air, an intense vibration that seemed to shake everything at an atomic level. Tension built. Nobunaga's gaze focused completely on the cloud of smoke and dust that had engulfed Kyo. Suddenly, the entire cloud was dispersed as something exploded out from within.

Kyo stood tall, no sign that his injuries were hampering him at all. However, that hardly seemed reassuring, not even for those who had placed their lives into his hands. Kyo's True Crimson Eyes blazed like miniature suns, their light throwing his tattered clothes into shadow. His skin had been completely blackened, as though burned. Across it, countless lines of raised flesh, like bulging veins, crossed over each other, giving his skin a completely inhuman texture. His left hand curled, the fingernails seeming to have extended like claws. His right hand clenched tightly around the handle of his sword. Tenro's ring had sharpened in pitch, almost making it sound as though the mighty sword was crying out in pain.

"Kyo...?" said Yang, barely able to even whisper as she stared at the thing the man she loved had become.

If her voice had carried to him, he showed no sign. Instead, he turned his head upward and opened his mouth, letting out a deafening roar that made the earth itself lurch as the ground around him shattered from the force of his Aura, which exploded outwards like the detonation of a bomb.

Yang reflexively crossed her gauntlets, her guard barely coming up in time as the pressure wave of Kyo's released Aura slammed into her, completely obliterating the blood-soldiers that had surrounded her before. Even then, she was blown off her feet, landing on her back with a yelp of surprise and pain.

The others fared just as badly. Like Yang, Jaune saw the explosion coming and immediately moved to shield himself and Ruby. They weathered the blast, but Jaune was left panting from the exertion. Likewise, Murasame acted to shield Penny, holding up his sword to conjure the wind-shell of _Genbu_. It too held. Ren and Nora clung to each other as they were blown back and slammed down to the earth with crushing force. Saisei barely managed to wrap her tails around herself and Neo before they too were sent flying. Blake's robe of shadows was completely shredded, leaving Blake crouched with barely enough strength to stand. Nigel plunged Hakuya in the ground to anchor himself. But, even then, he was pushed backwards several meters, growling with the sheer strain required to maintain his hold on his sword and remain upright. Weiss pierced the ground with Myrtenaster, a glyph with an image of Jaune's shield engraved in it appearing beneath her and Hayate, protecting the two of them. She grunted with the strain, but her glyph held, shattering into motes of light only after the worst of the explosion had passed, though Weiss slumped in exhaustion afterwards.

Kyo remained where he was. Then...his head lowered, and his gaze dropped back to Nobunaga, who had also been driven back by the force of Kyo's Aura. Kyo's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, his spine bending, crouching slightly, the change in his posture now suggesting something bestial...animalistic. Then he vanished, a black blur flashing between where he'd been standing and Nobunaga.

Nobunaga barely had the time to raise his sword in defense as Kyo's slash struck home. The force behind it was beyond anything Nobunaga had ever experienced before. Nobunaga strained against Kyo's power, held for a moment, then was sent flying backwards, plowing a furrow through the stone as he skidded to a stop on his back with a yell of pain and anger.

"This is..." said Nobunaga, beginning to get up. However, Kyo was already looming over him, having followed in the wake of his own attack as Nobunaga was thrown back. The Demon King raised his sword as Kyo's sword fell on him again, the impact driving Nobunaga's back into the ground causing the earth to crater where he lay, a line exploding out behind him, carving its way down the side of the plateau, and cleaving a swath through the motionless mass of the now-inert blood-soldiers.

A pained gasp escaped Nobunaga's mouth as Kyo bore down, then suddenly punched him in the face. Tenro clanged into the ground as Kyo released it, forgetting swordsmanship altogether as he fell atop Nobunaga, pummeling him relentlessly with his fists.

With a roar, Nobunaga Projected his own Aura, the explosion of raw power driving Kyo back just enough that the Demon King had the room to swing his sword. But Kyo seemed not to care, lifting one leg in a kick, which met Nobunaga's blade head on, Shibien's edge biting into Kyo's shin.

Yang opened her mouth to scream Kyo's name, but her voice died before the first syllable could emerge. Instead, she watched as Kyo powered through the sword lodged in his leg, and continued on to kick Nobunaga with enough force to send him sliding backwards across the ground, wrenching the blade free of his leg in a spray of blood. Kyo didn't even seem to notice the pain, barely pausing long enough to stoop down and grab his sword as he rushed after his quarry yet again.

 _What is this?_ Yang wondered. Then the memory of her last conversation with Sora rushed back to her. _Is this what she was warning me about?_

Even as she wondered that, Kyo fell on Nobunaga like a ton of bricks. There was none of his normal finesse or mastery of the sword in play, no technique, no skill, just raw power and pure savagery. Kyo's weapon was less of a sword and more of a hammer in his hand as he rained down blows on Nobunaga, who struggled to stand against the endless onslaught. The whole time, Kyo roared and howled like an animal.

"What is he doing?" asked Penny, turning to Murasame. "What's happened to him?"

"I...I don't know," said Murasame, his eyes wide. "I've never seen anything like this."

Nobunaga finally managed to break away from Kyo's attack, jumping back and trying to recover. "So...you've finally embraced your power, Kyo." He grinned viciously. "No...you've gone further than that. You've been swallowed by your power. You've reached the state that led the True Mibu to their doom...you've become a Demon-God."

"Demon-God?" Yang blinked.

Nobunaga threw back his head and let out a booming laugh. "Oh! Now this is true irony. You, who fought so furiously to protect this world, are now the greatest threat to its existence. Even if I fall here, you will not be able to stop. You will kill and kill and kill and kill...until nothing remains, fueled by the unstoppable divine power of the True Mibu."

"No..." whispered Yang.

Nobunaga's grin only widened as Kyo leapt at him again, roaring. Nobunaga roared back, his black Aura blossoming outward, a massive, skeletal figure rising behind him. " _Gashadokuro!_ "

Even as the massive apparition descended upon him, Kyo didn't seem to heed it, until his Aura burst out, completely shattering Nobunaga's attack with raw power. Kyo bulled ahead and locked swords with Nobunaga himself, before unleashing a flurry of powerful slashes that drove Nobunaga back.

"I won't be felled so easily!" Nobunaga yelled. However, he was overpowered, his sword flung out wide and Kyo's own blade cutting countless gashes into his body. Then Kyo raised Tenro overhead in a final, overwhelming blow. Nobunaga tried desperately to block it. However, it seemed futile as Kyo's weapon descended and the two of them were swallowed by the explosion that resulted from the impact.

In the wake of the explosion, the blood-soldiers born from Nobunaga's power abruptly evaporated into black smoke, scattering on the wind. An eerie silence settling on the plateau.

"He did it," said Jaune, awe, mixed with relief in his voice.

"It's over?" asked Weiss.

"I'm...I'm afraid not," said Blake, her already light skin growing paler as she pointed at the dust that had obscured Nobunaga and Kyo. "I think we're in for something even worse."

It wasn't hard to see what she was talking about. The dust was blown away by the wind of Kyo's Aura, revealing him standing there, glaring at them with the blazing, malevolent light of his True Crimson Eyes. Now...all that wrath and fury were focused on them, rather than the unmoving form of Nobunaga at his feet.

"Kyo..." said Yang warily.

Kyo twitched, then roared again, raising his sword and bringing it down in a powerful slash, the force of his blow sending a blade-like shockwave cutting a channel through the stone of the plateau, rushing straight for the others. They scattered to avoid the attack as it blasted through where they had been standing a second earlier.

Saisei landed in a clumsy tumble, having been preoccupied with knocking Neo out of the way. A shadow fell over her and she gasped, looking up to see Kyo looming above her, his sword raised.

"Kyo...?" she whispered, tears leaking from her eyes. "Don't you know me?" _It's like what they said would happen if Tenro overtook him, but a thousand times worse._

Kyo's sword descended. However, before it could reach Saisei, it was intercepted by a silvery gauntlet from the side, knocking the strike off by enough that it barely missed Saisei's body. With an angry growl, Yang stepped in in the wake of her attack and launched an uppercut with Ember Celica, catching Kyo right on the chin with her attack, the discharge knocking him into the air and backwards.

"God-dammit, Kyo!" she shouted as she placed herself between Kyo and the others. "Snap out of it!"

Kyo's only response was to howl in rage, and focus his wrath on Yang instead. To everyone's shock, Yang met him head-on. She met the slash of his blade with Kiren Kaina, releasing some of the power she'd accumulated through her Manifestation to deflect the attack, even as she drew the power released by herself and the clash against Kyo's attack against her back into herself, the golden, spiraling coils of a dragon's body circling around her, before flowing into the metal of her gauntlet. As she fought, Yang's eyes turned crimson.

 _I was such a fool,_ thought Yang, as she desperately clashed against Kyo again and again. It was even more terrifying than going up against her mother while Raven had been using the True Crimson Eyes. _I...I was weak. I let the idea of Kyo's power get to me. I forgot that the Kyo I fell in love with had nothing to do with the power of the True Mibu. It was_ never _about power!_

"Dammit, Kyo! You're stronger than this!" Yang ducked beneath a horizontal slash and came up inside Kyo's guard, not that he had much of a guard to speak of in this case, and struck with her right fist, slamming it right into the center of Kyo's chest, releasing a large portion of her accumulated power in the process. Kyo was blown back, his feet dragging through the stone as he fought to stand against the impact.

He was still for all of a second, then his eyes snapped up to meet hers, and Yang felt that mindless rage lock on her completely. _Fine by me,_ she thought. _If I let him harm his friends, if I let him go on to hurt the very people he was fighting to protect, I really_ will _have failed him. I have to stop this...I..._

Yang's eyes widened and she nearly choked at the thought that formed in her head. _No! I won't give up on you! I don't care how much power you have, Kyo!_

Kyo's mouth opened wider than it should have been physically capable of, letting out a roar that made the very earth tremble beneath her feet. Yang had never experienced such pure, unadulterated wrath. Kyo's Aura settled across the plateau like the weight of the mountains themselves. All of that murderous intent was now focused entirely upon her.

"Yang! Get away from him!" shouted Ruby, horrified at what her sister was facing. "You can't fight that!"

Yang didn't acknowledge her sister's words. Instead, when Kyo charged her, Yang met him head-on with a roar of her own.

Gauntlet met blade, gold clashed against red. The shockwave of the impact between Kyo's slash and Yang's punch made the ground around them explode, placing them in the center of a crater. "I won't give in!" Yang shouted, her voice barely audible over the scream of metal against metal. "I know you're in there, Kyo! I'll find you, even if I have to beat you into a pulp to do it!"

Nearby, the prone figure of Nobunaga stirred, his body twitching. With a pained grunt, he lifted his head to watch the exchange. "Foolish girl," he hissed. "You seek the impossible. Once a True Mibu has fallen to the curse of his blood, there is no hope of recovery. The Line of Kyo has denied the use of their power out of fear for this very reason."

His voice didn't reach Yang, not that she would have heeded it, even if it had. Instead, she continued her furious exchange of blows with Kyo. However much power Kyo had, the greatest advantage was that he had abandoned all semblance of technique and skill, only mindlessly attacking. Because of that, Yang used all of her skill to bridge the seemingly impossible gap between their power, her Manifestation feeding off the released energy of their clash, spiraling to greater and greater heights. Finally, with an explosion of crimson light, the red of her irises spread outward to encompass her whites, her pupils shrinking. Yang's True Crimson Eyes activated.

Just as it had in her fight with Raven, Yang's True Crimson Eyes immediately clashed against the power of her Manifestation. Yang used that clash to feed her Manifestation's power to an even greater extent. As her power reached its peak, she closed with Kyo, barely sidestepping another overpowering slash of his sword, and coming right up to his chest. As she did, her right arm blazed gold, the plates of her gauntlet separating as her arm transformed into the head of a mighty dragon, which glared at Kyo with the True Crimson Eyes as Yang's own eyes returned to their normal color.

Yang's blow seemed to swallow Kyo whole, a torrent of pure gold striking through the space he occupied, and continuing on to a nearby mountain, blasting through it without the slightest sign of slowing, before punching through the mountain behind it, leaving a channel miles' long in its wake. Yang's friends watched with slack jaws as her attack fundamentally altered the landscape itself.

As the light faded, the air cleared to reveal Kyo, still standing, seemingly unharmed. If anything, his rage seemed to increase, the power of his Aura pressing everyone to their knees with the sheer weight of his mere presence...everyone except Yang.

But Yang didn't seem to be in the shape to fight anymore. Her eyes had returned to their normal lilac color, but the glow had faded from her hair and skin. Her knees bent and her right arm hung slack, its color flickering and fading, betraying the fact that her Aura was at its limit. However, she remained unbowed, her gaze focused unwaveringly on Kyo.

"I won't give up," she said, struggling to straighten up, then slowly taking up her stance again. "I'm not going to let you go, Kyo. I'll keep fighting for however long it takes to reach you."

Kyo's only response was to let out another otherworldly roar before charging forward. Yang braced herself. Despite her words, her body was sluggish and she struggled to respond as Kyo's sword descended towards her.

Then...before her very eyes...the speed of his stroke slowed slightly. It was just by enough that Yang was able to shift to the side, raising her right gauntlet to deflect the blade away, her muscles and Aura straining from just that little contact. But that was enough to begin feeding power back into her Manifestation, which pushed back the heavy feeling gathering over her body. _Did he just...?_

At that moment, Yang was suddenly catapulted to the memory of that fateful day, the first time she'd met Kyo, the first time she and her team had fought him. She remembered that day well. What was more, she remembered the way his sword seemed to slow mid-strike, just to give her enough time to see his attack coming and block it.

Kyo lifted his sword up and attacked again. Once again, Yang saw his sword seem to inexplicably slow as it approached her. This time, she ducked the blow completely, letting the blade whistle over her head, nicking a few of her hairs. Normally, something like that would make her explode with rage. But Yang instead focused her thoughts on Kyo. _He's still in there._

Then Yang did something completely unprecedented. She stepped in and retracted both her gauntlets. Instead of attacking, she tackled Kyo's body, throwing her arms around his shoulders and hugging him with all her remaining might. "I'm sorry!" she shouted, her tearful eyes meeting the mindless rage in Kyo's own. "I was weak! I forgot what I told you. I LOVE YOU, KYO!"

Kyo's body locked into place, suddenly going as still and rigid as a statue. Yang barely noticed, spilling her heart out through her words as she continued.

"I won't run away from you. I won't let you hurt the people you care about, the people you fight for. I don't want your power or your strength...I just want _you_." She pulled back and smiled at him. "If I have you, then I can accept anything that life throws at us." Her arms tightened their hold. "Whatever you go through, I want to be there with you...now and forever. So please...please...come back to me."

Even though the face in front of her looked more like a twisted monstrosity than anything else, Yang still leaned in. Even though the skin around his lips looked charred and twisted into an inhuman visage, she still pressed her own lips against them, putting everything she felt into the kiss.

Abruptly, Kyo's body almost seemed to explode with a brilliant, pure-white light that expanded outward to swallow both him and Yang. It was blinding, causing everyone else to shield their eyes. The light expanded outwards, visible for miles.

* * *

Makoto shaded his eyes as he looked in the direction of the intense light.

"Feel that?" asked Shinrei as he and the other Goyosei exchanged looks.

"That feels like Kyo," said Keikoku with a grin. "At least, it feels more like him than it did before."

At first, it had seemed like things had taken a turn for the better. The endless horde of Nobunaga's blood-soldiers had abruptly evaporated into nothing. But then they had been beset by the feeling that something even worse was coming. Worse still the Aura they sensed had been familiar, even though, at the same time, it had been twisted into something completely alien. But now...that dark, ominous feeling had all but vanished.

 _It seems that we were right to believe,_ thought Makoto with a small smile on his lips.

* * *

Yang had closed her eyes when the light had flooded out from Kyo's body. Even though with her lids squeezed shut, she could still feel it washing over and through her. It felt warm, gentle, and all too familiar. It filled her with a sense of comfort that had all but disappeared over the course of the battle against Nobunaga, the sensation that everything would be all right.

Then the feeling faded and Yang opened her eyes, blinking a few times to clear her vision. When it finally cleared, she found herself staring into an all-too-familiar pair of Crimson Eyes. "Kyo?"

Kyo, _her_ Kyo, looked back at her, his eyes filled with more warmth and love than they'd ever possessed before, even during their most passionate nights together. "You called me back," he said softly. "I was lost...but you found me."

"Of course I did, you goof!" said Yang, before sniffling and choking back a sob and hugging herself to him tightly. "I'll always find you, no matter what."

Kyo planted Tenro's blade into the earth and wrapped his arms around her waist, returning her hug with all his might.

* * *

Sora slumped down, letting out a long sigh. "Thank God," she whispered.

"It's over then?" asked Dougal, resting a concerned hand on her shoulder.

"It is," she said. "Yang succeeded."

"How?" asked Dougal.

Sora looked up at him, her expression sad. "The True Mibu possessed absolute strength, both the absolute power of creation, the power of God, Yang...and the absolute power of destruction, the power of demons, Yin. The True Mibu died out because they lost themselves to that power.

"Only by meeting a soul that would not bow to either kind of power, someone who could not be swayed by fear or temptation, can a True Mibu be called back from the state of a Demon-God. Only then can Kyo command the power of both Yin and Yang, and reach the true pinnacle of his strength...and overcome the threat of losing himself."

"I see," said Dougal. "Does that mean the threat is ended?"

"Not quite," said Sora with a dark frown. "The problem is that there remains one more True Mibu in the world."

* * *

 **In the end, this final battle does follow some of the basic beats from the _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ manga. Kyo faces sub-boss, awakens the power of faith, then goes on to the final boss, becomes a Demon-God, and gets called back to himself by the girl he loves. Of course, since Yang is way more of a badass than Yuya was (who got one entire chapter to show off her bounty hunter chops, before being relegated to Damsel in Distress for the _entire_ rest of the series), Yang's way of knocking Kyo out of it involves more literal knocking. Plus, with her Manifestation, she's actually able to fight at his level for a little.**

 **Of course, the final battle isn't over just yet...**


	105. Chapter 105

**Chapter 105:**

"How disappointing, Kyo."

Kyo and Yang flinched as a familiar feeling of malice descended upon them. They pulled away from one another, and turned to see Nobunaga rising up. His Aura, black and crimson intermingling, swirled around him. His wounds closed, his body renewing itself right before their eyes, as though he'd never been injured in the first place.

"You had everything...right there at your fingertips," continued Nobunaga. "You'd unleashed your power as a child of the True Mibu. You'd finally gained the strength to defeat me...but you lacked the will to finish it."

Kyo exchanged a look with Yang, the two of them sharing a smile. Reaching over, Kyo took up his sword once more. "Actually...I lost," he said.

"What?" grunted Nobunaga, his True Crimson Eyes flashing with confusion.

"I lost to my power," said Kyo. "When I succumbed to the temptation and saved Murasame, I lost faith in myself, in my own strength, in the burdens I've carried with my own hands. Because of that, I wasn't able to fight at my best against you. Because of that, I turned to my True Mibu power in my weakness...and then I lost to it."

"And yet...now...you have lost the only hope you have of defeating me," snarled Nobunaga. "Look at you, now. You no longer even have the wherewithal to call forth the True Crimson Eyes."

"We'll see," said Kyo with a confident smile, striding away from Yang to face Nobunaga once more. "Why don't you test me, and find out for yourself?"

"FINE!" roared Nobunaga, his Aura exploding outwards before he launched himself at Kyo, his blade swinging across his body in a sideways slash.

Kyo held his ground and met Nobunaga's attack with a side-slash of his own, their blades meeting with a deafening ring of impact. Everyone braced themselves for the inevitable shockwave. However, to their amazement, there was none. Instead, Nobunaga was blasted straight back the way he'd come by Kyo's blow, his body plowing a furrow through the earth before he slid to a stop.

"Kyo leveled him!" gasped Blake, looking in awe at amazement.

"But...it's strange," added Ren. "Kyo's eyes are normal."

"There's something different about his Aura too," added Nora.

True enough, while Nobunaga's True Crimson Eyes blazed like two fierce suns from his face, Kyo's eyes remained in their normal, albeit still-crimson, state. As Nora had observed, his Aura was different as well. It was neither red, nor the golden color that had emerged at the end of his fight with Murasame. Instead...it was completely clear, so transparent that a person using their eyes alone might assume it wasn't even there...were it not for the fact that his presence filled the air around him, wrapping around Yang and all his friends like a warm, loving, protective embrace.

Yang blinked and found herself staring at Kyo's back. She was all too familiar with the strange birthmark, the Crimson Cross, engraved in his back. Many a time, after a night spent making love to one another, she would trace the outline of that strange, hooked cross with her finger. It had never been visible through his clothes, but now it was. What was more, its shape had changed. The design had become more elaborate, with the taijitu symbol of the Mibu Clan resting at its center. Yang remembered what Kyo had told them about that cross, and what its transformation meant.

Haltingly, Nobunaga forced himself up. "So...you have not completely lost your strength," he growled, raising Shibien in his hand. "Let us see just how much you have relinquished in your foolishness. _Tenma Mukurode!_ "

The robed, skeletal apparition reached out, merging with the bone-white crescent of Aura released by the swing of Nobunaga's sword. Kyo made no effort to defend. Instead, the air around him seemed to warp, before Nobunaga's attack was halted entirely, the skeletal figure shattering and the light of Nobunaga's Aura fragmenting against the wall of Kyo's Aura and pure will.

"You can do better than that, Nobunaga," said Kyo with an amused chuckle. "Don't tell me you're holding back...or is the Demon King now the one shying away from this battle?"

"You certainly boast like a child of your line, Kyo," said Nobunaga. "I am merely testing you. Let's up the ante, shall we? _Tenma Ryoga Koran!_ "

Now three apparitions rushed at Kyo. Not seeming troubled in the slightest, Kyo raised his sword, which let out a bell-like ring and blazed with light. " _Mizuchi!_ " The white wave of Kyo's _Mizuchi_ washed out, swallowing up Nobunaga's attack, the apparitions cut to pieces by blades of wind. Nobunaga shouted and Projected his Aura in an effort to hold out Kyo's attack, but the wind of the _Mizuchi_ seemed to pass through it as though it wasn't even there, washing languidly across Nobunaga like a gentle caress.

Then, in its wake, blood exploded from dozens of lacerations that abruptly opened up across his body. Nobunaga cried out in pain and fell to one knee, blood still streaming out of his injuries, even as his Aura worked furiously to close them.

"How?" he demanded. "How can you have this much power, without even using the True Crimson Eyes?"

"Because I found another power," said Kyo. "It's one far greater than what I was born with, as a child of the True Mibu. It's a power you should be even more familiar with than me, Nobunaga."

"What power?" inquired the Demon King, eyeing Kyo curiously.

"Faith," said Kyo, "faith in myself, in my experience, in my training and technique. I'd lost my faith before now, even though it was what allowed me to triumph over Murasame. But Yang, who never lost her faith in me, who ultimately refused to fall beneath the sway of my power as one of the True Mibu, whether it was coveting my power to create, or fearing my power to destroy, brought me back and reminded me of what was truly important."

Kyo leveled his sword at Nobunaga. "But you...you who have coveted the True Mibu's power across millennia, even though you now possess unfettered access to that power, you are now weaker than ever before."

Nobunaga's lips curled back, baring his teeth in a grimace that was almost feral. "LIES!" he roared, surging forward, the force of his charge tearing up the ground beneath his tread. He closed with Kyo his sword descending towards Kyo's head.

Kyo didn't even seem to see it, yet his own sword automatically rose up to block Nobunaga's attack. Considering the raw power behind his foe's swing, Kyo's response looked ridiculously lazy, but his block stopped Nobunaga's swing cold, completely killing its power, so that the ground beneath Kyo's feet didn't so much as crack. Nobunaga followed through with a second swing, a sideways slash, aimed at Kyo's head, the blow coming so quickly that his blade seemed to be in two places at once, the afterimage of his sword over Kyo's head lingering.

But Kyo's block was just as blindingly fast and stopped Nobunaga's sword just as surely as the one before it. Then Kyo retaliated with equal speed, swinging sideways across his chest. Nobunaga barely managed to maneuver his own blade in place in time before he was blasted backwards yet again.

This time, Kyo gave chase, flying after Nobunaga, whose feet ground the stone beneath them into dust as he slid backwards. Kyo's sword was a flickering blur, trading power for speed and finesse as he forced Nobunaga back, not with power, but with raw technique. Nobunaga worked his blade furiously, the individual impacts between his and Kyo's swords blending together into a single, continuous ringing. Finally, with an angry roar, Nobunaga gave up defense and went on the attack, ignoring five separate gashes that opened up across his body as he allowed Kyo's blows to land in exchange for launching his own attack. But Kyo met him just as easily, their blades crossing, and Kyo's counter driving Nobunaga back to the very edge of the stone plateau he had created, his heels actually hanging in empty space for a second.

"NOT YET!" he howled, raising his sword over his head. " _Yatagarasu!_ "

The Three-Legged Crow flashed out, seeming to appear too close to Kyo for him to have any time to respond. However, Tenro blazed in Kyo's hand and wings of vermillion stretched outwards, Kyo's _Suzaku_ appearing with such speed that it was almost instantaneous, cleaving effortlessly through the crow and carrying on to strike Nobunaga, who braced his sword against it. The _Suzaku_ split a line down the slope of the plateau.

However, Nobunaga emerged from the scattering remains of his defeated attack, having apparently used it to avoid Kyo's counterattack at the last second. He turned, ready to launch another attack at Kyo, when his body froze, locked into place. Swirling winds embraced him and Nobunaga suddenly saw the White Tiger of _Byakko_ looming over him, its maw opening wise, fangs threatening to carve him apart.

But that was just the beginning. Serpents of wind twisted around his arms and legs, locking him into place even more completely. Looking over, Nobunaga saw Kyo enclosed by the starry shell of _Genbu_. Finally, Nobunaga's body completely locked, and he felt as though the breath was stollen from his lungs as a roaring tornado rose up around him. His eyes being the only part of himself he could move, Nobunaga saw the roaring twister stretch upwards, forming into the sinuous body and the glaring face of _Seiryu_. Above it all soared the _Suzaku_ as it returned for the second strike.

" _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Shishen Sen!_ " All Four Gods, all four secret techniques of Kyo's style struck home simultaneously, the raw power of the winds unleashed by Kyo's blade and Aura threatening to rend Nobunaga into pieces. He would have screamed, but the pressure ripped the air from his lungs, and his entire body felt as though it was on the verge of turning inside out from the intense forces at work. Still, summoning all his rage and fury, Nobunga unleashed his Aura to the fullest extent possible, finally managing to force back the winds, though it took all his strength to do so.

Nobunaga sagged to the ground, bleeding from too many wounds to count. After a second, he managed to force himself back up to glare at Kyo. "I commend you for managing to use all Four Secrets at once. But it is not enough."

"But this is only the beginning," said Kyo with a benign smile. "You were watching the battle with Murasame. Don't you recall what comes after?"

Nobunaga gasped, and his gaze shot upwards as a golden light seemed to bathe him from above. _There!_ The massive, spiraling Golden Dragon, _Koryu_ , was surging downward, as though the weight of the heavens themselves were about to descend on him.

Gritting his teeth, Nobunaga snarled and raised his blade. " _Ryukotsu!_ " The black whirlwind, decorated with white bones, surged upwards to meet it. But the golden form of _Koryu_ tore through Nobunaga's attack as though it weren't even there. Nobunaga was left helpless as Kyo's attack struck home with a thunderous impact that rocked the earth.

Yang grimaced, forcing herself back to her feet after being thrown down by the shockwave of Kyo's final attack. Being the closest to the battle, she had been the one most affected. However, looking back at the others, she saw that they had taken shelter behind Jaune's shield, bolstered by Saisei and Murasame once again. Her body shaking from the aftermath, Yang turned to look at Kyo. "Is it over?"

"Not yet," said Kyo, not taking his eyes off the cloud of dust that obscured where Nobunaga had been. "I'm afraid that we can't afford to take him lightly."

"But you were dominating him," Yang protested.

"And yet..." said Kyo, "...Nobunaga is now one of the True Mibu as well."

"Wait! You don't mean..." Yang's voice trailed off, a sense of horror filling her. After what they had just been through, the last thing they needed was for Nobunaga to repeat what Kyo had gone through.

"Yes..." Nobunaga's voice hissed forth from the dust, his shadow slowly resolving from within. "That is right. I _am_ one of the True Mibu now. I should have realized it sooner, the way to end this."

"I do not advise it," said Kyo. "Drowning yourself in that power will only lead you into an abyss of endless rage. There is no pleasure of fulfillment to be found, only hatred for all that lives."

"FOOL!" barked Nobunaga. "I am the Demon King of the Sixth Circle. It is from rage and hatred that I _derive_ my fulfillment. I embrace the power you rejected, and I shall use it to unleash strength, the likes of which you could not comprehend."

"Get back," Kyo warned Yang and the others.

Yang edged away, looking on nervously as Nobunaga turned his head skywards.

"Burn, my blood...rage and boil...unleash my wrath in its purest form as I take on the mantle of the Demon King of Demon-Gods."

Nobunaga's Aura erupted like a volcano, the ravenous darkness within it being swallowed by dark, sickly-red, the color of aged blood. It fountained upwards and outwards seeming to fall over them. Yang braced herself, feeling as though, only through exerting all her will, could she hope to keep from having the life practically ripped from her body. Nobunaga's Aura was a yawning abyss, an endless vacuum that swallowed everything around it. At its center, he stood, his True Crimson Eyes blazing evilly, his skin blackened and veined, those strange veins slithering around his body, as though a host of worms were writhing beneath his skin.

As terrifying as Kyo's Aura as a Demon-God had been, Nobunaga's was a thousand times worse, if only because it was charged by so much deliberate malice. Kyo's wrath had been undirected and scattered. But Nobunaga's was focused, and fueled fully by the malice native to his soul. Before something so terrible, Yang was certain just about anyone would break.

Yet Kyo stood unbowed, looking completely unconcerned, even as the raw power of Nobunaga's Aura washed around him. Indeed, he almost looked sad as his eyes took in Nobunaga's transformation.

Nobunaga's baleful gaze focused immediately on Kyo, and he raised the black blade of Shibien in his hand, the sword's color seeming to compliment that of his skin. Then Nobunaga charged with the same speed and power that Kyo had before. Kyo met him head-on, their swords coming together with a force that dwarfed even that of their original clash. The surface of the plateau split apart, broken chunks of stone scattering in all directions.

Then the two of them passed one another. Blood spurted from a wound on Nobunaga's neck.

 _When did Kyo hit him?_ wondered Yang, confused by the development. She hadn't seen the second blow that had followed their initial clash.

The wound didn't seem to hamper Nobunaga in the slightest as he turned about with a howl that sent a feeling like a shard of the coldest ice being driven into Yang's chest, causing her to shudder and wonder if she was going to die from a heart attack, just by being on the periphery of this battle. Now Nobunaga bore down on Kyo like a demonic avalanche, Shibien rising and falling with the same furious force that Tenro had in Kyo's hand before.

Yet Kyo swung to meet Shibien without reserve, striking the incoming blade in the side, deflecting Nobunaga's attack. The black blade struck the earth and a line was split across the ground, stretching across entire mountains and into the distance.

"What power!" gasped Murasame in horror. "With just a swing of his blade, the entire _landscape_ changes!"

However, that seemed to have no concern for Kyo, as he followed through from his parry, whirling his blade around and upwards, opening up a vertical gash across Nobunaga's chest. Despite that, Nobunaga pressed forward without hesitation, lifting his sword again and swinging it with complete abandon.

It was, in many ways, a repeat of the furious exchange that had occurred when Kyo had become a Demon-God, only reversed. Nobunaga pressed ahead with a furious onslaught, his blade a flickering shadow around his body, his swings carrying so much speed and power that its mere passage sent shockwaves rippling across the landscape. There was no finesse in his movements, only a pure, brutal savagery.

However, that was where the resemblance ended. Unlike Nobunaga, who, in his position, had been overwhelmed by the raw power brought to bear against him, Kyo defended flawlessly. He ducked and dodged between sweeps of Nobunaga's sword with such speed that he seemed to be in multiple places at once. His sword seemed to effortlessly navigate around to deflect Nobunaga's own weapon, neutralizing Nobunaga's power with technique. Furthermore, as Nobunaga gave no thought to his own defense, he was left completely open to counterattacks that darted in and slashed him with strikes too swift for even the most skilled eyes to follow.

However, with each blow that missed and each blow that landed against him, Nobunaga's rage only seemed to grow more, his Aura becoming sweltering and overpowering, until Yang felt as though it might swallow her life on its own. Not even Jaune, Saisei, and Murasame were able to completely stand the strain as the pressure of that dark, malicious Aura against their shield became a constant force of its own, in addition to the shockwaves of Nobunaga's attacks.

"Kyo's winning!" cheered Nora as she saw Kyo dance away from Nobunaga's onslaught, more blood trailing from the edge of his sword as another wound opened up on Nobunaga's shoulder.

"Is he?" wondered Ren.

It wasn't an unreasonable question. Nobunaga appeared to not even notice pain, instead pursuing Kyo with a singleminded bloodlust that would have put the most persistent hunter to shame.

"His power is only getting worse," said Blake, a cold sweat breaking out across her forehead.

"None of Kyo's attacks actually seem to affect him," added Weiss morosely.

"He truly is the embodiment of what it means to be a Demon-God," said Saisei. "Unlike Kyo, he fell completely willingly, and embraced the madness and bloodlust fully. Because of that, he will only continue to get stronger, no matter what Kyo does to him."

"Can Kyo win?" wondered Penny.

To everyone's surprise, it was Ruby who spoke. "He can," she said firmly.

"Ruby's right," said Yang with a firm smile of conviction. "I don't care what it looks like, I'm gonna believe in Kyo."

"Well, that's not surprising," said Hayate with a chuckle.

"I'm bored," said Nigel blandly, seeming to not even care that the world might be on the verge of ending. "Can't I fight Nobunaga?"

"No," admonished Saisei, throwing a glare at Nigel. "This is Kyo's battle. _You_ weren't even invited to begin with."

Yang turned away from the rest of them, and continued to watch Kyo intently as he fended off Nobunaga's attacks and retaliated. Then something strange occurred to her. _Kyo hasn't used any of his special techniques yet._ Ever since Nobunaga had become a Demon-God, Kyo had forgone the use of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ 's more advanced arts, not even something as basic as the _Mizuchi_. Instead, he attacked and defended with nothing more than pure sword technique. What was more, Yang realized that it appeared to be all he needed...assuming he didn't want to bring the battle to an end.

 _If he really wanted to end this, he'd go for something big, and try to destroy Nobunaga completely, before regenerative portion of his power could heal his body. Instead, he's just sitting back and settling for making small wounds that won't even wear Nobunaga down, because he keeps healing._ Yang frowned, pursing her lips slightly. _Why?_ It was as though Kyo was deliberately drawing out the battle.

As she watched, Kyo batted aside another sword swing, only for Nobunaga to follow it up with a punch with his left hand, his fist coming at the side of Kyo's head. Once again, Yang was struck by the reminded of when their positions had been reversed and Kyo had attacked with his leg without a thought for defense. Nobunaga, likewise, was more than willing to use every portion of his body to attack, so long as he could kill the current object of his hatred. However, Kyo ducked the fist effortlessly, and met it with an upward slash of his sword, nearly taking Nobunaga's arm off, before Kyo was forced to retreat as Nobunaga bulled forward, lunging in with a headbutt, of all things.

Then Yang took in the strange look on Kyo's face. His expression was calm, serene, at complete odds with the one he'd worn at the battle's beginning. However, it was also a far cry from the exultant expression he usually wore when fighting a truly strong adversary. If anything, he seemed almost...disappointed.

Then he began to speak. "Now it seems that _I'm_ the one being disappointed," he said dispassionately, not seeming to raise his voice, yet still being completely audible over Nobunaga's roars and howls, as well as the thunderous and ringing cacophony of their exchanges.

Nobunaga gave no reaction, merely continuing to press the attack, not minding that Kyo's sword landed five blows for each one that he missed.

"Is this how it ends, Nobunaga?" asked Kyo. "After all these millennia, after rising again and again, striving to overcome my family line, after all your boundless tenacity and ceaseless determination, you've thrown it all away...for _this_."

Once again, Nobunaga gave no response, save to roar and lunge for Kyo again. This time, Kyo brought his own blade up to block Nobunaga's directly. The impact cratered the ground where Kyo stood, and his entire body rocked with the force of Nobunaga's blow. Yet Kyo held firm. "Is this the final battle you dreamed of?" he asked bitterly.

The pressure from Nobunaga's sword lessened, but only because Nobunaga's weight was shifted by the punch he sent crashing into Kyo's jaw, the first blow Nobunaga had landed since undergoing his transformation. The force of the punch launched Kyo through the air and sent him sprawling. With another thunderous roar, Nobunaga followed Kyo in the wake of his own attack, dropping down with another earth-splitting swing of his sword. Kyo barely managed to roll out of the way in time. Rising up into a crouch, Kyo barely had a chance to raise his sword before Nobunaga was on him, Shibien rising and descending over and over again, Nobunaga hammering blows down on Kyo in the same manner Kyo had once done to him, each blow striking with explosive force and sending plumes of dust and debris rocketing skyward, until both combatants were completely swallowed.

Yang bit the inside of her lip until she tasted blood. Despite her words, she couldn't help but acknowledge the fear that thrummed through her veins as the tide of battle seemed to turn yet again. Perhaps it was hopeless after all. For all that Kyo now held the edge in technique, it seemed that Nobunaga's strength was limitless, driven by the pure force of his unending hunger for death and destruction. Now that Kyo had been shifted on the defensive, Nobunaga was certain to keep battering away at him, until Kyo could no longer defend himself.

The sound of Nobunaga's attacks faded, and an eerie silence descended on the battlefield. The dust slowly cleared to reveal him standing stock-still.

Yang swallowed nervously, waiting for the dust to pull back and reveal Kyo.

When it did, everyone was shocked to see that Kyo remained crouched, but unbroken, his sword raised overhead, its spine braced against his left arm. The ground around him was shattered and split, hewed by the force of Nobunaga's attacks. But Kyo himself only looked mildly smudged and dirty for all that he had been through.

"Is that the best you can manage?" asked Kyo, a measure of contempt entering into his voice as he looked up at Nobunaga. "A flailing child in the midst of a tantrum could manage better. This does not deserve to be called swordsmanship."

For a moment, Nobunaga seemed paralyzed, confusion seeming to cut through the storm of madness and bloodlust that had enveloped him. Then he bared his teeth, gleaming white against the black of his skin. Nobunaga suddenly twisted his body and launched a kick straight into the side of Kyo's head. Once again, Kyo was sent flying, skidding across the ground before coming to a stop.

Strangely, Nobunaga didn't give chase. Instead, his remained where he was, watching as Kyo rose up once again. A thin stream of blood trickled from the corner of Kyo's mouth, and a bruise formed across his right cheek. But that was the extent of the damage done. He didn't even look dazed. Instead, he gazed at Nobunaga with an expression of disappointment. "Look at what you've become," he said. "This is no match, no battle, no duel. There is no satisfaction in this. Right now, killing you like this...would be no different than putting down a rabid animal."

Now, in a perplexing turn of events, it was Kyo who went on the attack, flashing across the space between them and bringing his sword straight down at Nobunaga's head. Shibien whipped up to counter it, the blades ringing loudly as they clashed.

 _Nobunaga defended!_ Yang realized, her eyes going wide. When he had first allowed himself to become a Demon-God, Nobunaga had attacked incessantly, without a thought of defense. But now he was reacting to Kyo's attack, and actually making an effort to block it. Furthermore, she saw that it was now _Nobunaga_ who was straining to fend off the force of Kyo's sword.

"All those millennia of struggle...and you threw it away for this!" shouted Kyo over the ring of their blades. "Generation after generation, you rose up, taking body after body, your determination never flagging. You've hounded my family and Clan throughout the ages. But now, when you should be at your strongest, you've devolved into this twisted thing!?"

The contest of strength ended with the two of them being forced away from one another. But Kyo immediately reversed direction and went on the attack, unleashing a flurry of blows that Nobunaga was hard-pressed to fend off. For every blow he blocked, two or three more seemed to find their way through his defenses, sending arcs of blood flying through the air. However, the fact that Nobunaga was defending at all was a monumental development.

"What happened to the Demon King who sought the summit, the ultimate struggle for the pinnacle of strength?" demanded Kyo as he pressed on. "Will you really allow yourself to be ended in this diseased form?"

"What is he doing?" asked Jaune, a note of frustration leaking into his voice.

"Unless I miss my guess...Kyo may be trying to do for Nobunaga what Xiao Long-dono did for him," said Murasme.

"What?" gasped Weiss in shock. "Why?"

"I...I can't say," admitted Murasame.

Murasame's words made Yang frown darkly. She remembered how different Kyo's power had been, before he had succumbed to his True Mibu blood and become a Demon-God, versus how it was after she'd managed to bring him back. If Nobunaga went through that same process, and regained his self and sanity, then he would be all the more dangerous for it. Despite that, she couldn't help but think that Kyo had some reason for what he was doing.

"Hmmm...what do you think, Yang?" asked Saisei, her eyes going to Yang in particular, startling her out of her reverie.

"I think..." Yang's eyes narrowed as she watched the fight continue. "I think Murasame's right. Kyo is trying to help Nobunaga, and bring him out of his Demon-God state, the way I did for him. And I think..." She frowned, trying to figure out where that train of logic was leading her. "...I think he wants to defeat Nobunaga in the truest sense."

"Why?" Blake wanted to know. "Nobunaga's a threat to the entire world. Does Kyo want satisfaction that badly?"

"It may not be his own satisfaction that Kyo is aiming for," said Murasame. "Nobunaga's persistence is rooted in his inability to accept defeat. So he returns, again and again, to attempt to claim that ultimate victory. However, all the previous struggles with him have been to keep him from acquiring the True Mibu vessel, even if no one but those born of the Line of Kyo knew it. However, now that Nobunaga has fulfilled the goal he has sought across millennia, if Kyo can overcome him at his absolute strongest, then Nobunaga's defeat will, likewise, be absolute."

"And that does...what exactly?" Ren wanted to know.

"We'll see," said Hayate. "It remains to be seen whether or not Kyo can actually succeed in calling Nobunaga's heart and mind back from the brink."

"I think he can," said Yang, a warm confidence filling her. "I think, in his own way, Kyo believes in Nobunaga just as much as I believed in him."

"I think you're right," said Saisei with a wry smile. "But still, to want to make his own adversary all the more dangerous...that boy never ceases to worry me."

In the meantime, Kyo's onslaught continued to drive Nobunaga back. "Face me!" he shouted over the persistent ringing of their blades. "Fight me as Oda Nobunaga, not as a mindless Demon-God! Remember who you are and what you've sought!"

With a final, wordless yell, Kyo brought his sword down, Tenro's blade ringing and blazing with its own Aura. A sympathetic sound emitted from Shibien, and the black blade also flashed with light, the light of the two swords coming together and clashing, before swallowing the two combatants altogether.

The others flinched and covered their eyes as the light's intensity reached blinding levels. Finally, it began to fade, along with the overpowering, all-consuming malice of Nobunaga's Demon-God Aura. Yang was the first to open her eyes, squinting slightly, seeing blurs. Opening them wider allowed her to see more clearly, and the blurs resolved into the forms of Kyo and his opponent, the two of them standing motionlessly apart from one another.

Nobunaga's skin had returned to its normal shade. His head was lowered, the messy bangs of his long, black hair obscuring his eyes for a moment. His body was no longer in the hunched, animalistic posture of a Demon-God. Instead, he stood up straight. Shibien rested at his side in an easy grip.

For a long moment, nothing was said. Neither Nobunaga nor Kyo moved. The silence seemed to stretch on for forever. Then, Nobunaga's body shuddered.

"You truly are a fool, Kyo," said Nobunaga in a soft, whispery voice, a voice that, strangely, held none of the evil malice that had tainted it before, "truly the most foolish of your line."

"Thank you," said Kyo with a cheerful smile.

"To think that you held every advantage over me, even though I possessed the ultimate power of a Demon-God...yet you chose to draw me back, to awaken me." Nobunaga raised his head. He no longer bore the True Crimson Eyes. Instead, his eyes were the regular Crimson Eyes. His expression no longer seemed savage or malicious. Instead...there was a serene quality about him.

"Because I had already learned the truth," explained Kyo. "The power of a Demon-God is only suited for destruction. Such mindless, Selfless power can't begin to be called ultimate power."

"So then this...?" Nobunaga gazed down at himself.

"This is what you have _truly_ been seeking, Nobunaga," said Kyo. "This is why you arose again and again. This is why the first Kyo answered your challenge repeatedly. Where we stand now lies the pinnacle."

"I see," said Nobunaga. "I believe I understand now. So this is it... _this_ is where the battle for the strongest...truly begins."

"That's right," said Kyo, his smile becoming firm and determined. "This is the final round, Nobunaga."

"I see," said Nobunaga, raising his sword and staring at it. "I've been so foolish. Ever since I obtained the True Mibu body, I lost sight of why I continued to rise...no...perhaps even before that." He met Kyo's gaze and he broke out into a smile of his own. "Very well. Come, Kyo."

For a moment, they froze yet again. Then Kyo edged forward, his lead foot scuffing the ground as he slid it towards Nobunaga. Nobunaga matched him. They raised their blades, their movements slow and deliberate.

Then, all at once, they burst into motion, their bodies flickering as they closed the remaining distance between themselves in an instant. Their blades flashed, catching the light as they came together with a force that warped through the bones of everyone present. Strangely, however, there was no destructive shockwave accompanying the impact. It seemed that neither Kyo nor Nobunaga were attempting to win with strength, instead seeking to overcome one another with speed and technique alone.

Their blades and bodies flickered as they danced back and forth, the clanging of their swords coming together into a long, continuous ring as their movements only picked up speed. The others tried to follow the flow of the battle, but the pace was ridiculous. It became all but impossible to pick out the difference between attack, defense, and counterattack. At some point, they all gave up trying. Instead, something else became apparent.

"Kyo...looks happy," said Yang, her eyes focusing on Kyo's face.

"Both of them do," added Saisei, wonderment coloring her tone.

Indeed, both Kyo and Nobunaga's faces were decorated with exultant grins as they moved, looking to all the world as though they couldn't be happier.

"Whatever else one might say about his lineage," said Murasame with an amused sigh, "it can truly be said that Kyo is his father's son."

"What do you mean?" asked Penny.

"Kyoichiro could get the same way," said Murasame. "Fighting against a strong opponent, who could stand against him as an equal, he would break out into that same grin. I understand."

"You do?" asked Nora.

"Yeah, it's not hard," said Hayate. "I know that feeling well enough."

"What feeling?" asked Weiss.

"Fighting for your life," said Hayate. "When you stand on the edge, the precipice between life and death, and everything hangs on your skill and ability, that moment of excitement is an adrenaline rush like no other. For people like us, it's nothing short of a drug. It's a high that you can never get enough of."

Then Nigel spoke, his voice sounding unusually intense. "Your heart pounds. The blood rushes through your veins. Everything else falls away."

"And what remains," said Saisei, "is a peak of endless pleasure."

A silence fell over the group, where the only sound was the ongoing racket of Kyo and Nobunaga's battle. Then, abruptly Nigel lurched forward. "No fair!" he grunted. "I want to fight too! Why does Kyo get to have all the fun?"

"You can fight him as often as you want, once this is over," said Hayate with a chuckle.

Nigel frowned and looked at Hayate. "Why don't I fight you then?"

Hayate's eyes narrowed. "You have no self-restraint," he said with a low growl in his voice. "I'm getting annoyed with you showing up out of nowhere anyway. Learn to walk in a straight line."

Tension began to rise in the air between them as sparks almost literally flew from their Auras pressing against one another.

"Uh...Hayate..." said Weiss, not sure what to do or say in this situation.

" _Boys._ "

A separate, much more threatening Aura fell over the pair, completely smothering their desire to fight as they both turned to stare nervously at Saisei, where she stood, helping Jaune maintain his barrier. She was glaring over her shoulder at the two. "Now is _not_ the time," she said in a low, threatening voice. "I will discipline you myself if I have to."

Hayate and, to everyone's surprise, Nigel both lowered their hands from their swords and looked away from one another, looking contrite.

Neo giggled and flashed a sly smile at Saisei, which she returned.

"Almost forgot who rules the roost when it comes to the Shiseiten," said Hayate, rubbing the back of his head with a sigh, before smiling sheepishly at Weiss. "Sorry about that."

"I keep forgetting that you are one of them after all," said Weiss with a small laugh. She turned her attention back to the fight and Kyo. "It's strange though...if you take away the fact that they're clearly fighting to kill each other...they almost look like they could be...friends."

"It feels strange," said Jaune, frowning as he watched the battle. To him, it was an unsettling feeling. The change that had come over Nobunaga was completely at odds with the Demon King they had been fighting before.

This was the man...the creature...that had resurrected Pyrrha, and repurposed her as an instrument of butchery, forcing Jaune to kill her with his own hands. Looking at Nobunaga now, Jaune should have felt nothing but the utmost hatred. He should have despised the Demon King from the bottom of his heart. However, right now, Jaune couldn't find it in himself to feel hatred. It was almost as though that didn't matter anymore.

The fight continued, and gradually began to escalate. They parted, Kyo sweeping his blade down to send the white wave of his _Mizuchi_ rushing at Nobunaga. Nobunaga responded with a sideways slash that summoned a skeletal figure, riding on the wave of white that issued from his sword. The two attacks collided and tore through one another, canceling each other out.

Kyo and Nobunaga followed through in the wake of their attacks, their swords shining and their Auras filling the air around them as they invoked their next moves.

" _Yatagarasu!_ "

" _Suzaku!_ "

Red and black collided with a roar like thunder, the two attacks canceling each other out. Nobunaga and Kyo rushed past each other, blood streaming from a dozen wounds that hadn't been there a second before, yet neither face betrayed a single sign of pain. Without hesitation, they immediately reversed, coming together and clashing their blades once again.

" _Seiryu!_ "

" _Ryukotsu!_ "

Once again, dragons of blue and black soared skywards, twisting and turning around each other, before they oriented their fanged maws on one another and lunged, Kyo and Nobunaga merging with their respective attacks and flashing past each other again, their clash carving spiraling marks in the ground below them, more wounds opening.

"How much longer can this go on?" asked Ruby, amazed that the two of them were even able to stand.

"Until the very end," said Saisei. "Right now, their individual wounds, even their accumulated ones, won't amount to anything. They have shed all their limits. In the end, it will come down to whichever one of them is able to score the most decisive blow."

Kyo and Nobunaga landed facing away from one another, blood streaming off their bodies to pool on the ground. The air between them stilled yet again.

"Ahhh..." sighed Nobunaga, not turning, even as he spoke. "So this is what it means. This is what I have missed since the time of your progenitor, Kyo. This is the _true_ battle for the summit, reaching the space where all else ceases to exist...and there is only the sword."

"I'm glad," said Kyo. Then he turned to face Nobunaga. "Strange as it may be, despite all the suffering you have caused, despite all that you have taken from me...from everyone...looking at you now...I can only feel gratitude, Nobunaga."

"How strange that we would have the same feeling," said Nobunaga, turning to face Kyo again. "Across all these millennia, generation after generation, your line has denied me what I sought. But now...I feel none of that." He chuckled. "Indeed, my ambitions seem so paltry now. This here, our battle, is all I have ever truly desired."

"Still," said Kyo, his tone sobering, "as blissful this has been, it must end. It is time we settled this, once and for all."

"Agreed," said Nobunaga, likewise becoming more serious.

The weight of their presence in the air began to multiply exponentially as their Auras surged outwards, invisible and colorless, but seeming to pervade everything all the same.

"So predictable," said Saisei with a sigh, glancing over her shoulder at Murasame. "We're going to need everything we have for this one."

"Agreed," said Murasame, looking around at the others. "Everyone, please give Saisei your Aura, so that she can bolster Arc-dono's defense to the fullest."

"What's going on?" asked Ren as he and Nora gently grasped one of Saisei's tails.

"They're going absolutely all out," said Hayate, also taking one of Saisei's tails in hand, Weiss following suit. "They're going for the biggest finisher they can, and throwing absolutely everything they have into it. If this doesn't bring the fight to an end, then nothing will."

Yang frowned, reaching out for one of Saisei's tails, but not taking her eyes off Kyo. From where he stood, she suddenly saw his gaze drift towards her. A warm smile tugged at his face, before his eyes returned fully to his opponent.

"A question, Nobunaga," said Kyo.

"What?"

"Should you win...will you still insist on conquest?" asked Kyo.

A sinking feeling settled in Yang's stomach. _Why would he ask about that? Does Kyo think he'll lose?_

Nobunaga's expression faltered strangely. Then his face hardened. "Though it seems but a paltry goal now, nothing changes the fact that I, upon this victory, I will take this world and make it mine. I am Oda Nobunaga, the Demon King of the Sixth Circle, and I shall not be denied."

"I see," said Kyo, his smile widening and confidence filling him. "Then there is nothing to fear."

 _What does that mean?_ wondered Yang. Why would Kyo suddenly think Nobunaga taking over the world wouldn't be such a bad thing...or was that what he was really thinking?

"No more talk," said Nobunaga. "The time has come. Leave nothing..."

"...And take everything," finished Kyo, locking eyes with his opponent.

In unison, the they raised their swords.

Nobunaga's Aura suddenly became visible, a maelstrom of black and white swirling around him like a storm. "It is time for my final technique, Kyo. You stand before the King of Hell himself! Submit to his judgment! _**Enma** Mukurode!_"

The swirling black congealed into a solid form, a towering, skeletal figure that dwarfed Nobunaga's _Gashadokuro_. The leering skull of its face was a brilliant crimson, the same color as Nobunaga and Kyo's eyes. Likewise, it was garbed in robes of that same shade. A square crown of what looked like black iron rested atop its head. It lunged at Kyo, raising a massive mace in its right hand as it descended upon him.

Kyo's Aura exploded in a wave of gold. Then the gold was joined by blazes of red, white, black, and blue as the Four Gods surged outwards towards Nobunaga's apparition. They slammed together, Kyo's attacks striving to overcome the avatar of Nobunaga's wrath. However, ultimately, after only a second's pause, the massive figure tore through all four of them liked so much paper, scattering them into wisps of wind.

Despite seeing Kyo's initial counter fail, Yang didn't feel anything like despair. Instead, her eyes rose upward. Sure enough, the mighty figure of the Golden Dragon plunged downwards from the heavens, Kyo's _Koryu_ lunging with outstretched jaws, towards Nobunaga, its path intersecting with Nobunaga's apparition.

The two attacks collided and the entire world erupted in light with a roar that dwarfed anything that had come before. Outside the tiny shelter of their shield, the observers could hear the earth itself being rent asunder, as the entire plateau Nobunaga had created, save for their tiny haven, was shattered down to its roots. In the distance, they could hear the sound of stone tearing apart, mountains being rent or shattered by the shockwave. It was clear that, regardless of the outcome of the battle, the shape of the world itself in their vicinity had just been irrevocably changed.

The Aura Saisei pulled in through her tails intensified, and their stamina dwindled into practically nothing as Saisei took everything they had, channeling it all into her support for Jaune as he poured every ounce of his will into maintaining the shield protecting him and his friends.

Then the sound and light faded. Yang and the others looked on with baited breath, desperate to know what the end result of this clash was. The air in front of them was filled with smoke and dust, gradually falling lower, until it looked as though they were standing above the clouds. It took them a second to realize that the entire plateau, save where they were standing, had been completely obliterated, the dust and smoke concealing the fact that the altitude of the battlefield had been drastically lowered.

Then the smoke cleared further, revealing two figures, one lying prone, the other standing tall. After a few more seconds, the view grew clear enough. What they saw caused the bottom to fall from Yang's stomach.

Kyo lay on the ground, face-down, unmoving, Tenro still in his grasp. A pool of blood slowly spread around him.

"Kyo..." whimpered Yang, unable to credit what she was seeing. She was so sure that he would win. She'd believed in him completely. But now...

Nobunaga still stood. But it was clear that the battle had taken its toll on him. His body heaved with each breath he took. His sword's tip was lowered, almost all the way to the ground, his arms dangling limply. His body looked almost as though it had been dyed completely red, so much blood running across his exposed skin that only small sections of its natural color were still visible.

And yet...he was still standing.

"It seems that the heavens...that _we_...have decided, Kyo," said Nobunaga, slowly, ponderously, turning towards Kyo. His movements were halting and faltering.

"NO!" screamed Yang, lurching forward. However, her legs gave out. It had taken all their collective strength to help Jaune maintain his shield in the face of this final onslaught. She barely had any Aura left, her right arm having vanished completely. At this point, she would simply expend what sliver of her strength remained tumbling down the slope of their refuge, unable to do a thing by the time she reached the bottom.

"I will claim...victory," said Nobunaga, his voice faltering as he took a shaky step towards Kyo, followed by another. "At last...I shall be the strongest. Then this world...shall belong _only_ to me."

Kyo's friends watched helplessly as Nobunaga finally tottered to within reach, and raised his sword high. It was clearly taking the absolute last of Nobunaga's strength, but he now stood ready to strike Kyo's head from his shoulders with what would be the final stroke of this long battle.

"Kyo please!" shouted Yang desperately, tears pouring out of her eyes as she looked down at her lover, watching him for any sign of life. "Please! GET UP! KYO!"

Still, there was no response as Nobunaga's sword began to fall.

There was a flickering flash of steel, then blood arced through the air.

Silence, shocked silence this time, descended on the battlefield, as absolutely everyone could barely credit what had just happened.

One second, Kyo was lying prone, his body splayed across a pool of his own blood. Then, like a film that had just skipped a frame, he had flashed into movement so swift that the eyes couldn't completely follow him. Somehow, he'd risen up and dashed under Nobunaga's falling blade, his own sword flashing in a cut across Nobunaga's abdomen, before Kyo flew past him, staggering, then falling once more. Nobunaga's blade bit into the stone at his feet and rested, the Demon King himself staring uncomprehendingly at the empty pool of blood, where Kyo had been laying less than a second before.

"What-?" That was the only word Nobunaga was able to say before he swayed in place. His hand released his sword, leaving Shibien standing at an angle, barely anchored by its tip in the stone. Then Nobunaga slowly toppled over backwards, his body splitting in two from Kyo's cut, which had cleaved right through his torso. Both halves fell to the ground, blood pouring out to pool around him even more quickly than Kyo's blood had spread.

Then, with a pained groan, Kyo, his limbs quaking from the effort, slowly pushed himself up. Planting Tenro, Kyo used his sword as a lever to force himself back to his feet.

"He did it!" gasped Ruby, tears of joy and relief gathering in her eyes. Jaune let out a breath and sagged down, leaving his shield standing upright where he'd planted it. All around them, the others began to collapse...save for Yang, who, not caring about retaining what little Aura she had left, practically threw herself down, sliding along the steep slope to reach the base.

She reached the bottom, the last of her Aura being expended to protect her body from the harsh scraping against the ground on the way down. She lurched and staggered towards Kyo, desperate to reach him.

Thanks to that, she heard Nobunaga speak.

"The miracle of...effort...was it?" he asked. "A lifetime of training and battle, repeating the same motions, until they are ingrained in your very flesh and bone...allowing a miracle to occur, to manage that last blow, when all else should have failed."

"Yes and no," said Kyo, slowly swaying, clearly at the absolute limit of his own strength. "If we're comparing effort, and lifetimes spent honing oneself, I can't compare to _you_. You have crossed thousands of lifetimes of battle and strife. Compared to that, my few years of training and experience are trifling. Even if you change bodies every time you fall, you have my father's body, which has gone through the very training and conditioning you describe to a much greater extent than I have."

"Then what?" asked Nobunaga, his voice fading.

"I owe it to you," said Kyo with a tired smile.

"Huh?" grunted Yang.

"When you answered my question before our last exchange, you helped firm my resolve," said Kyo. "If not because of my training and effort, then because of all the people, whose happiness rode on my blade, on the outcome of our battle, I was able to take that extra step and find the strength to strike one more blow."

Nobunaga's top half shuddered. "Ahh..." he groaned. "I see...I always thought it strange that threatening those dear to you could draw out such strength. No other of your line has displayed such...compassion, drawn as much strength from it as you have." He chuckled. "But I cannot fault you for it. This battle was sublime. I have seen the summit, the pinnacle of strength and, for the briefest of moments, I have touched it."

"So then...tell me, Nobunaga," said Kyo, "is your ambition sated at last?"

The Demon King was silent for a moment. For a second, it seemed that he might have passed without answering. But then his body shuddered again. "Yes...I believe it is. So, this was your aim, not merely to reach the top yourself, but to satisfy me, to release my hold on the living world, so that I may pass for the final time."

"That was the idea, yes," said Kyo.

Nobunaga chuckled. "Then...yes...you have succeeded. You truly are a strange child, Kyo, unlike any other, completely different from the one who began your line."

"Thank you," said Kyo.

"I had once believed that my ambitions could never be quenched," said Nobunaga. "So long as Heaven and Earth have need, I will return. But that need has passed...and so have I."

Silently as a shadow, Oda Nobunaga slipped away from the world of the living, his body, the body of Kyo's father, dissolving into dark nothingness and spiraling away to scatter on the wind.

* * *

 **And the final battle is over. The last boss has been cleared. Time to calculate EXP, and share out the loot!**

 **...**

 **Oh...right, this isn't an RPG-verse.**

 **So the big wrinkle here, compared to SDK is that, unlike that Kyoichiro (as opposed to the one in this story) Nobunaga really is in the body of a True Mibu, so he is able to become a Demon-God. I figured this was an appropriate end for him, and it gives a certain degree of closure to his character arc, which I felt the manga didn't quite manage.**

 **Now, on to the aftermath.**


	106. Chapter 106

**Chapter 106:**

Kyo watched as Nobunaga's form dissolved, not altogether different from how the Creatures of Grimm vanished into nothingness. All that remained was Shibien, standing slightly askew, like a morbid grave marker.

Kyo took a breath, then swayed, before releasing his grasp on his own sword and falling forward, only to fall into Yang, who wrapped her arm around him. However, Yang's own strength gave out, and she too toppled, with Kyo sprawled out on top of her.

"Geez, aren't we a sight?" she said with a giggle, feeling Kyo smile as he pressed his face against her neck.

"That we are," agreed Kyo. "Given how we look, you'd hardly think we were the winners."

"It's only in silly fairy tales where the heroes win and come out without a scratch," said Yang. "I'm fine with this. We get to go home alive afterwards. That's all that counts."

"Assuming I don't bleed out," said Kyo. "I'm afraid I'm all out of Aura...and almost out of blood for that matter."

"And Saisei's spent," said Yang, feeling a rush of fear at the realization, combined with confusion that Kyo could be so sanguine about the possibility of his impending death.

"Fortunately, Saisei is not the only healer here," a familiar voice spoke, drawing Yang's eyes over.

Makoto stood before them, the other members of the Goyosei arrayed behind him, smiling proudly. "Well done, Kyo," he said. Approaching, he knelt down beside them and the soft, azure glow of his Aura began to wash over Kyo, closing his wounds.

Kyo sighed and his eyes closed. Only the fact that she could still feel him breathing assured Yang that he was alive, otherwise she would have panicked. Instead, she merely reached her hand up and gently ran her fingers through the hair of her sleeping lover.

"I guess we should go help the others down," said Shinrei, staring up the sheer cliff that led to the remains of the plateau that Nobunaga had created.

The four of them vanished, darting up the slope to collect the others.

"I believe transport from Atlas should be arriving soon," said Makoto, continuing Kyo's treatment. "With that, you will be able to return to your quarters at the Academy and rest. You will need it."

"Why? What happened?" asked Yang, staring up at Makoto in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

"Not as such..." said Makoto. "Rather, when your battle against the Junishinsho began, Nobunaga used his power to override the world's communication systems. Your battle, save for its final phases, was witnessed by people in every Kingdom and, possibly, every settlement in between them. Before the day is out, your faces, if not your names, will probably be known to the entire world."

"Oh! Well that's..." Yang wasn't sure how she felt about that. Fame and glory weren't her aim in becoming a Huntress, not even in her younger, more reckless days. Fun and excitement, sure; but Yang wasn't overly concerned about the notion that people's response to her introducing herself as Yang Xiao Long might simply be a befuddled, "Who?" On top of that, dealing with Pyrrha had indicated to Yang that fame wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Perhaps she wanted to be recognized, but never truly famous.

But it seemed that that couldn't be helped for now. "What did everyone see?" she asked.

"As I said, the battle against the Junishinsho," said Makoto. "However, the signal was interrupted during the battle against Murasame. It was never reestablished after that."

"That's...good...I think," said Yang, a sense of relief flowing through her. She supposed that, once it was his turn, Nobunaga hadn't cared whether the world saw his fight with Kyo or not, so long as he got what he wanted out of it.

The big advantage of that was that no one saw the exercise of Kyo and Nobunaga's power as members of the True Mibu. They hadn't seen Kyo restore Murasame from an impossible state to full health, and the rest of the group along with him. They hadn't seen Nobunaga conjure swarms of warriors from his blood, even if they saw the soldiers themselves. Most importantly, no one else had seen Kyo and Nobunaga in their Demon-God incarnations. That alone was plenty reason to be thankful.

Still, it sounded like their lives after all this were going to be anything _but_ quiet. But, right now, that was a concern for another time.

"Makoto-sama, what about the traitor?"

Yang and Makoto looked over to see that Taihaku had descended ahead of the others...along with Murasame, her sword now resting with its edge against Murasame's neck.

"You look well for one who apparently lost against Kyo," said Makoto, a dark edge in his voice as he looked at his former colleague and friend.

Murasame merely lowered his eyes, unable to meet Makoto's gaze.

"Wait! Please!" Penny's voice echoed ahead of her descent as she was assisted down by Shinrei, who was almost carrying her while they slid down the slope. He released her and Penny tottered forward to throw her arms around Murasame's shoulders, practically collapsing against him, her unexpected movements causing Taihaku to withdraw her sword and step back in confusion.

"Penny-chan, absolutely no one here questions that you were forced into the Junishinsho by Mu-by Shatora," said Makoto, his eyes narrowing, still fixed on Murasame's guilt-ridden face. "However, he has committed treason of the darkest nature. This _must_ be addressed."

"But Kyo saved him!" protested Penny. "He did it so that I wouldn't lose another father. Please! Please don't kill him!"

"Is this true?" asked Makoto, looking to Yang.

"It is," said Yang. "And we think he's right."

"Do you now?" asked Makoto, raising a curious eyebrow.

"I know...what he did was terrible, monstrous even," said Yang. "But that doesn't change the fact that he's Penny's father, and she needs him. Kyo saved him because of that. And he said that's _all_ Murasame gets to be now."

Makoto blinked, drawing back slightly, his eyes glancing to the unconscious form of Kyo. "I see," he said softly. "Clearly, this needs to be discussed more in-depth, when Kyo has regained consciousness. I suppose then, in the meantime..." His eyes went back to Murasame. "...your execution shall be staid."

Murasame merely closed his eyes and bowed his head as much as he could, with Penny's arms still wrapped around his neck.

"However," said Makoto, standing up from Kyo, who'd apparently been sufficiently stabilized by now, "I shall seal your Aura, until we are able to make our final decision regarding you. Only time will tell if you shall ever be permitted to use it again."

Murasame remained silent. He did not move as Makoto inserted his hand into his chest, the healer's fingers phasing through skin. Makoto's blue Aura flared for a moment, then vanished. He withdrew his fingers and stepped away. In the meantime, the remaining members of the Goyosei had finished fetching the others from above, the whole group now sprawled out on the ground.

"Other news aside, I suppose this is a time to say...well done...all of you," said Makoto, favoring everyone, except Murasame, with a warm smile.

In spite of the tense atmosphere regarding Murasame's treachery, everyone couldn't keep from smiling, relaxing. Ruby was practically asleep against Jaune's shoulder, and she wasn't the only one on the verge of passing out. In fact, now that the fight, and all its attendant tension, were past, their strength and their alertness were rapidly deserting them.

Then a shadow fell over the group, and those who were conscious enough to do so looked up the see the descending form of Winter's airship.

* * *

"It seems that all of you have become quite the celebrities," observed Ozpin wryly as he addressed the assembled group. Besides RWBY and JNNR; Kyo, Saisei, and Hayate were present. Nigel, being Nigel, had wandered off into the unknown as soon as he'd awakened, while Penny currently refused to leave her father's side, as Murasame didn't just have his Aura sealed, but was now shackled in their quarters as well. Aside from them, there were Winter and Qrow, as well as Makoto. Now that the main threat had been dealt with, and the celebratory atmosphere had completely evaporated the lingering fear left over from Nobunaga's previous attack, the other Headmasters had left to return to their own Academies, taking their students and the reinforcing forces of their Kingdoms with them. Glynda had departed as well, shepherding the other Beacon students back to their Academy.

Winter activated the holographic projector built into the office's desk to reveal images of mass celebrations across all four Kingdoms, people cheering and partying like their lives depended on it. Images of the heroes had been spread across the sides of entire skyscrapers. Yang felt more than a little disconcerted to see herself, with her True Crimson Eyes, grinning out from a Vale skyscraper. It seemed that her performance in this battle had all but erased the stigma of her public disgrace during the Vytal Festival.

"It's...kinda creepy, honestly," said Ruby, shaking slightly.

"I understand," said Ozpin with a light chuckle. "However, I am sad to say that, unlike the battle against Salem, we were not able to keep the particulars of your participation out of the public sphere. That decision was taken from us by the enemy."

"I'm just glad the last part was missing," said Jaune with a sigh. "That would have led to some uncomfortable questions for sure."

"Quite true," agreed Ozpin. "I'm afraid that you all shall be in the spotlight for quite some time after this."

"Well...I'm not looking forward to going back to Vale and being mobbed by reporters," said Weiss with a grimace.

"Who said you had to go back to Vale?" asked Hayate, taking her hand.

"Well, that's probably gonna be true, no matter where we go," said Nora with a groan. "We're famous now! Everyone, everywhere, is gonna have tons of questions for us!"

"We won't have any peace for quite a while," added Blake in a melancholy tone, already envisioning the commotion that would probably follow them wherever they went. With her somewhat reclusive nature, she was looking forward to it with more than a little trepidation.

"Well...I can think of one place where that won't be the case," said Saisei, with an amused twinkle in her eye.

RWBY and JNNR turned curious eyes on her. "Leng?" asked Jaune, his eyebrows going up.

"Our tower was only just built, and in a rush at that," Saisei pointed out. "We haven't begun to produce scrolls for the general populace, to say nothing of setting up relays for our settlements. Aside from the Taishiro, practically no one there knows what has passed."

"Oh!" exclaimed Ruby, her eyes wide.

"If you're looking for some peace and quiet, I can't think of a better place," added Hayate with a small grin.

"And it goes without saying that you are all _more_ than welcome," said Makoto.

"And, of course, the fact remains that you have all officially graduated from Beacon," added Ozpin with a chuckle. "I believe that means that you no longer need to be overly concerned with missing classes."

"I think I'm liking the sound of this," said Weiss, tightening her grip on Hayate's hand.

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Yang, sidling up against Kyo, who wrapped an arm around her.

Neo eagerly draped herself across Saisei's shoulders, prompting a giggle from the other girl as her tail curled around Neo's waist.

Jaune and Ruby exchanged looks, seeing that everyone was apparently in agreement. "Looks like we have a consensus," Jaune said, looking at Makoto.

"Then we shall depart at your leisure," said Makoto.

* * *

Their last few days in Atlas were mercifully quiet. By keeping to the grounds of Atlas Academy, where Winter was able to exercise control over who came and went, they were at least free from harassment by the masses or the press. Admittedly, they were badgered more than a little by the students of Atlas Academy, eager to hear about the fight and learn more about how they had won. Fortunately, even there, Winter was able to apply her authority and convince the Academy's students not to pressure the heroes too much.

Of all of them, Weiss was the only one who made an appearance for the general public. Deciding to take advantage of her current popularity and clout with the masses, she made a brief address, announcing her acknowledgment of Whitley as the heir to the Schnee Dust Company, and her confidence in his ability to steer the company in a better direction, which would hopefully smooth his road in that respect and make his job easier.

Afterwards, they departed on the Mibu Clan's airship, which ferried them across the sea and to Leng, taking them to Onmyo, where they were able to settle in and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.

Of course, even in Onmyo, there were unpleasant matters that needed to be addressed, particularly the fate of Murasame.

* * *

"Nothing to say for yourself?" asked Sora, staring at Murasame from her seat, flicking open her fan to hide her mouth, though her scowl was evident in her eyes.

The audience chamber of the Taishiro was nowhere near as ostentatious as the throne room of the Crimson King. In contrast to the throne room's expanse of marble and stone, the audience chamber was considerably smaller, finished with lacquered wood, dyed in mahogany hues. The dais upon which the Taishiro, sans Murasame, were seated was much shorter than the one in the throne room, less than a foot in height. Likewise, their seats were just as modest, simple and comfortable chairs, each designed to situate the preferences of the Elder who used it.

Still, with their elevated position, Sora, Haruka, and Makoto were unquestionably the ones sitting in judgement over the man who knelt before them, his head bowed. Murasame remained silent, in response to Sora's question. The silence that followed her query was deafening in its own fashion.

Finally, Murasame spoke, though still not raising his head, not daring to look at the three who looked down at him. "What could I possibly say?" he said. "Nothing could possibly be appropriate. I have betrayed you all, you in particular, Sora. I took your husband, your love, from you. I turned my back on my people, and gave my aid to the monster born of our Clan's worst excesses, bringing him closer than ever before to his absolute victory. There is nothing I could say that would excuse or justify that...I dare not even _dream_ of excuses or justifications at this point."

Sora sighed, closing her fan with a snap. "You are quite right," she agreed. "Nothing you could do or say could assuage the bitter feeling in my heart, nor remove the taste of the bile that rises in my mouth, every time I so much as _think_ about you from now on. By all rights, we should have you beheaded, and your head mounted on a pike before our gates."

"But we can't," said Haruka softly, from beneath her hood. Given the circumstances, with the only people present being her fellow Elders (and one former Elder, in this case) she would have been comfortable with leaving her hood down. But, given Murasame's status, she couldn't bring herself to deal with him as an equal.

"I believe we can," said Makoto darkly, his glare almost as piercing as a spear, as he looked down upon Murasame.

"No...Haruka is right," said Sora. "We cannot kill Murasame. None of us have any desire to deprive Penny-chan of two fathers. That much is true. More to the point, my son has already passed his judgment. Considering the manner and circumstances, I believe we can take his judgment as his sole decision as the Crimson King."

Makoto closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. "True," he said.

"That said, the rest of Kyo's judgment is also to be applied," said Sora, her tone growing imperious. "Sengo Murasame, from here on out, you are stripped of your rank as one of the Taishiro. In time, you shall also be divested of your position as the Mibu Blademaster as well."

"In time..?" asked Murasame, looking up for the first time and giving Sora a confused look.

"Yes," said Sora. "Kyo declared that you no longer have that rank as well. However, you have the remaining responsibility of finding a successor, to whom you shall bequeath your knowledge and skill."

"Ah, that makes sense then," said Murasame, lowering his head back down. "Fortunately, I have _just_ the person in mind. I suppose you would not object if I nominated my daughter as my successor, in that respect."

"None of us would dream of doing it," said Sora, a small smile of her own appearing on her face, for the first time since this meeting had begun. "Penny-chan is a remarkably talented girl, and I imagine she will not have any difficulty in learning your means, nor do I doubt that she will go on to surpass you in skill."

"Given that we have an opportunity to shape the narrative of your treachery, we can control the story the population hears as they learn of your deeds," said Makoto. "We shall frame your actions as a secret plan between you and Kyoichiro to render Nobunaga vulnerable to a final defeat."

"Given that that appears to have been his plan all along, I cannot find fault with that," said Murasame.

Makoto nodded. "To the rest of the world, you are not of such significant importance. True, you made appearances during the conference, but you did not play a substantial role, so there should be little concern of your fate, save that they know you are facing justice for your deeds. In this manner, Penny-chan should be able to inherit your position with relatively little controversy."

"I appreciate your wisdom," said Murasame.

Silence fell over the room once more. Sora's eyes narrowed slightly and she leaned forward a bit in her seat. "Have you anything else to say?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Murasame. "I dare not even dream of forgiveness for what I have done, so I have no right to even apologize, much less ask that of you."

"Very true," said Sora, settling back in her seat, her expression pensive. "Still...I find grudges...distasteful. Holding them has never brought me peace or ease. I imagine that, in time, I shall find it in me to forgive you...in part."

"Then I wait," said Murasme, lowering his head to the floor, "to the end of my days and beyond, if that is what it takes, though I dare not expect it."

"Perhaps not," said Sora. "You are free to go. Return to your quarters, and assume the role you were meant to as Penny-chan's father. If you truly wish for my forgiveness, do not fail her again."

"Never," said Murasame, rising and taking his leave.

When he left, it was as though all the tension drained out of the room. Sora let out a long breath and slumped in her seat. "Well, that's that for now," she said.

Makoto gave her a skeptical look. "Can you truly find it in yourself to forgive him?"

"I believe so," said Sora, giving Makoto a tired smile. "Even if not for my own heart, I believe I will, someday, find it in me to forgive him for Penny's sake. That girl loves him with all her heart...and I cannot fault her for that, as it is clear that Murasame's feelings match hers, for all that he was foolish about how he acted upon them."

Makoto frowned and turned his head away, uncertain about what to think of this situation. "You believe Kyo invoked his status as Crimson King to decide Murasame's fate."

"More or less, given the circumstances," said Sora. "As I said, I imagine that it will be his sole decision as Crimson King."

"Meaning...?" pressed Haruka.

"Meaning that the Crimson Throne shall sit empty from now on," said Sora. "The Line of Kyo shall end with our Kyo, and the blood of the True Mibu shall ultimately fade from the world. There is no reason left to continue it."

"Meaning he has no intention of having children?" wondered Haruka.

"Hardly," said Sora with a coy giggle, covering her mouth with her fan. "I imagine that, in the future, he and Yang shall get quite busy in that sense. I, personally, am hoping for at least _two_ grandchildren to spoil rotten. Kyo will simply _not_ use his power to ensure the purity of the True Mibu bloodline. Instead, he will allow it to fade over the coming generations...until it has passed from all memory."

"And what place does Kyo now hold in our Clan?" asked Makoto.

"None," said Sora. "The Crimson Cross Knight and the Crimson King are positions that have now lost all meaning. Kyo will be able to decide his place for himself, forge his own life, and be free to chart his own path."

"Where is he now?" asked Makoto.

"Most likely in his room, with Yang," said Sora with a giggle. "I imagine it will be a while before they come out again. Hopefully, I won't find myself expecting grandchildren too soon."

Not even Makoto could maintain his stern expression at that. Haruka's cheeks colored slightly.

Makoto coughed slightly. "In any case, I suppose we should discuss the prospect of Murasame's replacement," he said.

Haruka nodded her agreement. "We can hardly call ourselves the Taishiro if there are only three of us."

Sora giggled at Haruka's remark. "Very true," she agreed. "There's no need to rush to fill Murasame's vacancy, but I suppose we should start considering candidates."

"I wonder if Senzaemon would be amenable," mused Makoto.

"He doesn't want it," Haruka reminded him.

"Well, I suppose he _could_ be persuaded," said Sora pensively. "If we promised him he wouldn't have to make any decisions...or if we have the proper role for him to fill."

"You have one in mind already," noted Makoto.

Haruka covered her mouth to hide a light giggle, remembering how Sora had done much the same to entice her into the Taishiro's ranks.

"I was thinking that there might be a need to name someone to the post of Chief of Military Affairs," said Sora. "I know that our new Taihaku has been living up to her promise, but the fact remains that she does require some tempering. I also know that Senzaemon would like to be on hand to offer guidance for her, but not look like he's doddering around, looking over her shoulder."

"A worthwhile offer," said Makoto, rubbing his chin. "I suppose that might just win him over..."

* * *

Penny had been a mess of nerves, ever since Murasame had entered the audience chamber for the other members of the Taishiro to decide his fate. She'd been reassured over and over again that Kyo's brief, and sole, abuse of his True Mibu power wouldn't go to waste, and her father wouldn't be executed. But, even if she loved him, Penny also realized that Murasame had betrayed and badly hurt the people who had placed so much trust in him, and had respected him so much. She understood that betrayal and hurt all too well, but couldn't bring herself to stop loving him, or needing him, all the same.

The doors opened and Penny shot to her feet, almost falling back down in her relief as Murasame stepped out of the audience chamber and closed the doors behind him. Wordlessly, she threw herself at him and he caught her in a tight hug, the two of them taking solace in each other's touch, before she pulled back and looked up at him questioningly.

"The worst has passed," said Murasame, smiling down at her. "Kyo's judgment was upheld, and I have lost all rank and status. But...I'm still alive...and free to be the father I should have been all along."

Penny leaned forward and pressed her face into the fabric of his kimono, letting out a breathy sigh of relief. Murasame rubbed her back reassuringly. "Let's go home," he said. "It will be a while yet before I'm evicted."

"Evicted?" asked Penny, looking back up at him again.

"Well...I will likely wind up exiled," said Murasame, "not too far away, of course. But my quarters are reserved for the Mibu Blademaster and, ultimately, even if I am forgiven, it would be poor form to allow a traitor to dwell within or near the Palace. And...truth be told, I think I would be better for a little distance from the affairs of the Clan."

Penny nodded. "What do we do then?"

"Well, even though I am no longer one of the Taishiro, nor the Clan Blademaster, I do have one last responsibility remaining to me," said Murasame. "I must teach my successor the art of forging."

"Do you have someone in mind?" wondered Penny.

"I do," said Murasame, his smile widening. "Penny...would you like to learn the art of forging a blade?"

Penny gasped and her eyes widened, excitement rushing through her. "I'd love to!" she exclaimed.

Murasame chuckled and ran his fingers through her hair. "We don't have to begin right away," he said. "I have all the time in the world now, and there is no need to rush to replace myself. Are you still interested in attending Beacon?"

"Well...um..." Penny looked down. "The main reason I wanted to go was because Ruby and my other friends are there and...um...they graduated early."

"That they did," agreed Murasame. "Though, perhaps, I wonder if you would be interested in going to Haven instead."

Penny squeaked, her cheeks flushing. She pressed her face back into her father's chest as he chuckled.

"Well...?" he prodded, after giving her a moment to allow her embarrassment to fade.

"Uh...maybe," said Penny. "That might be fun."

She'd been able to see and talk to Neptune again, after the battle had ended, though their meeting had been brief, as Ozma had whisked her charges away and back to Haven soon after everything was settled. She was glad to know that their feelings hadn't fizzled out yet, like they had between Neptune and Weiss. Then her attention went to the weight of the scroll resting in her pocket and she realized that, now that the Mibu had a CCT tower of their own, she could call him herself. Maybe Neptune would help her find an answer.

"You can take your time," said Murasame. "Even if your body has recovered, your heart and soul have gone through a trying experience, and those injuries take longer to heal."

"Thank you," said Penny. "Right now...I'm just happy that I still have you."

"So am I," said Murasame, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

* * *

" _So, what's the plan now?_ " asked Sun, his face looking out from the screen of Blake's scroll. " _You're all graduated, but my team and I have another year, before we get out of here._ "

"I haven't been thinking too much about that," admitted Blake. "I'm still trying to get my own head in order."

" _Not quite over the fact he's gone, are you?_ " asked Sun, his tone soft and caring.

Blake smiled and nodded, feeling the familiar pressure of unshed tears build behind her eyes. She couldn't stop herself from sniffling, and swiped at her eyes reflexively. "I thought I was over him," she admitted. "I was ready to fight him, to _end_ him. But even then...there's a part of me that didn't want to let him go."

" _I can see that,_ " said Sun. " _Even if he became a monster, it doesn't change the fact that he was still important to you._ "

Blake nodded. She still wasn't sure to be upset or relieved over hearing about Adam's death at the hands of Neo and Saisei. In the utter chaos and world-threatening upheaval that had been the final battle against Nobunaga, her worries over the man who had once been her lover had been largely sidelined. Saisei's report about his fate had been something of an afterthought, in the immediate aftermath of things. Blake supposed it should have been obvious, considering that all her friends had come through the fight, but Adam had not. It was only natural that their survival meant that he was dead. Despite that, Saisei's revelation of Adam's fate had, somehow, managed to completely blindside her all the same.

" _I wish I could be there for you,_ " said Sun. " _I know the Prof would love to let me come out to see you, but..._ "

"I know," said Blake, reaching up and tracing her finger over the image of Sun's cheek on the screen. "She can't afford to show too much favoritism...even if you have earned it."

" _Th-thanks,_ " said Sun. After a moment of silence, he began to speak again. " _Still...any ideas?_ "

"Like I said, I haven't given it much thought," said Blake with a sigh. "Still, right now, I'm thinking of going back to Menagerie for a while. I feel that I owe my parents some time, after everything I've put them through."

" _That's a good plan,_ " said Sun.

"And...Menagerie is a lot closer to Haven than most places I might go," added Blake in a teasing tone, "so it'll be easier for me to drop by and visit."

" _You won't hear any complaints from me,_ " said Sun, his eagerness clear.

Blake lowered her eyes away from the scroll's screen. "As for after that..."

" _Yeah?_ "

"Well...being a two-time world saver now, even if the first time is mostly off the record, I feel that I have some extra goodwill to spend," said Blake. "Now that Adam's gone, we should clean up the remnants of the White Fang."

" _That's my Blake,_ " said Sun with a slight quaver of laughter in his voice, no doubt remembering Blake's old obsession with the organization she'd once been a part of, before it had gone so wrong.

Without Adam's guidance and force of personality, the White Fang's remnants wouldn't be near as coordinated or determined to fight as before. Certainly, there would be plenty of them still eager to act upon their wrath. But Blake figured that, without Adam in the picture, maybe more than a few of them could be swayed to abandon the cause that had poisoned the once-peaceful organization.

"After that...maybe I'll try to start over," continued Blake. "I think the White Fang's name is too corrupted to ever be revived into what it was at the beginning. But I can start something new to continue their original mission. Being a world-savior will probably help with that."

" _I can get behind that,_ " said Sun. " _As soon as I get out of Haven, I'll be right there with you. No way I'll let the girl I love try and change the world without help from yours truly._ "

"I'll be waiting," Blake promised, feeling reassured. After everything that had happened, it would be an uphill battle, even with her now-substantial clout, to truly amend the divides between humans and faunus. But, if she had Sun at her side, she knew she could manage, somehow.

* * *

With a sigh, Weiss settled back onto the bench, staring out over the zen garden that she had found during her first visit to Onmyo. The thin air of the garden was somewhat refreshing, clearing her mind and heart as she stared at the stones, and the carefully-raked lines of gravel that swirled around them, letting her mind empty, peace replacing the thoughts swirling around within.

She was so enraptured with the sensation of peace that she barely noticed when Hayate appeared, almost seemingly from nowhere. Saying nothing, he settled in beside her, leaning back and taking in the serenely beautiful surroundings along with her. Even if he didn't touch her, his presence alone was enough for Weiss. They remained in a comfortable silence, basking in the feeling of peace that pervaded the air.

After the battle, they had been almost inseparable, sharing a bed every night, though they had yet to go further than making out and some heavy petting. Aside from that, Weiss was happy to spend her time holding or being held by Hayate, reassuring herself after coming so close to losing him in the caverns, where Nobunaga had set his sick little game.

Today though, she had needed some time to herself, some time to reflect on what had happened, and consider what lay in the future. Now that she was liberated of her responsibility to her family's legacy and, knowing it would fare just fine in Whitley's capable hands, she was confronted with the reality that she was well and truly _free_. She could go anywhere and do anything. But that realization was almost as daunting as it was enticing. Hayate hadn't even questioned her need to think alone, but it seemed that he needed the reassurance of her presence too, now finding her after a little while, though he remained quiet, and made no effort to intrude upon her reverie.

Finally, closing her eyes, Weiss let out a slow breath, then opened them again. She turned her head and smiled at Hayate, who met her gaze with a smile of his own.

"So...come to any decisions?" he asked.

"Not really," said Weiss. "My only responsibility in the immediate future is making sure to teach Haruka and her people my glyphs, so that they can continue to refine their Etheric technology. After that...?" she shrugged lamely. "I mean, I know we were talking about traveling together, and you showing me all the places and things you discovered, but..."

"You're a big-time celebrity now," said Hayate, tracing her line of thought. "Any place we visit, you'll be recognized instantly." His eyes rolled upwards thoughtfully for a second. "Me too, come to think of it."

"Right," said Weiss. "I'm sure you have plenty of things you could show me besides different settlements, but..."

"I understand," said Hayate. Then his smile widened slightly. "Fortunately, I have an idea."

"You do?" asked Weiss, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

Hayate nodded. "You know, I've been to all sorts of different places. I've wandered all over Sanus, Anima, and Solitas. But...there's one place I've never really explored in-depth."

"You mean...?" Weiss' eyes widened.

"We can travel across Leng," said Hayate. "I've never been anywhere on this continent, aside from the places immediately near the capital. I'd like to visit all the different villages, towns, and settlements the Mibu have created. I'd like to see all the different places there are in the wilderness in between."

"That sounds..." Weiss felt her heart quickening at the thought. Perhaps, in the future, Hayate could show her all the things and places he had discovered in the wider world. But this was a chance for both of them to explore an unfamiliar land. All the things they saw and did they would be able to discover together. "That sounds wonderful!"

Hayate looked away, staring off into the sky, his expression wistful. "You know, I never did get to see that place, the one where they helped all the refugees I rescued from the internment camps. I guess it's probably not open anymore, now that there's no reason to keep using it. But I'd like to see it all the same. It seems a shame to let a place like that simply be forgotten."

"I don't think it will be," said Weiss. "I'm sure that someone will find a use for it. But we can definitely make our way there."

"Yeah, then we can visit all the settlements," said Gin. "I'd like to know if the people I helped are doing well. It's been something that's been niggling in the back of my mind, ever since I finished. I know the Mibu will take good care of them, but I'd like to see for myself."

"We'll be able to do all that," said Weiss, reaching over to cup Hayate's cheek and turn him to face her once again. "But, right now, I think I'd like to spend some more time with just you, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind one bit," said Hayate, leaning in to capture her lips with his.

* * *

Neo pouted at Saisei from her place on the bed as the latter dressed herself.

"I know," said Saisei, giving Neo a guilty a smile. "But I can't ignore my responsibilities indefinitely. Nobunaga or no Nobunaga, I am still Saisei of the Goyosei, and I have work to do that can't be put off forever. Sora-sama and Makoto-sama have been more than lenient."

Neo sighed and slumped back on the bed.

Saisei's smile took on a slightly sad quality. Going over, she sat down next to Neo and cupped her cheek. "I understand," she said. "I love you dearly, Neo. But I love my work too, too much to simply give it up. I left my wandering days behind, when I took up my new name. After this, I hope to someday succeed Makoto-sama as the Chief Physician.

"You, on the other hand, still have to decide on your own path. You, more or less, fell onto the path of a Huntress. But now that you _are_ one, it's time to find out what you want to do with your life and future. One thing I do know is that you aren't the sort of girl to be tied down to one place for very long."

Neo blinked, tears gathering in her eyes. Ever since their relationship had begun, neither of them had really considered to what amounted to a difference in station. While Saisei occasionally traveled with her friends, Kyo and the other Shiseiten, she was, by and large, tethered to the Mibu by her role as the Wood of the Goyosei. In contrast, Neo was struck with the revelation that she no longer had a concrete purpose in her life. Even becoming a Huntress had been a path she'd, more or less, stumbled onto.

Prior to the war with Salem, Neo had been a petty thief, her greatest concern surviving from one day to the next. She'd had Roman and they were an effective team. But that only went so far. Then they had been pulled into the war, first as Cinder's minions, then Roman had become a casualty, thanks to his status as 'disposable' in Cinder's eyes. Eventually, Neo had learned the truth about his death, and had joined Ruby and her friends to get her revenge on Cinder and Salem. Afterwards, she had been pardoned for her previous crimes, and allowed to enter Beacon as a student, taking her place on Team JNNR. None of that had ever been her original intention. It had all just sort of...happened.

In retrospect, her relationship with Saisei had been like that too. Their first meeting had been Saisei saving Neo from a Grimm infection. Afterwards, they had spent time together and bonded, eventually coming to love and cherish one another. But neither of them had given thought to the truth that they were walking two _very_ different roads in life. They had shared a path for a while, in their need to defeat Nobunaga and his minions.

But now that that was over, Saisei had to return to her regular duties, while Neo...Neo wasn't sure _what_ she had to return to. Her time at Beacon was done, and everyone seemed to be going their separate ways. Neo knew that any of them would probably welcome her to come along for at least a while. But Neo also knew that she would be a third wheel for nearly all of them. She had to find something for herself.

Saisei leaned over and kissed Neo on the lips, letting the contact linger before pulling away. "Perhaps you'll settle here someday, but that won't be for a while yet. I know you too well now, Neo. But...until that time, I'll be here for you. When you're tired, when you're lonely, when you need rest, come to me, and I will be waiting for you."

Neo sniffled, but managed a smile and nodded slowly.

Saisei rubbed her thumb across Neo's cheek one last time. "But you don't have to leave right away. I promise I'll be here every night, until you're ready."

* * *

"You know, we're going to have to come out of this room eventually," said Kyo as he collapsed, panting, next to Yang after their latest round of "celebration."

"I'll come out when I'm good and ready," Yang replied, rolling over and gently tracing her finger across Kyo's bare chest. "You scared me half to death at least a dozen times, during that whole thing. I'm taking this as an apology."

"I'm well aware of that," Kyo replied wryly. Leaning in, he pecked her lips, before pulling back. "But I figure it's time to air things out. I'm afraid the atmosphere in here is getting rather thick."

Yang giggled, but couldn't deny that Kyo had a point. Once they'd arrived in Onmyo, they'd barely taken the time to reassure Sora that they'd made it through the battle in one piece, before Yang had dragged Kyo off to their room and locked the pair of them in. The staff had been unfailingly kind, leaving meals at their door, and cleaning away the empty trays that were set out. In the meantime, Kyo and Yang had occupied themselves by rutting like rabbits in the springtime, taking the occasional break to eat, sleep, or use the bathroom.

Of course, the natural consequence was that the smell of their lovemaking, along with their sweat, and all other associated odors, had been building up over the past couple of days they'd been locked in there. Yang supposed that the two of them were overdue for a shower and a bout of fresh air...and maybe overdue to exercise parts of their bodies other than their hips.

"I also think we should reassure my mother that she doesn't have to worry about grandchildren just yet," added Kyo with a chuckle.

"I thought you said Saisei's contraception was foolproof," said Yang, a growl that could only be described as "playfully threatening" coloring her voice.

"It is," said Kyo. "She'll undo it when we're ready."

"You say that like you _expect_ it to happen in the future," said Yang, giving her lover a sultry smile. "You think you're gonna get that far with me?"

"I certainly live in hope," said Kyo. "I have no desire to force my expectations on you, but..."

"I know," said Yang with a giggle. "I want a family of my own too. Someday..." She tucked her head into his chest. "But we shouldn't think too far ahead."

"I don't plan to," said Kyo. "It's just...sometimes I think about what my mother and father went through, the decisions they had to make, the sacrifices they needed to make, in order to maintain the Line of Kyo."

"Sacrifices?" asked Yang.

Kyo nodded. "I know that O-Kaa-san would have been ecstatic to have more than one child. I myself would have liked siblings. But that isn't allowed for the Line of Kyo. The line must be continued, but the True Mibu blood cannot be allowed to proliferate."

"But now...?" prodded Yang.

"But now, there's no need to worry," said Kyo, kissing the top of Yang's head as he held her close. "We'll be able to create a real family. Our children won't have to grow up with the burden of my line, and they will be able to follow whatever path they choose for themselves." He paused, his eyes rolling up thoughtfully. "Though, it might be a few generations before the light of the Crimson Eyes begin to fade."

"That's fine by me," said Yang. "But I want to have you to myself for a while."

"And you will," Kyo promised her. "Once we're ready, I want to show you everything I've seen, all the places I've been, all the things I've discovered. I want to take you home."

"I thought this was your home," said Yang, her eyes casting about the room.

"Not really," said Kyo. "There are family and people that I love here: O-Kaa-san, Dougal, Penny, Shinrei, Keikoku, Chinmei, Saisei, Chika-er-Taihaku...but it's been a very long time since I've considered the Palace, Onmyo, or even Leng my home. My home is the outside world, in everything I've seen and done. Now I want to show all of that to you."

"Nothing would make me happier," said Yang, before yawning. "But...let's get a little more sleep. You've worn me out...again."

"Of course," said Kyo, holding her tight as Yang drifted off.

* * *

"I'll be honest, I never thought the four of you would come to see me in such a formal capacity," said Sora, looking down from her seat at the people standing before her. The other three seats remained empty for the time being, as Sora was the only one they had requested to see.

Jaune looked down bashfully. "Yeah, it kinda feels weird. But Ruby said we should do it like this."

"Well, it _is_ a very important request," said Ren.

"If it's a request, then you have only to ask," said Sora descending from her seat, and stepping down off the dais to reach the four in front of her. "We owe you and the others everything. If it is within my power, I will do anything I can to help you."

"Um...well..." Ruby blushed and looked away from Sora. "It's just...well...you know..."

Nora was similarly tongue-tied, both girls a bit intimidated by what they were about to ask, and who they were about to ask it of.

Sora leaned in and wrapped both girls in a tight hug, pulling them in and holding them up against her. Ruby and Nora stiffened nervously for all of a second, before leaning into Sora's embrace.

"Now then, what is it you want?" asked Sora.

"Um...You know that Jaune and Ren proposed to us, right?" asked Ruby.

"That's right," said Sora. It had been announced shortly before the group's departure to fight Nobunaga.

"Well...we were wondering if you could...officiate the wedding for us," said Ruby, her silver eyes gleaming with hope as she gazed up into Sora's face.

Sora released the girls and immediately broke into laughter. "That's it?" she asked. "You came to me so formally to ask me for something like that."

Ruby and Nora balked, wondering if Sora was dismissing them for asking something so minor. Instead, she reached out and rested warm hands on their shoulders. "I am honored beyond words," said Sora, beaming at them. "I would be all too happy to grant your request. Tell me when and where, and I will make all the necessary arrangements."

Jane, Ren, and Nora all looked to Ruby, who now looked eager. "Actually, I know when and where I want to do it," she said, "and I have your son to thank for it."

"Oh?" Sora's eyebrows rose up. "Tell me more."

* * *

 **And so the end is coming. There are sweet moments, happy moments, and bitter ones. Just a couple more chapters left...**


	107. Chapter 107

**Chapter 107:**

"I'm sorry that I worried you," said Penny, as she and her friend meandered along the paths of one of the upperclass district's parks.

"It's all right," said Ciel with a distant sigh, holding Penny's hand tightly as they walked, almost as though to reassure herself that her friend wasn't some kind of hallucination. "I almost fainted, when they told me what had happened. I was angry when I realized they'd kept it from me for a little while, then I realized why."

"Because you were fighting," said Penny.

Ciel nodded. "If I'd been distracted by worrying about you on the front lines, I might have gotten myself hurt or killed. They waited until they brought us students out of rotation to tell me." She looked up at Penny. "I guess I'm not supposed to tell the others about what your father did."

"Well, nothing more than what was announced officially," said Penny.

The official word was that Murasame had retired from his position in the Taishiro, after the strain of the final battle against Nobunaga. While that had caused some anxiety and trepidation among the populace, especially after learning and seeing the Crimson King's final fate, public order was maintained well enough that the Grimm weren't enticed past the newly-erected shields.

For a moment, the pair wandered in silence, before Ciel stopped suddenly. Penny turned to look at her, and saw Ciel's eyes fixed on the trunk of a large tree standing alone in the midst of a grassy expanse. "Ciel...?"

"That's where I met him," said Ciel, tears collecting in her eyes as she stared at the tree.

"You mean Kyoichiro?" asked Penny, looking at the tree.

Ciel nodded and wiped her eyes with a sniffle. "I remember how he just introduced himself as 'Sensei.' He was so happy, when I kept calling him that, even after I learned who he was. He gave me advice and helped me when I first came here, back when I was still having trouble fitting in with the other students."

That hadn't been the last time she'd talked to him either. Even though her Sundays afterwards had mostly been spent with her new circle of friends, or Shinrei, she occasionally took some time to herself to enjoy peace and quiet in the park. Sometimes, she would settle beneath that tree to relax and Sensei would find her there. They would talk about any number of things. Ciel could tell him almost anything, and Sensei would listen and smile...never judging her. Those had been moments that Ciel treasured.

"It...it really hurts to think that he's gone," said Ciel with a sniff. "I'll never see or speak to him again."

Penny wrapped her arms around Ciel's shoulders and hugged her tightly. "I know," she said. After all, even if Murasame had been a father to her during the time she'd spent getting accustomed to a human body, Kyoichiro had become something of an uncle to her as well, always happy to show her affection, always ready with a word of advice. She still remembered the feeling of him affectionately ruffling her hair. Of course, now she would never get to experience that again, not from him.

Perhaps one of the things that hurt the most was how indifferent the Clan as a whole seemed to be about Kyoichiro's passing. Of all of them, only those who had been his students really mourned. To the rest, he was simply the Crimson King, a distant figure, whose actions had had little bearing on their lives. Penny and Ciel knew that it had been that way by Kyoichiro's choice. He chose _not_ to exercise the power of his position, and instead left governance to the Taishiro. But, because of that, the Clan would go on, with few of them aware of the depth of what Kyoichiro had sacrificed for them.

For a little while, the two of them stayed like that, holding each other, taking solace in one another. After gathering themselves, they were able to let go and continue on. To Penny's surprise, Ciel made straight for the tree and sat herself at its base, Penny joining her.

"By the way, Winter contacted me," said Ciel.

"She did?" asked Penny, her eyes wide.

With the Mibu's new CCT tower up and running, it was now possible for them to speak with people for other Kingdoms. Of course, until scrolls were made available to the general populace, one had to actually go to the tower in order to speak with someone outside of Onmyo. With that in mind, couriers were employed to carry messages from the tower to individuals they were sent to. The Mibu not having yet established much of a relationship with the other Kingdoms meant that there wasn't all that much traffic. What communication there was was mostly at the governmental level.

"What did Winter say?" asked Penny.

"She's fixed my status and expunged my record," explained Ciel. "I'm not wanted for treason in Atlas anymore."

"So you could go back," said Penny. "Do you want to?"

"Not really," said Ciel. "This is my home now, with friends and family that I've made. I don't really feel like I could ever really belong in Atlas anymore."

"Not even with your real family?" asked Penny.

Ciel shook her head sadly. "Not really," she said. "I...My feelings are mixed. On one hand, it hurts that they turned their backs on me. On the other...I can't really blame them...or say that I wouldn't have done the same, if I had been in their position."

It wasn't necessarily a sense of overblown patriotism that had caused Ciel's family to disown her. She understood full well the fear of Ironwood's retribution that they had been suffering under, the worry that Ciel's crime would turn the resentful general's eyes on the rest of them, and mark them out as targets. Ciel would have liked to say that the bonds between them were stronger than their fear, except that they obviously weren't. Yet, Ciel also couldn't really bring herself to resent them for that. For all she knew, had the situation been switched and it had been another of her family singled out the way she had, she too might have bowed to that fear. She didn't think she had the courage she did now.

"I think you wouldn't have," said Penny, gently tracing Ciel's cheek. "The reason you got in trouble in the first place is because you were helping me. You knew that you'd get in trouble for it. But you still did it. I know you're someone who has the strength to do the right thing, even when you're afraid."

"Thank you," said Ciel with a sniff. Leaning over, she let herself lay sideways, her head resting on Penny's thighs as Penny gently combed her fingers through Ciel's ebony locks.

"What about the others?" asked Ciel after a moment of quiet. "How are they doing?"

"They're doing fine," said Penny. "Weiss and Hayate are planning to explore Leng and see all the different places around the continent. Jaune and Ren have proposed to Ruby and Nora, so they're starting to plan the wedding. Ruby's already said I'll get to be one of her bridesmaids."

"Congratulations," said Ciel with a giggle.

Penny continued. "Blake is gonna go back to Menagerie for a while. She's going to try and put more work on building human and faunus relations. I think Neo isn't sure what she wants to do, now that everything's over. She's kinda sad that Saisei won't be able to come with her for a while."

"What about Yang and Kyo?" wondered Ciel.

"I think they're planning on traveling too," said Penny, before she giggled. "But they want to rest a while longer before they set out."

"How long?" asked Ciel, surprised that two such energetic people, so eager to get out and see the world together, were now putting that ambition on the back-burner, even though their major responsibilities had now been seen to.

"Well, Yang says that they'll know they're rested when they start feeling _restless_ ," said Penny, making Ciel laugh.

Rolling over a little bit, Ciel shifted her head so that she was now staring straight up at Penny. "What about you?"

Penny grinned. "Well...I have a few options. My friends are now officially graduated, so there isn't really much point in me going to Beacon. But I could go to Haven instead."

Seeing Penny's cheeks color made Ciel smile wryly. "I guess you must have a compelling reason to go there."

That made Penny blush even more. "Y-yeah," she said...before deciding to quickly change the topic. "But Papa's also said he's going to teach me how to forge swords like he does."

"Really?" gasped Ciel, her eyes going wide. Whatever else might be said about him, Murasame was the Mibu Clan's former-Blademaster, and was renowned for the quality of his creations.

"Uh huh," said Penny, beaming down at her. "So, someday, I'll make a sword for you, Ciel."

"That would be wonderful," gasped Ciel, beaming.

The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the shadow of the tree, talking about whatever caught their fancy. After everything they had been through, and everything they had lost, it was the best medicine for both of them.

* * *

Weiss watched in fascination as Haruka managed to conjure the glyph Weiss had taught her between her hands, the shimmering construct of Aura synching with the power of the Etheric Core Crystal, allowing Haruka to bond it with a conversion crystal. She marveled at how quickly Haruka had managed to learn the basics of glyph-formation. Then again, Weiss supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. Unlike her, Haruka wasn't creating a glyph from scratch, but producing one that Weiss had already created. On top of that, Haruka was one of the Taishiro for a reason.

"Perfect," said Weiss, giving her assessment. The praise made Haruka beam, which Weiss found somewhat disconcerting, given the difference in their stations.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before Haruka had learned all the necessary glyphs to set up the new system for the transmission of Etheric Power. With this, they would no longer be dependent on complex, material arrays to convert Etheric Energy into electricity, nor would they need physical wires to channel that power to the conversion crystals.

"I can't thank you enough for this," said Haruka, taking Weiss' hands. "We were the ones who discovered this power, but you were the one who has perfected its implementation."

"Nothing is perfected," said Weiss with a smile, squeezing Haruka's hands back. "We'll continue to develop new and better ways to use this power. That's what will carry us into the future. My brother is already working to study the crystals you gifted to Atlas. He's going to work on new developments in integrated Etheric-Dust Technology."

Sometimes it was still jarring to realize just how long Whitley had been covertly defying and undermining their father. When Jacques had returned from Leng with the Etheric Crystals that been gifted to Atlas (and Ironwood had subsequently gifted to the Schnees) he had ordered them destroyed immediately. Instead, Whitley had covertly shipped them to one of the labs under his private management, where they could be safely kept and studied.

"I look forward to seeing his work," said Haruka.

"I'll put you in touch with him," said Weiss. "I'm sure Whitley would love the chance to collaborate with the creator of Etheric technology."

"I...I wouldn't mind that," said Haruka, her voice betraying a touch of nervousness all the same. Weiss wasn't surprised. However much she opened up, Haruka was still Haruka after all.

"Don't worry," said Weiss, "Whitley is really good at talking to people, better than me. I think you'll get along just fine."

In truth, that had as much to do with Whitley's skill as a manipulator as it was him being personable. He knew how to present himself, adjust his manner and speech, in order to garner a positive response from the people he interacted with. It was a trap that Weiss had fallen for on more than one occasion. However, after coming to better understand her brother, she had a feeling he wouldn't use those skills to try and take advantage of Haruka, only to help interact with her better.

"And what will you do?" asked Haruka, confusing Weiss.

"Well, Hayate and I are-"

"I know about that," said Haruka, cutting her off in a rare show of assertiveness. "But what will you do after you've finished traveling? It may be years down the road, before you finish exploring Leng and the other continents. But what will you do after that?"

"I...I'm not sure," admitted Weiss. "What Hayate and I are doing isn't really anything more than a long vacation. I've tried thinking about what I actually want to do with my life. But now that I don't have the company anymore...I just keep drawing a blank."

"Perhaps...you might consider teaching," said Haruka.

"Teaching?" Weiss blinked, the concept having never really made an impression on her before.

Haruka held up her hand and the glyph that Weiss had just taught her flashed into being. "What you have created, what you'll continue to create, will become the foundation of a whole new school of Manifestation. Not only that, it has applications in nearly facet of life, not just combat. People from all walks of life would seek your guidance, learn the glyphs you have created, and, perhaps, go on to create glyphs of their own."

"What are you saying?" asked Weiss.

"I think you could start a school," explained Haruka. "Teach others what you've taught me and more. You could accomplish far more good than any company or corporation."

Weiss stared at the glyph hovering over Haruka's hand, her mind spinning. Part of her balked at the idea, the part of her that was still locked in the idea of this being the Schnee Family Semblance. It had been in her family since her grandfather's time. The idea of teaching it to outsiders...

But that was just it. It _could_ be taught. It wasn't a Semblance, it was a Manifestation. What was more, she had invested herself in its development, and had accomplished far more than even her famous grandfather had. More still, Haruka was standing in front of her, with one of the glyphs Weiss had created hovering over her hand.

 _It was never about teaching this to a few people,_ thought Weiss, her mind spinning at the possibilities. She had already come up with so many new glyphs and concepts. What could others do if they were taught the same form of Manifestation? The possibilities were endless.

"That...that sounds incredible," breathed Weiss. "I hadn't given that much thought. But it sounds almost...perfect."

"You will have time," said Haruka. "I'm sure that, even if that's not the case, you will find something."

"I think I have," said Weiss, meeting Haruka's gaze. "In fact, I'm already getting ideas."

Without her hood up, it was easy to see Haruka's eyebrows go up. "Oh?"

Weiss nodded. "Hayate was curious about what happened to the settlement they created to help process all the refugees he saved. If the Mibu don't have another use for it, I might have some ideas..."

* * *

It was a little over two weeks before the first of them were ready to leave. Not unexpectedly, it was Weiss and Hayate who were the first to decide to go. Blake decided to take her leave at the same time, with the Mibu having generously provided her with the opportunity to book passage on one of their brand new cargo airships, which would be taking supplies to Menagerie.

"Shouldn't it be at the Palace gates?" asked Saisei teasingly as she reclined at the table next to Neo.

"Hayate and I are leaving through the northern exit," said Weiss. "We're going to make our way up to Kurogane as our first stop."

"Wow!" teased Yang. "Who'd have thought we'd see the day that the Princess would be wandering around in the wilderness."

"Shut up, you oaf!" retorted Weiss, blushing slightly. "You're going to be traipsing around in the wilderness yourself."

"Yeah, but that's the kind of thing people would expect of me," said Yang with a laugh.

A sniffle drew Weiss' attention to Ruby. Ruby was sitting next to Jaune, her head bowed, arm rubbing furiously at her eyes. Sitting next to her, Jaune smiled sympathetically and gently patted her back.

"Ruby? Why are you crying?" asked Weiss.

"I...I don't want to..." said Ruby, pausing to sniff again. "It's just...we're all together now, and now...we're all going?"

Weiss sighed, a fond, wistful smile on her face. "You dunce," she said quietly the term that had once carried little but scorn, back when they'd first met, now full of warm endearment. Getting up, Weiss made her over to Ruby and hugged her tightly. "I know," she said as she and Ruby held each other. "We just became Huntresses. But now we're suddenly all going our separate ways."

Ruby nodded against her.

"But, no matter what, I love you," said Weiss, pulling back enough so that she and Ruby could meet eyes. "You are my family, Ruby Rose; you and Blake and Yang and Nora and Ren and Neo and Penny..."

"Hey!"

"And Jaune," added Weiss in a cheeky tone.

"Much obliged, Snow Angel," Jaune retorted, the interplay between the two of them making Ruby giggle through her tears.

"We'll always have each other, no matter where we go," Weiss promised, turning her attention back to Ruby. "Besides, it won't be so long until we see each other again. I _am_ invited to your wedding, right?"

"Of course," said Ruby. "You're going to be one of the bridesmaids."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Weiss, producing a handkerchief and wiping away Ruby's tears.

"Me neither," added Blake, joining in the embrace. A few seconds later, the entire group groaned as Yang wrapped her arms around all of them and hoisted them up in a crushing hug of her own.

They finally broke up and Jaune took Ruby into his arms and held her as they settled back into their seats. "By the way, what about you four?" asked Weiss, looking between Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren. "We know when the wedding is set for, but what are you going to be doing in the meantime?"

"Jaune and I are going back to Beacon," said Ruby.

"Huh? But you just graduated," Yang pointed out.

"Well, Professor Ozpin's offered us positions on the staff," explained Jaune. "With the new treaty in effect, he needs more instructors to help bring students up to speed on Aura-control techniques."

"Ren and I are going to Signal, on Patch," added Nora. "We're basically gonna be doing the same thing, but with Signal students. Ruby and Yang's dad invited us."

"What about you?" asked Weiss, looking to Neo.

Neo's face fell and she shrugged laconically.

Saisei sighed and draped her tail over Neo's shoulders, gently tickling her chin with its tip. "You can't sulk forever, Neo. No one will begrudge you, if you want to stay. However...I'm not certain if lurking in the Palace is what you want to do with your life. I could induct you into the military, and you could serve alongside me, but that doesn't strike me as being for you either."

"I have an idea," chirped Penny, drawing everyone's attention. "Professor Ozma has invited me to Haven. I'm not actually gonna be a student there, but I'm gonna be doing the same thing Jaune, Ruby, Nora, and Ren are. Why don't you come with me?"

Neo pointed to herself, her eyes wide and Penny nodded.

After a moment's silent consideration, Neo nodded back.

"That's great!" exclaimed Penny. "I know Professor Ozma would love to have you."

"I wonder if Shade is gonna get anyone to teach them Aura techniques," wondered Jaune.

"Pastoria-dono will probably come to some kind of arrangement with the Mibu," said Saisei. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. What matters is where you want to go and what you want to do."

They all nodded.

Weiss checked the time and exchanged a look with Hayate. "In any case, it's time for us to go."

"Me as well," added Blake, the three of them standing up. The others were only a beat behind them.

They all exchanged one last round of affectionate hugs before breaking apart. Weiss and Hayate headed to the Palace's northern exit, while Blake headed for the gates. The others went about their day as normally as possible, but the absence of those who left was felt keenly.

* * *

A few days later, Team RNJR; as Ruby, Nora, Jaune, and Ren had called themselves, during their time making their way to Mistral from Beacon; also took their leave, Sora kindly putting the Taishiro's airship at their disposal for their flight back to Vale. The day after that, Penny and Neo took their leave, departing on the clouds conjured by Penny's sword.

In Neo's absence, Saisei fully immersed herself in her duties as the Wood of the Goyosei, though she still regularly joined Kyo and Yang for dinner in the evenings. For the most part, Kyo and Yang were left to their own devices. Now that Yang's "urges" had been sated, they passed the days quietly, sometimes spending time with Sora (and Dougal as well). Other times, they paid visits to Makoto's school, passing the time with Ciel and her friends.

Finally, Yang felt she couldn't stand it anymore, and decided that the time had come for them to leave. By this point, the Taishiro's airship had returned, and would be able to ferry them to a settlement on Anima, where they would start their journey. They spent one last evening in the company of Kyo's mother, before Kyo, in a surprising move, decided to pay one final visit to Murasame.

* * *

"I did not honestly think you would come to see me, before you left," said Murasame as he set cups of tea before them. "I wouldn't blame you, if you decided to pretend I didn't exist for several more years yet."

Yang flashed a confused look at Kyo, having figured the same thing.

"I couldn't do that...even if I wanted to," said Kyo. "The truth is, even though you betrayed my father, it fell within the scope of his plans. In a sense, you fully committing yourself to Nobunaga's service might well have been within his expectations as well. If you had not earnestly come at me with true intent to kill, I don't believe I would have discovered the final technique of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_. I only managed that because you forced me to the absolute limit."

"It does not excuse all the pain I put you and everyone through," said Murasame, staring sadly at the surface of his own tea. "It _especially_ doesn't excuse what I put Penny through."

"You did nearly bring her to the edge of despair," said Kyo sadly. "She was willing to let Ruby kill her, if it meant an end to her pain."

Murasame nodded slowly, looking tired and, for the first time, truly old to Yang's eyes. She knew that Murasame was more than a century old and, in fact, probably had _multiple_ centuries under his belt. Yet this was the first time she truly saw the weight of that age on him.

"Still, the wheel turns," said Kyo cryptically. "The world continues on. O-Kaa-san and I have grieved and moved past it. The Mibu do not suffer from father's absence. The world is safe, and we are heading into an age of unprecedented prosperity. I have no wish to allow grudges to hold me back, and spend my life nursing resentment."

Murasame huffed a quiet laugh. "You are like your mother in that respect. She said much the same, when my fate was decided."

"Hatred leaves a bitter taste," said Kyo. "Nurturing it to no end has never truly brought anyone satisfaction."

"So...you forgive me, then?" asked Murasame, raising his eyes to Kyo.

"I do," said Kyo, meeting Murasame's gaze levelly. "I have not forgotten what you've done. I will probably never fully invest my trust in you ever again. But I forgive you all the same."

"You are wise," said Murasame with a sigh. "Somehow, despite the fact you are still a child by my measure, you are infinitely wiser than I, with all my age and experience, could ever hope to be."

"Wisdom stems from many sources," said Kyo. "I wouldn't go so far as to call myself wise. I merely seek to continue moving forward. Hatred would only hold me back."

"And you, Xiao Long-dono?" asked Murasame, turning his gaze to Yang.

"Well...honestly, I haven't given much thought to forgiveness," said Yang. "But I guess I forgive you too...for Penny's sake if nothing else."

Murasame nodded, clearly expecting as much. "Thank you," he said softly.

Yang found herself grinning. She raised her right arm and opened up Kiren Kaina. "Besides, whatever else you've done, you still forged this bad girl for me. I think that earns you a little leeway."

Murasame smiled fondly and reached out, brushing his fingers over the silvery surface and gold inlays of his greatest creation. "Truly, if I had been content with my pride in my work, I would be a much happier man now. If ever you need maintenance for this child, bring her back to me and I will do whatever you require."

"Thanks," said Yang.

Kyo and Yang downed the last of their tea and bade farewell to Murasame.

"As goodbyes go, that was rather awkward," conceded Kyo as he and Yang made their way out of the cottage. "But I think it was worthwhile."

"Yeah," agreed Yang with a quiet sigh. "It just feels weird. Our lives have taken so many strange twists and turns."

"And yet...we have much to look forward to," said Kyo.

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "Let's go. I want to make sure that we don't miss the timing for Ruby's wedding after all."

"Don't worry," said Kyo with a laugh. "If there's one thing I've worked out over the years, it's how to make it from nearly any point in the world to Cherry Grove in time."

* * *

 _The Spring of Next Year:_

"Daaaaaaad! You're embarrassing me," hissed Ruby as she fidgeted with the hem of her wedding dress.

Despite Ruby's admonition, Taiyang couldn't stop the happy tears spilling down his face, nor could he keep from raising a handkerchief up and blowing his nose repeatedly. "I can't help it," he said. "My little Ruby is getting married. You have no idea how excited I've been, waiting for this day."

"Geez!" exclaimed Ruby, rolling her eyes before looking over at the other bride of the day.

"Aww! I think it's sweet," cooed Nora, grinning. "Thanks for walking me down the aisle too."

"As if I could do anything else," said Taiyang, resting a hand on Nora's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "You're practically a daughter to me now, too."

Nora laughed and hugged Taiyang, while Ruby looked on with a fond smile.

Ruby and Nora both looked fantastic in their wedding dresses. Ruby's was a rose-red, strapless number, with a long, lacy skirt, which transitioned to black at the hems. The bodice hugged her front, her figure further accented by the black corset she wore over it, the whole look contrasting nicely with the creamy color of her bare shoulders and arms. A silver rose had been worked into her hair, so that it rested just left of the top of her head.

Nora settled on a pink dress, tinged with white, actually matching quite closely with the colors of their chosen venue. Hers displayed considerably more ruffles than Ruby's, both on the skirt and the straps that ran over her shoulders. A small portion of Nora's cleavage was visible in the heart-shaped cutout over her chest, matching the one found on her usual clothes. Unlike Ruby, Nora had decided to go without adornments in her hair, instead opting to comb it out straight.

After he released Nora, Taiyang stepped back to regard the girls carefully. "Any worries?" asked Taiyang.

"Just that I'll trip on my way up," said Ruby.

Fortunately, the shoes underneath her dress were actually sensible, by her measure. She had refused to budge on her decision, refusing to have to deal with heels on her special day, no matter how much Weiss urged her to do otherwise. Nora had voiced her own agreement, and made a similar decision with regards to her shoes, her support prompting Weiss to throw in the towel.

"I won't let that happen," Taiyang assured her. He sniffled and looked to be on the verge of breaking into tears again.

Fortunately, Ruby was spared the sight of her father blubbering again as Yang threw open the door and waltzed into the room, looking quite fetching in her strapless, lilac dress, with a skirt considerably shorter than either of the brides. "How's my baby sister doing?" she asked.

"Your 'baby' sister is still getting married _before_ you," Ruby teased, flashing Yang a smirk. "But we're ready. Is it time?"

"Just about," said Yang. "The guests are all seated. Jaune and Ren are in place. The other girls are waiting. The cherry blossoms are perfect. Makoto and Saisei have their trick all set up. The mayor is keeping the media at bay. All that's missing are the most important people."

"Jaune and Ren might object to that," said Ruby.

"Nah, everyone knows that the wedding is for the brides," scoffed Yang playfully. "The grooms are decoration."

Ruby and Nora giggled at that, but they didn't try to refute it. When it came to planning the wedding, Jaune and Ren had both graciously left the final say on everything to Ruby and Nora. They were willing to state their own preferences, when asked, but neither of them objected if the girls overruled them.

In truth, planning the wedding had turned into quite the chore, once word had gotten out about it. The fact that the two couples had become engaged in the relative quiet of Onmyo Palace had the fortunate consequence of the rest of the world being a few steps behind them, when it came to knowledge of their relationship status. Of course, being known as world-saving celebrities meant it was only a matter of time before news of the impending wedding broke, and the two couples soon found themselves swamped with offers for everything, from the decorations, to the catering, to the venue. The fact that Ruby had decided on the latter ahead of time certainly saved quiet a bit of stress, especially since she'd made arrangements with Cherry Grove's mayor, before the rest of the world had caught on.

At first, Ruby had been a little bit intimidated by the sheer number of offers that had swamped her mailbox when they'd arrived. It had been Nora who'd reminded her that she had full control over what she did and didn't want for the wedding. Despite teaching at Beacon and Signal, neither of the couples were, in any way, officially bound to Vale. Nor were they obligated to any of the powers that be in any other Kingdom. In the end, this was _their_ wedding and the rest of the world was just along for the ride. Even the fact that Sora was going to be officiating the ceremony for them was something that the other Kingdoms were just going to have to accept, whether they liked it or not.

"So...you girls ready or not?" asked Yang with a slight edge of impatience in her voice as she waited, hands on her hips.

Ruby and Nora shared a glance and then laughed, before following Yang out the door, Taiyang following behind them. They exited the small, multipurpose building that stood, off in one corner, in Cherry Grove's central park. This hadn't been the first time a significant event had taken place in the park, and the current couples definitely weren't the first to want to get married beneath the blooming cherry blossoms. Normally, such events were held near this particular building, where they could easily be sectioned off, so that the wedding could take place without the festival being disrupted or vice-versa.

This time, however, the scope and significance of the wedding had made the wedding something of the fixture for the entire festival. The residents of the settlement had been gifted with an informal collective invitation to attend the ceremony, as thanks for allowing the couples to use their park for the wedding. Thus, most of the vendors and booths set up in the days prior had been selling wedding-themed wares.

Of course, with the knowledge that what the media had deemed "the most important wedding in Remnant's history" taking place, media and visitors from across the world had descended upon Cherry Grove in droves. Granted, only a few of them were given admission into the settlement itself. That didn't stop them from setting up encampments outside Cherry Grove's walls, filling the cleared space that normally marked the settlement's defensive boundary, and even extending into the woodlands beyond. Had the mayor not put his foot down, the air over and around the settlement would have been choked with hovering camera-drones, one of the most recent pieces of Atlesian technology to proliferate over the past year. As it was, the mayor had promised that, unless the drones' presence were cleared with him personally, and certain guidelines were followed, he would have the town's militia and defensive emplacements shoot down any drones that tried to go over the walls. Because of that, only a foursome of the drones were present at the wedding, one for each of the major news networks of the four Kingdoms, with the exception of Mibu. The Mibu were still getting their informational infrastructure set up and lacked the large-scale broadcasting capabilities of the other Kingdoms at the moment.

Of course, with Kyo and three of the Taishiro in attendance, even the uninvited guests set up outside the walls didn't have to worry about the Grimm crashing the occasion, somewhat soothing the feathers that had been ruffled by the fact that Sora, Makoto, and Haruka were the only heads of state invited to the wedding.

However, Ruby had little thought for all of that, once she set foot outside the waiting room. Stepping out into the park, her nose filled with the fragrant scent of the cherry blossoms, the heady aroma making her feel giddy. The trees were heavy with flowers, looking like clouds of pink and white in the afternoon sun. If anything, their appearance and scent were more vivid than Ruby remembered them being, last year. Maybe it was the excitement of the occasion. Or it might have been the fact that Makoto and Saisei arrived ahead of time, and personally inspected each of the trees to ensure that they were in perfect health. Ruby didn't know or, honestly, care. All that meant was that the trees were overflowing with glorious blooms, while the lawns beneath them were a vibrant green.

They reached the center of the park, where the other guests were assembled, set up on folding chairs, arranged in rows, with a single aisle down the center. Sora waited at the base of the massive tree that had been where they'd first met Kyo, a radiant smile on her face as she watched Ruby and Nora approach with their escort.

Yang grinned and flashed a wink at Ruby, before dashing off to join the other bridesmaids. In the meantime, Sora discreetly flicked her hand, signaling the music to start. As the strains of the classic wedding march filled the air, Taiyang took Ruby's arm on his right and Nora's on the left, and the three of them began their trip down the aisle. All eyes immediately went to the girls, and Ruby couldn't quite keep a blush from her cheeks at the feeling of all these people watching her, even if most of them were very close friends of hers.

They moved at an easy, measured pace down the aisle. Ruby's eyes flicked to the left, where her and Nora's bridesmaids waited.

Weiss stood at the forefront, looking regal in her icy-blue gown, looking quite satisfied with her position as the Maid of Honor. Her regular tiara had been replaced by a set of white and pale-blue flowers.

Blake stood next in line, a warm smile on her face. She was clad in a strapless, silky, black dress, with a skirt that ran down to her ankles, black with dark-purple highlights. Her arms were covered by long, black gloves that ran up to just below her shoulders.

Penny came after Blake, wearing a ruffled, pink dress that looked considerably softer and fluffier than Nora's, looking almost as though it was made of gossamer, with a skirt that seemed to spread out from her like the petals of a large flower, ending just above her knees, and almost giving the impression that she was lighter than air.

After Penny stood Neo, wearing a slimming, cream-colored dress with a slit skirt and narrowing straps that ran over her shoulders. Her brown and pink hair was braided with an assortment of flowers, no doubt Saisei's contribution to her ensemble. Just past Neo, Yang took her place in the line.

Standing opposite them were the grooms, and their party. Jaune looked remarkably suave in his black suit, while Ren was fittingly dressed in a suit with a long-tailed jacket, all of them in dark, forest-greens.

Behind them were the groomsmen. Hayate looked distinctly uncomfortable in a suit that was gray, with the faintest shimmer to its finish, making him looked almost like he was wearing one of matte-silver. Beside him stood Sun, also looking uncomfortable, in part because Jaune had clearly insisted on helping Sun dress, so that his pale-yellow suit didn't look completely mismatched. After him, Neptune stood, looking composed in a dark-blue suit, his hair combed back, and goggles nowhere to be seen. Finally, Kyo stood at the end of the line decked out in the black kimono and fiery haori that had once marked him as the Crimson Cross Knight. Even if the position itself no longer existed, Kyo still occasionally used its garb as formalwear.

The moment Jaune's eyes met Ruby's, they lit up, and the awestruck expression on his face made Ruby and the others keeping him from seeing her in her wedding dress before the ceremony itself worthwhile. From the look on Ren's face as he took in Nora's appearance, it was clear that the same was true for them.

Taiyang walked them all the way down to the aisle, where Ruby and Nora took their positions in front of their bridesmaids, before heading back to his seat, settling down next to Qrow, who was sitting next to Winter, a ring around her finger marking her own engagement. It seemed that, without General Ironwood to worry about anymore, Qrow and Winter had decided that they no longer needed to keep their relationship discreet.

Ruby and Nora beamed across the aisle at their counterparts, waiting as the last notes of the wedding march faded away into the air. Then Sora stepped forward.

"Friends," she announced, "we are here to witness the joining of Ruby Rose to Jaune Arc, as well as Nora Valkyrie to Lie Ren, in sacred matrimony...but I suppose you knew that already."

A round of chuckles made its way through the crowd, drawing Ruby's eyes to take in everyone who was there. There were a variety of friends and acquaintances. Team CFVY occupied the seats in the front row, opposite where her father and uncle were sitting. Sitting next to them were Ciel, looking lovely in a dark-teal kimono, with Shinrei sitting next to her. In the rows further back were the other members of Team SSSN, along with Team NDGO. Blake's parents were there too, accompanied by Ilia, Blake's chameleon-faunus friend, and also an ex-White Fang member, whom Ruby had only met recently. A little further back were Ciel's friends from Makoto's school, all decked out in their finest. In the back row was Nigel, tightly bound and gagged, seeing as he'd stumbled in out of nowhere (again), and tried to pick a fight with Kyo and Hayate, before Saisei had beat him down and thoroughly restrained him. It was an impressive crowd, especially when it included a large number of townspeople spectating from behind the seats.

Sora paused, letting the chuckles die down. "Love is a powerful force, beyond what Dust and Aura are capable of. Some may scoff and dismiss such a statement as nothing more than an empty platitude, but I have seen its truth demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt. Love can be powerful and affirming. But it can also be destructive, if it is not built upon a firm foundation. Many lives have been ruined because of a love that was not supported by understanding and the strength of heart in all parties involved."

Sora's gaze drifted to Ruby and Nora, before moving across to their counterparts. "Fortunately, the two couples here have demonstrated that their love has been built upon unshakable foundations of trust and understanding, foundations that have carried them through the darkest of times, and the fiercest of battles. Though I doubt it was their original intention, their hearts have become beacons, shining a light for future generations to follow and learn from."

Her eyes rose up to take in the scenery around them. "In ancient times, the cherry blossoms symbolized death. The scattering of petals represented the end that awaits for all life and that, ultimately, all is impermanent. The falling petals are all the more beautiful for the glorious blooms they _were_ , before they fell, a reminder of life's brevity, its transience, and the importance of living it to the fullest. Having seen for myself the love between these two couples, I know for a fact that it blooms more brilliantly than any flower on any tree in the whole of the world, not just this single small corner of it." Her eyes once again slid across the four of them. "I implore you all to nurture and sustain your love, for while it will last much longer than these blossoms, someday, your flowers too...shall fall."

All four of them nodded gravely at her statement.

Sora looked back and forth between the brides and grooms. "Now then, please step forward."

Ruby and Jaune moved to meet each other, Nora and Ren following suit. Sora moved to stand over them, her eyes fixed on them. "Ruby Rose...do you take Jaune Arc as your husband, to hold and cherish in your heart, until your life's flame is extinguished?"

"I do," said Ruby, her heart thundering at the realization that the moment had arrived. Right now, she couldn't look anywhere _but_ across at Jaune. Everything else seemed to fall away, save for Sora's voice as she moved on to Jaune.

She barely heard Sora's words. But she heard Jaune's just as clearly, no nervousness or hesitation in his voice. "I do."

The two of them barely even noticed when Sora moved on to take Nora and Ren's oath as well, the other couple being just as enraptured with each other as the two of them were.

Sora suppressed a giggle at the sight of them. Raising a hand, she beckoned the ring bearers, Jaune's two youngest sisters, forward.

Jaune's sisters had initially wanted to join the ranks of the bridesmaids, but Ruby felt that having twelve bridesmaids was excessive. Instead, Jaune's eldest sisters had contented themselves with the minutia of setting up the wedding, while his youngest sisters were mollified by being allowed to carry the rings. The two little girls now walked up, trying hard to rein in their energetic impulsiveness as they each carried a white, satin cushion with a pair of gold bands resting on top of it.

Jaune and Ruby took their pair. Jaune started by slowly sliding his ring onto Ruby's finger, then holding up his hand for Ruby to do the same. When they finished, they clasped hands, locking eyes with each other yet again. Ren and Nora did much the same.

Sora's smile widened as she watched the interplay between the two couples while the ring bearers withdrew. After a moment's pause, she spoke again. "It is now my privilege and pleasure to pronounce you man and wife." She paused again, mostly for dramatic effect, and because it was bringing smiles to everyone in attendance to see Nora's restraint hanging by a thread as all four waited in breathless anticipation of Sora's words. "You may kiss the brides."

Jaune slipped his arms around Ruby's waist as Ruby draped hers around his shoulders, pulling Ruby up against him so that he could feel the contours of her body against his front. They paused, their noses almost tapping against each other before they finally leaned in and kissed deeply. Nora was nowhere near as restrained, practically throwing herself at Ren with enough force that Kyo had to move behind Ren, and plant a hand between his shoulders, to keep him from being knocked onto his back.

Behind Sora, Makoto and Saisei each planted a hand on the trunk of the massive cherry blossom tree. A pulse of their Aura rippled through the trunk, before passing out through the roots, and up into the trees throughout the park so that, in perfect synch with the couples' kisses, the cherry blossoms began to fall in a magnificent cascade of pink petals.

Cheers erupted from the audience, everyone surging to their feet and applauding enthusiastically. The couples barely even heard them, Jaune and Ruby pulling out of their kiss, but still remaining completely focused on one another as they continued to hold each other.

"I love you," Jaune said simply.

"I love you too," Ruby said back.

It was a couple more minutes before Yang finally went and pried them apart so they could get down to the business of hosting the reception.

* * *

Everything that followed the wedding was a blur. There had been the reception, the dinner, the dancing, the cake, speeches by bridesmaids as well as others who knew the couples. Yang had partied with the best of them, spending multiple rounds on the dance floor with Kyo, not minding that she put more time and energy into keeping him from tripping over his own feet than actually dancing. As tradition (at least what traditions they felt like following) demanded, they traded partners multiple times over the course of the dances; Yang finding herself dancing with Jaune, Ren, Sun, and even Neptune; who, for all that he was giving it his best effort, was even _more_ inept than Kyo.

Then came the time for Ruby and Nora to throw their bouquets. The bridesmaids were joined by many of the other young women in attendance, with the girls of NDGO clamoring quite enthusiastically for the bouquets in particular, so much so that they nearly pushed the others over in their enthusiasm when the two sets of flowers took to the air.

Yet...somehow...when the dust settled, Yang found herself holding Ruby's bouquet, blinking in surprise, as she hadn't intended to make a serious effort to grab for it. Likewise, a bewildered Blake found herself holding Nora's bouquet, baffled, as she'd been happy to let the others scuffle for the flowers.

Of all the people in attendance, few had any idea what had just happened, and only about three of them had the skill to perceive it with their senses. Sora hid a giggle, while Nigel was indifferent. Kyo, in the meantime, moved behind Yang and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I guess I got lucky," said Yang, blinking and looking up at him.

Kyo covered his mouth as he chuckled. "Well...there was luck involved..." He leaned in to whisper into her ear. "Luck...and Ruby's _Seikireigan_."

Now that she realized what Ruby had done, Yang burst into gales of laughter, ignoring the indignant looks from NDGO as the four girls still wondered how Yang and Blake had managed to end up with the bouquets. Blake, in the meantime, blushed furiously as Sun took her into his arms and began to whisper something into the cat ears atop her head.

"I guess this means I have a wedding to look forward to in my future," said Yang, her voice becoming a sultry purr as she fixed Kyo with a half-lidded gaze.

"I'm certainly not opposed," said Kyo, pulling her close and kissing her hard. "But let's let your sister have her fun first."

"Yeah," agreed Yang. There would be time for proposals later, much later. Despite knowing how much she loved the boy who held her, neither of them was any hurry to rush to a proposal and wedding of their own. Right now, now that the big moment had passed, they were looking to enjoy the reception, then return to their wandering as they explored every nook and cranny of the world they could find.

However, as Yang stared into the Crimson Eyes of her love, she knew that she would gladly see those eyes every day of her life...and that the owner of those eyes felt the same way about hers.

* * *

 **We're here...at the end...almost. Only the epilogue left now. Hope that everyone enjoyed the wedding scene, as cheesy as it was.**


	108. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

 _Ten years later:_

" _From the sound of things, you're flourishing over there,_ " observed Winter with a fond smile.

"That's putting it lightly," Weiss replied with a giggle.

Truth be told, Weiss was amazed by the success of her endeavor. The Schnee Academy of Glyph-Arts had started off rather modestly, Weiss' first-year class consisting of a mere twenty students. However, in the seven years since she had started her work, the number of students had swelled, as had the number of potential applications that had been discovered for the Glyph-Arts, as she and her students continued to innovate and invent new glyphs for themselves.

Once she and Hayate had tired of wandering together, Weiss had returned to Leng. Her previous inquiries had borne fruit. The question of the settlement the Mibu had opened to help process the refugees that Hayate had freed from her father's internment camps had been something the Mibu had been debating, until Weiss had made her inquiries. After all the work they'd invested in it, the Mibu hadn't wanted to simply allow the settlement to fall into disrepair, now that its primary purpose had been fulfilled. There had been numerous ideas floated for what the settlement could become, ranging from a spa to a private retreat to a dedicated healing center. With Haruka's enthusiastic support though, Weiss had been able to secure the settlement as the location for her school. With the full support of the Taishiro, Weiss opened what was probably the closest thing the Mibu would ever have to a Huntsman Academy.

Not that it was strictly a Huntsman Academy. While the majority of her students were indeed Huntsmen and Huntresses, or aspiring ones, a growing number were looking to expand the potential applications and forms her school's glyphs could take for use in other walks of life, their imaginations fired by the achievements of Weiss and Winter's brother.

" _Sometimes I wonder what Father must think of us,_ " mused Winter, now Headmistress of Atlas Academy. " _We were groomed to inherit the Schnee Family name and the Dust Company, but now we're both in charge of a bunch of hormonal teenagers._ "

"While that may be true for you, it's only partially true for me," Weiss pointed out. Indeed, while most of her students were younger than her, there had been a fair few, especially back when she'd first started, who had been older than her, including the star pupil of her inaugural class, one Velvet Scarlatina. Her Academy had attracted even veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses seeking to broaden their repertoires with her glyphs. "Besides, it's not as though Father's opinion matters anymore."

" _No,_ " agreed Winter, " _but it is amusing to consider._ "

Jacques Schnee was still serving a life sentence for his attempted treason. His only regular visitor was Whitley, who still sought to, someday, find some way to bridge the divide between Jacques and the rest of the family, especially now that their mother had been fully rehabilitated of her alcohol addiction, and was enjoying watching her children flourish in their respective lives. Jacques, on the other hand, remained utterly obstinate, and convinced that he'd been cheated out of the power and glory that he deserved. Weiss had long ago given up bothering over him.

Winter's eyes drifted down slightly, as far as the CCT screen would allow her to see. " _And how are you coming along?_ " she asked.

Weiss' smile warmed even more than before, as her hand drifted up the gently press against the slight bulge of her stomach, the first visible sign of the life growing within her. " _J_ ust fine," she said. "Hayate tries to play calm and collected, but it's plain he can't wait until the day she's due."

" _No issues then?_ " inquired Winter.

"None," replied Weiss. "It's one of the perks of having the Mibu's Chief Physician as a personal friend."

Weiss' statement was true in more ways than one. Sasame flew up every two weeks to examine Weiss, and make sure the pregnancy was progressing normally, the same treatment she'd given Ruby and Nora when they were pregnant (with twins, in Ruby's case), though Makoto hadn't yet retired and handed his position over to Sasame back then. Not only was Weiss completely assured of the health of both herself and the baby, but Sasame's treatments also served to completely eliminate all of the more...troublesome...symptoms of pregnancy. Weiss figured that she and her friends were some of the luckiest girls in the world, able to spend their pregnancies free of illness, nausea, mood swings, and weird cravings, all thanks to Sasame's dedicated care.

" _So you already know it's a girl?_ " asked Winter.

Weiss nodded. "Sasame says it will be a girl and that she'll be a faunus, like her father." She bottled up another laugh. Considering Winter's remark of what their father must think of them, Weiss, despite her usual indifference to Jacques' opinion, was sometimes nearly beside herself with mirth at the thought of how he would react to the fact that she was now married to the man who'd once nearly destroyed the SDC, and pregnant with a faunus child.

" _That's good to hear,_ " said Winter warmly. " _You're probably in the best place in the world to raise a faunus._ "

"That much is true," agreed Weiss, a slight frown taking the place of her smile. "Have the True Humanists been giving you problems?"

" _No more than usual,_ " said Winter. " _We're keeping an eye on Arcadia. Their growth has been slow, but they do have a fairly sizable Dust deposit they're mining. Right now, they're much too small to try for secession. I'd rather it never came to that._ "

Weiss chewed the inside of her lip, a little worried by the prospect. Winter had done her best with the time she'd had left in the military, reestablishing the Council as the true government in Atlas, making arrangements for the passage of non-discrimination legislation to protect faunus, and removing Ironwood's laws stifling free speech. Unfortunately, the work of Ironwood and Jacques had resulted in a strong anti-faunus sentiment festering in Atlas. The settlements had fewer issues, as Ironwood's efforts to uproot the faunus and intern them hadn't reached out that far, before he'd been stopped. But, in Atlas itself, a fair portion of the human population had been displeased by the Kingdom's new direction.

And so the True Humanists had formed. In a certain sense, they could be considered the human counterpart to the White Fang, absent the White Fang's peaceful origins. The True Humanists claimed that they were campaigning for equality, claiming that human rights were threatened by the increased empowerment of the faunus through the reforms instated by Winter and the new Council. Furthermore, they claimed that, if the faunus were permitted their own land in the form of Menagerie (conveniently ignoring that Menagerie was now officially part of the Mibu Kingdom and a much more mixed settlement than it had been before), then humans deserved a land or even a Kingdom of their own. It was clear to everyone that they expected to make Atlas that Kingdom.

The Council had naturally shot down that idea easily enough. Unfortunately, the True Humanists had then gone out to found a settlement of their own, calling it Arcadia. Locating a decent-sized Dust deposit, they set up shop, while officially forbidding entry by or commerce with faunus in their settlement. The community had boomed briefly, before its growth had leveled out, with most of the humans sufficiently entrenched in their bigotry to make the arduous journey to a barely-functioning settlement for the sake of making a statement having already done so. Their existence was already a tenuous one, made all the more so by the fact that their closest neighbors refused to trade with them. If anything, though, that only seemed to make the citizens of Arcadia or "the True Human Paradise," as some of its inhabitants called it, more stubborn.

" _We're keeping an eye on them, so I wouldn't worry too much,_ " said Winter. " _But that's enough of that depressing subject. Have you decided on a name for her?_ "

Weiss beamed. "We're going to name her Tsubasa."

Winter blinked, a bit surprised. " _That's not a very Schnee-like name,_ " she noted.

"I don't feel the need to worry about it," said Weiss, glancing down at her stomach again. "I don't feel like being traditional with her. In the Old Tongue, it means 'Wing.' I'll teach her everything I know, and she'll be able to fly wherever she wants."

Winter smiled at that. " _That's so very like you,_ " she said. " _So you're going to teach her your glyphs?_ "

Weiss nodded. "I don't know if she'll take up Myrtenaster or if she'll want to use Hayate's sword. Maybe she'll want to do something completely different from what either of us did. That's fine. I'll be giving her the means to take her life in any direction she chooses." She glanced up. "So how is Whitley doing?"

" _Thriving,_ " said Winter with a small laugh. " _He's hoping to hear from you sometime soon. I think you owe him a call._ "

"I will," promised Weiss.

Whitley, once the head of the Schnee Dust Company, was now the leader of the UEC, the Unified Energy Conglomerate, a group of corporations researching and designing new technology based around integrated Etheric and Dust-based technology, even incorporating Aura techniques learned from the Mibu into their designs and implementation. His work was revolutionizing technology in nearly every field. Of course, he had help in that area.

"Is Haruka with him?" asked Weiss.

Winter nodded. " _She's been staying at the manor for the past two weeks. I'm starting to wonder if her visits are purely professional._ "

Weiss pursed her lips, unsure of how she felt about the idea. As she had expected, Whitely had been easily able to get Haruka to open up, allowing them to work together effectively, and devise the advanced applications of Etheric technology that the Mibu sought. What she _hadn't_ expected was for the pair to hit it off and become fast friends and, as mounting evidence appeared to suggest, maybe something more.

On one hand, she would be pleased if her brother could find someone who could engage with him at his own level and make him happy, which Haruka certainly could. On the other, she had no idea of Haruka's true age, only that she was even older than Kyo's mother. That meant she was already more than old enough to be Whitley's mother, possibly even his grandmother...or even his great-grandmother, considering how long the Mibu's Aura-control techniques were capable of prolonging their lives. Granted, that same extended life expectancy probably meant that the Mibu cared little about age gaps that outsiders would generally find more daunting. Weiss supposed that, so long as she and Whitley made each other happy, there was nothing to worry about.

"Well, I certainly wish him the best," said Weiss after a moment's thought. "Maybe I can find out more when I talk to him myself."

" _Good luck with that,_ " said Winter in a teasing tone. " _Now, tell me, how are all your friends doing?_ "

"Well, Ruby and Jaune are doing fine at Beacon," said Weiss. "Ren and Nora are full professors at Signal now."

It was rather strangely fitting that Ruby, as much as she had desired to go out and make a difference in the world, had settled down so contentedly before and after her marriage to Jaune. She'd once told Weiss that she'd come to see things the same way their old history teacher, Dr. Oobleck, had, realizing that the best way she could make a positive difference in the world was to impart her knowledge and experience to the next generations. The fact that she had twin daughters to look after had probably helped in that aspect as well.

It made Weiss giggle to remember the silly fantasy that Ruby had harbored, where they would all have children at the same time, so that they could all go to Beacon together and become best friends. Granted, both Ruby and Jaune, as well as Ren and Nora, had wasted little time getting busy after their marriage. Weiss and Hayate had been content to wait a few more years before considering children.

" _What about Blake?_ " asked Winter, leaning forward expectantly.

"Still working herself hard," said Weiss with a sigh. "Sun is with her, so I know he won't let her overwork herself. But I do wish she'd slow down sometimes."

Blake had tackled the task of working to improve human-faunus relations with a passion that Weiss remembered all too well from their days as students together. Blake's new movement, Wild Call, had replaced the White Fang, this time managing to remain peaceful as an organization. It helped that, with the Mibu now open to the world, many people were coming to see that that humans and faunus _could_ coexist peacefully. Still, it was an uphill battle, especially in Atlas.

Fortunately, Blake had Sun with her, the two of them getting married a year after Ruby and Jaune. While they'd considered starting a family together, Blake was worried that her own passions would make her ill-disposed towards being a mother at this point in her life, and was waiting until she was more settled with the work that she'd done, so that she'd be willing to slow down and take the time to raise any children she had properly.

"Oh!" exclaimed Weiss, something else occurring to her. "Have you heard about Ciel?"

" _What about Soleil?_ " asked Winter.

"Makoto officially named her a Master of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ ," said Weiss. "Shinrei's told me that he might be willing to allow her to perform at the next Water Festival."

" _Well now, that_ will _be something to see,_ " said Winter.

Makoto had resigned his position as one of the Taishiro, and the Mibu Clan's Chief Physician, a few years ago, turning both over to Saisei, who had taken her birth name again as she turned her position in the Goyosei over to her chosen successor in turn. Now Makoto remained the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ , and was apparently focusing his attention on mentoring Ciel directly, in preparation for her to succeed him as the Grandmaster. Allowing a student, even a recognized Master, to perform at the Water Festival would be an unprecedented step, particularly considering how the scope of the event had exploded since the first time Weiss had attended with her friends.

Once the rest of the world learned about the Water Festival, and word of it spread, more people from the outside world began to arrive in Onmyo every year, seeking to see Makoto's performance for themselves. Within three years, there were far more people than the Palace could ever hope to hold. Sora, ever the practical leader, had set upon a solution, setting up a new Water Stage at a large lake a few dozen miles away from the capital, which had become the new center of the Water Festival, the event growing even more popular and attracting tens of thousands of attendees from all over the world, quickly rivaling the Vytal Festival in popularity.

"Neo and Sasame are still doing well," Weiss added with a giggle.

Neo had spent a couple of years at Haven, helping Penny instruct students in Aura-control techniques, before growing tired of the position and wandering Remnant as a Huntress. It was rather ironic that the member of their number who had originally had _no_ intention of becoming a Huntress had gone on to become the most typical example of the profession amongst them. Neo returned to Leng and Onmyo regularly to visit Saisei, the two of them keeping their relationship going strong, despite being away from each other much of the time. However, once Makoto and Sora had elevated Saisei to the rank of the Taishiro, Neo came to the Mibu permanently, to stand beside Sasame as the first of her Imperial Guards. From the way they'd been acting the last time Sasame had been up to examine her, Weiss could see that they were both completely happy with the arrangement.

" _And Polendina...is she still studying under her father?_ " asked Winter.

"Yep," said Weiss.

The last she'd heard, Penny was enthusiastically learning all the secrets of being the Mibu Blademaster from Murasame, who'd quietly retired to a secluded cottage and forge on the other side of the mountain the Palace had been built upon. After spending a few years at Haven, Penny and Neptune had come to the Mibu Clan. While Penny learned from her father, Neptune, when Haruka wasn't visiting Whitley, had become one of Haruka's chief assistants in advancing Etheric technology. It allowed Penny and Neptune to stay close, and maintain a relationship that had only grown stronger in the intervening years.

" _And Yang and Kyo?_ " asked Winter finally.

Weiss sighed. "Still wandering," she said. "I doubt those two will _ever_ settle down. The closest they got to it was Yang staying at the Palace for her pregnancies. They're even raising their children on the road."

" _It will certainly be an interesting upbringing for them,_ " mused Winter with a smile. " _I imagine they'll grow to become quite independent._ "

"You wouldn't figure it from the way their parents dote on them," said Weiss, her thoughts turning to Yang and Kyo's two children.

Their eldest, Honoka, took after her father, showing a strong affinity for the sword. Her younger brother, Kazuki, took after his mother, being every bit the brawler she was, even looking and acting a lot like a male version of Yang at times. Both children had inherited Kyo's Crimson Eyes and, Weiss didn't doubt, the latent power of the True Crimson Eyes. She doubted that either Yang or Kyo would teach them about that, continuing the gradual process that would eventually lead to the blood of the True Mibu disappearing from the world.

Unlike the others in their group who'd had children, Yang and Kyo had returned to the road as soon as Yang had recovered from the act of giving birth, showing no reservations about the prospect of raising their children on the move. Weiss oftentimes wondered how they managed it. But Honoka and Kazuki were always in fine health and spirits, whenever Kyo and Yang met up with the rest of the group.

" _You'll be seeing them again soon,_ " noted Winter. " _Your spring break is coming up._ "

Weiss nodded. Technically, it was a break for her entire Academy, a week for them to return home and spend time with their families, in between terms. However, it also served as the first of two times each year that Weiss and all her friends could get together in one place. She was already looking forward to it. For all their differences and eccentricities, she cherished her friends dearly and, by that time next year, she would be able to bring her own daughter to look up and marvel at the cherry blossoms' beauty.

* * *

"Mom! How much farther is it?" asked Yang's son, running up to her. His long, blonde hair was tied into a tight tail behind his head, running down to the small of his back.

"Pretty far," said Yang in a teasing tone, reaching out to rub the top of Kazuki's forehead, making the boy groan. "You're so impatient, Bucko. Don't go getting ahead of yourself. If we get there too quickly, there'll be nothing to do, and you'll get bored."

"Aww, but I wanna see Citrine and Sunsprite!" protested Kazuki.

Yang laughed. "They won't even be there yet. Your Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jaune take an airship from Beacon, so they only need to leave the day before the festival starts. We have over two weeks. Besides, don't you want to finish learning that new move of yours, so that you can impress them?"

Kazuki nodded firmly.

"Then you should be more like your sister," said Yang. She paused, looking around for a moment. "Are she and Kyo still training?"

"Yeah," said Kazuki.

"Well, you should probably go call them back," said Yang, looking over at their campfire, where a pot of stew was bubbling away. "It's almost dinnertime. If you're good, maybe I'll talk Kyo into getting to Cherry Grove a little earlier this year. Does that sound good?"

Kazuki nodded eagerly, then dashed off to find his sister and father. They weren't far away, and Yang didn't have to worry about her son stumbling on some wayward Grimm. Their aversion to Kyo was as strong as ever after all.

With a slight giggle, Yang turned to take in their surroundings, the little clearing where they'd set up camp in, just off to the side of the road. Resting nearby were their horses, as well as the small wagon they pulled during the day. She missed the days when she and Kyo could cut across the country at their leisure, subsisting on whatever edibles they found in the wilderness, and moving with very little beyond the clothes on their back. But raising a pair of children on the move necessitated a little extra cargo space, hence the horses and wagons. True, they were confined to roads and broad paths now, but it wouldn't be a permanent arrangement.

Her son out of the way, Yang returned to tending to their dinner. Of course, it wasn't too long before Kazuki was back, with Kyo and Honoka in tow. Yang grinned at the sight of father and daughter, the latter sweaty and panting after a substantial training session, her sword (one of Penny's first official creations) hanging from her waist.

She had taken to dressing much like her father as well, though her black kimono was supplemented by a pair of black hakama. Her black hair was tied back in a slightly tangled tail behind her head, which, combined with her Crimson Eyes, gave her an appearance that Yang (as much as she didn't want to admit it) found unsettling at times, given Honoka's resemblance to Raven. But Yang refused to allow that to get in the way of being the best mother she could, particularly since Honoka's personality was nothing like Raven's.

In contrast to her flighty, excitable, and energetic brother, Honoka was considerably more relaxed and settled, exuding an air of calm and tranquility at odds with her age. Outside of training, Honoka was mellow and easygoing, always with a smile on her face. It was only when she was training with Kyo that Honoka showed that she'd inherited her mother's passionate side as well, working eagerly to learn her father's style.

"Dinner smells wonderful," commented Kyo, hugging Yang and kissing her, before letting go so that Yang could get the same treatment from her daughter. "Now, what's this Kazuki has been saying about picking up the pace?"

"Well, that's only if Kazuki is good, and does his chores promptly," said Yang, giving her son a sly smile. "But I was thinking we could maybe aim to get there a couple days early."

"I don't mind," said Honoka in her usual, whispery voice. While she wasn't exactly shy, she rarely talked at a normal speaking volume, unless she absolutely had to. Strangely, unless their immediate surroundings were particularly noisy, she rarely had trouble making herself heard and understood.

Yang wasn't surprised by her daughter's lack of objections. There was very little Honoka _did_ mind most of the time. Yang might have worried, had she not known that Honoka was perfectly capable of asserting herself when she needed to. She just rarely bothered, if the need wasn't there.

"Well, if we get there early, we will have time for extra lessons," mused Kyo, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Well then, I'd actually like it very much," Honoka amended with an eagerness that made Yang laugh.

"Okay then," said Yang, resting her hands on her hips. "But it means we'll have to go longer for the next few days. You'll both have to get up earlier. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes," chorused Honoka and Kazuki in unison.

"Well then, I suppose we're decided," said Kyo, settling on one of the logs that they pulled up to the fireside. "In that case, we should eat, seeing as your mother has worked so hard on dinner tonight."

As her family gathered around the fire pit for their meal, Yang took it all in, and felt pride and happiness swell within her. This wasn't the future she'd envisioned, when she'd set out to become a Huntress all those years ago. If anything, it was even better. She had a husband who loved her, children who adored her, a life that was probably unlike anyone else's. Each day brought with it new surprises and revelations. It was far more than she ever could have hoped for.

In another few weeks, they would be in Cherry Grove, all of them, together again. Yang was looking forward to it. Her home might have consisted of this little wagon and the tent it carried, but her family spanned the world.

 _Yeah,_ she thought, looking up and seeing the colors of the coming sunset beginning to wash across the sky, _this is the life._

 **The End**

* * *

 **So...Weiss for the main epilogue segment. The wedding did for the most part, last chapter. But I wanted to do a brief, "where are they now?" segment. Weiss ended up being my go-to character for that, mainly because she was the character who most surprised me with her growth, thoughout the story. There were a few times, fairly early on, where I wasn't sure what to do with her. But, once I figured it out, her story basically wrote itself, and, aside from Yang and Kyo, her ending was one of the ones I had the most interest in.**

 **The bit about Arcadia isn't meant to be a sequel hook, and I don't have any sequels planned for this story, as of now. It's more a commentary on the idea that, even though the main bad guy has been axed, and the heroes have won the day, the world's problems haven't magically vanished. If anything, shifting circumstances have given rise to brand new problems. The faunus are seeing their cause gain ground, but that hasn't made racism disappear, and, in fact, has caused racists to sort of congregate and band together against what they see as a threat.**

 **Yang and Kyo, and their kids, were basically pure fluff I tacked on for the fun of it, and because the story _should_ end with them.**

 **And with that...that's all for now. Thanks for sticking with this thing.**


End file.
